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Ljubljana Dragon Well, you know the trip is getting off to a rough start when
the Uber driver gets lost going to the airport. At least the fee was fixed. Our
flights at BWI and JFK were both delayed due to the hurricane Ian that was
working its way up the East Coast. I hope I never have to fly through JFK again.
We had to go from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1. You would think that there would be
signage to direct you through the maze, but there were no signs. We asked an
employee and he said take the Air Train to Terminal 1. After a very long walk
we saw signs directing us to the Air Train. When we got to the Air Train, we
found out that due to construction, the Air Train did not go to Terminal 1, you
had to take a shuttle bus. Another long detour to get to the Shuttle Bus stop. We
finally found the bus, but the ride was so long I thought they were taking us
to another airport. Next time I’ll book a flight from T4 to T1. |
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| Houses along the Ljubljana River |
At JFK we switched from Delta to their partner Air France
and flew though CDG in Paris. Even with all the flight delays and airport
detours, we didn’t miss out scheduled flights. I can’t say the same for my
luggage. When we landed in Slovenia, my bag failed to show. Pat had just a
carry-on so she was OK. I contacted Delta and they told me it was Air France’s
problem. Air France requires a Booking Number in order to start a Lost Luggage
Report. I booked the entire flight through Delta, but Delta does not use
Booking Numbers, they use Confirmation Numbers, and they are not the same. I tried
to resolve this with Air France on line but their Virtual Assistance was a
waste of time. I could call Air France but I didn’t have a toll-free number from
Slovenia and I knew the wait time would be several hours.
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| Ljubljana Castle |
We had landed in Slovenia a day before we were to start Rick
Steve’s (RS) Best of the Adriatic Tour. So, the next day we met with our tour
guide for the 2-week trip. He recommended we contact IGA Travel to get
assistance. This company had an arrangement with RS to provide travel
assistance. They were great, they got the report filed and kept us up to date
on the status of my bag.
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| Franciscan Church of the Annunciation in background |
We had landed in the capital city of Ljubljana and would be
leaving there after our third night. The guide warned us that after we left
this city it might be difficult to replace my missing items. Heeding his
warning I started to replace toiletries and some clothing items. By the third day, I had replaced what I
needed, but now I needed a suitcase to carry it. I returned to the hotel that
afternoon and found out that my luggage had been found. Later that day it was
delivered. Now I had too much stuff and an extra suitcase!
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| Lake Bled and the Assumption of Mary Church |
RS takes COVID very seriously. We knew if we got COVID
during the trip, we would have to leave the trip without a refund, so everyone
had trip insurance. We had to do a rapid test at the start of our trip, and on
Day One of this tour one of tour members tested positive, so our numbers
dropped from 25 to 24 guests. I few days later 3 more guests came down with
COVID so they had to leave dropping our number to 19 because 2 spouses left
also. RS took good care of the ones left behind. He has a special group tasked
with making travel, meal and accommodation arrangements for them.
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| Bled Castle and Pletna Boat cruise |
You might think that this was the Trip from Hell at this
point, but things improved. The weather was absolutely perfect for the entire
two weeks of the trip. Slovenia was beautiful and we regret we didn’t have more
time to explore its trails and caves. Lake Bled was the most beautiful place we
visited on this trip.
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| Pula Arena - Roman amphitheater and museum |
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| Small boat harbor in Opatija, Croatia |
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| Plitvice Lake National Park, Croatia |
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| Plitvice Lake National Park In Croatia we visited many historical cities - Pula, Split,
Dubrovnik and others with structures dating back to Roman times. The highlight
for us was our walk-through Plitvice lakes National Park, surrounded by
waterfalls. |
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| Split, Croatia |
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| Stecak-monumental medieval tombstone |
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| Our guide and our lunch in Bosnia |
 Historic Old Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia Our guide, who was excellent, was Bosnian and he was excited to share his experience in Bosnia and the history of the region from WW1 to present. We spent 2 days in Mostar, Bosnia and saw the ruins that still remained from the siege of the city in the 1990’s. |
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| On ferry from Korcula We returned to Croatia and took a ferry to the island
getaway of Korcula. The first night there, we had dinner at a seaside
restaurant with six fellow travelers, and five of the eight got food poisoning.
Pat had it the worse and spent most of the next day in the bathroom.
Fortunately, this was a non-travel day. Can’t imagine traveling in a bus with
no bathroom in her condition. She was fit for travel by the time we took a
ferry off the island. |
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| Walls of Dubrovnik When it comes to historic cities, Dubrovnik is certainly one
of the most picturesque. A walled city with red tile roofs with the Adriatic on
two sides. We walked the wall around the city. The days we were in town, there
were no visiting cruise ships. The local chefs put out a spread of their
favorite dishes and we stuffed ourselves. |
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| Dubrovnik We flew from Dubrovnik to Porto, Portugal, but that’s
another story. This was our first Rick Steve’s trip and we were impressed
with how well it was run. It was also the cheapest of the similar trips out
there. The guide was very professional and spoke excellent English, along with
at least 3 other languages. Most of the other travelers had taken
multiple RS tours - for one couple this was their 11th RS trip,
but they were RS groupies. If your interest is in the history and culture of
European cities, a RS trip is hard to beat, and it’s a good value. RS has a lot
of pull in the travel business in Europe; he ran 1096 trips in Europe in 2022.
If your interest is in hiking, nature and National Parks, you might want to
consider other options.
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