Why Croatia?

In our day to day chaos (which is - and I'm not over exaggerating here - substantial) I forget that our big vacation is right around the corner.  Every now and then when it comes up in conversation, I've discovered that people have a similar reaction to our plans to visit Croatia as they had when we were planning to go to Africa.  Which is to say largely noncommittal and just this side of tactless.  Things like, "Croatia!  Oh!...why?  I mean, what made you decide to go there?  I mean,...why?"

Reason #1: The Adriatic and the architecture

In the past few years we have been very lucky to see some exotic places.  We knew we were in a unique position to knock off some big locations and we tried to be as strategic as possible in going to (1) Africa, and (2) Asia.  In the months before making my big career change, we brainstormed one more big vacation.  At first, it was going to be Alaska, until we realized that the "best" time for us to go would be the beginning of the fall semester, and I was hoping to be teaching at that point (yayayayay!).

Reason #2: Roman Ruins

So we thought.

And thought.

Japan?  If we go there we want to see the cherry blossoms and they bloom when I'm in school, so that's out.  Australia?  We would need two weeks off at a minimum, and that's not doable right now.  Plus, another super duper extremely long international flight?  No thanks.  My knees and neck are still recovering from last summer.  Then we thought about Europe.  Not just Europe - what about Eastern Europe?  Russia?  Not enough time.

Reason #3:  The nude beaches!  (I kid.)  (But yeah, they're nude.)

That's when we both started to recall every cool picture we've ever seen about Croatia.  It's beautiful and temperate and inexpensive and thriving in the time period we would be able to visit.  We could bookend the trip with Germany.  It was within the budget for one last (hopefully second-or-third-to-last) vacation hoorah.

Done and done.

Then we started researching it and realized that it has a ton of in-tact Roman ruins, including a fully functional Colosseum that still hosts concerts and performances.  We picked some deluxe hotels.  We decided to opt out of private cars or rental cars; we are gonna bus it across the country.

And it's only a few weeks away!

Need I say more?

Get ready, Croatia!  Cuz here we come!