Planes are Like Bicycles…

Flight #1: Dubrovnik to Rome.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s a breeze; kind of…

So in order to get from Dubrovnik to Sydney, it took three planes, sixteen hours of layovers, and two tired travelers.  We woke up at dawn and had our last meal in Dubrovnik ;( and then took a cab to the airport where we hopped on our first plane to Rome.

The flight was a quick one, only a little over an hour, but here’s the rough part – our layover in Rome was TEN hours!  Our initial reaction was a positive one; we’re lucky to get one more tasty meal in Rome!  Well, that quickly backfired after we stored our luggage at the airport (costing us 40 Euro). After walking around for 30 minutes looking for the Metro we discovered there wasn’t one! Nope, Rome does not have a Metro leading to the airport, only taxis and trains. A quick look at the train schedule confirmed it wasn’t an option if we wanted to make our flight (and hang out in the Luxury Lounge for a while).  Not wanting to spend the extra cash on a Taxi we concluded we’ll just check in for our flight early and eat in the airport.  Not so much… Check-ins are only allowed 4 hours prior- we had eight to go.

Thrilled with our meal selection:Mickey D's

I think it was our destiny to eat McDonald’s right out side the airport check-in, as that was our only option left.  We made the best of it though, eating and then finding a spot to sit and read until we were allowed to check-in.

The Private Luxury Lounge (admittance included in our tickets) inside the airport was more like it – plush reclining chairs, a complimentary buffet of hor d’oeruves, and a complimentary full bar.  Now this is the way to travel  On to Flight #2 – Rome to Dubai.

So sleepy after 2 flights in 20 hours!

Once we arrived in Dubai we were exhausted.  The flight was about 5 hours overnight and we were both quite restless.  We arrived in Dubai about 5:00AM where we checked-in for yet another flight and proceeded to the Lounge awaiting our 10:00AM flight.  We both ate some food then I slept while Mike got some work done.  If I could have kept my eyes open and my body moving for one more second, I would have because this Lounge was incredible.  There was a SPA and SHOE SHINER!  And no, I am not kidding!  We definitely could have spent our last 10 hour layover here, with no complaints

Our seats! Notice, the mini screen in the back? It's a touch screen REMOTE for the seat recline, movies, and more!

Our flight from Dubai to Sydney was enjoyable, relaxing, and down-right fun.  It was long, about 13.5 hours, but we could’ve been on it for days.  It was like a flying movie theatre/bar/restaurant/bedroom. We watched about 3 movies each, ate everything that came our way, slept a bit, and lounged in the private bar stationed in the back of the craft.  With the time change and travel, we arrived in Sydney around 7:30AM.

Completely exhausted we caught a cab to our hotel, Quay West Suites, located in The Rocks.  This city already looks beautiful, at least the part I can see through my heavy eyelids. We were obviously WAY early for check-in so we threw on our suits and lounged around the pool until about noon.  Ready to get out and see Sydney, we headed up to our room to change, but then we both fell asleep… for 6 hours!  Oops.

Dinner in Sydney at The Cut

Upon recommendation by the hotel’s Concierge, we dined at The Cut, a magnificently decorated steakhouse (brick walls, open piped ceiling, and butcher knives thrown into the wood as door handles). It was amazing, and we were able to check off “Get Mike an Aussie Steak” from our Sydney check-list.  It was quite a late dinner though, so we headed back to the hotel.  We aren’t quite caught up with the sleeping schedule yet (dinner felt like breakfast), but we’ll get there.

Our only Full day in Sydney tomorrow will be a busy one; lots of ground to cover.

Goodnight Mates!

Bye Bye Old Town Dubrovnik. You'll be missed!

First Flight. Hoping we make it through the day alive.

Flight #3: Dubai to Sydney. Life of Luxury.

Dual Movies. One for him, one for me.

Books, Movies, Beverages.

Opera House and Harbor Bridge. View from our balcony.

Our HUGE living room!

Kitchen and Washer and Dryer

Ready to head to The Cut for some grub

Practicing the 'self-timer' on our camera

Ending the night with Cheesecake. Goodnight all!

