Breakfast in Malta, lunch in Switzerland and dinner in Croatia

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Happy birthday to my niece Vasana who is 9 today!

Another travel day! Up at 6:15 to pack and get ready for the day. Taxi was due to arrive at 7 as I wanted to be at the airport at 7:15 - my flight to Geneva was due to depart at 9:15. I watched the clock count down the minutes after 7 with no taxi arriving. The lady at reception called them at my insistence and it was always "2 minutes" away. He finally arrived at 7:15 then drove like a bat outta hell ! I had been told it would only take 15 minutes to get to the airport but of course it took longer than that, even though this guy probably broke quite a few rules to get there when he did. When we pulled up at the airport, at 7:45, he jumped out of the cab, grabbed my bags and ran to the check in area with me trying my best to keep up with him! Anyway, in the end it was all good. There weren't too many people in front of me checking in so it didn't take long and I was then on my way through security and into the gates area.

My flight departed on time and then I was in Geneva, Switzerland where I had to collect my luggage and then make my way out then back in upstairs to departures. This check in line was much longer and moving very slowly. Eventually they called for passengers checking in for the flight to Split to go to another counter, so I headed there and in not too much time I had off loaded my suitcase again. By this time I was pretty hungry so headed off for something to eat. Everyone was speaking in French and of course the currency in use was Swiss Francs but luckily I could just tap my card.

Good ole EasyJet was on time again with my next flight! I have been lucky with all the cheap airline flights I've booked. This one was important though because I needed to make some connections at the other end. My plan was to get the shuttle bus from the Split airport to the ferry port - I couldn't find out a lot of info about this bus on Google so knew I was winging it a bit. I needed to make sure I could get tobthe port in time to catch the 5pm ferry to Hvar. If I missed it, I believed the next one was 5:45pm but it was the last ferry that day. So, luckily my flight landed on time at 3:30 and it didn't take too long for my bag to come out. I walked out of the airport and had a bit of fun trying to find the right bus but I eventually did. The trip to the port was about 30 minutes and once we were there, I asked the driver for directions to get the ferry to Hvar. He was most helpful and pointed me in the right direction. I got my ticket and was seated in the ferry, by the window, with 20 minutes to spare. Phew!

It was a nice trip to Hvar island on this catamaran and I arrived just after 6pm. I then got Google maps out and decided to walk the 15 minutes to my apartment. Hmmmm it was a bit hilly in parts but at least the path/road was smooth so I could push and drag my bag along. I finally arrived and called the lady who owned the apartment and she came out to meet me. Her name is Ana and she is lovely, although she doesn't speak much English. I was pretty tired by this stage and was a bit disappointed because I was surprised with booked a room with an ocean view and although this apartment was lovely, it didn't have any views. She understood what I was saying and through our limited words bit many gestures, she told me the people in the apartment with a view were moving out tomorrow and she would give me that one. All good. She had stocked the fridge with food and drinks, which was really lovely.

After settling in I decided to head out and find somewhere to eat. It is much cooler here than what I am used to. In fact I headed out just in my t-shirt but everyone else was wearing jumpers or jackets - I soon learnt why! I walked down to the bay that isn't far from my apartment and found the restaurant Ana recommended. I had some lamb chops with salad and a glass of the local red wine. It was all very delicious. The owner gave me a blanket as he could see I was cold and I still wanted to sit outside to eat. After dinner I found my way back to that apartment and had a nice relaxing night.

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