Living Vicariously Through John Lusk - Part III: Croatian Hospitality

Croatian Hospitality by John Lusk, November 1, 2009

Read more on John's blog: http://www.johnlusk.net/

We’ve tried pretty hard to keep a pretty open schedule, and mind, during this trip. The only ‘planning’ we did was to make sure we had a place to stay in Rome, an assigned seat on a flight from Rome to Split, Croatia and a ticket from Istanbul back to Seattle. Everything else has been fly-by-night, so to speak. So when we realized that we forgot to book a hotel in Split on our way to the airport, we knew that the next few days might be a bit more spontaneous.

Great call! I can’t do the story justice, but will do my best to summarize. Somehow, with the help of his daughter, Russ was able to find a hotel for the night in Split (he somehow pulled this off mid-flight). Our plan was to grab dinner around 10pm in Split and figure out what our Croatia trip was going to look like. How long do we stay in Split? Do we rent a car? How far to Dubrovnik? Is it worthwhile to travel to the island to Hvar given the off-season? Lots of questions in which we had no answers and that we needed to answer relatively quickly. So we got some recos from the hotel staff dude and he sent us to the ‘happening’ part of town with the most nightlife (Bacvice). He also gave us ample fair-warning that the city shuts down on Thursday evenings around 9pm and not to expect a ton of food options.

He was right. We wandered aimlessly for half an hour trying to find a place with not only food, but also a few people as well. Our only option was some Italian joint on the water near a discotheque type of place playing really old glam rock (right up my alley, btw). Fortunately, there was a table of women at the restaurant, so we figured that we might be able to get some info from them with regards to our time in Croatia. we couldn’t ask for anything better and would save our going out strength for Friday night. We enjoyed a great Italian meal, drank some decent local wine and tried to figure out what we were going to do the next day.

Then things changed…for the better. We ask one of the girls sitting at the table next to us if she spoke English and she said ‘of course.’ We ask her what to do in Split and that leads to numerous conversations with the other women. Turns out that they’re all in the tourism industry in Croatia and had plenty of insights and advice. We end up hanging out with these women for a couple of hours and the restaurant owner begins shutting the place down. (He turned off every light except the one above our table…I’m convinced the only reason he didn’t ask us to leave was b/c we kept ordering wine). After another hour, one of the women mentions that she has a couple of apartments that she rents out in old town Split (where you want to stay if you ever visit) and suggests that we stay in her rentals. We graciously accept and she offers to pick us up at our hotel the next morning to show us not only the apartments, but also Split.

We really didn’t think that she would show up the next morning, but sure enough, Ivana pulled up right at 10am. She spent her entire day playing tour guide and then took us to our new temporary homes. Not only are these places in the middle of old town (kind of like living in a medieval city), but she insists that we stay there free of charge. We graciously take her up on the offer, settle into our new digs and realize that we’ve also got free wi-fi. Unreal. If the hospitality in friendliness of the people we’ve met thus far are any indication of the rest of the country, we’re definitely spending more time in Croatia.

Here’s to serendipity…

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Feel free to comment at http://www.johnlusk.net/. And check out all the pics.

John

P.S. If you ever plan to travel to Split, let me know and I’ll connect you with Ivana. Her rental apartments are AWESOME and you absolutely cannot beat the location.

Living Vicariously through John Lusk - Part II: When in Rome and Rome in 3 Days

My own "When in Rome" story included flying there from London for a quick overnight jaunt, making friends with a couple of British girls at the Trevi Fountain, then meeting some off-duty Italian policeman on the Spanish Steps who invited us to a party a couple of hours outside of Rome where we danced until dawn barefooted on the beach. All in all, a pretty fun night! But that was in my younger, crazier days. This week, I'm just living vicariously through John. I think he's on his way from Croatia to Turkey now but here's a quick recap of his Rome trip.

When in Rome
by John Lusk on October 29, 2009 (read more at http://www.johnlusk.net/)

22 days ago I left my job. Today, I just about killed myself weaving in and of rush hour traffic on a scooter…in Rome! My, how quickly environments can change.

