September was a crazy and fun month for us! We spent two full weeks traveling with friends which was exciting after traveling alone since the end of July. We arrived in Zagreb, Croatia on August 31st before traveling down the country for 22 days, ending in Dubrovnik. From there we flew to Germany and spent a week in Berlin and Munich with friends. Finally after drinking too many beers at Oktoberfest we flew to Italy on the 29th!
Croatia
We spent an amazing 22 days exploring this beautiful country. We absolutely loved our time here and will definitely be back to explore more. One of the main reasons we stayed so long is that as Americans, we can only be in the Schengen Visa area for 90 days every 180 days. The Schengen Visa area covers most European countries, with a few exceptions mostly in Eastern and Southern Europe plus Ireland and the UK. Croatia, however is set to join the Schengen area as early as next year (2023) so check the official website before you plan on being in Europe for an extended period of time. This is not the official EU website but I find it helpful: schengenvisainfo.com.
Zagreb, 3 nights
We actually got to Zagreb on August 31st not in September, but we didn’t do much our first night. We took a walking tour of the city and our guide was wonderful and taught us so much history about the city and Croatia as a whole.
Zagreb is very different than the rest of the cities we visited in Croatia which were all on the coast. Much of coastal Croatia was under Venetian rule for a long time, however Zagreb has been under the rule of several countries and empires, most notable the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Due to this influence, many of the buildings in Zagreb have Viennese architecture and style.
Plitvice Lakes, 2 nights
We took a bus from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park and stayed for two nights. The park is located about half way between Zagreb and Zadar so you can just take a day trip if you don’t have a lot of time. You also need a timed entry ticket for the National Park, so plan ahead and buy online to save time and ensure you can enter when you want to.
Once in the park there are several marked routes to follow based on how far you want to walk. There are boats and shuttles available if you don’t want to walk too far. We chose the longest route through the park since we had an entire day and we ended up walking around 11 miles.
Zadar, 4 nights
From Plitvice Lakes we took a bus to Zadar and spent four wonderful days there. Zadar is on the mainland Croatian near the midpoint on the coastline. It’s one of the oldest cities in Croatia, over 3,000 years old! There are many Roman ruins in the city that are around 2,000 years old and many Venetian walls and buildings that are a few hundred years old.
We took a walking tour of the city and checked out Borik beach, however my favorite day in Zadar was taking a 10 hour boat trip to Kornati National Park. Kornati is a string of 150 islands off the coast of Croatia. We made three stops: one to snorkel, one to hike, and one for lunch and more swimming. We booked through Airbnb and we were on a smaller boat with 20 people. Most of the other tour boats we saw were much larger.
Split, 3 nights
We took a bus from Zadar to Split and stayed in our first hostel dorm room of the trip! Split was a very different place than the other cities we had visited in Croatia in the prior week. It’s Croatia’s second biggest city with a huge international tourist scene. Walking down the main promenade I could imagine I was in Barcelona or even Miami.
Despite this, the Old City is one of the most interesting I’ve ever been to, as it’s built up inside a palace from the 4th century! Diocletian was a Roman emperor who built this palace for retirement. It was abandoned after a time and eventually the surrounding villagers moved in and built a new city inside the palace walls. It now contains some apartments and a lot of restaurants and bars.
In addition to enjoying Split’s Old Town, we also liked our afternoon at Kasjuni Beach. We also did an Airbnb Experience boat tour that took us to explore a shipwreck, the Blue Lagoon and the nearby town of Trogir. It was a small boat experience that only fits ten people so it was nice and relaxing.
Bol, Brac 3 nights
From Split we took a one hour ferry ride to the city of Bol on the island of Brač. After all the hustle and bustle of Split, Bol seemed like a quiet island paradise. On average I would say it attracts an older crowd compared to Split and Hvar because there isn’t much nightlife. However there are plenty of amazing restaurants, hiking trails and Croatia’s most famous beach, the Golden Horn.
We enjoyed our relaxing 3 days on Brač island and I would definitely go back on a future trip to Croatia, especially to explore the other towns on the island. One activity that I wouldn’t necessarily consider relaxing, but was fun nonetheless, was hiking to the highest point on any of the Croatian Islands, Vidova Gora. It was a 7 mile round trip hike that takes you from sea level up to 780 meters.
Hvar Town, Hvar 3 nights
Hvar Town is famous for being one of Croatia’s top party destinations. I love a good drink or two, but I’m definitely not a partier. Andrew and I met up with our friends Andrew and Christine and we all managed to have a lot of fun without going clubbing in our three days in Hvar Town. On our first full day we walked around the Old Town and up to the Spanish Fortress overlooking the city and went for a swim in the afternoon.
