Tourist Season

It's been quite a summer and I have to admit that I'm a bit tired! When I first moved here, my parents would say, just wait until you experience the tourist season, then you will understand. I scoffed! I'm still young, surely it can't be that bad! It's not that it's bad, it's just exhausting!

I don't have, what you would call, a full time job. I manage our property as it is rented out in the summer to tourists. Yet, having to deal with tourists can be extremely exhausting. These people are on vacation and don't have a care in the world, just like me when I came here on vacation. Yet, if I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with all of these tourists this is what I would say:

1. While this may not be your home, it is ours, please treat it with respect. I had people who rented the apartment for two days and trashed the place. It looked like they had brought in a bucket of sand and spread it across the floor. Not to mention the walls that looked like they had splashed drinks or something on them or them using every dish in the apartment, then putting the dirty dishes back. It took me three days to properly clean it and even then I still couldn't quite get all of the sand.

2. Just because your vacation isn't going as you thought it would go doesn't mean you should take it out on us. I had a couple rent the apartment because their last place was too small. When I told them that they had to climb up the stairs to get to my place, they had a fit, yet they still decided to stay. Angry, they made a huge mess, took our apartment towels down to the beach and brought back tons of sand in the towels and didn't bother to leave them outside. The worst part is that they left a horrible review and literally made things up because they were having a crappy holiday. Please be aware that this is how we make our money and by writing horrible things that aren't even true can in fact hurt us in the long run.

3. If you drive to Dubrovnik in July and August don't complain about parking. Every guidebook in the world tells tourists not to drive to Dubrovnik in high season. Parking can be difficult enough in the winter when there are no tourists, but it's damn near impossible in July and August.  Oh and if you drive a 10 passenger van, all I have to say to you is Good Luck.

4.  Please don't throw your trash into the sea. We have the most amazing sea and we would like to keep it that way.

5. Don't blame me for not learning your language. Ok, I'm American so learning a second language wasn't that high on the list. Croatians can usually speak two or three languages and those are usually, English, German, French, and/or Italian. If you don't speak one of those languages, we are going to have a very difficult time communicating with you so please be patient with us.

Those are just a few things that I would say. It's definitely been a learning experience for me and has made me appreciate a lot of what people do here and other tourist places. People on vacation can be exhausting and while we need them to survive, I hope that they understand that a little bit of kindness goes a long way for us.