The answer is
al ways no unl ess
you ask
I never was good taking no for an answer as a
kid. If my parents told me I couldn?t do
something, I would do it anyway to see and
prove I COULD do it. The same thing goes
when traveling. It?s very easy to be scared and
feel out of place when traveling to different
countries especially where they don?t speak
English. It is very easy to get ripped off, told
that you cant stay at a hostel because they are
booked, or told something you want to do is
too expensive. Where there is a will, there is a
way. I showed up by myself on the island of
Hvar in Croatia. I was told that the hostel I
wanted to stay at was booked, and there were
no tickets for the boat booze cruise left. I
decided I was not going to take no for an
answer. While being a girl did help my case in
this situation, I think this mentality is a good
tool for anyone to have. I walked up to the
hostel ready to go on the boat, and had my
money in hand to pay for my stay that night.
My exact words were (with a huge smile on my
face), ?I know that you guys have no beds
available, and no tickets left for the boat,
however I have no place to stay tonight and
I?m ready to go on the boat if there is an
available ticket.? The cute Australian guy
immediately said, ?YUP! YOU?RE IN!? Reserved
my bed and boat ticket, and I stayed the next 4
days at a ?fully booked? hostel.
60
THOSE WHO WANDER
Embrace t he
Unknown!
The unknown can cause a lot of people
anxiety. Some need more structure than
others when it comes to traveling. I
definitely had my moments of anxiety and
almost break downs when things went
wrong. The BIGGEST struggle of my trip
happened when I got sick in Croatia. I had
just come from Budapest where I heard
everyone gets sick. I went to Sparty, which
was a crazy Budapest bath party. It was like a
Vegas pool party times 100. Everyone told
me not to go under the water? so what did I
do by the end of the night? Go under the
water. In the morning my head was
throbbing, my vision was blurry, my eyes
were watery, and I had the puppy mill cough.
I first thought it was allergies, but when I
woke up I realized I needed oral antibiotics
and prescription eye drops. In Split, Croatia
there are no doctors or immediate cares. I
had to walk all the way to the hospital to get
treatment. I had no idea what any of the
signs said, I couldn?t even see because I
didn?t have my contacts in, and no one could
point me in the right direction (I wouldn?t
have been able to see their finger anyway).
Finally I walked into the lobby and had a nice
woman I met translate to the nurse what I
needed. The nurse looked at me weird and I
wondered why until I heard the translation. I
was in the labor and delivery unit of the
hospital. DEFINITELY did not need treatment
there. Long story short after an hour I found
the ocular department & ended up paying