By Brandon
August 15, 2020 • 6 min read
We spent a lot of time considering what to do with regard to resuming travel. A lot of countries were reopening and accepting tourists with varying levels of restrictions but there were still a lot of questions as to whether travel was safe enough and if it was worth the risk. We postponed our decision a few times. We even went so far as to book and then to cancel a flight, but with Croatia having much lower case numbers than most countries (including the US), once they opened up to Americans we decided to go for it. We plan to be as safe and responsible as we can throughout our entire trip and all things considered, the risks seemed within our threshold of tolerance especially when weighed against the fact that it would likely be decades before we could take another trip like this.
Flying from Austin to Croatia turned out to be one of the more hassle-free travel days we've had in the past year. The Austin airport definitely felt more on the empty side which may have been due to it being 8 am on a Monday but either way it was nice that checking our bags and getting through security took maybe ten minutes. Austin is still one of our favorite airports (though I wouldn't want to be stuck there for 2 days) with it being a short walk to most gates and having some of the best restaurants including local favorites like Salt Lick and Amy's (I would usually get a shake before a flight). Add to that the excitement from discovering that Taco Deli moved in while we were gone, so I had no choice but to get one last order of chile con queso with our breakfast tacos before we left (I've discovered you can't find good queso anywhere outside of Texas).
We managed to use our Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a flight through United from Austin, TX to Split, Croatia with reasonable layovers in Chicago and Munich and we were able to book business class for the long-haul flight to Munich (Chris was the genius behind all our bookings and masterful maximization of credit card points). This was a bit reassuring that we wouldn't have to spend an 8-hour flight crammed too close to strangers. Even our flight to Chicago was pleasant. It was only half full and everyone was wearing masks. Also once we got to Chicago, since our next flight was business class on Luftansa, we were able to chill in their business class lounge during our layover in O'Hare to avoid crowds and enjoy free drinks and snacks (though not the full buffet they would normally have pre-pandemic).
This was our first time flying on Luftansa and despite all of the Covid precautions, their business class was still a pretty nice experience.
We didn't see much of Munich airport but our 5-hour layover passed quickly thanks to these super nifty Napcabs that you can rent by the hour and are thoroughly cleaned between uses. I was a bit skeptical I'd be able to sleep much in them... yet the cab helpfully woke me up from my death-like slumber 3 hours later when our time was up.
Getting through immigration in Croatia went pretty smoothly. We were a little nervous since their official policy is to require a negative PCR test from within 48 hours for people coming from high-risk countries like the United States and it proved practically impossible for us to get tested without symptoms in that specific a time frame and with that quick of a turnaround. Fortunately, their policy also states that those who do not provide a negative PCR test upon arrival will be ordered to quarantine/self-isolate for at least 7 days prior to taking a local PCR test and this turned out to be the case as we just had to tell the immigration officer that we had a place stay for two weeks and she gave us the contact information for scheduling the local test and we were on our way!
We grabbed an Uber and headed to our Airbnb. Since we knew we would have to self-isolate for 1-2 weeks we chose one about 30 minutes west of Split so we could find a larger place with a pool and nice view so we wouldn't feel too cramped. Luckily we found a great place with a really nice Airbnb host. Located just off the highway in a nice residential area next to the small tourist village of Rogoznica, it turned out to be a really nice place to spend a quarantine.
Our host and her mom were so nice that they offered to go pick up some groceries for us since we wouldn't be able to leave. With no idea what to expect a grocery store in Croatia to have, we gave them a quick list of some basic food elements we could use to make meals like eggs, chicken, and pasta. With that, we were able to make most of our meals which we supplemented with food from the one restaurant nearby, Fast Food Bartul, that would deliver. They gave us our first introduction to the many forms of meat Croatia is known for.
After 7 days of self-isolation, we were allowed to go to a clinic in Split to get a PCR test. Once we figured out exactly where we were supposed to go, it was a pretty smooth process. After about a 20-minute wait, we got a swab inserted further than I thought possible, paid our bill, and then had our results emailed to us by the afternoon. "SARS-CoV-2 RNA not detected."! We were now free to move about the country!
With our new found freedom we started exploring the recommended sights around Split, starting with the beach 2 minutes from our Airbnb. It turns out there's a lot to see and do in and around Split so I'll be putting all that in a followup post but suffice it to say we've had a great time in Croatia so far and we're continually impressed with what a beautiful country it is.
January 25th to February 20th After our brief stay in Singapore, we more or less spent the next month (from January 25th to February 20th) on various Thai islands. It was a blast and a really unique experience. Looking back on it I'm probably struck the most by how different the experience was on each of the islands. We also had some interesting experiences getting to and from the different…