What I Learned… in Croatia with Reckless Maggie
We had just arrived in Split, Croatia, 9pm. We were looking forward to spending the next 2 days sightseeing around the Diocletian’s Palace and taking frequent dips in the stunning blue Adriatic sea.
As soon as we arrived at the hostel we met our other roommates. Despite being 10pm we were enticed to head out on an adventure by a girl in our dorm who we called ‘Reckless Maggie’. It was one of those nights where a few quick drinks turned into a 2am Croatian style pub crawl, where we followed Maggie to a number of bars farther and farther away from town along the coast. Every time we would tell Maggie that this bar looks fine, let’s stop here, she would say ‘When travelling, they say when you think you have reached your destination, walk for another 5 minutes’. Good point, but she did this about 4 times!
Eventually we just refused to walk any farther so we settled in beachside for some drinks. The night wore on and our budget wore down. My friend and I were ready to head off, but not Maggie, who was talking to some cute Croatian boys. Eventually we abandoned her as we had only flown in that evening and were pretty exhausted. The three of us (Myself and my travel buddy and a guy from our dorm called Michael who had a 5.30am bus the next day) left Maggie behind and headed home. She was determined to stay and chat to the 2 locals.
I felt a bit uneasy leaving her behind with some random Croatian strangers, all sorts of wild thoughts drifting through my head. I occasionally have the ability to get all dramatic, and wasted no time saying to the others ‘What if we are the last people to see her alive?’ To which Michael proclaimed, ‘She is a big girl and we’re not responsible for her’. True.
I had trouble drifting to sleep that night, due to the heat, the leaking air conditioner (which I was convinced was going to blow up, not being dramatic at all) and semi-waiting for Maggie to come home so I could sleep without worrying. So when Michael got up at 4.30am – I was still awake, motioning at Maggie’s empty bed and saying all motherly, ‘she’s still not home!’ To which he rolled his eyes.
Michael left, and I watched the clock tick to 5am, 6am, 7am … Still no Maggie.
My friend woke at this point (no point trying to sleep when its already 30 degrees at 7am). I was now pretty worried about this random girl who appeared so reckless, hence the nickname.
AT SEVEN THIRTY AM… Maggie came in, all abuzz from her night at some local rave party in the woods that was a blast! My raised, concerned eyebrows begged to differ. It would probably be a good time to mention that Maggie had a bus to catch about 10am anyway so she was looking at about 2 hours sleep.
We were up and outside the dorm on the balcony-come bathroom-come kitchen contemplating our day. Maggie then opened the door and told us to pipe down as she was trying to sleep! The. Nerve. I almost went off my head telling her that I had been worried sick about her all night.
She slept a while then frantically got up and threw all her stuff in a backpack and dashed off to catch her bus. She left behind her sleeping bag and a bag of jewellery. We handed them over to the owners of the hostel in case she came back to claim her things.
We spent the rest of the day pondering what it would be like to travel without abandon like Maggie and how she would fare on her future (reckless) adventures.
Walking around Split in the evening
The boardwalk of Split, by day
Exploring the sites of Split, like the Giant Statue
Rub the toe of the giant for good luck
The beginning of our first night in Split
People swimming and playing Hacky Sack at 10pm
I must confess, these are not my photos. On the second night in Split, the night after the reckless Maggie adventure, I had my camera stolen. These shots are from my travel buddy. So who knows what gems I had captured from our first night in Split!
What a great memory of that first evening in Split. I will always remember that night, though I’m not sure what else we saw by day. My memories of Split seem to be focused on the night time shenanigans.