Taking My Travels International
Newsletter Issue Volume 1, Issue 1
Split, Croatia
Remote Year Week 1
In May 2020, I left my fancy job. In June, I packed my life into a storage unit. In August, I loaded my car and got on the road, solo, to explore the United States. I logged over 20,000 miles and visited 36 cities between August 2020 and April 2021. Now that the world has reopened, I am in Split, Croatia to kickoff my international travels. I am using this newsletter to provide weekly travel updates to family and close friends.
For the month of July, I am in Split as part of a program called Remote Year. It is designed for professionals who wish to work remote and live abroad. The program provides housing, a co-working space, cultural immersion experiences and a ready-made community of fellow travelers who share my interest and curiosity about the world.
Outside of the fact that my luggage arrived two days after I did, the first week and a half has been a great combination of work and play. Our group of 28 ranges in age from 24 to 64. Most participants are women and are US-based. Other nationalities represented include Singapore, England, Germany, Guatemala, The Netherlands and Honduras. Our program leaders are from Croatia, Poland and the US.
Solid and linear the first words that comes to mind as I see the buildings around Split. For example, let’s take apartment buildings. They are rectangular blocks often of five to seven stories, have stucco exteriors of soft greys, peach and whites. The windows of older buildings feature bright green or blue wooden shutters or rolling metal shades. Window boxes with cheerful flowers or gracefully twisted greenery pop against the muted stucco. Many units have a balcony terrace or an outdoor patio space.
I share a two-bedroom apartment with a German-born, Austin, Texas-based roommate. She and I are both delighted that it features a washer, which remains a luxury in many parts of Europe. Clothes are hung on a line to dry. Our mid-wall height windows run the length of the walls--no screens—and the light they bring offsets the concrete block feel of the building’s construction. There are no closets, so we have wardrobes. The apartment is contemporary in feel, but whew, the owner of this flat is keen on color! I have a grape purple wall in my room, our bathroom floor is red with tiles the same yellow as Mickey Mouse’s shoes, our kitchen has yellow cabinets, and there are murals in the hall and living room. Not my taste, but of greater importance is that I feel safe, comfortable and I am centrally located.
The program has kept us busy! Of course, these first few days were about orientation and establishing a sense of community through meet-n-greet activities. We toured the Old Town of Split, which dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century BC, had a language and culture class and even did a service project.
We have already made history too! The Embassy of Sweden and an environmental service group in Split called Čisteći Medvjedići (the Cleaning Teddy Bears) co-hosted Split’s first-ever “plogging” event. Plogging is a combination of jogging and plocka upp, Swedish for “to pick up,” plogging entails jogging and quickly stopping to pick up trash while you go. It was a fun take on a community clean-up event, but this is way more fun to say! We were each given a pair of workgloves, a trash bag and a metal grabber tool. We plogged at Marjan Forest Park, a hilly green oasis in Split that features rocky beach, a zoo, trails that go up-up-up and is perfect for cycling. The surroundings were glorious, so we did not mind the heat, or that we were literally using our grabbers to pick up wrappers and cigarette butts. Our handsome reward for helping out was a bag full of perfectly ripe fresh cherries, water and a participation certificate.
We went deeper into the country on Sunday for a visit to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Its natural beauty was simply breathtaking. Plitvice is both a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its fame comes from its lakes arranged in cascades. Sixteen lakes can be seen from the surface, and there are 90 waterfalls. As we walked the park, each view was more impressive than the last, each waterfall more awe inspiring than the last. The final, breathtaking Veliki Slap Waterfall was worth the 6+ miles we covered while walking trails, footbridges, staircases and terrain through the park.
About half of us make it to the workspace each day, while others choose to work from their apartment. I have been surprised by the number of people who work their same schedule as home, even if it means 2-10 p.m. or in one case 3 a.m. to noon each day.
There is an undeniable Mediterranean feel to Split. It shows up in the food, the architecture and the vibe. I very much look forward to exploring and sharing what I see and experience with you during this trip and the others to come.
