Day 98 - BACK HOME

This morning I said bye to Julia at 7am and slept for a little longer. At 9am I left for the airport myself where I met Tanya at the gate. On the plane to London we both met some lovely old couples who were very friendly and interested in our travels. We told them about all our experiences, it was a nice way for us to reflect on all the great things we got to see and do in the past 3 months. It's been an amazing journey and we've both learned a whole lot. Neither of us can wait to embark on our next journeys. We've made so many amazing new friends all around the world that we look forward to visiting (and them visiting us). Traveling for so long has made us grow fonder of our homes. Canada is such a great place to live and everybody knows it. Everywhere we went people ranted about how much they love Canadians. We also missed our families and our friends, our beds and home cooked meals. We've also spent a lot of money so it's going to be really nice to start working and having some income. I want to thank everyone who actually followed this blog, it kept us going! It wasn't always easy keeping up with the writing but we are so happy we did it. Such a great thing to look back at when we are older! With that being said, thanks again! I hope everyone gets to travel like we did and like we will continue doing. Real knowledge lies in experiences, not always in books (but books as well lol). I'll end off with a great quote that was written on the back of a bookmark that my dear friend Adj gave me before I left... 

"Its not down in any map, true places never are"

:) till next time ...

Day 97 - Venice

Our bus to Venice left at 5:40am so we were up quite early. Still so tired I dozed off for most of the journey. We arrived around 11. Tanya headed deep into the town where she was staying at a hostel. Me and Julia were staying off of Venice island, closer to the airport. We were too tired to do very much site seeing. We left our bags in a locker while we explored for a bit and mostly stuffed or faces with the foods that we will very much miss such as pizza, pasta, croissants, pastries, gelato, and whip cream (?). When we were too full to move we took a bus to our hotel and went to bed early. The next morning we were all hopping on our flights back to Canada! It's time to go home!

Day 96 - rovinJ

The original plan was to head to Venice today but we were too tired to commute let alone site see. So we stayed in rovinj for an extra night with Julia and her boyfriend. We had lunch and bought our bus tickets for the next day. We also had some much needed rest at our apartments in rovinj. We all went out for dinner later that night at a surprisingly good restaurant. We all agreed that our meals were very very tasty. While we ate we witnessed crazy lightning happening around us, and before we were able to leave it started pouring. Luckily we were under a tent. We were trapped for a while as the strong winds blew and the thunder crackled above us. When it finally let up just a little we sprinted home, still arriving quite drenched. 

Day 95 - bye bye :(

The festival was still going on today but all the big acts were done, so it was just a relaxing day. We all went for some grub and then went to sit by the beach. Later on we met up with the swedes again and enjoyed some cool down tunes at the pool stage. Eventually we all said our sad farewells and see you laters and then headed home for some much needed rest.

Day 94 - TGIF

Last big day of the festival. We got some food and then headed to the beach/pool area. Relaxed most of the day and then joined in a powder  paint fight before heading home to shower. We headed out for our last night with our new friends and enjoyed the sounds of jon hopkins, tod tejre, disclosure, John talabot, Julio bash more, and joy Orbison. Such a bitter sweet feeling for it all to be over. 

Day 92 - Are you looking for your friends?

Today I went for a refreshing swim and afterwards again we enjoyed some great music by the pool during the day and saw some of our favorite artists at night. The festival has a great layout with really neat stages. We met some really cool Swedish dudes later on who we became great friends with! This was probably my absolute favorite night, got to see a dj set by TEED followed by Tiga, Dixon, and Ame. One of the best things about the location of the festival is that it provided the perfect and most magical view of the sunset, so every night we got to enjoy a really nice one. 

