http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AndyMac/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from AndyMac en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:39:04 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:39:04 +0000 Thank God I smoke and drink otherwise I donrsquot know how the Hell Irsquod make it through most of my nights or to be more precise my evenings. Here I am in Slavonski Brod and I wonrsquot lie Irsquom not entirely impressed. In fact this is the first and only city in Croatia where nothing has wowed me right off the bat. Irsquom noticing the dirt the rundownness the holes in th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/blog-452657.html Read this article on EuropeUpClose at httpwww.europeupclose.comavisittofinlandssantaclausvillageIf yoursquore anything like me single with no young kids and not 10 years old myself then you might share my reluctance to admit any great excitement for Christmas. Therersquos something embarrassing about feeling giddy at the first sign of peppermint and people look at you like yo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Lapland/Rovaniemi/blog-455837.html Day 1 OmisPax for dinner 19 bbqIf we ever start selling rafting again ... It's important to collect rafting money the night we arrive in Omis before Neno arrives because I didn't collect it until the morning before we were about to leave and four girls backed out at the last minute which was a problem for Neno because he had hired an extra boat and skipper and we didn't end up needing th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452703.html CheckinPax checked in 13Two pax didn't show up. We waited until about 230 for them and I left a message with my mobile number on their phone. Dan Toebosch sent me an email saying they had missed their flight from London and would call me when they got to Croatia but I never heard from them. Which is a real shame because they were 19year old American boys and I wanted to see them go crazy in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452702.html I know it's only until June 16 that we're doing the free dinner on the first night but it was a shame to miss out on the picnic in Hvar. Pax love it it allows us to do something special for them and it's a good moneymaker for us. If it's possible to get some leeway on when the boat does the free dinner so that we can still do the picnic that would be great.But we made do anyway we brought bo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452701.html Day 1 SplitNumber of pax for dinner 12 free dinner on boatThe waves were so strong that we couldn't leave Split today. But we had a good day nonetheless we walked up to Marjan hill and had about a 3hr hike. That night Rato at Red Room was absolutely fantastic his bar was booked for a private function so he went to the other bars nearby to organize deals and make sure we were taken care o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452698.html Day 1 SipanNumber of pax for dinner 24 bbq on boatThe crew had not planned a bbq that night but I asked them to do one as I think it's a nice thing to do in little Sipan. The crew on the Javorak are great and not moneygrubbers at all so they rarely ever offer anything that involves money unless asked.We had just dropped anchor for our swim stop about 10 minutes away from the lovely little http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452697.html Day 1 Baska Voda Number of pax for dinner So there we were en route to good old Hvar when the waves picked up and rerouted us. Captain Zvone said not to worry we'd head to Makarska instead but the clouds started moving in even more and we had to make an emergency landing docking in Nowheresville Baska Voda. The rain was torrential and after 20 seconds of being out in it we were a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452694.html Day 1 OmisPax for dinner 22 BBQ onboardEveryone was thoroughly bonded by the time we even reached our first swimming stop and I knew this would be a great group. When we arrived in Omis I decided to postpone the fort walk until the next morning in order to bring Monica's group up too they were late arriving in Omis and Monica couldn't bring them herself with her hurt leg. So we all went http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452693.html Checkin Pretty funny actually. Our little Istok is the tiniest boat on the Adriatic so people are a bit weary of it as it is. Add to that the fact that we were docked at a brokendown underconstruction part of the port and the pax had to walk across gravel and pipes and glass shards to get there... the closer they came to the boat the more you could see them start to rue the day they opted http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452691.html Number of pax 22 20 girls under 23 ... It was quite the spectacleLilo count are we still doing this seeing as they all blow away I don't think we had any left but some pax bought lilos along the way so we had 2 onboard by the end.Checkin all good.Day 1 OmisNumber of pax for dinner 22 bbq onboardDay 4 of my nondrinking stint and I was feeling great but it clearly couldn't go on an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452684.html Day 1 SipanNumber of pax for dinner 14 onboard bbqI love Sipan enough on a normal day but this day was The Most Spectacular of all Not only did I have one of my favourite pax ever with me very nice girl named Peta from South Africa but it was also lovely evening weatherwise. We were strolling around town playing on seesaws and then from behind a car came a cat meowing in distress. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452680.html Checkin pretty funny. I had 6 girls whom I expected to be total Princess pains in my neck because when they first saw the little Istok they were appalled. I promised them during my welcome speech that they would love the boat by the end of the tour but they didn't believe me. Sure enough by the end of the week they all wanted to chain themselves to a railing so they didn''t have to leave. T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452679.html Checkin everything that could go wrong did. I was late coming back from Mostar and I got around 10 phone calls en route back to Split from the Katarina Lines girls they couldn't get in touch with Simon because he had started his holiday already and his phone was off. One pax had booked with friends but wasn't on the same boat as them their fault another pax had the same problem travel ag http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452678.html Here is my tour report for my Gong Show week. I am forever indebted to the lovely Zile waiter on the Providnost for keeping me company when all around me were drunk.SplitSplit 150809 AM ProvidnostNumber of pax 14Checkin Fine except that about an hour before the pax were set to arrive I found out that Tonci waiter on the Javorak and one of my closest friends out here Tracey will rememb http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452675.html Here is my tour report for the August 22 SplitDubrovnik tour on the very best boat in Croatia the Istok.Checkin Odlicno 'excellent' in Croatian. And I was pleased to find out that not only was group very nice and downtoearth but one of the girls was the fashion editor for GQ Magazine so I knew there were some fantastic outfits aheadDay 1 OmisNumber of pax for dinner 14 bbq onboardAn http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452674.html Checkin Excellent particularly because there were many lost pax making their way onto the Ika who were supposed to be on the Istok and I was more than happy to escort them over there so I could flirt with the lovely new cookie Nikola.Day 1 Mljet PolaceNumber of pax for dinner 22 bbqWe had a nice sail into Polace lots of beers and friendmaking and a very nice swim stop. Our bbq was a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452673.html Day 1 HvarNumber of pax for dinner 26 free dinnerWe had quite the dramatic start to our tour. As soon as we pulled into Hvar one of my girls had a diabetic fit in her bed. Her friend is a nurse and was trying to help her but the girl had gone into a hypocoma and was writhing and screaming even though she was unconscious. It was pretty crazy to watch I phoned 112 and the ambulance arrived http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-452670.html We finally extricated ourselves from Sarajevo ... yay Last night I had the worst sleep ever. I couldnrsquot swallow because my glands were so swollen I had heartburn and I couldnrsquot stop coughing. I knew I was keeping Mike away and tried to do anything I could to stop I ended up sitting upright propped up with a pillow against the wall sucking on a candy cane hoping the mint would soo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/South/Nis/blog-452668.html It really blows my mind to think that itrsquos only been one week since I left Pula Seems like forever ago So last night turned out to be pretty fun. Mike and I walked around for two hours trying to find the Bohemian Quarter Skadarska Street walking in circles the entire time and never finding it and finally settled on pizza slices down the street from the hostel. Travelling with Mike mi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/North/Novi-Sad/blog-452666.html