For as wonderful as the trip to Europe was in so many ways, the accompanying troubles did not end with an unannounced airport change in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area nor a pinched wallet in Munich.

No, things got real interesting when the bus I was taking from Split to Zagreb (whence I was to return that evening, via Istanbul and Newark) got in a minor fender bender at a rest stop in the quaint resort town of Skradin. It didn’t take long for it to become clear that there was no way I was making my flight to Istanbul– we ended up waiting 5 hours for an agreement to be reached with the other party, the police, the insurance, and at one point, the passengers whom had been asked to throw in funds toward some part of this cause.

In that time, a first-class passenger let me use the outlet near her seat so I could make use of my perpetually-dying phone to make new arrangements, which involved spending the night at a hostel in Zagreb, and booking a remarkably cheap flight back to New Orleans that I’d learn was so remarkably cheap on account of the near-impossible layovers in Thessaloniki, Tel Aviv, and Newark. (Emphasis on near-impossible– I begged, borrowed, and stole* my way onto that Newark flight!) (Oh yeah but then they found something wrong with the plane and kicked us off and we waited another 3 hours. I’m telling you, it was an ordeal!)

Anyway, in the end I was able to look at my time in Zagreb as lagniappe of sorts… It was a cool, colorful morning and I got a few pics.

*Oh yeah, I don’t think I actually stole anything to get on the flight from Newark, but I certainly begged people to jump the line in customs, and when presented with the SINGLE transaction for which Apple Pay and cash would fail me on the ENTIRE trip following the wallet going missing– the kiosk to pay for a carry-on bag the SINGLE time I had to do so on the trip– I truly had to Venmo someone to pay for it for me, which I think counts as borrowing. Also I asked four other people before someone would do it for me. It was a DAY…