Carol’s Adventure with OWR Croatia: From Nervous First Steps to Adriatic Sunsets

Carol wanted to join OWR Croatia for years, always finding reasons to hold off. But after a tough year, she finally pressed “book” and set off on her very first solo trip abroad.

What started with nerves and a sleepless night before the flight quickly turned into beach days, Adriatic sunsets, and friendships that felt like they’d been waiting to happen. 

I had been contemplating booking the trip to Croatia for a couple of years after discovering OWR online by chance but always seemed to find excuses not to just go ahead and book it! After a difficult year, I decided I wanted to do something special to treat myself, so I made the bold decision to book my first solo trip abroad. I really liked the ethos of OWR with bringing solo travellers of a similar age together and thought the trips looked amazing!

The itineraries looked great quality with a variety of shared activities and free time to take at your own pace. I also liked the ethos of these trips not being focused on partying and drinking all the time, rather more focused on immersing yourself in different cultural experiences which was what I was looking for.

“WE WERE A MIXTURE OF PERSONALITIES FROM FOUR DIFERENT CONTINENTS”

Arrival in Split

I had been so nervous the night before I travelled, I hardly slept at my airport hotel (partly anxiety of sleeping through my alarm and missing my flight!!). Thankfully the travelling all went smoothly, and I was so excited when I touched down in a very sunny Split.

The hotel was great quality, and I instantly felt relaxed on arrival. I knew I had made the right decision when I found myself swimming in a relaxing rooftop pool with amazing views of Split, sipping a Pina Colada as I got to know some of my other fellow travellers! We were a mixture of personalities from four different countries, many of us were more introverted and throughout the week we found a good balance of spending time doing shared activities together whilst also allowing people in the group some space for themselves to recharge social batteries!

Our first evening in Split, we met collectively with our lovely tour guide Dina (Momma D!!)  who was so welcoming and clearly had a passion for the country and for traveling. We had a delicious meal at a fancy restaurant in the Old Town, the lamb was beautiful and melt in the mouth, although I may have embarrassed myself trying to order Croatian wine from the menu! 

The Old Town has such a historic charm, we got to walk around Diocletian’s Palace and we also found a Game of Thrones dragon in the Old Town which I was so pleased to find! There were also so many Gelato shops with such a delicious variety of flavours, I knew I would by trying out different gelatos for the rest of the trip! 

We were also fortunate enough to witness a lunar eclipse our second night in Split, a nice unplanned addition to the itinerary!

“KRKA WAS BREATHTAKING”

Trip to Krka

The excursion to Krka was one of the reasons I booked the trip to Croatia, I love being surrounded by nature and love waterfalls, Krka was breathtaking! Beautiful emerald green pools fit for mermaids, I could have happily wandered around there all day! Sadly, no swimming is allowed in Krka, but that did mean you could also appreciate the beauty of the pools even more.

Hvar

A short ride on the ferry to the exotic island of Hvar, we enjoyed lots of sun and sea whilst we were here. The Adriatic Sea was beautiful and warm, the beaches are mostly pebbles and I did find myself stumbling into the water not so elegantly, but it was worth it once you were in!

In the evening, we took a trip to a beautiful rustic vineyard in Hora for a meal and wine tasting. We had such stunning views of the island and the sunset all the way there. The wines tasted wonderful, and we had some good laughs, including with some braver members of the group eating hot chillies that were decorated around the place (I was not one of the brave ones, but I did enjoy some extra wine)!!

“SWIMMING IN THE BLUE LAGOON WAS BEAUTIFUL”

Our second day in Hvar, we were out at sea on a speedboat travelling around the local islands. Swimming in the blue lagoon was beautiful, and we had the opportunity to do some snorkelling. The water was crystal clear you could see to the bottom.

I also had the opportunity to hold a sea urchin one of the speedboat drivers had caught, something I never imagined I would get to hold. She was a beautiful burgundy colour, but glad I didn’t stand on any with the length of those spikes!

The speedboats were great fun, although there were a few scary moments when the waves picked up and we certainly took a good splashing!

Dubrovnik

Our week finished in stunning Dubrovnik, which was like stepping into Kings Landing from Game of Thrones! A few of us did the Game of Thrones tour on our free day which meant we got to see where key scenes were filmed. As a Game of Thrones fan, I loved this! But even the members of the group who have not seen the series also found it a great way to see the key sights in Dubrovnik and learn some of the history.

The views of Dubrovnik were incredible from the city walls and the fortress.  Our hotel had amazing views of Lapad Bay, and we got to see a thunderstorm one evening over Dubrovnik which was very impressive! 

On our last day we had sea kayaking. I was nervous about this at first, however it was so much fun and a relaxing way to be out at sea. We went to a beautiful beach cove and got great views of Dubrovnik’s coastline along the way. It was also great bonding time kayaking with a fellow traveller, working together to keep ourselves from going out to sea!

We spent our final evening at a beautiful restaurant in the Old Town with our tour guide – the lovely Momma D. We had already labelled ourselves as her ducklings after having followed Momma D around Croatia all week!   

“IT WAS SO REFRESHING TO MEET OTHER SOLO TRAVELLERS OF A SIMILAR AGE WHO WERE ALSO ALONE, WITH A SHARED PASSION FOR TRAVELING AND ENJOYING LIFE”

It was so refreshing to meet other solo travellers of a similar age who were also alone, with a shared passion for traveling and enjoying life. A few of us also bonded over our love of cats, there were plenty of Croatian cats for us to fuss over whilst missing our feline babies back home!

If you’re thinking of booking a trip, my advice is not to overthink it and just go for it! For me the whole trip was a great reminder that it is still possible to live a fulfilling life and make amazing memories as a single person in your 30s/40s.

I’m already planning my next trip and am excited for future adventures and creating more great memories in beautiful new places!