Travel Diary: Paris & Croatia
I started my new job back in January 2022 and within a couple of weeks I was talking to a colleague about travel and how I’d like to go more places. She said, “Well then you must be excited to go to Croatia!”
“Um, what?”
Apparently, the company is known for their annual summits in different parts of the world and this year was going to be the epic post-Covid return, the first in almost four years, and it was to be hosted in Sibenik, Croatia.
It was super exciting but I definitely thought it wasn’t going to happen. First, there was the war in Ukraine. We all thought that might escalate prior to our travel, so it might not be the safest time to travel. Then, Covid cases continued to rise. I even got Covid about two weeks before we left. I kept thinking that it still wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t actually believe it until the week before when I got all of my hotel and travel details.
I actually had to travel a day early because me and my colleague were asked to facilitate an offsite the day before everyone else arrived. My itinerary was to leave Boston on Saturday night at 10:30pm, fly to Paris and land at 11:30am, spend the night in Paris and leave from Paris at 6:30am. From Paris we would fly to Amsterdam for a layover then from Amsterdam we’d fly to Split, Croatia. Lots of travel, but I was super excited about it! THREE NEW COUNTRY STAMPS ON MY PASSPORT!
Part 1: Paris
In Paris, my hotel was located in Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement. It was pretty far away from the city center, but I didn’t mind. I’d like to return to Paris again (and likely will, since most of my team is based there and it’s a company HQ) and have plenty of time for sightseeing. I was only there for 15ish hours so I embraced the time and spent the day the way I imagined a local would, except with less cigarette smoke.
I arrived at my hotel and refused to nap so I could avoid jet lag. I rested (aka put my puffy plane feet up the wall), re-charged all of my electronics, and then put on a dress from Sézane (that I purposely bought for Paris) and a pair of adidas sneakers and decided to walk. I walked from Montparnasse to Le Jardin du Luxembourg and through the adorable side streets of the 6th until I got to the Seine. I walked along the Seine, then crossed the bridge to the Louvre to say hello. Then, I walked across Pont Neuf back to the Left Bank and back through the gardens and stopped (after 8+ miles of walking) at a cafe for a glass (or two) of wine and some steak frites.
The whole time I was listening to Mean Baby by Selma Blair and it was REALLY GOOD. Highly recommend!
By the time I had stopped for food, I was hangry. I hadn’t eaten a thing since the previous day and burned a lot of calories. It caused me to be a little grumpy, but also insecure and I felt really out of place. Nothing triggered this feeling from the people or places in Paris, but for some reason I just felt like I didn’t belong. But then the waiter spoke to me in English and was very nice to me. I ordered a big glass of Sancerre and watched people at nearby tables smoking and laughing with their friends. There was a table of six kids who felt like they were right out of the French-version of a Sally Rooney novel. They were chain smoking, drinking beers, and rolling their eyes at each other’s jokes. The people on my right side were actually from the U.S. and were talking about Mormons so it was pretty great to listen to them because that’s obviously my favorite topic.
It suddenly started to thunder and rain poured down. Luckily I was under a covered area, so it was actually really nice to watch and it cooled everyone down. There were two old guys next to me and they kept speaking to me in French, but I awkwardly kept trying to tell them I couldn’t speak it. They eventually bought me more wine to sit out the storm. It was nice. I felt better.
I then went back to the hotel around 9:00pm to get some sleep before my 3:15 wake-up time.
Part 2: Travel to Split
I woke up anxious around 3:00am, afraid that I’d miss my flight. I didn’t. I took a taxi to the airport at 4:00 and arrived around 4:45. I breezed through immigration and security, hoping for a coffee, but nothing was open. I sat silently in a very quiet airport until I heard, “Patty??” and met my first colleague, Julia, in person.
I met a lot of colleagues in the airport terminal throughout the next two hours. Sandrine! Nancy! Virginie! Yannick! Harold! May! Geraldine! Rachel! Justine! Travel is so weirdly vulnerable to me so it felt so odd to meet all of these people in this state. Like, “Hello, I’m Patty, these are my leggings and various devices to curb anxiety and travel boredom!”
Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed because two flights were leaving from the same gate at the same time (????). They boarded the Nice, France plane first which pushed our time back by 30 minutes. That scared me because it left very little time for our layover. Luckily, we boarded, made it and we had someone who knew we could get through passport control for quick layovers and she ensured we all made it through. We made it to the gate just in time (but not enough for that damn coffee) and I met MORE colleagues who had flown in from Barcelona.
Also, the Amsterdam airport was a GIANT MESS and the workers kept yelling at us. However, it’s a tough time for them because they’re understaffed and dealing with strikes and issues. The men, however, were very handsome.
Then it was on to Split.
Part 3: Split, Croatia
We made it to Split!
But most of the luggage did not. I didn’t check a bag (because I’m afraid of lost luggage and hate waiting when I get off the plane) but most people did and none of the luggage made it from Amsterdam. There were only four of us that had our suitcases and everyone was obviously really upset. We had to wait while every single person filled out a claim form, and then figure out what they were going to do.
We had an offsite planned that afternoon that we’d already pushed back, and there was dinner that night and of course clothing needed for the next day. Also UNDERWEAR! So, we did what we had to do which was GO TO THE MALL. We had a shuttle taking us from the airport, so we found a mall close to our hotel in Sibenik, had him take us there and literally had a 30 minute shopping spree. It was hilarious. I wish we did a Clueless-style montage. I knew basically none of the stores but there was an H&M. Everyone bought what they could/needed and we finally made it on the shuttle to Sibenik.
After all that, we sat down for lunch at the hotel around 4:00pm, 13 hours after my travel day started. Our offsite was supposed to start at 1:30 and be three hours long, so we had to change that. We ended up doing just an hour, none of us changed into new clothes, and it ended up being really fun. I had no idea how we were going to do it - two sweaty facilitators wearing travel clothes trying to do team-building activities with 15 people who had a stressful travel day - but it was actually great.
We finally finished and got to check into our rooms. Lucré and I reserved a bungalow, which was essentially a 2 bed, 2 bath mobile home. We thought we were SO SUPERIOR for getting one because they were HOT and sold out quickly. Little did we know, we were very wrong. The space itself was fine, the rooms and bathrooms were small but we had our own space and a little porch. There was only air conditioning in the living room area so we had to keep our doors open to get the rooms cool. Croatia is very hot, but it wasn’t too bad at night.
Side-note: Why does Europe hate air-conditioning and iced beverages?
Part 4: Sibenik, Croatia
We woke up in Sibenik excited because we had a whole day with nothing on our calendars. Our other colleagues had actual stuff to do, but Lucré and I just had to prepare for a presentation we were delivering later that week and then ENJOY THE POOL. Everyone else was arriving that day, so there was nothing on our schedules until 7:30pm.
First we had breakfast with most of the team that we arrived with the day before. I love European breakfasts. There’s so much meat and cheese! I’m not a huge fan of “traditional” breakfast foods like eggs and sweet stuff, so I would have a croissant, prosciutto and cheese every morning with a side of fruits and some coffee. It was perfect.
It was really weird to sit next to someone and work beside them when we’ve never met in person and have spent 6 months working across from each other on a Zoom screen. WHAT A WORLD.
We swam in our amazing hotel pool later that afternoon and got a little burnt. We slowly started meeting people as they began to arrive and met us at the pool. I literally met MOST of my team members, including my new manager, while wearing a bathing suit in and beside the pool. It was so funny to me. What a fun company. We all spent some time together, got to know each other, and then Lucré’s luggage finally arrived so we split up to get ready for the first party of the week: Where’s Waldo.
The idea for the Where’s Waldo party was that we’ve been seeing each other on Zoom for so long that we wouldn’t be able to find each other in person, especially if we were all wearing the same thing. The party was super fun and I got to meet my entire team, lots of business partners, and drink rum and colas while dancing in a large group of people. Totally not my typical scene, but it was so much fun.