On our second day in Hvar we rented scooters and rode up to Fort Napolean overlooking Hvar Town, then rode to Stari Grad, a smaller town on Hvar Island. It had a beautiful little harbor and we enjoyed walking around and exploring the small Old Town area as well. On the ride home we saw the most beautiful sunset over the water and a rainbow!
Dubrovnik, 4 nights
The four of us (me, Andrew, other Andrew and Christine) took a four hour ferry ride from Hvar Town to Dubrovnik. We did an evening walking tour of the Old Town on our first night. The evening walking tour was enjoyable because the crowds are much smaller at night. A lot of cruise ships dock in Dubrovnik during the day and the Old Town can become quite crowded.
The next day we paid €30 (yikes!) to walk the city walls of Dubrovnik’s Old Town. The walls were constructed between the 12th and 17th centuries but are amazingly well preserved. Included in your wall ticket, you also have access to the Lovrijenac fortress across the small bay. The Old Town is so clearly catered to tourist but that doesn’t mean it’s not a really interesting and beautiful city!
Germany Round 2 (we were here in July too)
Berlin, 4 nights
On the 22nd we boarded our first flight in over two months! Our last flight was in July from Warsaw to Amsterdam. It’s wild to think that we traveled from Amsterdam all the way down to Dubrovnik on buses, trains and ferries. We came back to Germany because Andrew ran the Berlin Marathon! He had an amazing race and qualified to run the Boston Marathon in 2024! Our friends Andrew and Christine came to Berlin as well and other Andrew also ran the marathon. In addition, four more friends joined us in Berlin as well! We had quite the cheering section!
The main focus of our time in Berlin was the marathon but we got in some sightseeing as well. We visited the Berlin Wall Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gates, and the Pergamonmuseum. We also had amazing food and beer in our four days in Berlin. I would love to come back and experience more of Berlin; out of all the cities in Europe we’ve explored this summer, it’s one of the top cities I’d consider living in.
Munich, 3 nights
Andrew and I first visited Munich back in July and we loved our time there so we were so excited to come back again! This time we did a lot less sightseeing and a lot more beer drinking 🙂
On Monday after the marathon, Andrew and I and six of our friends took the train from Berlin to Munich. We had dinner at Augustiner Keller in their big beer hall. It was such a lively and fun atmosphere and the food was wonderful.
The next two days we spent at Oktoberfest! Tuesday we visited the Hofbrau tent and on Wednesday we enjoyed the Hacker-Pschorr tent. Both tents were a lot of fun, and I would recommend that everyone visits Oktoberfest at least once in your life! It’s so funny to watch the tents slowly get more and more loud and rowdy as the day goes on. In the mornings and until about 2 to 3pm everyone is sitting down, drinking and eating, but before long everyone is standing on the benches singing, dancing and shouting! It truly was a great time, but especially fun to experience with our friends. We certainly would not have had such a great time being there just the two of us. Shout out Katie, Kristi, Zach, Steve, Andrew, Christine, and Kaylee for being wonderful!
We had so much fun dressing up with our friends are really getting into the spirit of Oktoberfest! Here is a link to my dirndl and an extra dirndl blouse I ordered because I liked it better than the one my dirndl came with. Andrew ordered these Lederhosen. Andrew and I ordered our outfits on Amazon and shipped them to our friends who brought them over for us.
Disclosure: As a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program, I may receive a commission from any purchases you make through my links at no additional cost to you.
Treviso, Italy, 2 nights
After saying goodbye to our friends in Munich we boarded a quick flight to Venice. We spent the last two nights of September in Treviso, but still have another week to spend in Northern Italy. Treviso is a small city about 45 minutes inland from Venice. It has canals through the town too, but they’re smaller and people don’t use boats to get around. It’s still a very beautiful town and I wish I had more time to spend there.
Top 3 Meals of the Month
#3 Restaurant Pinetta - Stari Grad, Hvar Island, Croatia
Website: Restaurant Pinetta
We chose a restaurant at random for our dinner in Stari Grad so we weren’t expecting anything special, but Restaurant Pinetta really blew us away. We were with our friends Andrew and Christine and the 4 of us shared 3 main dishes, a salad and french fries. All the main dishes were excellent, but the favorite was the shrimp ravioli.