Here’s the situation. I’m bound and determined to make the most of the next 2-3 months. I have a mini-bucket list of sorts, and a some of that list involves travel.

14 days ago I was cycling with my friend Russ and we decided that doing an Italy, Croatia, Turkey adventure would be a great way to spend a few weeks. Told my friend Jason about it that following evening and he’d never been to Croatia or Turkey before, so why not? 14 days ago we purchased tickets to Rome and are now holed up in an apartment near the Vatican that we found through some dude on ‘A Small World‘ (yet another social networking site).

If actually booking the trip and making it happen within 14 days wasn’t spontaneous enough, Russ convinced Jason and me to rent scooters during our time here. Says it's the best way to see the city and not deal with all of the traffic issues. I have to say he’s right…, but damn, driving in this stuff is ridiculous. It seems like most of the ‘rules’ are merely suggestions and that the more aggressive you drive, the easier it is to actually survive. Our dinner hosts last night, Roberto and Paula, just about freaked when we told them of our intention to rent scooters. (Note: Roberto is an Italian friend of Jason’s whom he went to school with at U. of Washington). After spending a day on those things, I think we are absolutely nuts for making the call…but they're fun and it makes us look somewhat local.

We’ll see if we survive the day tomorrow. In addition to renting the scooters, we’re trying to score tickets to a Lazio game. Again, Roberto and Paula think we’re freackin’ crazy for going to a soccer game in which the fans are known for beating each other up when their team isn’t doing so well. Lazio is currently one of the worst teams in the Itialian Serie A. Hang on…

Rome in Three Days
by John Lusk on October 30, 2009

We landed in Croatia last night and there’s no way I can summarize our entire Rome trip in one post. So in the spirit of brevity I’ll try to touch on the highlights…of which there are certainly a few:

Highlight #1: Scooter drag racing. Ok, we didn’t really drag-race, but given that we couldn’t sleep due to jetlag, Jason’s an amateur photographer and I was in dire need of scooter practice, we went on a 3-hour cruise of Rome from 1-4 in the morning. What an absolutely amazing experience. First, there’s literally nobody on the street. You can seriously haul (about as fast as 125cc’s can take you) through the streets and not worry about getting jacked by a crazy Smart Car driver. Second, you can cruise around to all of the big-time tourists attractions and visit when absolutely nobody is there. Seriously! We hit the Vatican at 2am, the Spanish steps at 1:30am, the Trevi Fountain at 3am, and the Coliseum at 4am. And not a soul was there but us. If you’ve been to any of these places you know that standing room only crowds are the norm, all the time. Other than a couple of polizei guarding the areas it was just the three of us. Jason brought his tripod so we’ve got very cool shots of these places….with no people. And last, there’s something cool about cruising around Rome, on a bike/scooter, when nobody else is on the streets. An awesome feeling of freedom and excitement, especially when you’re cruising amongst some way old stuff. I highly recommend trying to pull it off if you ever get a chance to visit the city. (You have to check out Jason’s picture of Rome at night!)

Highlight #2: A guided tour of the city. As an ex-Expedia exec, my friend Russ knows how to travel right. He’s been to a ton of places and when it came to Rome, he was absolutely insistent that we rent scooters. He was also insistent that we hire a guide to take us around on the scooters during one of our days here. Great call. Maria, our cute Italian guide, took us to a number of different places and gave an insiders perspective of the different historical places. We found ourselves back at the the Vatican and the Coliseum, but this time, we were able to add some historical perspective. We were also following her on the scooters, were able to truly experience what it’s like to weave in an out of traffic, go the wrong way on one way streets, turn left from the right lane and pretty much do everything like the Roman Scooter riders do. I am proud to say that I’m no longer a scooter novice.

