Sorry for the Hiatus everyone! I’m sure everyone is devastated that we haven’t posted in a while, but they are probably going to be even more distraught to know that there isn’t a single Jacke roast in this entire blog post (probably just lost half of our readers). Anyways, we’ve been busy exploring the beautiful country of Croatia, getting lost in the culture, and unplugging from the world for a little while. I’ll keep this post short and sweet, but will revisit Croatia later with more information what to do and what we enjoyed the most over our two week visit.

One of the most popular questions we received prior to leaving for our trip around the world was “What place are you most excited for?” Neither of us could narrow it down to just one spot, but both of us had Croatia towards the top of our list. Some of the main reasons were of course the ancient towns with clay red roofs spotted along the coast, crystal clear blue waters, and natural beauty surrounding the islands/inland. The added bonus for us, is that we didn’t have to plan anything! We did a sailing week down the coast of the country with a company called Sail Croatia where we started (and ended) in Split, stopping at all the main attractions to and from Dubrovnik.

Our days were jam packed with activities from sunrise until the hours of the early morning. We did everything from cliff jumping in Makarska, to dining on on top of fortress walls overlooking the coast in Korcula, to walking the entire fortress/city walls surrounding Dubrovnik (settle down all of you Game of Thrones fans!), to biking around the most crystal clear lake we’ve ever seen in Mljet, to partying on the infamous Hvar, and to sipping wine in the hills of Stari Grad (Croatia’s oldest town). This is just a small portion of what we saw in between sailing the most gorgeous dark blue waters our eye’s had ever seen!

But if you were to ask us what our absolute favorite part our entire time in Croatia and arguably the entire trip thus far is… it’s the people!!! We get so excited about seeing all of these iconic monuments, cathedrals, museums, natural wonders, etc. that we sometimes overlook one of the main reason we love traveling the most. That is making new friends, experiencing new cultures, and creating new memories to last a lifetime. This trip did all of that and was nothing short of the PERFECT week.

You start out as strangers, but leave feeling like family. Of course this doesn’t happen overnight, but you would be surprised how quickly you grow with one another being together for a week. You find out a lot about the people you are with, but I also believe it helps you find out more about yourself. Sometimes you may be in a uncomfortable or unfamiliar situation with strangers (at the time), but it helps you open up and express yourself as a person. What’s not to love about learning about yourself, growing as an adult, and finding out more about others? Half the time on and off the boat was spent learning about other cultures and asking countless questions to each other over and over again. One second they are asking about America, but then the next we are asking about their countries’ culture and cultural differences for the same topic. It goes back and forth for hours until you realize the alcohol is gone and it’s 4 am again 🙂

Within a few days, you already start to know everyone and have a grasp on which people you connect with more than others… No, not like clicks in high school, but certain groups you may be more likely to do excursions with may vary from groups you may party with. You even become close the Sail Croatia crew members and bartenders, as they ended up hanging out with us whenever they had free time or were off the clock.

We particularly became close with another Aussie couple named Chris and Bec. It didn’t take long before they had found out we were making our way to Australia. They said we should make our way down to Melbourne, but this wouldn’t work with our schedule as we are visiting my other friend I met on a similar style tour in Europe 8 years ago! So, one day at lunch I get a “oh yea Mate, See you in Sydney. Just booked my tickets to visit you while you are in town!” (Sorry if I butchered that Chris, but I believe that’s about how it came out). We were blown away that a friend we made 4 days ago had already booked a ticket to visit us and show us around Sydney! We could hardly contain our excitement and cant wait to see one of our new favorite couples in a just a few months! It just goes to show you how special of a group of people we had on this boat, and how quickly you can become close to others if you put yourself in that environment. We fell in love with Croatia, but we mostly owe that to the new friends and family we have created this past week.

It was also quiet humorous at times to see what impressions people have of America. Some things we may think of as standard and normal, may came off as someone’s dream situation. For instance, one of the British girl’s on our boat said one of her favorite things from her visit to the States was “ohhh I got to go to a party at a university and have a drink out of one of those red cups! “ (aka red solo cup), we were laughing so hard. Another Australian on our boat thought it was the most amazing thing that Jacke was a cheerleader, and I made Jacke show her a youtube video of Jacke cheering in college. “THAT IS FASCINATING! I can’t wait to show my friends at home, we’ve only seen this in the movies!” This was just the beginning as for anyone with a little sister will know the song “I’m sexy, I’m cute, I’m popular to boot,” from Bring it on that I had to hear them sing the next few nights out. Another popular topic that everyone was fascinated by was the gun laws in America and how easy it is to obtain a weapon here. Everyone is blown away by how accessible guns are to everyone, and also not surprised by the amount of tragic shootings we have unfortunately experienced over the years due to this. The list goes on and on about the differences and what is most fascinating to them, but we preferred to spend most of our time learning about their culture and daily life instead. We hope to reconnect with a few friends of the boat and experience these cultural differences first hand in the future!

Jacke Moment *Damian version*

So typically I inform everyone about all the entertaining things Jacke has done during the week, but instead of discussing everything she did and how our entire boat shook with each echoing laugh… I’ll fill you in on my Jacke moment (your welcome, Jacke!). One of our first nights out with our new friends, we were going to a “rave cave”. You literally are in a cave overlooking the ocean with flashing lights and house music (electronic music for our followers that aren’t familiar). One of the guys asked someone else what they were wearing, “just my thongs!” So now everyone is imagining a guy from Jackass doing the party boy dance in a thong, but this is what the Aussies call flip flops. So, I decided I would rock some flip flops too. We headed out for dinner and clubbing, but someone got sleepy and you will never guess who… Jacke! So I end up walking her back to the boat….however now she wants to sit on the back of our boat and look at the ocean. I take my flip flops off and within about 60 seconds I see on of them in the water! I assumed Jacke knocked it off, but it was windy so I wasn’t sure. So I sprint across multiple boats we were tied up to, and around to the dock to try to pick it up, and a few stumbling people happen to be walking back to their boat on the pier at the same time. More out of curiosity “what are you doing?” when I replied and pointed “my thong is in the water!”.. “Should I be a hero?” as this guy is fully clothed thinking he is the next Michael Phelps is about to jump in. I quickly stop him before he jumps in and another guy helps. He volunteers to be dropped in by his feet. So he empties his pockets, and myself and another guy lowered him into the water just as my flip flop arrived! Everyone was high-fiving and celebrating like we just won the super bowl.. sooo I walked back to our boat and show Jacke that I got my flip flop 🙂 only to grab my other “thong” and what do you know…. it blew off. F it. I’m going to bed.

Takeaway from Croatia:

1. Don’t leave your thongs hanging off the back of the boat.
2. Don’t show a group of rowdy Aussies and Kiwis flippy cup unless you plan on spending countless hours playing it each night.
3. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
4. Always welcome new friends and friendships.