Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Reserving Rooms as You Travel:
You can make reservations as you travel, call-
ing hotels or
sobe
a few days to a week before your arrival. If you'd rather travel
without any reservations at all, you'll have greater success snaring rooms if you ar-
rive at your destination early in the day. When you anticipate crowds (weekends are
worst), call hotels at about 9:00 or 10:00 on the day you plan to arrive, when the re-
ceptionist knows who'll be checking out and which rooms will be available. If you
encounter a language barrier, ask the fluent receptionist at your current hotel to call
for you.
Phoning:
For tips on how to call hotels overseas, see
here
.
Whether you're in a city or the countryside, renting an apartment, house, or villa can be a
fun and cost-effective way to delve into Europe. Websites such as HomeAway.com and its
sister site VRBO.com let you correspond directly with European property owners or man-
agers.
Airbnb.com makes it reasonably easy to find a place to sleep in someone's home. Beds
range from air-mattress-in-living-room basic to plush-B&B-suite posh. If you want a place
to sleep that's free, couchsurfing.org is a vagabond's alternative to Airbnb. It lists millions
of outgoing members who host fellow “surfers” in their homes.
Croatia and Slovenia offer good food for reasonable prices—especially if you venture off
themaintouristtrail.Whenrestaurant-hunting,chooseaspotfilledwithlocals,nottheplace
with the big neon signs boasting, “We Speak English and Accept Credit Cards.” Locals eat
better at lower-rent locales. This is affordable sightseeing for your palate.
While not exactly high cuisine, the food of this region is surprisingly diverse. Choosing
between strudel and baklava on the same menu, you're constantly reminded that this is a
land where East meets West. I've listed the specific specialties in the introduction to each
country in this topic, but throughout Croatia and Slovenia you'll sink your teeth into lots of
tasty Italian-style food (pizzas and pastas), as well as seafood and fine local wines. You'll
also find some pan-Balkan elements, such as grilled meats and phyllo dough, that distin-
guish the cuisine throughout the former Yugoslavia (see the “Balkan Flavors” sidebar on
here
).