Highlight #3: An Italian Serie A match. There’s no hiding the fact that I’m a huge soccer fan (futbol). Our stay in Rome was primarily based around going to either a Lazio or AS Roma match during our visit. Not only did we have an opportunity to go to a Lazio game (and btw, most Romans either love AS Roma or they love Lazio…and there is no love lost between the two sets of fans), but our friend Roberto set us up with corporate seats from his company. I’m pretty sure he made this happen for our own safety, as we entered through some VIP entrance and then took ourselves to a hospitality suite of sorts where we were fed and given unlimited alcohol. And thankfully, our seat section were protected by plexiglass and guards on both sides, so no fear on our part. The actual match wasn’t particularly impressive, but the crowd was incredible. Lazio lost the match to Cagliariand their fans boo’d, hissed and whistled the entire game…I actually thought the fans might attack their own players at one point. Have to give the Italians kudos for their passion…it truly is unique.

I could have used another week in Rome. We did as much as we possibly could over a 3 day period, but there’s still so much to do and see. Took the flight to Croatia last night and the last 18 hours have already provided enough fodder for the next post!

Living Vicariously through John Lusk - Part I: A Search for Serendipity

Serendipity has always been one of my favorite words. For me, just the sound of the word is appealing, simultaneously connoting both serenity (as in having the patience to await something wonderful) and the act of being adventurous (as in taking a "dip" into something unknown and delightful). Plus, it's just a fun word to say.

So, when my childhood friend, John Lusk, suddenly quit his job as a high-powered executive of an exploding online company to go have fun for a while (we aren't 40 yet so it can't be a midlife crisis), started a blog and titled his first posting "A Search for Serendipity," you can bet I took notice. When I saw this picture of him serenely sipping a coffee somewhere in Croatia on Facebook earlier tonight, I knew he was well on his way...

Since I'm feeling a little landlocked at the moment (both literally and figuratively), I am welcoming this opportunity to live vicariously through him and his adventures and am confident that he won't let me (or you) down. He has graciously agreed to contribute his adventures and clever observations on life to the Soak Up Living blog but since he's probably zipping down a Turkish beach on an all-terrain vehicle at the moment, I am going to take the liberty to repost his last 3 blog entries for him. You can follow him yourself at http://www.johnlusk.net/.

A Search for Serendipity - John Lusk

I don’t have a ton of regrets. I might stress myself out analyzing the hell out of my decisions, but once I’ve made a decision, I typically don’t look back. Why should I? What’s done is done and you need to feel like you’re moving towards something. Now, all that being said, I do think it’s important to assess your choices and determine if you’d make the same decision knowing what you know now. A close friend of mine recently reminded me that the definition of insanity is doing something differently but always getting the same outcome. Not too sure if I got it right, but it sounded cool at the time, and if I’ve butchered the ’saying,’ I apologize. [A later correction from said friend on John's blog states that the definition of insanity is doing things the same way repeatedly but expecting different results...]

Three weeks ago, I chose to become unemployed for the first time in my career. I know, I know, you hear that and you’re like ‘what the hell are you thinking?’ I can assure that my thought processes are sane and that my decision was rational…should any of you think I’m a complete nutjob. So what am I doing? I’m going to take some time off and do some of the things I’ve always wanted to do, take a few risks I’ve always wanted to take and see if I can actually go to bed without setting an alarm. I’ve had opportunities like this before, and I’ve blown them both. The first time was after business school when I could have spent 3 months traveling through Africa and Asia (I chose to start a company selling computer mice out of my apartment in San Francisco instead). The second time was after selling the aforementioned company when I felt I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to help build a new group at Microsoft…and chose that option rather than taking some time to decompress.

So, for the third time in my life, I have the opportunity to simply live. History tends to repeat itself, and while I might be going about it differently, there is a good chance that I’m not able to relax and will feel the need to jump back into the fray immediately. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But I don’t want the same outcome this time around. And what is that outcome? That a couple of months from now (or any period of time), when I’m busting my ass trying to grow a company, lead a team, drive a business, etc..., I’m looking back a this brilliant period in my life and wondering why I didn’t take some time for myself.

Life is too short. And while taking this time off might be hard for me to pull off, I can assure you I’ll do my best to make the most of it.

John

Questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to comment on John's blog at http://johnlusk.net/2009/10/28/a-search-for-serendipity/