Hvar

Prior to this trip, my friend Andrew told me two things: that I should visit Hvar island, and that the only Croatian word I needed to know was "pomalo", which roughly translates to hakuna matata in English. This turned out to be great advice, and more applicable than Rick Steves' suggestion that you can use uncooked bucatini to perform an emergency tracheotomy if you're all out of penne #travelhack

An insouciant "pomalo" was all I needed to break the ice, fill an awkward silence, or back out of conversation with an anti-vaxxer. And as for Hvar, it turned out to be an excellent place to stay put for a few days, so I decided to get my advanced scuba certification.

And of course I had my bike on the island, which was full of good roads and bad drivers. Allegedly, if you wish someone ill in Croatia, you can say "May you die on the roads of Hvar." I've yet to actually find anyone familiar with this malediction - nonetheless, I took this curse as a challenge, and failed successfully.