Cheryl Shops

In case you missed my Croatia travel diary last week, we spent 12 days in Croatia in September, starting with two nights in Split, then a week on a chartered boat, and finally three nights in Dubrovnik. (And I actually started the trip with four nights in Vienna, but that's another post for another day!) My challenge was twofold: first, packing clothes that worked for both land and sea, and second, fitting them all into a carry-on, because I had a connecting flight in Frankfurt and had heard horror stories about lost luggage. So, yes, I managed to pack enough clothes for two and a half weeks in a carry-on—it's all about packing cubes, but I also made sure that everything I brought could be worn at least two different ways (you'll see several items get repeated here). This isn't everything I packed (swimsuits and cover-ups, for example), but these were definitely my go-to pieces. Here's what I wore on vacation in Croatia. 

A few years ago, a study came out concluding that most people derive more joy from planning a vacation than actually being on it. I am not one of those people. Travel is how I recharge my batteries, whether it's a long weekend close to home or a week-plus somewhere more far-flung. Although, to be fair, I do enjoy the planning part too. This particular Croatian vacation (or "Crocation," as we started calling it) was years in the works, thanks to various intercontinental moves, major life changes, and, oh yes, the pandemic. But it was totally worth the wait. Thanks to various circumstances, it ended up being the longest vacation I've ever taken in my life, and as a result, it was one of the most relaxing. I walked thousands of steps every day, visited places that were thousands of years old, ate like a queen, basked in the sunshine, and, most importantly, spent quality time with some of my favorite people in the world. Here's everything we did during our week and a half in Croatia.