JUNE8

June 8

I live in a trash can.

Actually, I live at the bottom of a Walmart trash can. Or maybe inside some kind of hyperbaric vacuum-sealed chamber. No, worse than that. Maybe I live inside a burger. Maybe I live on broken glass at the bottom of hell.

I am going to have to think about the exact metaphor later, because whatever it is, it is the complete opposite of this place.

How do you even justify doing anything except dedicating your life to living somewhere at least halfway as beautiful as this?

It feels ridiculous that places like this exist and that so much of life gets spent in places that are flat, ugly, or built entirely around convenience. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but being here makes the difference feel impossible to ignore.

There is a version of life where you wake up surrounded by mountains, old stone buildings, winding streets, and actual beauty. Then there is a version where you wake up next to a parking lot and a Walmart trash can.

I am starting to think that choosing where to live may be one of the most important decisions a person can make.

Getting to Split

This was Monday.

We probably should have given ourselves a little more time in the morning. I did not necessarily wake up late, but we did not really know how busy the airport was going to be.

The airport was packed, even though it was still early. There were so many people, but they were processing everyone incredibly quickly. Security was surprisingly efficient. You did not have to take off your shoes, and there was none of the usual unnecessary pat-down nonsense.

It was honestly pretty impressive.

When we went outside to board the plane, it was freezing, windy, and raining hard. It was funny seeing people standing there in shorts and short sleeves. At first, it looked like they had all made a terrible mistake.

The flight itself was quick and easy.

Then we landed in Croatia.

It was bright, sunny, and warm.

Suddenly, the shorts made sense.

The Split Airport

The airport in Split was absolutely incredible.

It was very clean and modern. The main lobby had this huge overhead structure made up of beams and terraces, almost like a sculpture built directly into the architecture. There were elevated walkways, full-panel glass railings, concrete structures, and open levels looking down into the main space.

The whole place felt bright, polished, and thoughtfully designed.

We called an Uber and headed out.

Walking Through Split

I am honestly exhausted now, so I will probably pick this up again later.

For the moment, I think the photos can speak for themselves.

Last night, I wandered around Split fairly drunk, moving through the corridors, alleyways, and narrow streets of the old city.

It is just so different from the United States, especially Arizona.

In Arizona, a single old tower or historic building could easily become an entire day trip. You would drive out, walk around it, take photos, and treat it like the main event.

Here, every block has something like that.

There are towers, stone walls, archways, courtyards, and buildings with hundreds of years of history sitting right next to cafés, apartments, bars, and people going about their normal lives.

That may be the part I find most interesting: modern life is not separate from the history. It is grafted directly onto it.

People live inside these old structures. They walk through ancient corridors on the way to dinner. They sit outside drinking and talking next to walls that have been standing for centuries.

It is beautiful, impressive, and honestly a little overwhelming.

Also, the internet is pretty fast.