That is until we found out the afterparty was right outside of our bungalow, and it was taking place from 12am until 4am every single night. I mean, it was RIGHT OUTSIDE. If I were in my twenties, I wouldn’t have minded. However, I’m 36 and had to wake up early and present and actually be productive all week. This was a company summit after all… but the afterparties were HOSTED by the company. It was confusing and annoying. Lucré ultimately decided to have her room changed, but I was too lazy to move my stuff and figured I’d just drink enough wine and take enough Benadryl to get myself to sleep and blast my Royalcore playlist.
The next few days in Sibenik went like this:
Wake up and have breakfast
Meet up with team for events
Facilitate a session
Spend afternoon doing team-building activities with team like playing table topics and doing a scavenger hunt in the amazing, medieval city of Sibenik (I found out afterwards it’s where a lot of Game of Thrones scenes are filmed)
Take a break from people and try to nap but watch Netflix instead
Have a minor mental breakdown (over that same not belonging feeling, that I clearly need to figure out with a professional)
Go to parties (day two’s theme was Summer Party at a waterpark ON THE RESORT and the final night was a Carnival theme but it got rained out so it happened inside the convention center) As Lucré so aptly said, “NOW we’re at an office party.” Nothing like a convention center to bring the corporate back into it!! However, it was anything but corporate - there were people on stilts wearing butterfly wings and people painting faces to make us all look like we were on the set of Euphoria
There was a lot of bonding, laughing, drinking, eating grilled zucchini, eggplant and french fries and whatever protein I could find that wasn’t fish (turkey and pork were the big ones.) It was a totally fun and super exhausting week. I honestly felt like I had known the team forever and hit it off with everyone. I feel lucky to have landed in a great company after leaving my beloved adidas, and I feel excited about the work I’m doing and the people I’m doing it with.
Part 5: Back to Paris
I left Sibenik on Friday morning and flew from Zadar to Paris. I made it back to my original hotel in Montparnasse by 8:00pm and I was so exhausted that I couldn’t do any of the exciting things I had planned. I decided to stay local and grab dinner at a brasserie in Montparnasse. I took a stroll and fell in love with Paris all over again. Paris feels a little bit like New York City but it has maintained its original, authentic identity. It still feels so French - everyone smokes, the cafes/bistros all have chairs facing the sidewalks, the girls dress so cool and patisseries and boulangeries are all over the place. NYC has evolved so much and every neighborhood is different, but Paris feels exactly like I imagined. Or exactly like I experienced through the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, Passport to Paris.
Side-note: EVERY girl in Paris wore a dress with sneakers. I loved it so much! The most popular shoes I saw were these, but also lots of chunky New Balance shoes and Reeboks!
On Saturday, I woke up and took an Uber to Notre Dame because I had to meet Quasimodo for un café and then went to Shakespeare & Company because I love books even though I had no room in my suitcase. I was talking to a colleague on WhatsApp and we were going to ride to the airport together but I was running late and she was worried we wouldn’t make it in time. That immediately gave me anxiety.
I Uber’d back to the hotel and left for the airport at 10:45 and made it to Charles de Gaulle at 11:50 for a 1:30pm flight. I tried to check in, couldn’t, went to a desk, they turned me away, asked someone for help and they helped me check in. I got in line for passport control, they stopped me because my bags were too heavy and I had to check one of them. I had to run back to check in a bag (they gave me a pass to skip the line) and checked it. They let me cut the line to where I would have been when I left and went through passport control. Then I realized I had to take a tram to security. Made it through security quickly and then made it to my gate JUST IN TIME. I will listen to the three hours early advice from here on out.
Also, I did all of this while listening to both Greenwich Park (was good) and Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead (cheesy but fun.)
I watched Stranger Things on the way back and loved every minute of it, but hated being in the middle seat on a 6.5 hour flight.
I am so tired. I am so grateful. I can’t wait to travel again, but I also can’t wait to STAY PUT this summer and only travel locally to places like New Hampshire and Vermont. Places where I definitely don’t worry about belonging. Ain’t NOBODY can make me feel like I don’t belong in the mountain towns of New England!!!
PATTY B IN PAR-EEEEEEEE