I hear you, Christel! Sounds like destiny is at least partially your guide. 🙂

Hi Dyanne!
Ha ha – I hear you on all fronts! Tough decisions we have these days, huh? 😉 I’m a fan of a slow travel itinerary, but in short spurts, catching a few extra places/countries can be exhilarating as well.
I’m not nearly as good in the research department as I suspect you are though…it’s a skill I could stand to improve on. 🙂

Nonetheless, ’tis a most delicious dilemma to have. And not only do I enjoy the research (I mean, as you say – how sweet is it when you’ve arranged your life to allow the entire world to serve as your own personal oyster?), but wading through the many options can be very helpful.

For example, while I am of course looking forward to exploring Croatia – I didn’t realize that Istria is apparently the TRUFFLE HUNTING capital of the world. As a serious hunter of wild edible shrooms years ago living in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (we’re talkin’ edible boletus mushrooms that you TRIP over with caps the size of DINNER PLATES), you can bet that I’ve now penciled in a few extra days to hunt down the legendary truffle!

Then again, I’ve never been keen to slog my backpack from place to place for more than a month or two at a time. So even with unlimited time, I still have the dilemma of “do I slide into Macedonia and/or Albania and/or Kosovo and/or try to squeeze in Romania et al for a quick look-see?” or… stick to my favored slow travel style and limit myself to but Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey?

Bottom line though – I’m a big believer in boatloads of research – all of which I toss to the 4 winds upon arrival. From there it’s all a matter of destiny and I let Ms. Serendipity lead the way!