2013 - Page 3 of 10 - LIVING THE DREAM

Strukli – An Eastern European Treat Not to Miss

After being away from the U.S. for more than four months there are little things that I’m starting to miss, particularly when it comes to food (Reese’s and Heinz ketchup come to mind. I realize this makes me sound like a junk food addict, but I swear I’m not.)

Recently I smothered my sorrows with strukli, a fantastic comfort food found in Slovenia and northern Croatia. When I first ate layer upon layer of the pillowy dough alternating with creamy, soft cheese, it was like a giant hug.

A soft, gooey, cheesy hug.

It should be no surprise when we say we love our credit cards. As an American it is incredibly easy to get some truly amazing perks just for opening a particular card and (sometimes) meeting a minimum spending requirement.

If you have been following us for a while, you may already know about how we opened credit cards to travel and have been following along with our updates on how we’ve been doing. Since opening our first set of cards about a year and a half ago, we decided to open a few more. As we were doing pretty good on our airline points, our attention shifted to hotel points to allow us to have a nice stay in a few places around the world.

Our company of choice? Hilton. Our goal? 10-12 nights at any resort on the planet.

The first redemption was a doozy.

Before we even started our RTW trip, we knew that Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia was one of our must-see stops. The logistics of planning a trip to this remote location were slightly trickier, however.

At first we considered visiting the park on a day trip from Zagreb. With only a few hours in the park, we wondered if the trip was worth the cost ($50+/person).

Our next thought was to stop at Plitvice on our way from Zagreb to Zadar, but the bus schedules still would have only allowed us a few hours in the park and it would have cost about the same as a day trip.

We finally realized that in order to see the whole park we’d have to spend a night there, and that meant booking a Plitvice hotel.

After researching accommodation options we found that there were a select few more expensive hotels within the actual park, and cheaper options farther from the park.

So to help you make the best choice for your stay in Plitvice, we’re summarizing them here and including information we did not find online and only learned after our stay at the national park.

When it comes to luggage disasters, we are no stranger to them.

One month into our year-and-a-half long trip I discovered that my bag had a rather sizable hole where the seams had come undone in the side. We then came up with a rather robust backpack repair that lasted for the rest of the trip.

Shortly thereafter, we found out that my five-year-old backpack was falling apart even more– this time with more holes and a handle which refused to go down.

We needed to decide whether to buy a new bag on the road, order a new piece of luggage online and get it delivered to us by mail, or try a luggage handle repair just to endure.

We decided to try one more fix, and wanted to share our technique for what we did to help if you wind up in a similar situation to us on your next trip abroad.

Strukli – An Eastern European Treat Not to Miss

Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik Review – A Perfect Stay

Why You Should Book a Plitvice Hotel and Stay In the Park

How to Fix a Stuck Handle in Your Suitcase and Luggage