#SplitHappens - part 11. We had heard that Croatia had good wines, and decided to tour the wine regions. It didn’t take long before we were disabused of the notion that Croatia’s wine country would be anything like Italy’s Chianti Road. This was before iPhones, so we were relying on a printed version of directions we downloaded from Google Maps. More than once I just threw up my hands when the directions said “Go straight for 43.3 km. Turn left.” That’s all. Turn left. #TravelTuesday
#SplitHappens - part 15. Imagine growing up in a place where it is normal to practice soccer after school in the shadow of a 500-year old castle on a green that used to be the castle moat. Svetvincenat was the closest “big town” during our month in Istria. September 2012. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
#SplitHappens - part 16. During our month in Istria, we never knew what the day would bring. We came to learn that Saturdays meant weddings. We went to the little beach town of Fazana for a sunset stroll and dinner, and caught this couple parading through the center of the town with their whole entourage to the water's edge. We then watched as they gathered on a rock jetty and drank champagne while they waited for the sun to set. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
#SplitHappens - part 18. The best part about our month in Istria was the easy access to the rest of the peninsula. Within a half hour, we could reach two beautiful harbor towns, Rovinj and Pula, a peaceful fjord, and a smaller fishing village, Fazana. A little further up the road to the north was another historical harbor town, Poreč (formerly known as Parentium - how cool is that?), and picturesque ancient hill towns of the interior. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
#SplitHappens - part 20. At day 60 of our Magical Mystery Tour, we left Istria to return to Croatia’s mainland, and it just kept getting better. We took the ferry over to the islands of Kres-Losinj and enjoyed perhaps the most dramatically beautiful coastal drive I'd ever seen. (Well, when I didn't have my eyes squeezed shut, that is!) Mali Losinj is a fishing village which combined medieval cobblestone streets with a laid-back Keys feeling. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
#SplitHappens - part 21. We spent 9 days exploring the clear, clean water of Mljet Island’s two interior lakes, thick forests, and heartbreakingly beautiful views. The western end of the island is a national park which contains about five little villages, each more quaint than the next. We stayed in one of the apartments rented out by islanders which offered home-cooked meals from the abundant local seafood, caught that day. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
#SplitHappens - part 22. It is a miracle that we ever heard about Mljet. The owner of our favorite beach bar in Split recommended it as his favorite place to travel in Croatia. We would never have made it if we had listened to that guy with two first names who said: "Many Croatians rave about Mljet. Take it with a grain of salt." He calls the park "overrated," and suggests that "one day is plenty for Mljet." That guy’s an idiot. #TravelTuesday#Wanderlust
Writing this post was a struggle because there were so many memories to share, I had to hack away at the many details. And the most challenging of all: resisting the urge to book a flight back to Japan, haha! 😅
To anyone traveling to Tokyo, please consider adding Yanaka to your itinerary. It'll be worth it, I promise!
Thank you to everybody who's pre-ordered @soka so far! It's been a couple of days since I opened up pre-orders on the App Store, so the pre-order trends are starting to show up in App Store Connect.
A reminder that we launch this coming Friday on June 2! Just in time for anybody who's traveling to WWDC that same weekend, or if you (like me) are going on a vacation after WWDC is finished! 😂
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The late Ian Hacking was the author of, amongst many other things, "Mad Travelers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses". I'm still trying to evaluate the impact this book had on me.