Finally, it’s time to travel again. We are both fully vaccinated and we were eager to start our adventures once again. I’ll just do a brief post for now, as we are currently in Korcula, Croatia and will be staying here for about three weeks. I’ll post more about Korcula itself maybe a week or so from now.

Let’s get started - we had originally planned to leave the U.S. on June 28th (my dad Larry’s 90th BD, by the way), but with those flights scheduled to transit through Germany, still will COVID testing protocols in place, even for the fully vaccinated, we decided to rebook for a direct flight from the U.S. to Dubrovnik on United. We knew this was a new route for United, but were surprised to see we had actually booked onto the inaugural flight, from Newark (EWR) to Dubrovnik (DBV). Not the kind of pomp & circumstance you would have seen 20 years ago, but they did try to make things a bit special for everyone.

Once we landed in Dubrovnik, we were greeted with a water salute by two fire trucks, with our plane taxiing through the spray. This was a great route to take to Croatia - a good place to start our journey - and one I would recommend. About an 8 and a half hour flight from Newark, and DBV is a very small airport still, so it really just took minutes to clear customs, etc.

After meeting our driver (and yes, we highly recommend pre-arranging transportation - at least on arrival to your first destination), we took the 15 minute ride to the Sheraton Dubrovnik, at Mlini Beach. We have been here before (see posts from 2019), and it is truly one of our favorite hotels in the world. It is not high-end at all, but most rooms have great views; the pool and the beach are fantastic; you are within walking of a grocery store and several restaurants; the staff are fabulous (as is the buffet breakfast); and there is a water taxi to several destinations, including the old walled city of Dubrovnik. I’ll post more on Dubrovnik when we return there a few weeks from now - this time we just spent one night before taking the ferry up to the islands.

Several “mega-yachts” out in the harbor - I really enjoy using Vessel Finder, and then Google to find information on the yachts, owners, etc. I don’t want to bore people, but yes, I love boats, and you will see many pictures of boats/yachts in the coming months. The largest yacht in the photo below is the M/Y Eclipse - at 538 ft, and around $700 million (one can dream, right?). Owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (who also owns Chelsea soccer team), he keeps the yacht around here for several months a year. One of the other two yachts in the photos is the M/Y Mogambo - I think 230 ft, and only around $75 million (what a deal!). Owned by another billionaire, Jan Koum, who started “What’s App”, which is huge in Europe and around the world. Oh, and with the Mogambo, was a “support vessel”, the 180 ft long Power Play - where they landed the helicopters…of course!

Enough for now. We had a good nights rest, and boarded our ferry for the 2 hour trip to Korcula. A quick stop at Mljet Island (which is an excellent day-trip from Korcula) to drop a few passengers, and then arriving in Korcula. Settled into our “home” for the next three weeks, where we will walk, swim, and relax. More on Korcula later.

Hope everyone will enjoy traveling with us on this summers adventures.

All the best from Croatia,

Tim & Eileen