8/6/2023: Traveling Like Pros

Ischia, Italy > Split, Croatia

In an effort to ‘simplify’ our travel schedule, we opted to high tail it to Split, Croatia. Here’s the recount of our travel day. Feel free to scroll down below for our beach party reprieve.

We got up at 5:45 am with half our gear to pack and a 15 minute walk to the nearest bus station where we would catch the 6:45 am towards Porto d’ischia. After 40 minutes on the bus, we had enough time to buy coffee and ferry tickets before catching the ferry from Ischia back to Naples. Not wanting to mess with Naples public transportation given our tight timeframe, we caught a taxi from the ferry terminal to the airport.

When we arrived, we were stoked on the timing we had made. We caught the first bus, first ferry, and first taxi available - getting us from Sant’Angelo beach on the west side of Ischia to the Naples airport in less than 3 hours of travel time.

The airport was a frickin’ mess! The entire checkin & baggage tag area was packed! The line to check in our bags took over an hour and had hundreds of people in it. About 2/3 through the line they announced that individuals on our flight could skip to the front, check our bags, and head to security. We made it in time and took the short hopper flight to Split.

From the airport we took a bus about 40 minutes into the center of town. We arrived late and missed the connecting bus. Not to fret, we caught a $5 & 5 minute Uber. Phew!!

Surprisingly energized after checking into the hostel, we found a self service laundromat about a 10 minute walk up the street. The dang place only had three washers and all were booked with folks waiting in line! Feeling satisfied with our effort to make good on the day and try to be productive, we headed towards the iconic Split beach clubs.

We walked along the coast until we ended up at Bacvice Beach. Nestled above the restaurants and beach clubs we found a snack shack with the best veggie burger to date, and we actually ended up eating there the next few nights.

Then we proceeded downstairs. Before we could even get to the second floor landing, we were approached by a hostess for happy hour deals. 1 liter cocktails for €20. Who can say no to that?

The place was fun! Ocean views, people taking a swim and then coming up wet to the bar for a drink, a mix of American pop music and European dance music. And might I add, 1 liter cocktails. Sharing one between us would have been plenty, and sharing two could have been the right thing to do. But next thing we know, we’re getting out of an Uber, legs wobbly, and heading into our hostel. What had felt like a whole night at partying, ended back safe and sound by 10:13pm!! A tell tale sign that our youth is slipping away.

~ J