TRAVEL DAY AND ARRIVAL CROATIA So after being on the road for 4 days we are finally settled into the Royal Ariston hotel in Dubrovnik. W e started travelling on Saturday morning. After trying travel to Toronto by train last year we did the same this year. Business class made the trip very relaxing as opposed to driving. We visited with our family for 3 days we were ready for the long haul. We arrived at Pearson 1 for the first leg of the trip to Amsterdam by KLM. It left at 4:45. Our Tour Manager Daisy met us and we quickly had our tickets, luggage tags and were through security. We managed to get 2 seats together, no small feat when our last names are spelled slightly different. (Don't ask!) 16 of us boarded the plane and the last person met us in Europe. We arrived around midnight (6am local time). Europe now has a new passport control system much like arriving in Canada. You scan you passport your photo is taken. Europe wants finger prints. Mine scanned OK (Judy's did not) at which point you need to go into a secondary line to see an agent. I headed for the automated line where they could not verify my information and I was directed to the agent line. The easy go line had nobody in it. We had been warned by Daisy to expect this! That went quickly. Waited until 10:30 for the next leg to Croatia and finally arrived in Dubrovnik. Our bus was waiting. We will have the same bus driver and guide for the entire trip with other local guides as needed. Check in went smoothly.

We had time to relax for a few hours. Needless to say we were tired by the time dinner was served around 6:30 local time. Staying 3 nights meant a big unpack getting our clothes ready for the next few days. After some searching we found everything we needed. There are 17 people on the tour and most seem to be fit enough for the activities planned. There are 5 couples and 7 independent women. Most are from Ontario. So everything starts tomorrow with a full day of touring!

Croatia Slovenia & Venice Croatia is an area that we have wanted to visit for a long time having heard about it from many travelling friends. None of our many cruises stopped in the area. So this year we decided to finally see this part of the world. After having travelled with Senior Discovery Tours the last 2 years we decided to travel with them again. We enjoyed our trips to Sicily and Tunisia. They are a one stop company that provides a complete package planned. The part that was and is most appealing is that the price they quote is all in – air fare, transfers, meals, all tips, tours, taxes, etc. One price done! The Croatia trip is 15 days long starting and ending with flights from Toronto.

This land tour concentrates on Croatia but we also visit Slovenia, have an opportunity to take a side trip to Montenegro; before finally ending up the trip with a short visit to Venice. Although we will be moving around the country, we will stay at least 2 days in every hotel. We fly into Dubrovnik to start the tour before going on to Mostar, Split, Zadar Zagreb Ljubljana and finally Venice. We are looking forward to world heritage sites, snow capped peaks, lakes and lush valleys before going underground to the impressive cave system and finally another visit to the always impressive Venice. It should be fun. In Toronto we will meet up with Daisy the tour manager. She was the manager on our last trip to Tunisia. We fly out on Monday afternoon October 5th to Amsterdam on KLM airlines before our second leg into Dubrovnik. We will retrace the flights from Venice on October 19. Watch for posts every day.