Day 91 - Hurricane Jesse

This morning we went into the beautiful city of Rovinj for lunch. A picture perfect little town with narrow streets and breathtaking flower covered balconies. When we got back to the festival we got to see some artist we were all looking forward to, including Jesse Ware, Totally enormous extinct dinosaurs, George Fitzgerald, scuba and more. Shortly after jessie ware (the first  act) the rain started to come down really hard. It got so bad that we had to head back to the hotel. We were stuck in our room for almost three hours while we watched the monsoon happening outside. We couldnt help but feel bad for all the people who were camping, their tents being swept away by the rain. After the rain calmed down we went back outside to enjoy the rest of the night; stomping and dancing around in the mud. We all had all kinds of fun and manage to make friends with some of the more normal Brits. 

Day 90 - Into the ~*UNKNOWN*~

We caught a catamaran at 6am and by 10am we arrived in Rijeka. From here we were meant to take a bus to Rovinj where we were going to attend a 5 day music festival; Called Unknown. The bus was full so instead we made some we friends and together we all split a cab to the festival. We were all very excited to finally arrive! When we got there we had to wait in some lines for our festival wristbands and our accommodation. We were staying in a hotel on site with some more friends who were arriving later that night. Our good friend Ryan, from home, and Julia's boyfriend Zach arrived later on and increased the size of our crew. The first night of the festival we adjusted to the lay out of the whole place and got settled into our hotel. The venue was in a great location, just 10 minutes from the city of Rovinj and right beside the sea. Most of the people at the festival were British, similar to the crazy ones we had met in Ibiza; very loud and chaotic and ready to party beyond belief haha. A great place for people watching. 

Day 89 - last day on Losinj

We thought today was going to be a rainy write off but fortunately this wasn't the case! Happy to squeeze in one more day of sun me and Julia headed to the beach one final time; this time the closer beach. We went for a swim and tanned a bit more. We sat right by an ant hill and spent a lot of time observing their actions. We shared some of our pastries with them and watched them get all crazy excited about it. Seems funny but they were actually quite cute. After the beach we headed back to the apartment to change and then all three of us went out for pizza to a restaurant recommended by my brother; very delicious. After dinner we went back home to clean up and pack and get ready for our early catamaran the next day.  

Day 88 - same same

See day 87. 

Day 87 - beachin it

Today poor Tanya stayed home to take care of her battle wound, while me and Julia hit the beach. We are aware that there are probably very few of these beautiful warm sunny days left and we plan on making the most them. Not much to say... We walked to the same farther beach and sniped some beach chairs (owned by one of the hotels). Rotated all day between sun tanning and swimming.

Day 86 - the jellyfish strikes again!

We woke up fairly early today excited to embark on our day trip! Our ship set sail at 10am. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the view of the open sea and various small islands. Our first stop was Susak, a very small island covered in sand in the north of the warm Adriatic. There are no roads on this island and less than 200 inhabitants... So you can imagine how small it is. We tried to take a walk into town but it was so  deserted that we decided to head to the beach instead. Whilst swimming we noticed a few disoriented jellyfish swimming around. We poked at them with some sticks and I yelled at them about my sting. Soon after we went back to the ship where lunch was being offered. We were treated with very delicious white grilled fish, refreshing cabbage salad, and local wine. Our next stop was island ilovik, located just south of Mali Losinj. We just went straight to a pebbly beach this time and began snorkeling. Tanya stayed in a bit longer than Julia and I and at one point she popped her head out complaining about something biting her lip. Unfortunately, it turned out that the jellyfish striked once again. Within half an hour a part of Tanya's lip swelled up and was very discomforting. The crew on the ship were very helpful and gave her some vinegar to put on her lip. When we got back to shore she went to a pharmacy and got some ointment for it. When we got back to the house we ate all the food we had left and passed out before 9 pm. Long day in the sun! (We're not kidding when we call ourselves grandmas) 

Day 85 - summer lovin

We started our morning off with a bomb breakfast ... mushroom, zucchini, onion, tomato, feta cheese omelette. We then went and checked out the main part of the town and sat down for some cappuccinos. Then we walked a bit farther past the centre to the beaches. We spent the next few hours swimming in the refreshing water and soaking up the last bit of the summer sun. Later in the evening we took a break from cooking and stepped out for dinner. The town looked really nice at night, everything was lit up and caused beautiful reflections in the water. On our way home we passed by a pirate ship that offered daily tours to neighboring islands. We eagerly signed up and went home to prepare for our adventure the next day! 

