Day 40 - 30/8/11 - Tuesday- Amsterdam - Split

Departure day from the homeland (well dad's homeland) and all is well, except Cinthia's increasingly traumatic pre flight jitters. Anyone got some spare Valium? We say a nice farewell to mum and dad post breakfast, for they have several more days in Amsterdam, then to Prague, Vienna and finally the Greek islands. So they have another month to look forward to culture and hopefully some sun. Ironically they will be travelling to both the north and south of our Eastern European countries.

Amsterdam airport is huge, certainly much bigger than Melbourne Airport, however this is very much a tourist city, with a conservative guess being 10 times the tourists in Amsterdam relative to Melbourne, and 20 times on weekends. Perhaps half of these tourists come via plane, with the remaining half by train, car and ship.

Cinthia and I now enter a different chapter of our trip. This chapter not only takes up to Eastern Europe from Western Europe, it also takes us to the central 5 weeks of the trip, where nothing post arrival in Split is planned, until a flight from Romania to Spain, and then onto Morocco, in 3 weeks. The following 2 weeks in Morocco is also not planned, and hence our tour is no longer on autopilot, we have to make some decisions. Cinthia wants to spend the majority of time in Croatia and Slovenia, whilst I would like to witness the more primitive lifestyle of Bulgaria. We therefore need to work out how to fit all of these locations into a logical travel plan, or undertake the more difficult task of communication and compromise.

Upon landing the first thing we notice is that our jumpers are no longer required, it is shorts and flip flop weather. This brings an immediate smile to sun loving Cinthia, who seems to think warm weather is a holiday imperative. Amsterdam had been unseasonably cold, and therefore going straight from 15 to 30 degrees would take a little getting used to, however an adjustment we were both willing to make. We were now in Croatia, for a 3 week Eastern Europe experience.

Upon arrival in Split it was nicer than I thought, or even had read, however perhaps it is a vicitim of its surrounds, with many people heading straight to the islands, rather than spending time in Split. Our first stroll around put the old town area in the same league as Tallin, however it was perhaps more vibrant, and was also integrated around the harbour.