The Portland -> Houston flight was uneventful (yay!). We arrived at the airport at about 3:30 am. The airport was very quiet, we were at the gate very early. The "cheap tickets" we bought did not allow us to choose our seats, so we were not sitting together. I spoke to the ticket agent at the gate and she was able to move us next to each other.

Houston -> Boston

New Plan

We are getting some extra rest in so we won't be tired once we get to Medjugorje.  Hopefully better news on the next update!

-Ken & Kevin

We spent the night at one of the best Homewood Suites I've visited. We decided to use our nearly 24 hour layover to explore the Freedom Trail in Boston. It was neat, but it was raining through most of it, dampening our excitement. We took a Lyft back to the airport to resume our trek.

Wow airlines was cheap (charges extra for everything, even a drink), but friendly and most importantly *on time*.  The flight went smoothly, we arrived about 30 minutes early in Iceland. Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived and I didn't have a window seat when we left, so I didn't see any of Iceland outside the airport.  However, the pictures inside the airport of Iceland looked incredible. :)  Would be neat to explore someday -- volcanos and the northern lights.

Wow airlines again -- same experience (cheap, but friendly and arrived a little early). Once off the plane, however, we were greeted by a VERY LONG line to get through security.  Non-EU citizens had their own "slow line", while EU citizens had a streamlined digital process which moved very quickly. After about 30 minutes, one of the security workers asked for passengers w/ connecting flights at ushered us to the front.

Once through security, we checked-in via our phone to our next flight on Aer Lingus so we could go directly from the customs area back through security. We were able to do this using the free wifi (since we didn't want to use international roaming on our phones -- $$). If we hadn't used our phones, we would have had to go back out to the departure counters, then wait in a longer security line.

A note about Dublin's airport... it has A LOT of walking. The difficult security, and all the long hallways would make me avoid this as a layover if the 2 options had a similar price.

Short flight on Aer Lingus. Air Lingus allowed us to pick our seats for free (although the front seats cost extra -- we sat in the back). The other airlines until this point did not -- although united accommodated Kevin and me sitting together -- Wow did not (they did put us back-to-back, though).

This flight was 45 minutes late and slow to deplane. This made our next connection tight. We hurried through customs, back through security, tried to find a gate number (the EasyJet app didn't include this info), and rushed to the gate. Once there, we sat and waited for 30 minutes (they were late).

The Split airport is small and easy to get through. We cleared customs (good to hurry to customs because the line can backup from all the people on the plane with you). I went straight to the Budget car rental counter (I had called Budget twice to inform them I'd be coming a day late due to our unscheduled extended stay in Boston) -- they didn't know I was coming. Ugh. After some conversation, they got a car ready for us, and we were off.

Off too fast, in fact. I had meant to visit an ATM (there are several near the car rental booths) to get a small amount of cash out, but forgot. I did ask about getting a SIM card for my phone, but the stand that carries them was already closed for the night. Remembering I didn't have any cash for tolls, I decided to stop at a gas stash a few miles from the airport. I bought a SIM card for 20 HRK (Croatian Kuna) paid w/ a $20 USD bill. He gave me a 6 HRK to 1 USD exchange rate (not great -- but I didn't want to hunt down an ATM for a 6.3 : 1 exchange rate).  So the "VIPme" SIM cost me about $3.50 and included more than I needed for internet (note: it's only good for Croatia, though). I got 100 HRK (Kuna) for the rest of the $20 bill.

The roads at 10pm at night were mostly empty. The roads were very well maintained and fast (ranging from 80 - 130 km / h). We took the toll route, which is the fastest way to Medjugorje. The owner at Guest House Mica was waiting for us, and I didn't want to delay any more than necessary. Upon entering the toll portion of the road, you must take ticket to enter. Near the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, you turn in the ticket and pay the toll (57 HRK) -- you can pay with credit card (so my stop to get money was for nothing). After paying the toll, you drive a very short distance and are stopped again a checkpoint to leave Croatia. Then again a short distance later to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina, they also collect 1.2 KM (Bosnian Convertible Mark). This is about $0.82 (1 KM is about $0.60) -- I used my credit card since I had no KM yet.

Once inside Bosnia and Herzegovina, Medjugorje is no more than 10 minutes drive. We stopped at another gas station just after the border to get something to eat (we were starving). We got some pastries (1 meat, 1 potato, 1 apple, and 1 cheese) and a couple bottles of water -- total cost was about $7.50 USD. I used a credit card.

We could see the cross on top of Mt. Križevac as we approached. Very exciting! We arrived at about midnight and met Peter, who showed us our room at the Guest House Mica. It was very simple, yet adequate (2 beds and a private bathroom w/ shower). After 4 flights and 5 airports since we last slept in a bed, Kevin and I agreed to call it a night.

We made it!!