September was another month of incredible travel experiences! We spent the first week of September in Brazil, wrapping up our time in the Northeast region. From Brazil, we traveled 10,000 kms across the Atlantic Ocean to get to Croatia, where we spent the rest of September.
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Let us just pause for a second to emphasise…Croatia ABSOLUTELY BLEW US AWAY with its beautiful coastal scenery, charming medieval towns, and amazing hospitality. We rented a sailboat and together with our two friends, Carey and Demir, and their friend and our sailboat skipper, Rohan, we spent 2 weeks sailing along the Dalmatian Coast, making our way from Split to Dubrovnik and back. Once back in Split, we rented a car and spent another week road tripping from Split to Zagreb.
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From Zagreb, we hopped on a train and traveled to Hungary to wrap up the month with a quick 2 day stop in Budapest where we indulged in craft beers, goulash, and spend many hours soaking in Szechenyi Baths with two other friends, Joel and Patty.
Here are some stats from the month of September:
Countries/Cities/Towns Visited
Brazil: Fortaleza, Jericoacoa, Lençois Maranhenses, Rio de Janeiro
Croatia: Split, Vis, Mljet, Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Bol, Trogir, Sibenik, Zadar, Zagreb
Hungary: Budapest
Photos Taken
Thanks to the beautiful scenery in Croatia, our photo count is high at 2,500 photos snapped this month. Our Instagram followers have picked this to be their favourite snap from our time in Croatia!
Money Spent
This month we blew our budget and spent a whopping $4,683 (50% more than our monthly budget of $3,000). We knew that renting a private sailboat and spending 2 weeks sailing in Croatia was going to be expensive, but we didn’t know it would be this much. We’ll break down all of the costs associated with sailing in another post, but for now, we just roll with the punches, reduce our expenses, and hopefully find ways to increase our income this month.
Travel Highlights
The highlight of September was definitely our time on the sailboat in Croatia! It didn’t take us long to fall in love with the sailing lifestyle. Within just a few days we adapted to living in tight quarters, to showering in the sea (or not showering at all), to falling asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat, and waking up to the soft rays of light peeking through our cabin windows.
We loved being able to jump into the clear blue waters of the Adriatic Sea any time of the day and admire the beautiful views of the Dalmatian Coast as we sailed along from one island to another. We discovered that living on a boat isn’t much different from living in a campervan and that’s it’s something that we’ll love to do long term at some point in the future!
…and Lowlights
Our travel experiences in September were amazing and we came soooo close to having a lowlight-free month. Until on our last night in Budapest when our evening at the Szechenyi Baths ended with an unfortunate loss of our beloved GoPro. Max left it unattended in the changing rooms for about 10 minutes and it disappeared without a trace…along with some footage from our day exploring Budapest and most importantly from that evening at the baths.
All of our camera equipment is insured, but we do have a $350 deductible on our plan, which unfortunately does not justify putting through an insurance claim for our GoPro. So buh-bye it goes!
Favourite Accommodation
We really enjoyed our time on the boat, but when it comes to our favourite accommodation in Croatia, “Kodo” (our sailboat) didn’t take the win. After spending 2 weeks in tight quarters we came to really appreciate space and opted to spend the rest of the month in apartments. And as it turned out, apartments are ubiquitous in Croatia. For just $30/night we were able to find beautifully decorated, modern, spacious apartments in every city we visited on our road trip from Split to Zagreb. This fabulous apartment in Zadar was our favourite!
Favourite Meal
Food in Croatia was amazing! Everything was so fresh, so unprocessed, and so healthy that we indulged in too many delicious meals out all over the country! (another reason for missing our budget goals).
Our favourite meal was at the Ranc Restaurant in the town of Bol on Brac island. We sat in a lovely garden under olive trees enjoying a delicious spread of soup and salad with lots of meat and grilled vegetables. The hosts were lovely and the food was great, and the company (our sailing buddies, Carey and Demir) were a blast!
Popular Posts
Here are the most popular posts from the blog published in September:
- The Best Way to Visit the Nauyaca Waterfalls in Dominical, Costa Rica – in which we share the highlights of our recent visit to one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica, the Nauyaca Waterfalls.
- Project Morrinho and the Realities of Life in a Rio de Janeiro Favela – in which we share insights about life in favelas and take you on a tour of Project Morrinho.
- 22 Photos That Will Make You Fall in Love with Romania in the Fall – in which we share our favourite photos of Romania in the fall
- What You Need to Know About Wifi and Internet in Cuba – in which we share all the details about our experience staying connected in Cuba. (hint: it wasn’t that hard)
New Vlogs
Here are the new vlogs posted on our YouTube Channel this month:
- Episode 11: Iguazu Falls & Argentina – In this Episode, we continue our adventure in Brazil by visiting one of Brazil’s top attractions – the Iguazu Falls.
- Episode 12: Northeast Brazil – Salvador, Olinda, and Fernando de Noronha – In this Episode, we continue our Brazil adventure by heading north to explore Brazil’s vibrant Northeast region. We start the week by exploring the unique culture of Salvador and the town of Olinda, and finish off with a few days on the beautiful and exclusive island of Fernando de Noronha.
- Episode 13: Northeast Brazil – Part 2 – This is the last Episode of our adventures in Brazil. This week, we explore the most remote corners of Brazil’s Northeast: the beaches of Morro Branco, Canoa Quebrada, a hippy mecca in Jericoacoara National Park, and finish the trip swimming in the lagoons and enjoying the sandy dunes at the incredible Lençóis Maranhenses National Park.
- Episode 14: Sailing in Croatia – Vis and Mljet – In this Episode we arrive in Split, Croatia, hop aboard our 40-foot sailboat “Kodo”, and set off on our 2-week sailing adventure in the Dalmatian Coast with our friends, Carey, Demir, Captain Rohan. We spend our days relaxing on the boat, exploring hidden coves, cliff jumping, snorkeling, enjoying the beautiful views and clear waters of the Adriatic Sea, and stop to check out the islands of Vis and Mljet.
Next Month
We said goodbye to Europe and have now made our way back to North America. We’ll be spending the first half of October between Canada and the US, visiting family, seeing friends, and catching up on some work. Mid-month, we’ll head down to Costa Rica where we plan to spend the remainder of October and all of November.
We’ve got a few small trips planned around Costa Rica but will spend a good chunk of our time there focusing on getting a few projects off the ground and prepping for our upcoming trip to Colombia!
If you plan to visit Costa Rica any time in late October or in November, give us a shout. We’d love to meet up with you while you are there!
What did you get up to in September? Let us know in the comments section below! We love hearing from you!