 

Did you miss us?

Bonj Les Bains in Hvar

Hi friends! We apologize we haven’t been able to blog our most recent travels. Between all the travel and moody internet connections, it was virtually impossible! Anyway, here’s what you’ve missed…

Talk about a caffeine high

Today was our first full day in Hvar.  We’ve been looking forward to vegging out and soaking up a few rays! The day started with the hotel’s complimentary buffet where Mike took a strong liking to the coffee; it actually wasn’t great coffee but the caffeine boost is a necessity at this point.

Just keep swimming, and squinting

After breakfast we went down to Amfora’s private beach (Bonj Les Bains) overlooking the stunning Dalmatian Coast. Catching up on our books and splashing around in the Adriatic took up most of our day. By the time our skin had enough salt water and vitamin D, it was around 3:30 and we were starving! Unbeknownst to us, restaurants on Hvar Island are closed from 3-6. Improvising, we made a pit stop at a local market where we picked up our favorite new ‘lunch’ – salami, cheese and crackers. Oh yes! And I thought this day couldn’t get any better!

We proceeded to get ready for dinner (in our provided plush and comfy hotel robes) and made the trek back into town to dine at Giaxa, which was referred to us by a friend. On the way, we noticed a Croatian band performance taking place in the main plaza in the harbor. Apparently it was Croatia’s Independence Day of sorts so they were having a mini-festival. As a result, the restaurant was dead (usually not a good sign), but the food and atmosphere were incredible.

Ahoy Matey

With full bellies and happy hearts we made our way back to the hotel, but not before Mike spotted a stranded ship ashore and insisted on a photo

We’re up early tomorrow for a ferry back to Split. Hopefully our car hasn’t been towed!

I can’t believe it was our last day in Hvar already.  I guess whoever said ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’, wasn’t kidding.  More pictures of our last day in Hvar below.

Goodnight all!

Beach Bum

Handsome Fish

On the walk to grab 'Lunch'

Playing dress up

Dinner Time

Dinner at Giaxa

Croatian Independence Day Concert

Goodbye Hvar! ;(

 

Croatian Travel via “The Crveni Lopov” (The Red Bandit)

The Red Bandit

Here we go!

So today we have a LONG travel day to take rental car/ferry/taxi  to the island of Hvar, Croatia.  We got up early to carb-up with a big breakfast, and then said goodbye to our most luxurious hotel (The Rixos, Dubrovnik -awesome!) thus far.  We rented a car for the 3.5 hour drive up the coast (a MUST for all you future Croatia-travelers), a little red sedan that we nick-named “The Red Bandit” (or in the native tongue, The Crveni Lopov). The drive was spectacular, with sweeping views of the Adriatic Sea, the patchwork-landscaped farmlands, and the rocky, mountainous countryside. I’m not sure if it was my jerky steering or the winding roads, but Samantha turned a little green in the gills at several points during the drive. Luckily the bottled water and spicy-Croatian Pringles we picked up at the local gas station quelled her road-ailments.

Top Deck of the Ferry to Hvar

We arrived at the city of Split (the transfer city for the ferry) just in time and parked our car in a somewhat questionable spot (let’s hope it hasn’t been towed yet), only to receive some deflating news: our 2pm ferry was cancelled due to a fast-approaching storm. Bummer! We decided to tough it out and catch the 2:30pm car-ferry so we could arrive in Hvar at a reasonable hour (3pm).  Little did we know the car ferry took 2x’s as long, so we didn’t arrive in Hvar until 5:30pm (tired, famished, and, in Samantha’s case, slightly seasick).  After negotiating an above-market rate for a short cab ride from the port, we checked into the beautiful Amfora Hotel, which is located just 10-minutes on foot from downtown Hvar.  The hotel is AMAZING – a junior suite with private balcony, top floor view of the entire Dalmatian Coast, and private beach with spa/pool/gym/breakfast included.

On our way to dinner...

