Days 1-3 (Heather and Mer)

After assorted domestic & international flights, we arrived in Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Most of our first evening was devoted to obtaining a cell phone which we have affectionately dubbed "Drazen" after our incredibly helpful t-mobile sales associate. We followed this with a much-needed night of sleep in a closet they called a hotel room. Our second day in country began with an early morning trip to the northern Kvarnar coast, after the alarm on our new cell phone failed to go off. I guess we aren't very good at following technical instructions in Croatian.

We decided to stay in a seaside town called Opatija (pronounced "oPAtiyah") for some much needed r&r. Our accomodations were found by consulting with the local tourism office upon disembarking the bus, who referred us to a lovely grandmotherly woman named Milka. She rented us private acomdations with an incredible balcony and view of the Adriatic. She also brought us fresh, *strong* coffee and donuts each morning. Not a bad life. Most of our first day was spent wandering aimlessly and enjoying the promenade... and the gelato.

By the second day in Opatija, Mer and Heather were being mistaken as Croatian girls by Croatian men. TWICE. We are taking this as the highest compliment. Perhaps its the fact that we sneak into hotel pool areas and lounge for hours on seaside beach chairs that give us that unmistakably Croatian look.

Day three, we left Opatija to join up with John and Joanna. What was intended to be an easy bus transfer resulted in Mer and Heather being stranded in a communist-era bus terminal many miles from anything. Did this deter these Croatian imposters from continuing their journey? Absolutely not. The key was proper sustainance... this was found in a jar of nutella.

Drazen came to the rescue yet again when we were able to call John and Joanna who conveniently were on route with the rental car at that very moment. The pick up occured approx 1.5 hrs later when John stopped (stalled) the car in front of the primary bus loading zone just as a bus pulled up to use it. Maybe with his new mowhawk, John thinks he can get away with such shenanigans. And so began our 2 hour journey to the beautiful national park of Plitvice... and the beginning of our journey as a foursome.