April 1, 2018 – Need something moving from one part of Croatia to another in a hurry? Who needs expensive courier services…
As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am the most disorganised man on the planet. Without my wonderful wife, who is the MOST organised person on the planet, I would be completely lost.
So when it comes to preparing for a big journey and moving the family back to Hvar for Easter, it is best that I get out of the way and let everything be prepared without my involvement. I am in constant admiration of her organisation and ability to get everything in the car with not a single space left empty. My only task was to make sure I had all I needed for work – laptop, company stamp etc.
All went like clockwork. We got up at 04:00, left Varazdin at 05:15 and were handing over the kids to grandma at 10:15 in Split and then on the road to Pag for a 13:30 start for an excellent two days with the team from Gastronaut, exploring this fabulously diverse island. I will not mention the fact that in all my uselessness, having bought lots of Gligora Pag cheese for Easter, I managed to leave it in the car park while loading the car, for I forgot something far more important back in Varazdin – my passport.
“I have a presentation in Podgorica on Monday, so I will leave early morning and be back on Tuesday,” I was telling my mother-in-law. And then that sinking feeling – I hadn’t packed my passport, had I? Automatically thinking a trip to Jelsa from Varazdin was an internal affair with no thought of the onward travel. What an idiot.
The trip to Montenegro was necessary, so my only realistic option was to drive all the way back to Varazdin to collect the passport then all the way back again and on to Monte – hardly the relaxing family Easter I had planned.
“Why not send it by bus? We can ask the neighbours who have a key to put it on the bus,” suggested that super-organised wonder woman.
Phone calls were made, bus timetables checked and all was arranged (Many thanks, Team Radovan!) – there was a direct bus from Varazdin to Split, and all I had to do now was find someone in Split to meet the bus and transfer the passport to the ferry to Stari Grad (big shout out to the Dalmatian Bachelorette for saving the day).
“I am such an idiot,” said my sister-in-law on arrival from Zagreb. “I left the bag with all the Easter gifts in my apartment.” Enter my super wife and her organisation. An apartment was entered in Zagreb and the package put on the very same bus as my passport, as it was stopping in Zagreb on the way from Varazdin.
The only pressure now was the timing. The bus was due in Split at 20:00, and the last ferry to Stari Grad left at 20:30. Would there be enough time for the Dalmatian Bachelorette to work her magic?
While so many things do not work in Croatia, I have generally been super impressed by the punctuality of the Croatian bus network, so much so that I will always leave Zagreb at 15:00 to arrive in Split at 20:05 and that last ferry at 20:30. I have never missed the connection in ten years.
And so it proved this time. Big shout out to AP Varazdin for rocking up on time. The precious cargo was transferred to the ferry and collected in Stari Grad at 22:30. Operation from start to finish 14 hours, total cost some coffees for all those kind enough to help. Easter is saved and the conquest of Montenegro can go ahead as planned. Many thanks to all for your help.
The experience contrasts a little with my first use of DHL in Croatia several years ago. I needed to have some documents sent urgently from Slovakia. Having been brought up on TV ads of DHL canoeing down the Amazon and able to reach the most remote parts of the planet, I had assumed that delivering a small package to a town on a popular island would be rather straightforward. How wrong I was.
DHL called me to say that the package had arrived and I could come and collect it. A little confused as I was expecting the package to be delivered (and had paid handsomely for the service), I asked where I should collect it from.
“Our office in Split – we do not deliver to the islands.” Having explained that I could not possibly come to Split, they offered to put it in the regular post before agreeing to my suggestion to put it on the catamaran.
The ferry and bus transfer system is very well established in Croatia and works very well. Of course, the best advice is not to forget your passport in the first place.