We walked into town for a light dinner when, halfway into our appetizer, it started raining outside. Sam, looking quite fashionable but not appropriately dressed for a torrential downpour, was promptly equipped with my hoodie and sandals for the walk back (her shoes would’ve been ruined).  I still enjoyed the 10-minute walk back to the Amfora hotel barefoot and in a t-shirt (that is, until a wood-splinter stabbed me in the foot). What a fun conclusion to an exciting day!

Tomorrow we both look forward to a little slow-motion action:  basking in the Croatian sun beams and giggle-splashing in the waves of the Adriatic Sea. But not before I take the tweezers to pull this twig out of my foot. Yay! Nighty night!

Driving along. Uh oh... the Storm is coming in!

"Love FM" was preset!

Driving through Dubrovnik...

...heading toward Split!

We drove through many tunnels

Passing Bosnia Border

Car Ferry!

The View of Split

Trying to shield the wind

Ferry Ride!

Car Rental to Delayed Ferry to Bus to Amfora

From our Balcony

On the way to dinner in town!

 

It’s Official…

Paradise, aka Rixos Libertas Hotel

Yup, that happened

 

…. We’re never leaving (gotcha, huh?)!  We had no idea what to expect upon choosing Croatia in our itinerary, but we sure are glad we did, especially this hotel.

So today is our first full day in Dubrovnik.  We are staying right outside of old town (about a 15 minute walk) and because we love our hotel so much we decided to have a relax at the hotel day!  It was a perfect day to enjoy the sun and amazing views our hotel location had to offer.  After a late breakfast, we hit the gym to sweat out all the pasta, wine and cheese we’ve been consuming the last week or so.  Then it was straight to the water!  We walked down to the hotel’s private ‘beach area’ which is more like a dock and jumped straight in; taking pride in the cool new underwater Mike purchased The weather could not have been more fitting for our day!

Enjoying our balcony, Corona commercial style

Because we have a balcony worth being jealous over, we decided to use it in all of it’s glory.  We sat there for probably 3 hours soaking in the sun, beer in hand.

Forcing ourselves to leave the room we went to the Terrace for a small snack before showering up for dinner in Old Town Dubrovnik.  This was the first time we’ve walked into the town and it is sure beautiful!

Old Town Dubrovnik

 

 

The Streets are so clean and shiny we were joking they probably spit shine them!  We walked through a few cobblestone alleyways before finding a spot to eat nestled away on the skirts of Old Town.  After some amazing lasagna and tuna gnocchi, we started the trek back to our hotel, but not before stopping for some delicious ice cream!

We honestly could not have asked for a better day!  Another transportation day tomorrow to Hvar Island; we’ve heard they are expecting a thunderstorm… stay tuned!

More photos from our lazy Croatia day below:

 

Before the jump...

After the jump...

Mike about to take flight

 

Heading to dinner

Oh this bottle... why not?

Caught red handed - cheesiest lasagna ever!

Goodnight streets of Dubrovnik... we'll be back!

 

3 Flights Later and We’ve Arrived in Heaven

From our room!

Boarding another plane with special guest - Sombrero man

I think I’ve conquered my fear of flying… well almost.  Today we took three flights in order to reach our final destination – Dubrovnik, Croatia!  We are here and this place is a dream come true.  Our hotel is to die-for! Our balcony overlooks the town and is right on the water.  We even have a motorized television that comes up from the bed mantel.  We honestly may never leave.

After arriving, we relaxed at our hotel’s bar and terrace where Mike discovered Ozujsko – his new favorite beer.  Then we showered up for dinner and walked a few short minutes to a fun little spot and now we’re calling it a night.  Tomorrow’s agenda – Swimming and Old Town Dubrovnik (and the gym!).  Until then, here’s our day in pictures -

Arriving at FCO Airport (in Rome) at 8 AM and after a 60 Euro Taxi ride - Yikes!

Airport Food

Croatian Snacks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rising TV

A Very Happy-Hour at our Hotel

Walking (up the stairs) to dinner

View of our hotel from dinner

Goodnight all!!