Airborne

ABOUT: setting off, written on BA2888

*Waffle*

And I'm airborne - checking that the phone I'm tapping away at is safely in Flight Mode. I wonder if I'll wear out the battery so much on Solitaire and Ballbreaker (actually the game is Bubble Breaker) that I wouldn't be able to bring down the plane if I wanted to - far less write this nonsense.

I'm conscious (having read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves") that I'm being lazy and punctuating using dashes rather than colons, semi or otherwise. What the hell - I'm on holiday!

For someone who flies as much as I do (sometimes to work via Amsterdam Schiphol and back every week for months), my packing for this trip was terribly prolonged and inefficient. I think this is a backlash against the fact that I can pack for a week away in 10 minutes, and frequently have. Maybe it's like acting - much harder to feel you're doing it well if NOT driven by the mainspring of being half-petrified by stage-fright, or missing the plane.

Friend Elaine gave me a lift to Gatwick as "Phil the Cab" is confined with flu. They're insisting on picking me up from Heathrow when I return next Saturday (all being well). That's so nice, but it would be their Saturday night I'd be disturbing/spoiling, unless Phil's working already.

As is my habit, I filled up on books at the airport - two Christopher Brookmyres (a brilliant and quirky "detective" writer who I heartily recommend), the new paperback Le Carré (the old firm) and one called "Band of Eagles" which sounds like "Band of Brothers with Wings" by a different author. I didn't read the blurb, but a line on the cover makes me guess it's about pilots fighting for Malta in WW2, which I became interested in after visiting there a while ago.

These are added to the six books in my checked luggage, already including an older Le Carre as well as "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" and several hand-me-down books from my Dad, who likes unchallenging blokeish crap as much as I do.

My itinerary (previous post) includes 40+ hours of train travel, so I may need a book or two.

I may also have more time than is healthy to write stuff like this (having rambled so far already). What should I be writing? What do I think friends (or strangers) might be interested to read? I can take some solace from the fact that I titled the blog "Only Somewhat Boring", so I can't be done for misrepresentation.

I'll try an idea that's useful at work - I'll use a management summary, at the top but written last, and subheadings so people can skip over even more boring stuff. I'm going to go back and do that now...

...and I'm back.

*Ready for Split*

I won't arrive in Split until mid-evening, so I decided this morning to book accommodation in advance (obviously not far). This looks like a good idea as most hotel search sites including LastMinute and a few Croatian specialist sites reported no space anywhere. LateRooms found "Apartments Split" and I've booked and paid (Ł94) for two nights.

So I had an address from LateRooms, but where is that? The LateRooms map showed it on the end of the harbour wall. You don't catch me that way! I found a lovely flash/navigable map on CroMap, but it didn't appear to have a search box. I saw a list on the right that had "touristicy" or something half-way down and in a flash of inspiration I clicked the Croatian word in capitals at the top, which opened up a list of street names. The map also had a good print function (right-click on the map).

I looked on WikiTravel about how to get from Split Airport to town (25km). The best answer seemed to be bus to the waterfront bus station, but my now-found accommodation looked to be a kilometre away uphill. Hence I was planning on a taxi, until I was sitting in Gatwick and got a text from a +385 number inquiring how I was arriving.

After a brief exchange of texts, I've ended up with instructions to take the Croatian Airlines bus to the bus station, text when I'm on the bus and they'll come to fetch me. How nice!

*The Trip in Prospect*

Since I started considering this trip (last week), looked into it (Monday) and decided to come (yesterday/Tuesday) I've become increasingly excited. Why? Not sure.
From one viewpoint I'm quite well travelled, in a "beaten path" kind of way. I have a list of about 60 airports I've been to, from or through. I've been to more exotic places than the Balkans, which I should expect to be advanced, mostly Western-facing countries.

I suppose that was mainly with work or "tourist cocoon" stuff (fly in, go pre-booked Western-OK hotel, take organised trips, fly out). On this trip I'll be arriving in places and looking for accommodation there and then. I've done a similar thing in Scotland almost 20 years ago, and almost 10 years ago in Central Europe. This trip will take me through places affected by the Balkan wars, part of the former Warsaw Pact and an Islamic state straddling Europe and Asia. That feels different to me, although I have to admit that Croatia is an easy introduction.