What's the Hardest Part of Traveling in Europe?

woo hey guys sorry for the delay between posts! We've been in Croatia since last Saturday, and the internet in this whole country is super wonky. Or at least, it has been in the places we've been staying. But never mind that now lets pick up right where we left off, Barcelooooona

We got down to the beach, and apparently Sant Joan Festival is just Spanish for beach rave.

We walked up and down the beach, drinking and listening to deep house playing at the various beach bars. I got a burger from a pop-up shop, but accidentally got some random drunk Spanish girl all over it.

and then, after absolutely 0 sleep (no seriously, 0 sleep), a 7am flight to Croatia! and then a 2 hour drive to Novalja for Hideout music festival hooo boy here we go.

we got an adorable little apartment with a cute balcony, where we chilled for about two seconds contemplating the possibility of trying to sleep, before the inevitable decision was made to go out and get drinks on the beach.

We got this really sweet lanyard that had the whole festival lineup on it and a map and everything, and I was really excited about it at first. Then I asked Grace why she was walking 5 feet behind me and she said "because you look like a Freshman".

This is me realizing that no one else in the town was wearing their lanyards :/

This was our local beach bar, where we would come every day when we woke up to kill our hangovers with cheap drinks and refreshing dips in the ocean.

We were so so SO excited to see Dan, who's first set was on Sunday night, so after a brief dinner and a couple shots of Jager (now it's a party) it was off to the festival! Grace made me leave my lanyard at home.

Dan played a great set on Sunday, and an even better one on Monday. The Brits loved it. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? the ENTIRE CROWD WAS BRITISH.

I didn't realize that British tourists have a reputation in Europe. Did you? It's true. They're, like, really terrible. they're loud and scary and tacky and drunk SO DRUNK you guys just...the drunkest people I've ever seen.

Also, all the British men wear man purses. Just SO MANY man purses a SEA of man purses. I really don't get it.

Nevertheless, we didn't let the obnoxious Brits nor their questionable fashion decisions harsh our vibe, and enjoyed Hideout to its fullest potential. Hideout itself was a funny little festival. It was fun, and it was crowded (thank goodness for artist wristbands) and it was a little janky. Like, the little things stuck out as janky. Like the fact that everyone there was doing nitrous balloons. They were actually selling them at the bar for 40 kunas per balloon (like 5 dollars). Weird, right? Also things like this

This is how you get into the festival. A bus drops you off in this parking lot, and then you walk down some steps and oh hi you're in the festival now. No security, no one checking wrist bands or doing pat downs, no line....weird, right?

These are our (American!) friends we met on the first day, Garret Kyle and Matt. We met them at McDarko's, a kebab knockoff of McDonalds. Actually, McDarko's was quite terrible and disappointing. Not unlike McDonalds. But they were super awesome and we hung out for the whole week, which was great fun.

It was 5 straight days, which honestly started to blur together a little by the end, so here's a montage of some of the highlights wooo montaage

After the festival was over we had one more day left in the town to relax and decompress. We decided to rent a paddleboat which turned out to be the best idea ever. Pro-tip: paddleboats are awesome.

See? Awesome.

The next day we rented a car and began our slow but steady journey down the coast. This is our beautiful Skoda isn't it lovely?

There was only one problem

IT'S STICK. So, I can drive stick. Technically. I mean, I was a valet for like 18 months (10 years ago) and totally parked like 3 stickshift cars. So that qualifies me to drive one 300 miles down a winding coastal road in Croatia, right? I can totally do this.

Turns out yes I can. Fun fact: when you accidentally downshift a car from 4th to 1st it makes a sound like it's going to explode

We needed to detox from five straight days of partying, so our first stop was Krka National Park just down the coast. It's a waterfall park with really pretty hikes and most importantly, big natural lakes you can swim in.

The swimming part was super necessary because it was 85 degrees and we were hungover.

we went on a hike around the bottom of the park, and Grace took a lot of pictures.

Like, a LOT of pictures.

Like, wat

At some point it stopped really even making sense.

After Krka we continued on down the coast to Split, one of the largest and most touristy cities in Croatia. It was really pretty, but also crowded and loud and British, so we tried to venture off the beaten path as much as possible.

Great seafood, though.

Grace was pleased with the ocean's sacrifice

After a day in Split, it was back into the car and down the coast to Dubrovnik, which we opted to do via the scenic route along the coast.

It was a very pretty, scenic drive.

with lots of stops to take pictures, of course.

Oh, also, these. These are prosciutto chips and they are super addicting, and completely essential for any road trip. The Hobnoblin was pleased and accepted them as tribute.

Just before Dubrovnik there's a small town called Mali-Ston which is hailed as the "oyster capital of Croatia". Obviously we needed to investigate this for ourselves. We found a quaint little shack that was selling oysters on the half shell, and decided we'd better eat 34 of them, just to, you know, make sure they were awesome. They were awesome.

After a day of driving, sight-seeing, and oysters, we arrived in Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is an amazing city, with lots of history and culture. We definitely clicked with this city more than Split, which felt a too touristy for our tastes.

Grace found ways to entertain herself at lunch.

At night, we would walk around old town for dinner, drinks, and people-watching. Old town is a walled city center with lots of restaurants and bars inside. We only really went at night, because it was so swelteringly hot during the day that there was really only one thing to do.

Swimming!! Island hopping and so much swimming!

I tried to impress the locals with my patented running man cliff jump move, but everyone just thought it was kind of weird.

It turns out that Grace loves snorkeling. She had never been before, and when she tried it she was instantly hooked and spent the next 45 minutes puttering around like a little blonde submarine.