2026 Mediterranean Trip

Updated Sat 2026-05-09 | 1300 words

NOTE: Sun 2026-07-26: I've let this blog sit for long enought that I'm just going to post it even though it's in a very incomplete state.

We (me, Jenny, JJ, her parents) just returned from a Mediterranean trip, starting in Barcelona where we stayed a few days, then a cruise that spent a day at sea, and a day each in Malta, Corfu Greece, Kortor Montenegro, Dubrovnik Croatia, and Split Croatia before finally docking at Ravenna Italy. We spent a day there, then took the train to Rome where we also spent a few days. They made a trip doc here (it's not publicly accessible though)

I actually spent very little time planning or scheduling this trip so I'm especially grateful to Jenny and her parents for doing this.

Now that I'm back and can't sleep due to jet lag, it's the perfect time to write about it!

Overall

Overall, I felt a lot more comfortable on this trip than the 2024 cruise (though I enjoyed that too). I think there are two major contributors to this.

The first is that JJ is older (almost 4 now) and a bit more self-sufficient and reasonable- he goes to bed at normal times, is pretty chill most of the time and eats a little better than he used to. Last trip I felt like I couldn't enjoy myself because I was constantly looking after him. We DID tried to take him to the onboard daycare a few times but he rebelled and they (reasonably) refuse to take unwilling children (we should have attended the initial open playtime to get him used to the idea)...

The second was that I really made an effort to eat reasonably (lower carbs, lots of veggies, reasonable portion sizes) and exercise, even if this meant I was doing my own thing while the family did something else. I forwent the elevator and took the stairs unless I was carrying something. I went to a few morning workout classes onboard. I jogged once on the top deck jogging track. I took long walks around the ship and at port. Jenny and I went to the gym and had fun together with the TRX bands and showing each other Pilates moves. Sometimes I felt (and still feel) selfish for taking this time (usually alone) and leaving Jenny to watch JJ or the family to do one thing while I did another. Overall though I think it made me a much better travel companion (I get cranky when I don't move enough) and Jenny encouraged me to take my exercise time, so I'm grateful for that. I also didn't really gain weight on the cruise and my blood sugar didn't get worse!

So those were the two biggies. I might also have felt more confortable are that the Norweigan Pearl is essentially a clone of the Norweigan Jade (the cruise ship we took last time) so I remembered where most things were.

We also had JJ in underwear for MOST of the daytime during this trip (diapers at night). He got a lot better over the trip at telling us when he needed to pee (basically perfect at this), though for some reason he had issues telling us when he needed to poo. He started pulling up his underwear and pants by himself now too!

One thing that is MUCH harder on the cruise is laundry - manually cleaning poopy underwear and your child is disgusting. Usually I ended up extracting the underwear from JJ and washing him and Jenny cleaned it. They did offer us a free bag of laundry in the middle of the cruise. Otherwise laundry is extortionately expensive and we avoided it. This stopped me from using the pool / hot tub since I didn't want to deal with cleaning the clothes afterwards.

It's a "me" thing but I'm also more comfortable with self-service than being served. They offered a lot of service (room cleaning, waiting, etc.) and I always felt weird asking for things. The restaurants also add 20% gratuity for meals automatically but ALSO offer the spot for an additional tip on the receipt. A few times I left additional tips but I felt weird if I did and awkward if I didn't (the service was always excellent).

TODO: try jpegoptim --max=90 --strip-all *.jpg

  • Travel

  • Malta

    • not super impressed

  • greece

    • running up the fort feeling

  • kotor

    • hike
    • cheese plate

  • Rome

    • loved walking
    • Cathedrals
    • Vatican tour sucked

Barcelona

01-barcelone-gothic-quarter.MP 02-barcelona-honey-dripper 03-barcelona-la-sagrada-familia 04-barcelona-sant-pau-jenny-and-me 05-barcelona-sant-pau-model 06-barcelona-sant-pau-ceiling-tile 07-park-guell-arches 08-park-guell-beneath-balcony 08-park-guell-family-in-front-of-houses 09-restaurant-with-candle 10-knight-lady-graffiti

Malta

11-mosta-panorama 12-mosta-dome 13-mosta-outside 14-gym-with-jenny

Korfu Greece

15-agean-boat 16-korfu-st 17-fort-rock-carving 18-fort-from-the-ground 19-fort-from-the-top

Kotor Montenegro

20-kotor-path-up 21-kotor-ruins-panorama 22-kotor-inside-church

Dubrovnik Croatia

23-dubrovnik-cable-car 24-dubrovnik-downtown-selfie 25-dubrovnik-downtown-from-the-wall 26-dubrovnik-wall-to-rock 27-dubrovnik-stairs 28-mom-and-dad-cruise-dinner

Split Croatia

29-split-street

I think this is Kliss Fortress

30-split-fort 31-split-lady-jj-loves 32-split-diocletion-palace 33-finding-povitica 34-cruise-decadent-dessert

Ravenna Itally

35-ravenna-church-mosaic 36-me-and-jj 37-ravenna-byzantine-church 38-inside-the-church

Rome Italy

39-vatican-super-crowded 40-vatican-crowded-again 41-vatican-ceiling 42-sistine-chapel 43-st-peters-basilica 44-entombed-saint 45-boiled-artichoke 46-roman-fountain 47-roman-forum 48-2000-yr-old-road 49-1500-yr-old-door 50-colisseum-family-photo 51-colisseum-bottom 52-colisseum-roman-brick

My last night in Rome