kitchen Angst!

I have started my new life in Croatia… I’m not really legal, but I’m not yet breaking any laws. Please allow me to explain.

I have officially moved here, but I am in no way a citizen. I am nothing more than an American on “extended holiday”, therefor I have only three months to get all my paperwork in order if I want to stay for any longer. I came across my first hurdle this week, and I feel the need to talk about it for a while.

Proper Immigration procedure, This differs in Croatia from other Countries in Europe that I have visited. I’m not sure why but they do things a bit different here. Last year when I traveled to the UK, and Germany, I had to fill out an entrance card on the plane before landing with all my pertinent information… where I would be staying, how long I would be there, and how much money I was bringing with me. I had the same experience when I went to Australia back in 2000, so this is not strange to me even though I didn’t quite understand it all.    This time, however, no card was required… I thought It was just because Croatia was a new Independent republic and wanted more tourism, or foreign money so they wanted to make things easier on outsiders. Silly me!! I know I’m in a lot of ways a “stupid American”, but I really didn’t even give it a second thought. Well I was stupid… It turns out here in Croatia they have a different system to deal with the same issues.

The issues are that any Country you visit wants to know that you have enough money to pay for your time there, and where you are just in case something happens to you ( God forbid ).  well Croatia does it a bit different, They don’t have you fill out the card, They expect you to physically check in at the local police station if you’re going to be staying more than two days, and you only have 48 hours to do this or you get fined anywhere from 500kuna-5000kuna for not doing it on time. talk about stress!!!! Plus if you put this off for more than a month, you can and most likely will get deported. Not a good vacation!!!

I was fortunate enough to figure it out, well my friend figured it out for me and we ran down and got it taken care of, but it was a long and stressful day for us both. Don’t take me wrong the police were very friendly and helpful, however there was a lot of waiting in line and much more paperwork than the other method, but it wasn’t ( over all ) a bad experience. I just wish some one had explained it to me before I was on the ground.

This is why I guess I felt so compelled to write today, I just wanted to help some one else if I could to not make the same mistake I did, and follow the laws of the land…. And if you have any questions ASK FIRST!!!! It could save you a lot of money, as well as headache!!

The comic festival is this weekend along with the “new wine festival “, boose and books all over Zagreb! what could be better?

Until later, just remember to read the fine print!!!! and enjoy your travels!!!