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The Best and Worst of the Fighting Couple 2011

This year was a great one for the Fighting Couple!  We traveled to some amazing places and some duds!  As we bid 2011 adieu, we wanted to offer you our best and worst of the year:

Lets start with the numbers:

Nights on the road: 65

Countries visited: 7 (Italy, France, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Canada, Austria)

Pastries eaten in Paris:  15 or so!

Most expensive water:  15 euros per bottle! (Italy)

Ugly American travel moment:  Mike-Ironing his Brooks Brother shirt with Evian water while staying at a hotel on the Versailles property.

Best Fight:  So many to choose from!  One of the best was our “Sticker” fight.  As Mike drove us across the border into Slovenia, to our surprise the toll booths were unmanned.  Mike took this as there was no need to pay tolls.  (Don’t make this assumption.)  Mike drove on throwing caution to the wind despite strongly worded objections.  This decision would end up costing us big time!  We had to pay a huge fine at the border leaving the country.  You must buy a “sticker” when entering Slovenia.  In the end, “lively” discussion followed.

Bloggers that we were able to get to know in 2011Traveling Cannucks (Cam and Nicole), Jouneywoman (Evelyn), Bohemian Trails (Megan), Couple of Sports (Jakie and Mark), Our Tasty Travels (Erin and Brett).

Fave Location Mike:  Easy.  Bihac, Bosnia, hands down.  Did we stay in a four star hotel? Nope.  How many thought provoking tours did we take? Nada.   Luci and the other couple traveling with us really humored me on going to this border town.   Bihac was the nucleus of the war.  The first and last shots fired were in the area.  Our adventure to Bosnia began at the border.  The border agent was a little surprised to see American passports.  It took a little convincing to explain that we were tourists coming to his country.  Bosnia, what little of what we saw of it, was lush and green.  As we drove along, we saw the bullet ridden homes along the way.   We stayed at charming little hotel called the Hotel Opal.  We ate at the little riverside restaurant in the hotel.   Food was surprising good!  What made this my fave is the blatant tourist nature of Bosnia, pristine beauty, storied history, and its rough complexity.

Fave Location Luci:  Lake Bled, Slovenia!  Lake Bled is girls’ fantasy camp. It looks like a fairy tale and the Lake’s famous dessert is worth every calorie. Lake Bled is a mountain lake nestled in the heart of the Julian Alps. Slovenia is the cheap man’s Austria. While it’s on the Euro, prices are at least a third cheaper. What else could a fairy tale want? Goregous lake. Yummy cake. Cheap. For a perfect fairy tale moment, spend the day at the lake.  In the middle of the Lake Bled, is an island topped by a church.

Lake Bled

The Church on Lake Bled Island, Slovenia

Rent a row boat for less than 10E and make your spouse row you across the lake. Once you reach the island, make him carry you up the steps to the church. If your spouse makes the 99 steps, you’ll have a happy marriage. If you don’t, well, you’ll be like 1000 Fights. Ring the bell the church bell and a wish will come true. Guys, if you don’t want row, you can get in an oversized gondola called a plenta and someone will row you along with 10-12 other lazy tourists. After visiting the church, visit one of the many lakeside restaurants and dive into famous kremšnit. The cake has a layer of whipped cream followed by vanilla custard and topped with filo dough. As someone who loves, anything creamy, the cake is heaven in every bite. To see pictures and more see:

Rab Island, Croatia

Leaving Rab, Isand.

Worst Location Mike:  This is another easy one for me.  I really dislike Rab, Croatia.  Dislike perhaps is not a strong enough word.  I just want to give them a benefit of a doubt…Being the crazy planner that I am, I had everything planned out.   The first thing you need to know about Rab is that it is a desert island.  It is not attractive.   Three months prior to our arrival, we had reserved a boat to rent for the day.  It was going to be a blast.  We were going to hit a couple secluded remote beaches.  Sounds like fun huh?  Well it took an hour to find the boat dock.  We approached the proprietor, made small talk and once we asked about our boat reservation, the “gentleman” forgot English, and there was no longer a reservation, regardless of the 3 emails I had in hand to the contrary.  The day only got worse!  We decided to drive to one of the public beaches…in route we were following three cars following a tractor.  The tractor driver waved us all around.  So I passed on a flat and straight patch.  All of the sudden: Lights and Siren!  We were pulled over and ticket for passing in no passing zone!  No sign!  Following other cars!  I really dislike Rab!

