​Prižba
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On November 5th, we packed our car and drove on. We wanted to be in Prižba, Korčula at the end of the day. On the way down south, we had crossed the border twice. We entered Bosnia Herzegovina for 20 minutes. At the Bosnian border we had to wait nearly 5 minutes, because a German had to have his car examined. Our self, we needed just one minute. After a few minutes’ drive, a small stopover for a photo shoot, at the other end of the county no waiting on the Croatian border, ufff! We continued our drive to Pelješac and then to Orebić, where our ferry left for the island of Korčula.
we have booked an apartment in Prižba, on this beautiful island for 12 nights. It was very reasonably priced and very nice. A couple years ago, Pablo’s wish was to visit an island in Croatia, that’s why I reserved the apartment during the time of his birthday, but also have a feeling of vacation and not only travel. It is important not to change the location every 2 days. The children need rest and time for themselves (as we do too 😉); like playing with their toys/games, sleeping in, and doing some school stuff 😉

​Vela Luka

Vela Luka is the largest port on the island, the big ferries from Split arrive here. Vela Luka had been used as a port by the Romans. We walked leisurely at the waterfront and in the old town until we became aware of the Vela Spila caves. Since it is low season, we had to pick up the key to the cave at the tourist office. On our own responsibility, we could explore the caves, which are about 900m above the town. The caves were settled about 20,000 years ago, back in the Stone Age. Bones and tools from this period were found. The cave was then occupied again and again till the present day.

​Blato

Like all Towns in Croatia, Blato also has a small old town and many churches, which we visited in a short time. The real reason was doing groceries.

​Korčula

If we spend so many days on this island, that’s why we had to visit the small town called Korčula. It is rumored that Marco Polo was born there. The town is great and neat. The many small streets are always a sensation to explore for the children. Since we are already here, we could just do our weekly groceries. Prižba and Blato do not have that much variety.

​Dubrovnik

It is no coincidence that so many of our favorite travel moments come from Croatia. The country is just awesome! Finally, we also explored the very last corner of Croatia: Dubrovnik, the World Heritage city in the very south. And it has it all, for children and adults alike.
On our first short walk through the Old Town we felt very welcomed and could not wait to explore all the sights of Dubrovnik, so we spent a little more money and bought a 3-day pass. For two days we looked at the city from above, visited every alley and even made some bus trips. At the end, we treat the girls to a children's program: eating ice cream!

We have rented a holiday apartment in one of the many houses that claw along the ridiculously narrow streets on the hill site. Driving is only possible for locals, so we had to rent an apartment with a parking space (be sure to leave your stroller at home!). But the view of Dubrovnik New Harbor and the Adriatic Sea was fantastic. When we finally made our way down to the sea, we needed about 15 minutes to descend the three-digit number of steps and another 15 minutes to the old town.
3 days gave us a good insight into this wonderful city. One day would have been too little. 

We did not know Slovenia, other than from our passing throughs on our way to Croatia in 2016/2017. Even then, the meadows were beautiful green and lush, the streets and houses maintained. And yet Slovenia surprised us positively. We crossed the small alpine country from north to south and wondered for a week how beautiful and how versatile it is here. How everything somehow reminds us of our homeland Switzerland.
On terms of the people and the cars (even if this may sound a bit arrogant) we were assuming that the Slovenians must be doing well. Even the meals at the restaurants were priced almost like in Switzerland 😊.
 
Only a few days before, still in Santa Maria, Val Müstair, Switzerland, we thought about how we wanted to plan our stay in Slovenia. Through Couchsurfing or Workaway we did not get any answers, so we ended up renting a small apartment / house situated in the heart of the Triglav National Park for a week via Airbnb. What a great idea! The beautiful forests, spectacular karst landscapes and the very nice people made the start for our Europe-Tour easy. We leave Slovenia with the firm intention to come back again!
 
All wonderful sites we visited; each would earn a detailed report for themselves. But before I get tangled up (such a nomadic life is quite time-consuming, at least for reasons as the non-existent dishwasher), here is a brief summary of each places we visited:
 
 
Ukanc, Lake Bohinj
 
Here, in the last village of this beautiful valley, we rented our little house. It could also be at home somewhere in the Jura Mountains. The weather was wonderful, sun was shining most oft he time (the last 2 days were cloudy and rainy). The girls could go to the lake or just to the river alone and let their childhood dreams run wild. The playground was their secret hiding place when it came to their chores to do 😉
 
 
Lake Bled
 
The wildly romantic mountain lake with the island is not far from the Austrian border and 45 minutes from Ukanc. We walked briefly along the northern shore beneath the castle. Since I absolutely had to go to the bathroom, we made a small stop in a restaurant. 4 different drinks for 17 euros, it ain’t cheap, certainly not the parking (2 euros / hour).
 
Ljubljana
 
Two days in Ukanc, suddenly we received a message from a Couchsurfer from Ljubljana. Unfortunately, hosting wasn’t possible. Yet I asked him if he was available on Saturday October 26 to grab a coffee or so? The answer was an invitation for a breakfast at his home. His 3 kids were really looking forward to play with our girls. The breakfast was a success, everyone enjoyed it. The kids got along right away.
In the afternoon we strolled through Ljubljana and discovered this beautiful, scenic city.
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Six years ago we moved from Montreal Canada back to our hometown Biel/Bienne in Switzerland (http://www.chanpab.com/globe-trotting/times-up).


Six years in which we fully reintegrated into the everyday routine of working, eating, sleeping and kind of enjoying the weekend.
We noticed how P. and I (mostly P.) rushed through everyday’s life: Getting up at 6:00 h, leaving the house 6:20, starting work at 7:30 h and being back home at 18:30 h, going to bed at around 22:00 h, (P. needs his sleep to function properly 😊). And his family life? He complained more and more about not knowing what «his 3 girls” were up to.
We just seemed to fly through the weeks: if I’m or he was busy with one thing, we were mentally already preparing for the next one.

For five years P. worked as a Senior IT Technician and it was interesting. But the commuting part (90 minutes for 42 km mornings and evenings) took its toll, felt more and more like a waste of time. Netflix could not change that 😊. Couldn’t the time have spent more intelligently with the family and developing our many ideas?
We were facing a fundamental decision. For almost a year now P. had a bad feeling in his stomach, when the weekend was over, or he did think about work. A year ago, when we first talked about taking some time off, a real family time, just the 4 of us. Living the dream and travel with our kids as long as the saved-up money lasts.

Hadn’t we left everything behind once before? We need our serenity back and teach our kids to take it slow, living the dream and not just live/work for the dream. The kids are 9 and 11 years old, the time is now or never. They would not want to travel with us in 5-10 years from now. They will need to develop their own personality and take on their own life and dreams.
We've known for weeks/months that we must take the step. Just go to our respective supervisors and say: "I quit". Essentially, that’s what we did, and we stopped working on September 30th, 2019.

Why did we do it? Wouldn’t life be easier with a good salary? The luxury to be able to afford everything we needed, because money is available. Even being able to pay into the retirement fund at the end of the month. What about finding another work after 12 months on the road?
And yet, we quit, and we go on that trip around Europe spending our savings. We left steady jobs, and no one pays our pension, our insurance or our apartment.
Now, we have 3 weeks to prepare the car we just bought for this journey, free up the apartment and put the most important things into the car.


Europe here we come!
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