August 12, 2025
Travel day, we are off to Romania! I don’t feel any sadness for leaving Pine Beach and think of it as one step above our time in Victoria Falls. Definitely not a highlight of the trip but it had some memorable moments weaved in with the unpleasant parts. Pakoštane was a nice little town and staying there for a few nights might have been a better choice. Despite the adults’ feelings the kids had a great time.
We did our biggest packing squeeze since the day we left for the trip. With two Ryanair flights coming today and only carry-on luggage allowed we had to abandon anything unnecessary. That meant random small toys and Legos were left behind, as well as our water shoes and inflatable raft.
We managed to fit everything in our suitcases, unexpanded, and backpacks. After a breakfast of the remaining cereal and fresh fruit I went to request the golf cart transfer. The golf cart ride from our house to the main entrance to meet our Uber was a hit with Lenny. He continues to love any open air vehicle rides.
Our Uber to the Zadar airport was an uneventful 45-minute ride. The cars air conditioning was blowing full force but barely cooling the car so we were all glad there was no traffic. Once we arrived, we saw that Zadar airport was under a large scale renovation. The rendering of the airport of the future looked nice but we were in large tents were the air conditioning was barely holding on in its battle against the sun.
There was not much to eat so we just snacked, hoping to find better food during our layover in Milan. During one of our snack runs I did stumble upon a large praying mantis which gave some excitement. Eventually boarding the plane, we got passed the Ryanair gate employee with all our bags. Always a bit stressful since there is no way Kayleen or my backpack would fit in their tiny measuring box.
We got to Milan with enough time to eat lunch since our next flight was delayed 30 minutes. There was an Eataly right next to our gate so we got some real food! As we were finishing eating, I went to grab a cannoli for us all to share a bite of. Ollie was the most into it and on his second bite his wiggle tooth popped out, much to his surprise. Hopefully the Romanian tooth fairy is generous.
We survived our last Ryanair gate agent without any questions. I think having the kids with us helps as I saw them give a few other people a hard time. Off to Romania!
We found the shuttle for our car rental company, a local Romanian one called BDV. Mihai met us at the rental car company. We are all excited to see a familiar face and to have a local with us for our time here. He grew up in Romania until he was eight and then would come back for the Summer throughout his childhood.
We followed him into the heart of Cluj, towards our Airbnb. I had never seen him drive before but following him was a challenge or maybe he thought waiting for me was a challenge. Either way we made it into the city and eventually found parking where his wife Gabby and their daughter Hope met us in the parking lot. Kayleen shrieked when she saw her friend and was quick to start planning things to do with Hope. She needs a break from all the boys!
They helped us move our stuff into our apartment, just one night here, before we all headed to dinner. The kids mostly held it together after a long travel day and were rewarded with gelato. The shop had a popcorn flavor which a few tried and was a big hit.
We headed to our apartment to get some rest before our Romania adventure really begins tomorrow. We had originally been booked to stay in a cool looking apartment but found out during our layover in Milan that their hot water heater broke so the owner offered us another place he owned. We took it since it was just one night and the apartment was fine but a neighbor’s decor had overflowed from their crazy balcony and into the hallway. It was half funny, half creepy but we were so tired it did not impact our sleeping at all.