Worst Location Luci: I hate Las Vegas. The food is expensive. The shows are pricey. The museums are over rated. There are ads of naked women everywhere. The free things to see in casinos are so buried deep inside you need a map to get out. I don’t drink or gamble so what is there for me to do? Nothing. I could never go back and be happy.

Big Winners!:  This year we ran two contests.  The first was our famed Hottest Travel Blogging Divas and Hunks.  We highlighted 3 gals and 3 guys that are travel bloggers.  It was a little tongue in cheek but it gave us a chance to highlight some incredible travel bloggers.  Just in case you missed it, Keith from www.traveling-savage.com was crowned King and the lovely and talented Lillie of  http://www.aroundtheworldl.com/ was crowned queen.

The Kahle's Winner of our Mistletoe Moment

Our other contest was our Mistletoe Moments during the month of December.  We asked couples to submit their best magical moment together during the year.  We were stunned by the response!  There were so many touching stories of couples finding love at home and abroad.   The response really has inspired us.  The winning moment came to us from the Kahle’s at http://www.wanderlivin.com/.  Congrats again!

TBEX-This year we decided to attend the annual travel blogger revival called TBEX.  We are so glad we did!  TBEX this year was hosted in scenic Vancouver, BC, Canada.  For those of you that have not attended, it is a two-three day affair, with travel bloggers from across the globe.  Luci was skeptical about attending at first, but it really turned into a funfest.  Presentations were given on different travel and technical topics.  It was wonderful meeting the faces behind the Facebook pages.

Waterfalls i Croatia

Waterfalls in Croatia

We want to thank each and every one of you our readers.  Thanks for your comments, thanks for your interest in our crazy fights.  Stay tuned we have some exciting stuff planned for you in 2012!  Buckle up!

Lake Bled: Girl’s Fantasy Camp

Okay ladies-What makes your travel fantasy? For 1000Fights, it’s a vacation without a fight! But if you can’t have a fight free trip, try the next best thing-a real life fairy tale.

1000Fights visited the former Yugoslavia-for most Americans they know very little about this region. What we heard most was “Isn’t there a war going on.” No, that was 20 years ago and the former Yugoslavia is now one of safest places to visit in Europe. If you are looking a fairy tale spot then head to Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Want to see a bunch more of our Lake Bled pictures?  Just jump over to our facebook page.

Less than an hour north of the Slovene capital of  Ljubljana, Lake Bled is a glacial lake nestled in the Julian Alps. Affordable (our room was only 89E) and pristine, Lake Bled is the poor man’s Switzerland with better views and less people. The Lake is small. You can walk around it in less than 90 minutes on a beautiful walking path that takes you right to the shore of the lake in places. On our walk, we bought an artist’s rendition of the lake for 5E. Again, cheap!

But what makes Lake Bled a girls fantasy is the surroundings. In the middle of the Lake, is an island topped by a church. Rent a row boat for less than 10E and make your spouse row you across the lake. Once you reach the island, make him carry you up the steps to the church. If your spouse makes the 99 steps, you’ll have a happy marriage. If you don’t, well, you’ll be like 1000 Fights. Ring the bell the church bell and a wish will come true. Guys, if you don’t want row, you can get in an oversized gondola called a plenta and someone will row you along with 10-12 other lazy tourists.

lake bled slovenia

If the steps, wishing bell, rowing and the Lake aren’t enough to feel like you are a world away, there’s a castle perched on the granite cliffs surrounding the lake. Hike up to Lake Bled Castle or drive and enjoy the oldest castle in Slovenia.

Lake bled slovenia

Top off your visit to Lake Bled with cake! Every princess needs a cake and at Lake Bled you can enjoy the famous kremšnit. The cake has a layer of whipped cream followed by vanilla custard and topped with filo dough. As someone who loves, anything creamy, the cake is worth every calorie. But skip the filo dough on the top.

Lake Bled and Slovenia in general is simply not to be missed.   The are many cheap flights in and out of Ljubljana or there are reasonable international flights into nearby Venice, Italy.  You might want to consider one of many holiday packages that include hotel and airfare.