Ahh Croatia – one of my favourite countries in Europe. Pre-pandemic, I never allowed myself to return to the same country twice, forever on a mission to increase my country count. I would turn down holidays with friends or family, in order to tick a new country off solo – how silly I was. As the pandemic brought with it a halt to travel, I started to realise how much pressure I put on myself to constantly be travelling to new lands. I began to realise how much travel dominated my life and my finances, and in many ways it was a relief not to be able to travel for a while. Pre-pandemic, my life revolved around travel: when I wasn’t abroad, I was either furiously researching a destination and putting together an itinerary, or editing all of the photos upon my return. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it and lived for those moments abroad, but I also found the constant cycle a lot of pressure to maintain.

When travel restrictions eased slightly during the pandemic, we couldn’t be picky about where we wanted to go, but had to seize any destination that would let us in. It was during this time, that I finally allowed myself to return to familiar countries, and in so doing I rediscovered some of my favourite destinations, Hvar being one of them. After months of being confined to our homes, everything felt new again. We spent our days meandering the cobbled backstreets, stopping for breakfast on the steps, exploring hidden coves by boat, soaking up the sunshine on deck, tasting Croatian wines at vineyards and sampling monkfish slow cooked using the traditional Peka technique. In these moments I realised that there are so many new experiences to be had in familiar haunts, and now I joyfully allow myself to return to my favourite places guilt-free.

 

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