JULY 18 - To the bus station for our ride out of Slovenia. The Maribor bus station is a long building with a glass ceiling. Most of the time, the bus parking spaces are empty, but then suddenly many buses come at once and it a mess of people looking for their bus. Ours is late, and disappears from the departure screen as the time passes. I figure out the situation by asking other bus drivers, and eventually our bus company sends an email to me explaining the modified arrival time.
We go south, through hilly terrain that gets increasingly wooded on the way to the border. The traffic jams up completely about 3 km away, and it takes us about an hour to arrive at the border post.
For the first time in almost three months, it will be a real border. Though Croatia is in the EU, it is not in the Schengen visa zone, nor is it in the Eurozone. This means that we will finally be closing out our 90 day limit on the Schengen visa, and (in theory) will no longer be using Euros. All in all, from our entry into Finland on April 26, we spent 84 days inclusive in the Schengen zone.
While sitting in the line of traffic, I note the vehicle license plates passing by. Very few of them are from either Slovenia (with the letters SLO written under the EU flag), or Croatia (with the letters HR). I cannot really establish that there is any dominant nation represented, though as a group, plates from Germany (letter D), and Austria (letter A) are quite frequent. Others I see multiple examples of are Netherlands (NL), Slovakia (SK), and Czechia (CZ). Then there are a few from Poland (PL), Bulgaria (BG), Belgium (B), Denmark (DK), and one old camper van from Norway (N). It is also interesting that many of these vehicles are packed completely full, as though the occupants are planning on an extended time at their destination.
At the Slovenian side, we are all instructed to get off the bus, and there is just a scan of our passports. Then back on the bus for a few km ride across the border itself.
COST SUMMARY:
This is our final day in Slovenia. Shortly after entering the country, I decided it needed to be treated individually for costs. While expecting it to be cheaper than Italy/Austria, it was clearly going to be more than the rest of the Balkans.
Projected daily cost from the pre-planning phase = $200/day
Realized daily average costs for July 12 - July 18 = $230/day
The share of this cost apportioned to lodging was about 29%, food 26%, and transport 14% (plus a whopping 17% more for a two day car rental!). The car rental changed the cost equation significantly. Not doing it may have brought me at least close to my budget.
SloveniaCroatia I