📍 Dubrovnik, Croatia 🇭🇷

Day 1: After we thought we were in the clear and the other agent found us, she demanded that we follow her. I don’t know if airport jail is a thing, but I didn’t want to find out. Fortunately, they were actually pretty nice but still made us check our bags. Since we had a short layover, we were worried our bags wouldn’t make it. We had 30 minutes to go through passport control and get to our gate. When we landed, we ran to our gate which was almost finished boarding. We made it. Our bags did not. (And this is why we travel with backpacks.)

We filled out the lost luggage form at the airport and picked up our car rental. We had no bags, no hotel, and no idea where to park. So, we did the only thing we could think of: drive to the city and see what happens. The city is surrounded by the coolest fortress we’ve seen and you cannot drive through it. Instead, we just drove by and spotted a very nice hotel. The hotel just happened to be a Hilton, and I just happen to have a friends and family discount with them. (Kristina coming in clutch!) We looked up the rates…$500 a night! Not in the budget. I checked family and friends…$200 a night (still not in the budget for the record). We were tired, in need of a good shower, and they offered to help us locate our missing luggage. Sold. You can have all my money…and that is how we ended up at one very nice hotel on this trip.

I am unsure who we thought we were, but after treating ourselves to a nice hotel, we then decided we needed a nice meal to go with it. We went to Carmen Trattoria and continued the “let’s treat ourselves” mood of the day.

Day 2: After a comfy bed, an amazing buffet breakfast (included in our hotel price), and a nice shower, we felt brand new. Who needs luggage anyways? We were told our bags would be delivered by evening so we just went about our day. We walked the walls of Dubrovnik and it was amazing.

While flying to Dubrovnik, we made a friend who happens to live in LA. We met up for sunset and took the cable car up to the lookout point. This also did not disappoint.

The 3 of us then went to a cave bar (literally a bar in a cave) and then dinner at Porto Fish.

This is where things get interesting. It’s now about 10 pm so we go back to the hotel to hopefully reunite with our bags…they aren’t there. Still. We talked to the hotel staff and they said the bags are back at the airport. We said we’ll just go pick them up and they said, “Well it closes in 30 minutes and it’s a 20 minute drive” (remember, on winding roads on top of a cliff). Cool, we got this. 😅 We pull up to the airport and I practically tuck-and-roll, sprinting inside while J figures out where to temporarily park. The security guard saw me frantically entering and looking very confused. I asked him where the baggage claim area was (which was locked) and he used his badge and just pointed me in the right direction, no questions asked.

Bags retrieved. We didn’t have a hotel booked so we began looking. We were super tired and just wanted to find something close by to wind down. We booked a spot, drove over, and…couldn’t get in touch with the host. At this point, there was nothing to do other than find another place. It’s after midnight and, apparently, Croatian hotels do not have 24 hour check in. We can’t book anything on our apps because it’s after midnight, so we drove to a hotel…closed. As 1 am approached, we kept driving and saw another hotel. We’re in luck. I saw someone at the front desk so J pulled over and I ran in. There’s one room left and it’s ours. 😴 We get to sleep, shower, and change our clothes. Winning!

AK & J