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Change of Plans! Traveling with Flexibility


I was sitting on a beach 30 minutes south of Mostar with my new friends, an international group I had met at a hostel. Our team of four - a Swiss-Israeli, an Israeli, a Chilean-German, and an American - were all driving through rural Bosnia together.


three young people on picnic blanket

The three of them were planning to continue to Split, Croatia and then continue on to different destinations. I was planning to take a bus from Mostar, Bosnia to Trebinje, Bosnia, and then traverse up Croatia. However, only one bus per day at 5:30pm ran that route to Trebinje, and I had already missed it. That meant I would spend an entire night and entire day in a city I was not all that impressed with, and my friends would be forced to drive an extra hour to get me there.

So, I changed my plans. I thought about it for a good five minutes, but I know that the most important attitude to have when traveling is flexible thinking - here was my opportunity to exercise that. I traveled with the group to Split, Croatia, finding a hostel once we arrived in the city. I was planning to explore Croatia with an American friend the following week, however, so I didn’t necessarily want to be in Croatia yet.

I booked a ferry to Acona, Italy at 9am, and then spent the day at the beach with my Chilean-German friend. She told me all about the country, and helped me draw up a map of the places I could visit before meeting my American friend in northern Croatia.

At 8pm, my ferry departed for Italy.


ferry docked in Split, Croatia

There were three ticket options when I bought the ticket: cabin, reserve seat, or deck space. Deck space was cheapest, so I went with that, fully prepared to sleep outside on a ferry under the stars. In reality, multiple restaurant dining areas were used as “deck space,” and I had a large four person table all to myself. Some people slept in chairs, but I slept on the floor.


young woman smiling on ferry

By traveling at night instead of the day, I was able to wrap the cost of accommodation and travel into one. Once in Acona, I hopped on a bus to Florence, Italy - four hours east. In less than 48 hours I had tossed a week of plans and traveled by car, boat, and bus from central Bosnia to central Italy. I wonder what is in Florence.

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