Croatia

[firefighter ontheside]

I hear what your're saying and I believe that you have much more experience than I do in all areas of travel.  St Louis is known to be an unsafe city, but if you don't go to the unsafe areas, then you won't be the victim of crime.  I went to Jamaica for one day.  We went on a little excursion into the mountain areas and rafted on a river.  That seemed safe and fun.  Walking around Kingston by ourselves did not seem safe.

[kantuckid]

We did a bamboo raft trip in 1990 with our kids- from the jungle into a bay-took about 4-5 hours. We also dived off the waterfall where Tom Cruise was seen in Cocktails flick which was also our lodging spot-same bar, etc.. It's in Port San Antonio and was once a fancy place where Clark Gable and Liz taylor hung out-it was being redone and interesting place. The guys poling the raft spoke to each other in creole but I know people well enough to have heard that they didn't like us at all. Jamaica is like that- really friendly or they hate gringos. It's real and we've discussed it with natives there a good deal. Sad factoid really. Our last trip was wife & I only-two weeks in three places and a rental car trip. Jamaican drivers are literally insane. They pass anywhere, at crazy speeds and honk while passing. The island also holds my personal pothole record-we went around one that was maybe 3-4' deep x same dia. and had weeds and small trees growing in it. Their fresh markets are really neat. 
  In Mexico I've talked with many who have worked the cruise lines and they tend to like USA gringos more than Euro gringos who they say tend toward what I'll call uppity. Fact is there's hardly a Mexican who doesn't have a close connection to the USA-either their uncle lives here or they did. Michoacan is listed as one of the more dangerous states-it's also my favorite of them all. A friend there who lives in Morelia, a hugely interesting and historic city, he's indigenous, a lawyer who grew up dirt poor and wifes and RN. 35 miles from him is my favorite small town-Patzcuaro, MX, his home town. He drives over there weekly to do pro bono work as he says the landlords and cops take advantage of the poor so he's the balance for them. I asked him whaile eating dinner if he'd ever seen or known a narco since it's a sate with many of them. his answer was that in his high end neighborhood (he had built his home and the one next door that was empty and for sale which was how he made his money & paid for his home) there was this family that never seemed to need to leave for work like most people who get up early and drive to a job. He added that they owned fancy horses and trailered them around so he had them figured as narcos, but he said most of them "lived down in the deep valley" away from others and "we just stay away". 
In the Balkans Romania is one of the mtn countries I yearn to ride in-the two mtn passes there are famously neat. It's also had a rep for being dangerous in the past but has changed some over the times and mostly a good visit. Our son who went to U of Budapest said the only place he's ever been scared for his life was on a Romanian train ride. Place is the key to safe travel Mexico or whatever. My DIL went to Cancun last year and her solution is a big box hotel which also means she's never come close to the real place. Honestly it's more like Mexico in Texas than her hotel. In Cancun, if need be, we stay in a business class hotel downtown where few tourists are seen. Then we leave as soon as we can for real Mexico. Mahuajual is a funny place. Before they built the 2 mile long cruise ship pier with Dominos Pizza, etc., etc., etc., it was a sleepy place with few tourist as it's ~ 4-5 hour drive from Cancun/Play del Carmen. Now it converts when a ship comes in then reverts back when they leave. 
I'm yearning to travel now but seems stupid even when retired? I don't want to drop $2-4,000 quarantined in a hotel overseas. Alaska is likely our next trip for that reason. We'll very likely do the AK Marine Highway system from WA to SE AK then do a wilderness trip again while still young enough to fly-in, fish, etc.. The ferry is a neat experience, sleep on deck, eat the cafeteria and watch the whales. You get off where you want, stay long as you want then get back on, etc.. Life is short, covid is messing with our bucket list bigtime, but glad to be around to talk about it. 

[kantuckid]

I hear what your're saying and I believe that you have much more experience than I do in all areas of travel.  St Louis is known to be an unsafe city, but if you don't go to the unsafe areas, then you won't be the victim of crime.  I went to Jamaica for one day.  We went on a little excursion into the mountain areas and rafted on a river.  That seemed safe and fun.  Walking around Kingston by ourselves did not seem safe.

Before I-64 was built, the connection from US-50 required circulating through all of E STL. It was not a place to run out of gas then or now. We did that trip from 1971 when we married to lately when it's streamlined, of course and avoids the ghetto stuff.  
 On an army pass, ala 1964 in STL we were getting drunk in a Polish bar for free as they bought all the beer. When we were ready to wallow out of there, they said we'd best take a cab, not walk to our hobo hotel that cost like $3-4 a nite. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Talking about going to Croatia again.  We may go next spring at the earliest.  We just watched Rick Steves travel show about his trip to Croatia.  His trip is pretty much what we would do.  Start out in Dubrovnik and then drive north stopping in Split, Plitvice Lakes, area of Zagreb which is where my family came from and then back to the coast around Rijeka where I have a friend of the same last name.  I do not know if we are related, but maybe.  We've been trying to figure that out for years, but my Great grandparents left there around 1915.

Edit... @kantuckid  airplane tickets have been purchased for late May of 2023.  We have reserved our rooms in Dubrovnik.  Working on other rooms, but wanted to get Dubrovnik taken care of.  They fill up faster than everywhere else.

[kantuckid]

The current issue of Smithsonian has an article about religious "icon" (shortened as cannot spell) art from Ukranian churches. The thing I gained most from the article is the origins of the Ukrainian heritage as it comes from a fairly large group of countries around and within Ukraine.
I am still liking a Romania centered trip that includes Croatia and more but for now too many projects.
Thinking back to AZ this winter as FL has become impossible in state parks. Also an Airbnb/VROB Baja trip to Sea of Cortez and Pacific coast.
Goodluck on air tics!  

[firefighter ontheside]

Yes, my other great grandparents came from Ukraine in about 1914.  US census records from different years listed where they came from as either Galicia(which now includes part of Poland) or even Austria.  They were not from Austria, but someone had recorded Austria where it should have said Austria-Hungary which Ukraine was part of at that time.  So, you could say that all of my great grandparents on my dad's side came from Austria-Hungary even though they were Croatians and Ukrainians.  I've also learned recently that a Croatian is someone who is from the country of Croatia, but a Croat is an ethnic Croatian who are predominantly Catholic.

I think the round trip tickets were about $1000 each.  Not as high as I expected considering the price of fuel.  We fly from St Louis to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Croatia.  We have a layover in Frankfurt on the way there that is 8 hours.  It sounds terrible, but I think it is gonna be great, because we can actually leave the airport and see a little of Frankfurt.  I've never been to Germany and I have German heritage from my mom's side way back and I speak some German from taking it in Highschool and college.

[firefighter ontheside]

We arrive in Croatia on May 26.  Originally our plan was to fly home on June 4, but our flight from Zagreb to Frankfurt has been cancelled.  Our choices were to choose different flights and have more layovers or to stay 3 more nights in Croatia and fly home on the 7th.  3 more nights it is, so our vacation just got extended.