Ya’ll, I was able to visit my first country since moving to England. I had a four-day weekend and took advantage of the time off and spent it doing what I love doing the most...Traveling!
Starting off, travel guidelines
for Croatia weren't as intense compared to other countries. Since I am
vaccinated, all that was required was my covid vaccine card, passport, purchase
of a day-2 COVID test (for arrival back to UK), and country entry forms. Obviously
travel guidelines change every day, so I recommend visiting whatever country
you plan on visiting government's website for more updated information. I got
asked was it hard to travel to this country, and I would just say in my
opinion, being vaccinated makes traveling a lot less complicated...
Also, I took a COVID test 48 hrs prior to
departure, just so I could have proof of a negative COVID test just in case the
country didn't want to accept my CDC vaccination card.
So, my trip to Croatia was kinda last
minute. One of my friends ended up hitting me up and asked me if I wanted to
go, and I was like YESSS no questions asked. With COVID and everything, I
immediately thought to myself, “Girl, you don’t know if you’ll ever get this
opportunity again.” “Hell, COVID isn’t getting better, you might as well go.” So,
like always when traveling somewhere new, I immediately started looking up
videos of Split because I knew little about the location.
I found it very interesting
that Croatia recently experienced a civil war... recently, like within the past
20 years. I mean, when I compare it to our civil war dating back to the
mid-1800s, it was fairly recent. Pretty much after WWII, Croatia was part of 6
total republics that made up the country of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was a
socialist country, and to sum up this quick history lesson, Croatia fought for
its independence and democracy. This all happened around the late 1900s. In
some parts of Croatia, you can still see the detrimental effects of the civil
war, which is neat.
Moving on, Split sits right on the southern coast of the country. The terrain reminded me of a lot like California. You have your dry, rocky-looking mountains, and then you have the palm trees. Of course, the water was to die for and was crystal blue. However, the weather was a bit disappointing. The weather app showed an average high of 75 degrees, with sunshine until about a week before the trip. While we were there, the weather averaged about 60 degrees. The wind chill was something serious, but I didn’t care...How does that one saying go? Hoes don’t get cold? lol JKJK... But yes, I was still out there with my summer attire on because I packed nothing else and the outfits were going to get worn regardless, sunshine or not!
I ended up exchanging currency at
the airport in London before I got to Croatia because my card gets locked at
least once a week since I have recently moved to the UK. I definitely didn’t
want to worry about having to call the bank to unlock my card while in Croatia.
The currency in Croatia is called Kuna.
Unlike the UK, the US dollar is worth more and goes a long way in Croatia, but
the money goes fast if that makes sense. One Kuna is equivalent to 15 cents. I
quickly realized that I should’ve waited until I got to Croatia to exchange my
money instead of exchanging from Dollars, to Pounds, to Kuna...
Our taxi driver from the airport ended up
finessing us when taking us to the Air BnB. He ended up charging us like
300-500 Kuna per person... I can’t really remember. We ended up looking on the
Uber app and come to find out Uber was just charging 200 Kuna for the ride from
the airport in total. Uber and taxi rides added up during the duration of the
trip. We stayed on the outskirts of the city. I didn’t plan the trip, but I
recommend when traveling, figure out what activities you want to do and where
they’re primarily going to be. Then find a place to stay in the central
vicinity of everything. We were traveling frequently to the city of Split, of
course, so I undoubtedly felt like we should’ve stayed within the city. Other
than that, food for me averaged about 500-800 Kuna per meal depending on if I
get drinks too. Souvenirs, such as a shot glass, were about 40 Kuna, which was
equivalent to roughly six dollars.
Overall, no, I wouldn’t say Croatia was
very cheap. I think things were priced fairly. Food, souvenirs, and excursions
were priced about the same compared to what I would spend traveling somewhere
in the US.
Communicating with the Croats
wasn’t too bad at all. Mostly, all the locals could speak a decent amount of
English... which by the way is so crazy and mind-blowing to me... all these
different nationalities really be having to learn our language. But anyway, I
digress... They were super friendly, and I never once felt on edge and didn’t
feel like I had to constantly watch over my shoulder. They were actually really
into us lol, which is the only thing that I really found strange. But once I
sat back and put things into perspective, I don’t think the Croats really see
too many black people. While walking on the street to this little convenience
store, I kid you not about ten cars were randomly honking and yelling at us.
But it wasn’t in a hostile way. It was like they were super lit and happy to see
us! It was an experience for sure...
We
ended up celebrating my girl Z’s birthday at this very nice restaurant/
nightclub which we randomly found during the day while shopping and whatnot.
The restaurant had the best aesthetics and gave off the dopest vibes. I mean,
they had a wall of MOET that was stacked to the ceiling two stories high. I’m
pretty sure everyone in the group would agree that the place was easily giving
what it needed to. Later that night, the PR team ended up coming up to me and
after she translated for her manager who couldn’t speak English, I was told
they wanted to give us a bottle of Croatian liquor. The only catch was, in
exchange, we had to finish the bottle and, I guess, promote their business on
IG. We were literally like, “That’s it?” When I tell you they did the absolute
most that night and showed TF out! And of course, I loved it because I felt
like a whole celebrity in Croatia chile!
On
our last day, it rained the entire day, which was a bum because we had a boat
excursion scheduled for that day which was supposed to take us to three
different islands and included snorkeling and day drinking... Despite the
horrible weather, we ended up just having a spa day which in hindsight was much
needed. It was so relaxing and overall, just fit the entire mood of the
weather. After conversing with the locals, we found out we visited at the wrong
time. I was told most of the tourism occurs around the summer months. And I
mean, it makes sense to me, especially given that Croatia sits on the coast.
This
trip was full of good eats, shopping, and drinking. It was a nice getaway that
was very much needed. I feel like everything has been non-stop since moving to
the UK and this trip was definitely a break from reality. For the most part, we
had an amazing time. The food was great, and I would recommend visiting Croatia
if you ever get the opportunity. I wouldn't mind going back to Croatia to visit
a different city of the country.
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