Time Flies When You’re Lugging Luggage

Time has flown by. We can’t believe we’re 76 days into the trip with just 36 left!

We thought we’d provide a little “live update” as the blog is now over 50 days behind. We’ve just posted about Naples part two, with part three still to come and that only takes us up to trip day 19!

We’re about to head to Dubrovnik. Croatia will be our fourth country of the trip (5th if you count our half day in Greece whilst travelling from Italy to Albania). It’s a country we’ve been to before but this time we’re staying in new towns and cities.

So far the trip is going well, no major dramas to report. Zoe has sustained a bit of a shoulder injury, and after a couple of attempts of carrying all four bags ended in me nearly hospitalising myself, the only sensible thing to do was to send her big backpack home in favour of a suitcase with wheels. Fortunately it happened just before we reached Bari, where Zoe’s mum and my sister were coming to meet us with an extra suitcase for us to exchange some winter clothes for summer ones. Luckily, there was enough space to send the backpack home as well.

Italy was as epic as expected, although challenging for our waistlines! We were definitely in holiday mode at the beginning, lots of eating out but thankfully lots of steps too. 6 weeks sounds plenty, but the list of things we still didn’t see is as long as the ones that we did.

We have been pleasantly surprised by both Albania and Montenegro. Albania is on its way to becoming a tourism hotspot, great weather, beaches and history, and very affordable. It still has a way to go in terms of infrastructure and availability of information, but it’s improving. And if our lovely hosts in Shkoder are anything to go by, the guest experience and hospitality is already there.

Montenegro is arguably already a tourist hotspot. Did you know over 30% of its GDP is from tourism? We stayed in three places, all different, all unique.

We’ve made a few mistakes along the way, but most things have gone to plan. One major lesson is that a lot more information is available on the ground than online, frustrating from a planning perspective but comforting that there’s always an option to move between locations. Even if it’s not very well publicised! Seek and you shall find!

Another realisation is that generally 5 days is the minimum amount in one place. Two days are taken with packing/ unpacking and travel, one day to explore, a day to rest is a must we’ve discovered. Especially as Zoe is also juggling work.

But more on the lessons learnt in future blogs. (One more thing, proper well researched blogs take bloody ages to produce!)

And so, on to Croatia we go. Just 11 more packing/unpackings to go.

Some stats:

• 24 out of 35 accommodations stayed in.
• 13,112 photos taken and 981 videos.
• 2,177,195 steps (1,658.2 km – almost 40 marathons, or the distance from London to Zagreb, funny enough, one of our destinations in Croatia).
• Forms of transport … 1 plane, 1 cable car, 1 alpine coaster, 1 ferry, 2 funicular, 2 free lifts from friendly locals, 3 boats, 4 trams, 5 transfers, 6 taxis, 13 buses, and 27 trains.
• Distance travelled … a lot.
• 22 runs completed (21 by Andy)
• Many yoga sessions (mostly by zoe)
• 0 items lost/ forgotten
• 0 major arguments
• 0 nights in jail
• Little Boof has had a wash and lost half a stone in dirt.

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