Restless

I've been an expat ever since I moved from my home in the Lower Mainland of BC, Canada. We moved, so my husband could teach elementary school, to a 6 mile long island you could only get to be a car ferry and a sea plane from Vancouver Island. That was my first experience with culture shock, anyway, I guess I wasn't really an expat but I felt like one.
Two years later we moved to New York City where I didn't feel like an expat at all. I felt like I had come home. First of many such places in my life. Including when I DID move back to the Vancouver area for several years after living in Toronto, Springfield, PA near my husband's family, Kailua, HI, and Eugene, OR.
After we returned to Vancouver we moved to Jin Shi Tan near Dalian, Liaoning, PRC for 2 1/2 years. Then back to Vancouver before moving to Cuenca, Ecuador in 2012.
We had been looking for a lower cost of living country and when my boss came back from vacation and told me I'd love Cuenca because it is like a Spanish Renaissance city, I knew we had found our first bit of good luck. We moved down within the year and loved it. We still do in many ways. Unfortunately, I'm a spoiled brat and NEED to live by the water. The sea to be exact. I was raised at the mouth of the Fraser River in Delta, BC and I miss that smell. My dad was a salmon/Dungeness crab fisherman whose parents came to the Canoe Pass area in the 1890s from Mail Losinj, Croatia.
After 3 years and my husband's elevated blood pressure because Cuenca is at 8200 ft and he's a big guy, a bit over weight, but labored breathing big.
I don't know about anyone else, but when I am ready to move, I am like a divining stick on the look out for water. No pun intended. But this time it was Brian (well, most of the moves were because of where his advertising career led him) but I had suggested Cuenca, who first brought up going to Croatia. We had a trip back to the Great Northwest to visit our family, our son and new wife in Gig Harbor, WA and our daughter in Vancouver, BC for most of this July (2015) and Brian said how much is it to go to Croatia from Seattle.
What an eye opener. It basically costs the same to fly to Croatia during the "high" tourist season as it does to fly from Cuenca. And in Croatia you can rent a car and drive to a European destination within hours, while in Cuenca it is mountainous roads to basically the same thing in a different place. All very beautiful, in fact I love Quito, but all the same. See, I'm a brat. But I had resigned myself to living here until our son had a kid. He and his wife work so hard that they would need help, at least that was the thinking when we decided to go to Croatia attached to the trip we'd already planned, at actually visit before hand before selling everything yet again, and leaving all we know behind. I mean, I'm actually speaking Spanish and understanding it more every day. But we had to see. If nothing else we had a great 44th anniversary.
We rented a car in Pula after taking the ferry from Venice. We drove to Rijeka the first leg, we thought this might be a good location because it is so central. But it is a bit too big and with the summer traffic we knew it wasn't for us. We had a wonderful private apartment we found on booking.com that had a kitchen so we was able to shop and cook. What fun. After the trip to the store, I knew the cost of living would be comparable to what we are used to. We just didn't know about the range of rentals and prices yet.
We were able to see the historic center of Rijeka and enjoyed it, especially the Korso. But, with my bad feet, walking my 10,000 steps is getting harder and harder, I need to be able to swim. The waterfront seemed to industrial to have convenient beaches.
We left Rijeka for Zadar and as we drove past Senj we both had a strong reaction to it. We had been driving along the coast, of course, and then turned inland at Senj to get to the A-1 highway through the mountain passes and into the fertile valley on the other side, with lakes. It was beautiful.
Finding Zadar was easy. Finding our apartment in the historic center was not. It was only after asking someone for help that we found it. We enjoyed our over night there then left for Split. And Diocletian's Palace with all the Croatian squatters. Such a delightful idea! And, indeed we loved it. Crowded as it was, we could see what it might be like to live there. We had two days to look around but mostly as tourists. But definitely on our list.
Leaving there to head back to Zadar and points north and west, we kept to the coast roads with wonderful views of the islands. And the rugged hills coming down to the sea as breathtaking. I was beginning to see why my dad's family were so happy in Canada. We stayed outside of town at a small apartment home with just a short walk to a beach and fruit trees in the yard and were greeted by the host offering a glass of his own plum brandy.
We took the coast road north the next day stopping in Senj for breakfast to have a look at the town. We still felt a strong connection to it and the water was pristine, even with boat activity and mooring right there. We could see small fish feeding on the anchor lines. Still on the list.
Then we tried to leave town. Turning left to head north was almost impossible but we finally made it. And kept track of the line of bumper to bumper traffic coming south. It went for miles. We were going to Mali Losinj from there and the only road was over Krk Otok to the Cres Otok ferry then south to Mali. Again, it was easy to find Mali Losinj simply because there is only one road with a draw bridge for boats going through one little town. Finding the hotel was another matter. But, again, we asked for help and gratefully received specific directions and found it in no time. There was still a heat wave we flew into in Milan. Venice was so hot everyone was sluggish and couldn't think. It was only in Split that there was a slight breeze. So we didn't want to be walking around town in the midday heat so we were able to relax in our room until it cooled off. On the second day before it got too hot we tried to find family but in was Sunday and the parish priest was a bit busy. That afternoon the clouds rolled in and the heatwave broke with a clash of lightening and all the outdoor cafe wait staff hustling to take in the table dressing before they got blown away. It was great. Boats trying to find docking space, tourists scurrying from canopy to canopy all while we sat in the comfort of our table and watched the floor show. With lighting and sound effects.
From Mali we drove to the top of Cres and took the ferry across to the mainland and stayed at a rustic farm house and that's when we found out that rentals DO compare to Cuenca prices.
We drove north the next morning to Rovinj and enjoyed the place immensely. Such a beautiful setting with more types of boats than we had already seen along the coast. We returned to Pula and left the next morning. When we got back to Pula, I don't know if it was the familiarity we felt with being back or just the lay of the land but that is where we decided to start our Croatian expat experience. Talking with locals in Pula we found out that the winds come down into Senj at hurricane speeds at times. Combined with the relative isolation to the rest of the country, we decided to stay on the Istrian peninsula. 
When we got back to Cuenca there was a lot to think about but within the week we had already started to make plans for our leaving for good next Spring. We are going to take a cruise ship across the Atlantic landing in Rome then training to Venice and ferrying to Pula. After checking airlines for tickets and luggage restrictions and added costs on extra we knew that was the best way to get to Croatia.
I'll keep you posted on how it goes...