Day 42-43: water to sound waves

After a decent night rest in Olga's Place hostel (although my 4 alarm snoozes lead me to believe there was more sleep to be had), i got up yesterday morning to catch some waves at the go to surfing beach in San Sebastian that was conveniently located a 2 minute walk from the hostel. I rented a board for an hour to make sure I remembered what I learned a month plus back in Costa Rica. The water was a cool 70 but it was refreshing getting out there again, and getting some real physical activity for the first time in a while.

Great start to the day but it was a hustle getting from hostel to bus station to Bilbao to airport to Ibiza's airport to San Antoni, Ibiza to hostel. While it is easy to get caught up in spending lots of doll hairs in Ibiza, we decided were going to do it with a reasonable budget in mind (some apartment-cooked meals, a couple not-club nights, etc) and its off to a great, fun start. We made dinner in our private appt, had a couple beverages on our balcony and went out to bars last night where Ryan convinced a bunch of non-Americans we were stars from One Tree Hill. Today we slept in (whats new) and made it to the beach a bit. We have a salad, chicken, pasta and broccoli on deck for dinner and Skrillex to attend to this evening in Club Amnesia. Mustache you to have a look at our balsamic/cucumber appetizer layout here.

Day 36- Siestas & fiestas, great being back in Spain

Getting to Madrid wasn't as pristine as I would have liked. With my alarm set for 8am, I was at the bus stop in Dubrovnik at 830am waiting on the 2x an hour bus to the airport (costing about $6 US). 45 minutes later the bus was still a-wall. With my flight at 1030 i had to make moves. Yay for $35 cab alternatives.

I get there, get through security too smoothly (didnt take my toiletries nor iPad out of my bag and it got through no problem), and hop on the plane pumped for a 2.5 hr nap before arriving in Madrid. Then it hits me. I'm way too excited to return to my study abroad destination, a place I fell in love with but haven't returned since, and to meet up with my friend. I could barely keep my body still nor eyes closed let alone get any sleep. 50 songs later (Jack Johnson, Cris Cab, Jimmy Buffett, and eventually Jay-Z, David Guetta once i realized sleep was out of the option) I arrived and made my way to the "Way" hostel (what it's called) smoothly.

So far I've done Madrid, Spain pretty alright- rode the metro, ate a big lunch, had a siesta, went for a dinner of tapas and am now off to fiesta. Todo bien en Espana.

Pic of Watts and I going JAMON (ham).

Day 30-35: Driving boats and things

Didn't blog the past few days but basically I've been in Hvar, Croatia loving life. Not skydiving or Surfing or getting bar mitzvah'd. Just chillin' at beaches, going out to island/port bars/clubs at night. I did rent a boat with 4 English girls and cruised Around with them all Friday. And I guess I did that Saturday as well, just with a different 6 young ladies who needed a captain (no experience whatsoever driving boats but stepped up to the occasion). So much fun cruising around islands and down pretty coasts. A lot of Pictures will be hittin' the book (Facebook) soon, once those with real cameras return home from their travels.

The original day 1 crew all became great friends instantaneously and ended up staying close throughout our time In Hvar. Trip ended with us 5 at a nice seafood / sunset dinner and a fun night out with the hostel crew. Would have posted pic with them on the boat but the girl taking the snap didn't realize my iPhone was on selfie mode so yea it was just a pic of her focused taking the picture (haha). There is one below though of Captain Kenny correctly caught on the celly from day 2.

Hvar, Croatia was basically a vacation within traveling- beach/chill all day , party all night, it was alright. I loved it. If Spanish was the native language, it might be my new top spot. I'd move there. I was going to island hop but decided to just post up for 6 days, 5 nights because it's incredible here and I met some really cool travelers, sweet hostel, etc. The hostel had an outdoor shower which made it even better (evidence below). original plan was to remix Champagne Showers by LMFAO to Outdoor Showers but never quite happened.

That's the fun thing about traveling like I've been lately. You never know what you're going to get into, who you'll meet nor what will come from it.

