Travel to Croatia

May 9-10, 2009

My friend, Dave Kildahl, took me to the Minneapolis airport mid-morning. I checked in and had lots of time before my flight, so I spent it in the Northwest lounge. I didn't know how much Internet access I would have (turns out lots!), so I read all my mail, sent some tweets, and got all caught up on RSS feeds.The flight to Amsterdam boarded at 2:30 and left on time. I was seating in coach, so it wasn't roomy. I had window seat, hoping to do some sightseeing over Canada and Europe, but it was cloudy for most of the way. We headed towards Thunder Bay, then north of Quebec City, then over Newfoundland, and out over the north Atlantic. Towards morning, we flew over northern Ireland, then northern England, before landing 15 minutes early in Amsterdam. Since I had four hours before my connecting flight, I let those in a hurry depart the airplane before me.

My next stop was the KLM exectutive lounge, since I had access through my Delta Crown Room (now Sky Club) membership. Ah, the perks of accumulating so many frequent flyer points. This was a very nice lounge. It was large, well lighted with comfortable seating, lots of power plugs, and quite quiet. In Amsterdam, you go to "Transfer Stations" to check into your connecting flight and get your boarding passes. But the agent next to the Croatia Air desk said, "They never come here, so jut go to the gate." Which I did. It was somewhat crowded, but I got my boarding passes to Zagreb and Dubrovnik, then went through the security scanner.

The flight from Amsterdam to Zagreb went right over Frankfurt and Munich, which were visible from the air. Then we flew over the Alps and decended into Zagreb. Took about 1.5 hours on an A320 airplane. They served a nice turkey sandwich lunch with Croatian wine. The airport in Zagreb wasn't much. Transportation to the terminal was by bus. This is where I went through passport control, with no questions. Just a stamp. Then I waited for the security screening station to open, prior to my next flight. When they say "boarding" over here, they mean the security check stations open. No long waiting at the boarding gate and very few seats. The flight to Dubrovnik was quick, also on an A320 airplane.

As we approached the Dubrovnik airport (actually some 30 KM south of Dubrovnik), we flew in low right over my hotel. It looked just like the images on Google Earth! Upon landing, I was met by a driver from the hotel. Along with six others, we rode to the hotel - 8 minutes. Check in was easy and the room was nice. It was about 3:30 p.m. local time and I tried to take a nap. Nope. So I walked down to the little town of Cavtat (KOF-tat) to check it out. The Hotel Croatia is actually in Caftat, not Dubrovnik. I got some $$ out of the bank machine and walked around the town. It is not big - about three square blocks all total. The day was very pleasant and the crowds were not bad. It looked like most were familys out for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Lots of baby carriages. Although I wasn't hungry hungry, I had a beer and Pizza al Mare, with shrimp, mussels, and anchoves. Yum. After a beautiful sunset over the Adriatic Sea, I walked back to the hotel. I went down to the lobby, logged onto the Internet, and read my mail and sent a Tweet. By 9 a.m. I was starting to fade, so sleep came fast. I had a restful night.

More photos on Picasa.