Day 84 - Mali Losinj

 

Our Wednesday started at the crack of dawn. We woke up early to pack and caught a cab that took us to the bus station. We caught an early bus out of Zagreb to Mali Losinj, a small island about five hours away. Our commute wasn't too bad. We packed lots of snacks for the road. More than anything, we were just excited to be on a beach again! Once we got to our destination, we were right away introduced to the beautiful Croatian waters. We dropped our stuff at the flat, got acquainted with our home for the next six days and then headed straight to the beach. I snorkelled while Anya and Julia swam and tanned. We relaxed for a couple hours then bought some groceries and made a chicken Greek salad for dinner. The view from our balcony overlooks the sea and mountains; we spent the rest of the night admiring the view and drinking some local Croatian wine on our lovely balcony.

Day 83 - neeeeigh

Today was a bit of a fail. We walked for an hour in the heat to a 'nearby' stable in hopes of embarking in some equestrian horseback riding. Unfortunately this wasn't possible without a reservation so we petted the horses and walked an hour back to the the apartment. Stopped at our phone provider on the way home to fix some Internet problems I was having. When we got home everything was better as we were greeted by my grandmas home cooking! She came over to make us dinner; hot soup, rice, cutlets, salad, and lots of crepes; accompanied by my aunts home made jam. We ate like kings and then said goodbye to grandma Mira :(. I was so sad to see her leave but I promised her more frequent Skype calls. (She laughed at us because apparently she doesn't even go to sleep as early as we do). 

Day 82 - arrival of the third stooge

This morning we were delightfully awakened by the arrival of Julia, who is going to be joining us for the last few weeks of our trip! She had just completed a long 20 hour journey from Italy so she was quite tired. We enjoyed the morning catching up on each others travels and then headed out to do some shopping. We hit up a mall nearby and then went downtown where we had some drinks followed by dinner. Once again we headed home early for tv and rest. 

Day 81 - more fam jam

Today we went back to my great aunts place for lunch. Once again it was amazingly delicious. We had a white fish with salad and an American style apple pie for dessert. Shortly after lunch my aunt, Mila, drove us to her family office where they keep two adorable dogs that they found as babies, Raffy and Leo. Of course now they're fully grown but still as playful as ever; one is a bit more shy while the other one is mad for attention. Once we were all tired out from playing with the dogs we said goodbye and headed to a small town called Samobor, known for a specific delicious Croatian cake called Cremsnita. We had some of those, took a walk in the park and then headed back home. We haven't been doing very much in the evenings lately because we are just overall exhausted from our whole trip. So we've been enjoying our nights staying in, watching tv, playing cards, and going to bed early.

 

Day 80 - at the ZOO

 

Today was a fun filled day. Anya and myself met up with our friend Osaka once again and spent the day at the Zagreb zoo. Upon entering the zoo, there was a gorgeous park with a pond. We brought some leftover bread and fed the ducks and swans, admired the greenery surrounding us and then headed in. The first exhibit showed different types of birds: pelicans, ostriches, emu's, owls, and the like. We then saw the beautiful lions and panthers. I myself did not appreciate how small the area was for these gorgeous felines. Having seen this, I was a little turned off from the zoo but decided to make the most of the day and saw the rest of the smaller animals. We spent the next few hours exploring the other exhibits and took tons of pictures. We then went back to the park and relaxed with a cold treat. The weather was absolutely perfect...sunny but not too hot. Anya was very tired so she headed home while I went downtown and spent the next couple of hours at a local museum. Our evening was a very quiet one. I made my famous baked vegetables and pork chops for dinner, which turned out quite delicious! We decided to be grandmas and spent the rest of the evening watching Twilight and historically laughing at how entertainingly stupid of a movie it is. A Saturday filled with amazing animals, a little sight-seeing, an appetizing dinner and a comedic movie is the perfect kind of Saturday for us at this point in our journey.