Welcomes and Introductions

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Geo: 45.3392, 14.3063

Border controls were in place when we crossed into Croatia, though scrutiny was low. Both Slovenia and Croatia are members of the European Union, but only Slovenia is part of the Euro Zone and a member of the Schengen border control regime. This necessitated the formal border crossing, and when we crossed back into Slovenia a week later -- at different entry point -- we would see the results of the Syrian migrant crisis up close.

By the time we descended down into the city of Opatija, we each had dozed for a bit. The air along the coast was much warmer than in the mountains, and with this inversion, the air was markedly hazy. It took away from some of the views as we got closer to the Adriatic, but it was still beautiful.

It was just after noon when we checked into hotel. The afternoon was ours, as we were the first of our group to arrive, and our welcome meeting was not until 6:00pm, so we walked down along the promenade and main beach area. We ate lunch outside -- temps were in the high 60's -- and thoroughly enjoyed the meal and views.

Our tour director had been in Venice to meet the others, but he called us when their bus arrived at the hotel, to confirm our arrival and make sure we knew when and where to meet. We still had no idea how large our group might be, and I think we were spoiled in Ecuador, when our tour was just over 10 people. When we heard the bus pull up, both Anna and I opened the balcony and tried to peer over and scope out our travelmates.

When we all assembled later that evening, for a welcome briefing and dinner, we found that our group was just under 40. Larger than we'd had before, but not enough to fill every seat on the bus, which was nice. Being a larger group, it took most of the week before we'd had a chance to chat or spend time with everyone else, but it was a good group. The only "children" were Anna and the 14-year-old son of another couple from Chicago. There were several empty-nester-yet-not-retired couples, a couple of solo female travelers, and the balance were couples in their 20's-40's. A little bit of everything, though everyone was from the United States. Our guide was named "Rok," was a native Slovene married to a Croat, and we could not have been happier with him. As a guide for more than 20 years, he seemed to know it all, and it certainly boded well for the upcoming tour.

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