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Planning the Travel Week
Having a whole week off for travel was something I was super excited for in the CIMBA program. Although I have been able to go to so many cool places over the weekends, there is only so much you can do in that short of a time, so having 9 days to travel wherever I wanted left me with a lot of options. I wanted to plan for the travel week as much in advance as possible, but with classes and planning other more current trips, I found myself feeling overwhelmed by the thought of having to work out all the details for 9 days. From choosing where to go, how to get there, where to stay, and what to do, there were a lot of details that went into this week. The time flew by, and it was only 2 weeks before the week when I still hadn't booked anything. On top of this, the week before the travel week was midterms, so I knew I was going to need to have plenty of time to study for that. Feeling overwhelmed with all the planning, I had the idea to go on a cruise for the week. Going on a cruise would be the perfect way for me to see multiple different places without having to do a whole lot of planning, and it would allow me to stay in one room the whole week and not have to lug my stuff around everywhere. I looked into several different cruise lines, but could only find one that let you book a cruise when you’re under 21, so I decided to go with that one.
The cruise I chose went through the Adriatic Sea, starting and ending in Venice and visiting 5 ports along the way (Dubrovnik, Corfu, Kotor, Brindisi, and Split). I was able to get a pretty good deal on the cruise since I was booking it last minute, and it turns out I was able to spend about the same as what I had expected to spend on the week going place to place staying in the cheapest hostels, but instead I got to stay on the boat, have really good food, and get a room to myself. I decided to go on this cruise solo, which was a little scary to me, but I had really wanted to solo travel, and I thought a cruise would be the perfect, safer option for my first time. The places the cruise went were some of my dream destinations, and I was super excited to see them while it was still pretty warm. I booked excursions for each stop because it made me feel safer to be traveling with a group rather than completely alone in each place.
City #1: Treviso, Italy
The first night, I decided to stay in Treviso since my cruise left on Sunday, which was such a cool and underrated place. It was a perfect halfway point between Paderno and Venice, and I had already visited Venice, so I wanted to go somewhere new. They call it “Little Venice,” which is very fitting, and it's also the place where Tiramisu was invented! I booked a walking tour and tiramisu tasting, and I ended up being the only one on the tour, which was a nice surprise. My tour guide was amazing, and she showed me all the best sights in Treviso as well as the best place to get tiramisu.
City #2: Dubrovnik, Croatia
The next day I got on my cruise and spent the first day at sea. Our first stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia, and for this location I booked a ziplining excursion and a walking tour. Dubrovnik was such a cool city filled with so much history, which I learned on my walking tour, and the ziplining that I did was so fun. The panoramic views of the city were absolutely stunning. It was definitely a good first stop and I was able to find everywhere I needed to find for my tours which was a win!
City #3: Corfu, Greece
The next stop on the cruise was Corfu, Greece, which was genuinely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I booked an excursion through the cruise line, which allowed me to see a monastery with some incredible panoramic views as well as explore the city center. It was a shorter excursion, but it left me in awe of how beautiful it was, and I would love to come back one day.
City #4: Kotor, Montenegro
The next day we stopped in Kotor, Montenegro. This was one of my favorite days, but I did face a couple of challenges. It turns out my e sim card did not include coverage for the country of Montenegro since it is not part of the EU, so I had a hard time finding the meeting point for my excursion, but luckily I had downloaded the offline maps for all of the cities I would be visiting before I went on the cruise and had also made an itinerary with all of my meeting points. The address I had was not coming up right away, but eventually, piece by piece, I was able to find out where to go. It was definitely a little stressful, but I was so glad that I had been prepared. Once I found where to go, I went on my excursion, which was an amazing boat tour that went to the blue sea caves and an island. Afterwards, I went to the old town to explore a little bit.
City #5: Brindisi, Italy
On our second-to-last day, we stopped in Brindisi, Italy. The city center of Brindisi itself was pretty far from the cruise port, so I decided to book an excursion through the cruise company again. This excursion took me to Alberobello, Italy, which was a town filled with these whitewashed limestone huts called “Trulli.” This town was unlike anywhere I’d seen before, and it was such a cool place I was glad I got to visit. The tour guide gave us a guided tour and then allowed us to have some free time to explore and shop.
City #6: Split, Croatia
The final stop on my cruise was Split, Croatia, which ended up being my favorite city overall and the best way to end the cruise. I did another boat tour in Split, but this one was a smaller boat and was much more adventurous. I sat in the front of the boat, so I felt all of the waves, and it was so much fun. We stopped at two different islands, which were gorgeous, and then we got to swim in the Croatian Blue Lagoon. The water in the Blue Lagoon was absolutely stunning, and I really enjoyed swimming and snorkeling in it. After the half-day tour was done, I explored the city center, which I also really enjoyed.
Reflections
Overall, I had an amazing week that I will truly never forget. The places that I got to go were absolutely amazing, and I was so proud of myself for navigating the whole thing alone. While it can seem scary to solo travel, it really allows you to do whatever you want and meet so many amazing people. I definitely learned the importance of planning and being prepared for when things go wrong, which allowed me to have a much smoother experience than it could’ve been. Now that we are back in class, I am excited to see what the rest of the semester holds!