Just to satiate any curiosity as to what slice of heaven I will be visiting for two weeks, here is a photo of Mlini, a little town in which we will spend our first night in Croatia.
I always try not to spend too much money before going away on vacation, but there are the essentials that must be purchased before this and any trip. So, I went to my home-away-from-home (Target) yesterday morning to stock up.
On my way into Target, I noticed a couple of kids (Target employees) going around the parking lot collecting abandoned shopping carts. They were goofing off and screwing around, riding the cards all over the place and pushing each other around the parking lot. Typical teenagers on the job but out from under the direct supervision of the manager. Anyway, the boy started to make his way into the store with his carriages and the girl, while initially only a couple of steps behind him, began to lose control of her carts, thanks to a few errant carraiges with stubborn and uncooperative wheels. She was slowed up, and I ended up stepping in front of her. The boy, apparently unaware of my presence, and still laboring under the delusion that his partner in crime was right behind him, jumped and turned around, all the while screaming, "Yeah BE-ATCH!" He basically landed "right up in my grill" as the kids say. Immediately upon realizing that I was a customer, and not his pal, he turned scarlet and started apologizing profusely. I, meanwhile, thought the entire episode was hilarious. I thanked the kid for making my day.
Anyway, I bought a few of my travel necessities. Many of my little treasures came right from the "travel size" display.
I picked up a travel size Tide detergent. This has proven to be such a great vacation purchase for our past couple of big trips. In Croatia, especially, we were able to regularly hand wash a few garments, and then put them out on the terrace where, in the direct, blazing Croatia sun, they always dried in 3 seconds flat. Awesome! I bought a couple of mini toothpastes, too.
I bought full-size shampoo and conditioner. It kills me to carry that crap all the way overseas. If I were going to a country where I could read the freakin' language, I'd just take care of my shampoo needs over there. However, as was the case when I first arrived in Germany and couldn't read the language, I went through so much money guessing as to what the bottles said, and invariably buying shampoo that was disasterously wrong for my hair. I either had flyaway hair, static hair, greasy hair, dry hair, and any number of unattractive hair conditions until I learned how to read German and could select the right shampoo for my hair. Conditioner was even more of a nightmare. I use a LOT of conditioner when I wash my hair. Sometimes you can't even find conditioner in Europe. Or they have that crap shampoo/conditioner combo stuff. Nightmare! I picked up some sunblock, ponytail holders, deodorant and what have you. You get the idea.
My biggest purchase was my EMS backpack. I was in desperate need of a backpack, and I tried all the cheapie stores...Target, AJ Wrights, etc. Anyway, I had to break down and get this sexy EMS bag. EMS does great equipment. I spent 50 smackers on this thing, but it is awesome.
2 comments:
Girl, I am so J-E-A-L-O-U-S! (But happy for you, too!) Will you be able to update your blog in Croatia, or will we have an interminable wait for the post-vacation re-cap? Regarding the shampoo/conditioner and the EMS bag, sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do! I would never trust my hair to some foreign shampoo. Don't forget to pack a washcloth if you use one, since I have discovered that many foreign hotels don't provide this necessary item. We had to go out and BUY one in London...(not a bad situation, really; rather a good excuse to browse through Harrod's.)
Cool pic of the place you will stay your first night! Very excited for you! LOVE the travel bag too!!
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