I could have just as easily remained at my other hostel, or switched to another one and had a completely different experience not knowing what it would have been like if I followed a different Croatian cobblestone path when looking for the magical hostel I ended up finding.

I ended up having an amazing time, can't help but smile as I write this, forming new, great friendships with the british girls (that will continue in London during the Olympics), Felipe from Chile (cool guy / great connect / place to stay and see the real Chile with when I take on South America in a couple years), and a fellow American college kid (UT-Austin) who i was able to pass travel knowledge on to as he just started his first-ever trip by himself. And I came away with potential business ideas by simply observing and being aware of the ways in which people travel that I'm not going to share on the blog because they're obviously worth millions.

I'm now in Dubrovnik for a couple nights, leaving tomorrow morning to meet up with my boy from UNC, Ryan watts himself, in Spain to revisit our respective study abroad spots- Madrid, Salamanca. Then we're heading up to northern Spain, vasque country to check out Bilbao and San Sebastian before heading to Ibiza!

I was going to go cliff jumping (into the sea) today but I really wanted to enjoy some sangria and tapas with Ryan (and my long lost Spanish amiga Ade) in Spain tomorrow so I passed on the activity. Instead I just went to a nice resort pool/ beach i probably wasn't allowed at and chilled out. Pretty stuff over here.

Day 29- Rock city, rock rock city beach

Got in to Pula at 4pm, left at 4am the following morning. For having just 12 hours there I think I did alright- went to the best beach, ate a local dinner, watched the Croatia-Spain game at a bar and saw the Coliseum.

The reason I had to leave so early is because it was harder than I realized to get from Pula to Hvar, where I was going to be meeting my good friend / ex-housemate from UNC, Mr. Andrew Sugrue. Unfortunately he had to return to the USA earlier than he anticipated, so that plan fell through. It's all good though, it's kind of nice already being here and comfortable, knowing I have like 5 days to chill before making another moved. I don't really see myself leaving here until the night or two before my flight (out of Dubrovnik) in a week unless someone out there has a recommendation on another island to check out? Fire away if this is the case.

Tonight I'm staying in "Hvar Out" Hostel. I like the name, hot location (ironically enough) but not the best hostel I've stayed in in terms of atmosphere. With that being said, I'm making the switch to a new one tmrw that seems awesome (based off reviews).

Oh and all the beaches here are rocks not sand. Gorgeous but it makes siestas on the beach a little more difficult than I was expecting. If the weather keeps up I'm gonna get hella tan.

The pic is of the ferry approaching Hvar.

Day 10- red frogs and my new job

I'll start the Day 10 entry off by saying that I'm writing this from a hostel hammock after a sun-filled day at the beach while some other travelers cook me a thai-style rice, veggies, seafood dish (I have to cop them a couple drinks at the hostel happy hour but I'm definitely a fan of this exchange). A siesta might follow this not too long of a post if the food isn't ready to be consumed yet.

So last night was awesome. Great pregame at the hostel, made friends with some cool people from Germany and Argentina, go to know the owners and bartenders well, and then headed out to what honestly might be the coolest night destination I've ever been to. Aqua Lounge sported a solid international crowd, incredible music, no cover, no dress code and great drink prices. What made it special though was the arrival method (its on a different island so water taxis) and they have swings that drop you in the ocean for a mid-party swim. No pics for obvious reasons, didn't want to get the cellular getting wet.

Went to Red Frog beach this morning. Beautiful beach (see the attached selfy), saw a red frog (darted away before I could click), and had some decent little waves for body surfing.

Got back around 4 and the hostel owner (picture a Seth Rogen) asked me if I wanted to be a promoter for the hostel bar the next couple days in exchange for free drinks all night at the bar- can you say dream job? And huge resume builder. I'm feeling alright about this one as the product I'm asked to promote is pretty marketable ($.50 bottled beers til 8, $1.00 shots, etc). I wasn't able to today because I had to buy my plane ticket to Panama City for Saturday morning, but that's most certainly the plan tomorrow afternoon. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Also, does anyone notice anything cold-blooded about the pic of my hostel room?