PASSION FOR TRAVEL

In the past few months I've received numerous emails containing a lots of questions about specific details of my travel experiences so I decided to bring you a bit different post today. I know it sounds awfully main stream but here are some of my tips and plans for traveling abroad.
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Zadnjih par mjeseci primila sam brojne mailove s mnogo pitanja o detaljima i iskustvima s mojih putovanja, stoga sam odlučila danas napraviti nešto drugačiji post. Znam da ste o ovim stvarima čitali tisuću puta, ali evo nekoliko mojih savjeta i planova za putovanje u inozemstvo.




First of all I would like to emphasize few basic things about my travel habits. My journey's are in general pretty organized so things rarely get out of control. Accidents are always possible but I give my best to predict them the best I can. This is the main reason for making a travel plan.
First phase of planning a trip includes details concerning destination(s), place(s) to stay, mean(s) of transport and few bare necessities.
DESTINATIONS I'm a kind of a person that loves to travel no matter where and when. In my opinion there are only 3 things needed to travel; wish, time and money. Sadly you almost never have enough of the last two things and that is why you must define your priorities. When deciding where to go I always consult dozen of different web pages to check if my decision was a good one. The most important thing to find out is when to go to the destination you prefer. In my case it is often caused by finding a cheap airplane tickets. :P
PLACES TO STAY There is nothing better than experiencing a real life of the destination you are traveling to so I would strongly recommend everyone to rent an apartment or a room rather than going to the hotel or hostel. Few years ago I found a perfect solution for solving this problem. You can find it at www.airbnb.com. I've been using it for years and I absolutely adore it. I'm pretty sure this is the best alternative accommodation web page ever created. It is kind of a facebook for renting places to stay.
MEANS OF TRANSPORT Everything and anything as long as it guarantees you a safe journey from one place to an other. For long distances I prefer taking a plane or a train. As a matter a fact I'm planning a big train journey this summer. ;-) When searching for cheap tickets you should always check up www.skyscanner.com even better download the application to your smartphone and track the flights you'd like to take every now and then. You'll soon find out that you can find a rediculously cheap tickets for almost all destinations. Except from skyscanner I'd like to mention even better way of saving money. As in all things you should sometimes leave it all to the professionals and luckily I've find a nice agency to meet all my demands. It is "Da,da,da, želim putovati" (literally meaning: ""Yes,yes, yes, I want to travel), a Zagreb based office that will overcome all money problems in order to find you just the thing you need.
BARE NECESSITIES These things are quite different depending on what kind of traveler you are. In my case they include an Eyewitness Top 10 guidebook (my favorite which I strongly recommend), a good camera, mobile phone, a debit card and a gigantic smile for attracting happy people around the world. :D
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Prije svega željela bih istaknuti nekoliko osnovnih stvari o mojim putnim navikama. Moja putovanja su prilično dobro unaprijed organizirana tako da stvari rijetko kad izmaknu kontroli. Nesreće su uvijek moguće, ali ja dajem sve od sebe da ih predvidim i na vrijeme spriječim. To je i glavni razlog pravljena plana putovanja barem mjesec dana unaprijed.
Moje planiranje putovanja uvijek započinje sa detaljima oko destinacije, smještaja, prijevoza i nekoliko osnovnih stvari koje volim imati na putovanju.
DESTINACIJE Ja sam tip osobe koja voli putovati, bez obzira gdje i kada. Po mom mišljenju postoje samo tri stvari potrebne za putovanje: želja, vrijeme i novac. Nažalost, gotovo uvijek nam fale zadnje dvije stvari i zato najprije sebi trebate odrediti prioritete. Prilikom odlučivanja gdje ću ići uvijek provjeravam desetke web stranica kako bih se uvjerila da je moja odluka ispravana. Najvažnija stvar koju trebate provjeriti je kada je najbolje vrijeme za posjetiti željenu destinaciju. Ipak u mom slučaju to je najčešće uvjetovano jeftinim avionskim kartama. :P
SMJEŠTAJ Iskusiti život lokalnog stanovništava je nešto najbolje što bilo koja destinacija može ponuditi, tako da iskreno preporučujem svima da rađe iznajme apartman ili sobu, a ne idu u hotele ili hostele. Prije nekoliko godina sam pronašla savršeno rješenje za ovaj način putovanja, možete ga pronaći na www.airbnb.com. Ovu stranicu koristim već nekoliko godina i obožavam je. Mislim da je to najbolja stranica ikad napravljena za pronalazak idealnog smještaja. Kao neka vrsta facebook-a za iznajmljivanje mjesta za boravak.
PRIJEVOZ Sve i svašta dokle god vam to jamči siguran put s jednog mjesta na dugo. Za duže destinacije ja osobno preferiram avion ili u nekim slučajevima vlak. Zapravo i paniram veliko putovanje vlakom ovo ljeto ;) Ako trežite povoljne avio karte uvijek biste trebali provjeriti www.skyscanner.com ili još bolje skinuti aplikaciju na svoj smartphone i što češće pratiti letove koji vas zanimaju (cijene se mijenju gotovo svaki dan). Uskoro ćete otkriti da možete pronaći smiješno jeftine karte za gotovo sva odredišta. Osim skyscanner-a željela bih spomenuti još jedan odličan način uštede novca. Kao i uvijek, ponekad stvari treba prepustiti profesionalcima i srećom sam pronašla agenciju koja može udovoljiti svim mojim zahtjevima. "Da, da, da, želim putovati" je zagebačka agencija koja će zaobići sva skupa rješenja kako bi pronašla upravo ono što vam odgovara.
OSTALO Ove stvari se uglavnom razlikuju ovisno o tome koji ste tip putnika. U mom slučaju to su Eyewitness Top 10 vodič (moj najdraži vodič, koji bih preporučila svima), dobar fotoaparat, mobitel, debitnu karticu i ogroman osmijeh za upoznavanje sretnih ljudi diljem svijeta :D

Since we started with the topic of traveling around I want to share my newest Eurotrip plans with you. For years I've been meeting people from around the world which have been on their Eurotrip. Back then it was explained to me as a tradition everyone is aught to expirience once in a lifetime. Thats how I got the idea of checking it out. This year I decided to finally do it and though I already visited a lots of places in Europe I decided to make this adventure different and to take a 23-day train trip starting from Zagreb. The list of destinations is changing every day but for now I'm counting on Prague, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Marseille and Barcelona and many hidden little places along the way.
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Budući da smo počeli s temom putovanja, želim podijeliti s vama moje najnovije planove za put po Europi. Godinama susrećem ljude iz cjelog svijeta koji su bili na svom Eurotrip-u. Uvijek su mi objašnjavali da je to tradicija koju svatko treba iskusiti barem jednom u životu. Na taj način sam i ja dobila ideju da napravim nešto slično. Ove godine ću to putovanje napokon i realizirati. Iako sam već posjetila mnoge gradove u Europi , odlučila sam ovu avanturu napraviti nešto drugačijom i uzeti kartu za vlak s neograničenim korištenjem unutar 23 dana. Lista destinacija se mijenja iz dana u dan, ali za sada računam na Prag, Berlin, Bruxelles, Amstredam, Pariz, Marseille i Barcelonu te mnoga skrovita mala mjesta usput.