Croatia has a huge coast line and over 1,000 islands so obviously there is a lot of seafood in their diet. There is also a lot of pasta and risotto dishes because the country was under Venetian rule for centuries. One of Croatia’s famous dishes is squid ink risotto with cuttlefish and we had it 3 or 4 times and it was always a big hit.
A traditional non fish dish that we enjoyed is pašticada. It is like a Dalmatian stewed beef in a sweet and sour sauce made with plums. It’s also traditionally served with gnocchi as well to soak up all the yummy sauce.
#2 Oktoberfest Roast Chicken - Munich
I tried the half chicken and potato salad at Hofbrau tent and Hacker-Pschorr tent. I preferred the potato salad at Hofbrau but the chicken from Hacker-Pschorr. The skin gets so crispy because they baste it with butter but the meat stays so moist and juicy. There are other traditional Bavarian food options at Oktoberest, but I definitely recommend trying the chicken at least once!
#1 acht&dreissig - Berlin
Website: acht&dreissig
Everything about this meal was excellent including the service, the price, and most importantly the food! We were are a large group of seven but they managed to accommodate us with a same day reservation. Our server was very friendly and patient with out large group too which always makes the meal more enjoyable. Finally, the food was incredible! I shared baked goat cheese and a Caesar salad for an appetizer and had slow roasted pork belly with pumpkin as my main dish. Splitting two appetizers, my pork belly and two glasses of wine cost me $40 which I think is more than fair with the quality of the food.
Budget
All I really have to say for this section this month is “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA next question.” All ya need to know is that a liter of beer at Oktoberfest cost $15 and we had about 19 of them in our three days in Munich.
Credit Card Points Update
After the two new point redemptions I made in September, I have officially saved us over $20,000 in free travel by using points! Of course we never would have or could have paid for all of this out of pocked, we just would have had to stay in cheaper accommodations instead of nice hotels.
I have used 447,500 points to save us $15,400 on nine flights for each of us, or 18 flights total. I have also used 303,000 points to save us $4,900 on 31 free hotel nights!
New Point Gains
Nothing big happened in this category in September. We’re not working on any minimum spends right now, however I am thinking about opening a new card soon, possibly the World of Hyatt card.
New Point Redemptions
I made one flight redemption in September and one hotel redemption. The flights are actually for our final Year Long Honeymoon flight next May from Paris to Chicago! It’s actually crazy that we know when our trip will end, but I wanted to take advantage of all the Amex transfer sales that were going on in September. I found us two premium economy flights from Paris to Chicago on AirFrance for 30,000 points and $200 each. With the 25% transfer bonus going on in September I only had to transfer 24,000 Amex points each. These premium economy flights have a lofty price tag of $3,000 per person right now! That’s a CPP of 12.3!
I can’t wait to go back to Paris next year with Andrew! It will be almost exactly 10 years from the last time I was in Paris with my friend Betsy on my first trip to Europe 🙂
The hotel redemption is a lot less exciting, but I booked us two nights at a Category 1 Hyatt hotel in Bangkok in January. Category 1 hotels are just 5,000 Hyatt points a night, so I transferred 10,000 Chase Ultimate reward points to my Hyatt account to complete the booking.
Updated Point Totals
Kailyn American Express: 57,553 points worth ~ $690
Kailyn Chase Ultimate Rewards: 27,420 points + Andrew Chase 71,100 points worth ~ $1,477
Kailyn IHG: 37,679 points worth ~ $188
Kailyn Delta : 39,296 points + Andrew Delta: 20,800 points worth ~ $780
Kailyn United: 6,452 points + Andrew United: 21,037 points worth ~ $310
Kailyn American: 4,253 points + Andrew American: 15,633 points worth ~ $239
Kailyn Citi Thank You: 4,146 points worth ~ $62
Kailyn Capital One: 141,118 points + Andrew Capital One: 89,030 points worth ~ $3,452
Total Rewards Points Remaining: 535,837 redeemable for about $7,207
I can’t believe we’ve already saved $20,000 by using 850,500 points and we still have over 500,000 remaining. Could we somehow make it to $40,000 in free travel?!
What's Next For Us?
Like I mentioned in the Italy section, we’ll be spending another week exploring Northern Italy including Treviso, Venice, Bologna, and Ravenna. On the day of our one year wedding anniversary we’ll be boarding a week long Greek Islands cruise! I’m so excited for the all you can eat food and I’m sure I’ll gain about 10 pounds, but who cares! After the cruise we’ll be flying to Bulgaria to explore Sofia and Plovdiv before heading to Istanbul, Turkiye to round out the month of October.
Until next month, Prost!
– Kailyn (& Andrew)
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