Split, Croatia: Travel Notes

Split, Croatia

For the first stop in our honeymoon journey, W and I chose the very central city of Split Croatia as our connection to the rest of the Dalmatian coast. A few notes from our stay in Split:

  • Split, as I mentioned, is a port city that has boats and ferries out to many of the visitable Croatian islands (Croatia’s nickname is sometimes “the Land of a Thousand Islands” because, true to form, there are 1,426 islands that make up Croatia, though only 46-48 are permanently inhabited.

Getting There:

  • Even though Split is a travel hub, there aren’t many ways to get there from the air; we connected through Frankfurt on Croatian Airlines for both arrival and departure.
    Split’s airport is teeny; the gate, baggage claim, and customs are all in the same large hall. Outside of customs, there are a few newspaper/convenience stores, a few currency exchange booths, and some tourism kiosks, but that’s about it.
    Getting to Split from the airport (the airport is about 45 minutes north west of the actual city) is actually pretty simple; there were a few taxis and private transport options, but we chose the shuttle bus they have to Split proper, located right outside the airport to the right. It’s coach style, and decently priced (about 60 kuna for 2 people, so less that $10 USD total – you pay on the bus, either in euros or kuna). With a relatively large stable of coaches (there were 4 in line to take folks when we arrived), they do a pretty good job with frequency. The bus drops you off at the Split bus depot, which is basically where all tourists enter the city.

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12 Days in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta: The Budget & Itinerary

12 Days in Croatia, Montenegro, & Malta

We’ve finally sorted through all our wedding stuff (if you’ve gotten married before, you know what I’m talking about) and I found a few spare moments last week to sort through our honeymoon photos. D and I are headed off to London and Paris later this week (in keeping of our wedding vows to act as one another’s travel buddies), but we’ve got a lineup of photos and details of all the places we visited on our honeymoon. In typical Darwin style, we’ll kick this off by sharing our full itinerary and budget for the 12 days we spent in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta. Really I should just cross off Montenegro because we only went there for a day trip, but it’s worth a mention anyhow. A few notes in hindsight:

  • Avoid transferring through Frankfurt if at all possible. We found the airport to be enormous and inefficient, with inconsistent security policies.
  • In the name of transparency, we’ve shared the majority of our expenses (dining not included). We were on our honeymoon, so we felt it was worth it to splurge a bit on experiences (a la day trips vis-a-vis island hopping in the Dalmatian Coast). We kept costs reasonable on airfare and hotels by utilizing points wherever possible.
  • Long story short: Prolong your stay in Croatia because it’s insanely beautiful. You’re probably okay skipping Montenegro and Malta if you’re short on time.

Click for the full itinerary, and check back for reviews on our lodging, dining, and travel experiences!

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Our wedding (and some of the honeymoon), through the lens of Instagram!

It’s been three weeks, but we still have so many memories from our special night. Although our official photos aren’t ready yet, check out some Instagram photos from our guests using the hashtag #darwinwed.

Note – some of the photos posted aren’t public, so unless you are friends with the poster, you might not be able to enlarge them! Enjoy! Hover/use the white bar on the bottom to page forward/back.

We got married! (And are in King’s Landing)

Howdy, friends! If you follow us on Facebook you know that earlier today we posted a photo from Dubrovnik, Croatia, aka King’s Landing, Westeros from Game of Thrones. Anyway, the reason we are here (you know, besides the fact that Croatia is a beautiful country and we like to travel and all that fun stuff) is because we are on our honeymoon! Yup. Darren and I tied the knot last Saturday. Lots of info to share on Croatia and photos from our wedding later,  but in the meantime, you can follow along our adventures on Instagram @winnie_dora and @thedarebear. Montenegro tomorrow! I’ll just leave you with our same day edit by the amazingly talented Ryan Geldermann.

 

Weekend Snapshots, Orlando and Harry Potter World Bachelorette Edition

This past weekend I spent time in Orlando, Florida for my bachelorette party with 7 of my bestest friends. Being the nerdy granny that I am, I knew that an all-night rager in Vegas, Miami, or one of the other usual suspects was probably not in store for me. Enter Harry Potter world at Universal Studios…dreams really do come true, guys and gals. I’ve got a few thoughts and tips to share if you intend on making Orlando/Universal Studios your bachelorette party destination, but first, a few snapshots.

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1. We stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, one of the four onsite hotels that allow you to access early admission into Universal Studios. The resort had a cute 50s retro theme and include multiple pools, including a lazy river that you could float around in.

2. We all received Harry Potter style glasses as part of our favors.

3. Also included in our goodie bags were temporary tattoos that read “I belong to Winnie’s bachelorette party. If found, please buy me a butterbeer!”

4. And t-shirts/tanks that read “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” Adorbs.

5. The Hogwarts castle where the Forbidden Journey ride takes place. With early admission, we only waited 30 minutes for the ride. I was blown away at the extent of the details inside the park, from the holograms, to the talking pictures, to the random knick knacks found in the books and movies.

6. Likewise, the village of Hogsmeade was chockful of details, including the faux snow on the rooftops.

7. Inside of Honeydukes, enough candy to satisfy even the most sugar-fiending signficant other (*cough Darren*)

8. Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes also had a lot of sweets to the tune of “U-No-Poo”, “Puking Pastilles” and other treats as found in the book.

9. Tried my first [frozen] butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream. It tasted like a combination of butterscotch and cream soda and was delicious…for the first ten sips. I recommend sharing with a friend, as I found it to be quite sugary.

10. We ate at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, which features English cuisine. I had 2 mini-pies which included fisherman’s pie and cottage pie.

11. The architecture and decor inside of Gringotts bank for the Escape from Gringotts ride was absolutely breathtaking. Our whole group literally exclaimed, “WOW” when we caught a glimpse of the main room when making our way in. Unfortunately most of us left our cameras in the locker, so this is the only evidence I have. The ride was also my favorite.

12. Hagrid’s motorcycle and side car. The park(s) were full of details like this that made for ideal photo opportunities.

 

Europe is on sale for American travelers

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Dear Friends,

Happy 2015! Things have been pretty quiet on the blog as Darren and I come into the final few months of wedding planning. We have some pretty exciting travels lined up for 2015 (Croatia, Montenegro, Malta, and Iceland), and this article I came across on CNN today really affirmed for us that 2015 is our year to explore Europe!

For those located in the DMV, we hopped onto  WOW Air’s $99 Baltimore- Rekjavik promotion. Iceland is only 5 hours away, so it’s a great long weekend getaway if you’ve only got a few days of vacation to spare. We’re not heading out there until late September, but we have plenty of adventures lined up that you can read about in the meantime!

We’re currently browsing around for one or two more European locations to visit over the summer, and we can’t wait to share where we decide to go once we decide. What are your 2015 travel plans?

london parisSource: Wikimedia Commons

 

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