“What time is your flight?” Wiepke asks me. “9:05 to Brussels”. “Umm… it’s already 9:00.” “Haha very funny” – no response – I look at my phone – 9:37! Nooooo!!! WTF!? I set 4 alarms!? How could this happen? I’m so stupid, aggghhh! Within 9 minutes I’m packed, out the door, and hustling to the airport.

I have never missed a flight in my life, but clearly missed this one by about an hour and a half. First time for everything I suppose, but it was pure stupidity on my part (and likely too much wine). My fingers are crossed that there might be another flight from Lisbon to Brussels in the next 1-2 hours so I could catch up with my previous flight and catch my connecting Brussels to Dubrovnik flight.

Somehow there’s a Brussels airline flight to Brussels at 12:30 that arrives at 4:10, 80 minutes before my Brussels to Dubrovnik flight leaves. I buy a ticket, phew – recovery! I’m still kicking myself the whole flight, but if there’s a silver lining – in a perfect world this would have been my dream itinerary – it’s just the earlier flight was way cheaper. Still kicking myself as I write this, but I suppose the story will have to be worth the price of the subsequent ticket.

The flight into Dubrovnik was gorgeous as was the bus ride into town. Amazing sunset over the Adriatic.

I found my hostel (great location, decent accommodations), and then went into Old Town. For ~9 years Dubrovnik has long been #1 on my bucket list. It’s become much more popular in recent years due to it being featured on Game of Thrones (I’ve only see 2 episodes, apparently our hostel is close to Kings Landing?) Regardless, I was a little worried about my level of expectations being way too high – was I putting Dubrovnik on a pedestal?

My fears very quickly subsided as soon as I walked into town. The size of the walls are readily apparent when you’re standing next to them looking up. I’m excited to learn more about the history of the city tomorrow and walk the city walls.

Over the course of exploring and getting lost, I happened on a small bar/café located just outside the walls on the water. The moon was full, music was playing, and countless couples were seated in what was one of the most romantic spots I’d ever seen. I went for it anyways, grabbing a chair and ordering a Fanta.

This would be a perfect proposal location – granted I’ll need a girlfriend first. In all seriousness, the only thing missing from this big huge adventure is someone to travel with – not even necessarily a girlfriend, but somebody to look back on the shared memories with. Solo travel has its benefits no doubt – do what you want when you want where you want, but having someone along for the ride would be great.

I ended up sitting next to another solo traveler – a 50-65 year old guy who used to be a lawyer for the World Bank, and currently does consulting. He was great to talk with and had a number of stories from his extensive travels.

I then walked around Old Town some more, getting deliberately lost. Saturday nights in Dubrovnik are hoppin’. People are dressed to the nines (and I’m rocking my shorts/t-shirts combo for the 18th day in a row, having not shaved in 18 days either 🙂 ).

Tomorrow I’ll explore town, maybe museums, and might boat or kayak around the town walls too! A day of lows and highs, but a great day overall. I write this sitting outside my hostel on the streets just outside of old town walls of Dubrovnik. Wow. Certainly didn’t expect this even as recently as 4 days ago. Life is good. What a world we live in.

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