#18. The Weekly Travel Tea 🫖: a Hocus Pocus 🧙‍♀️Travel Itinerary Hodgepodge🧪

Hey there! It’s Big Body From Pale Ale Travel. 

With All Hallows’ Eve fast approaching, knocking at the door like this once, portly trick-or-treater dressed in Eric The Red Viking garb, coffee-stained pillowcase gripped tightly in his grubby hands, it’s only fitting that I brew up a little Hocus Pocus-style travel concoction. 

A travel itinerary or two here, a ‘top things to do’ and ‘hiking’ post there, and of course, a splash of ‘eye of newt and toe of frog’ to make it all pop. 

Here’s your ‘Weekly Travel Tea’ hodgepodge, which (hopefully) provides a starting point for planning your next adventure - wherever it may be in the world. 

Pale Ale Travel Note: For those who recently subscribed and want to access the most recent ‘Destination Spotlights’, you can find them here! 

1. The Morning Tea ☕️ - Split🇭🇷 3-Day Itinerary

But for the triple homicide that occurred right outside my apartment, which I was interviewed about by the local news, my three-month stint in Split, Croatia was one for the books. 

Fresh seafood and cured ham by the boatload, a slept-on wine culture, preserved Roman ruins and fortifications in the city center, scenic hikes and pristine beaches, and outlying islands with some of the best nightlife in Europe - Split has it all.

Here is exactly how I’d tackle 3 days in Split during summer if I could do it all over again.

If you’re looking for any more reasons to sail down the Adriatic to what some call the ‘most beautiful city in the world’, make sure to check out my Split Destination Spotlight.

2. The Bubble Tea🧋- Mostar🇧🇦 2-Day Itinerary

I can’t say that I’ve been to any other city in the world quite like Mostar. 

I’ve never been so amazed and befuddled at the same time, staring down reconstructed Ottoman Empire architecture, slabs of locally sourced pork and lamb, and flaky Filo-stuffed pastries, while Croatian gangsters in black and white tracksuits bounce up and down the street slugging Karlovačko lagers by the dozen and call to prayer summonses ring across the city. 

It’s a city of contrasts. And it’s addictive. 

If you read my Mostar Destination Spotlight and were wondering, ‘Hey buddy, where’s the accompanying itinerary?’ - here it is. 

3. The Afternoon Tea 🫖 - A Coven of 🇵🇱Poland Itineraries

Now, this one may be cheating as I spent roughly one month compiling a 9-day, 8-night, 3-city Poland travel itinerary tracing the exact route my brother and I tackled, but I recently broke down each city into its own 1 to 2-page itinerary. 

• A Jam-Packed 3-Day Warsaw Itinerary

• A 3-Day Kraków Itinerary That Will Have You Saying ‘Krak-Wow’

• A 3-Day Gdańsk Itinerary to Sing ‘Hold Me Closer, Tiny Gdańsk’er to’

Oh, and if you didn’t catch the 2-day Poznań itinerary I put together, you can snag it here. 

4. The Evening Tea 🍵 - Hong Kong🇭🇰 Hiking Guide

When it comes to hiking, I’m less of a Nirmal Purja or Tenzing Norgay, and more of a Preston Blake - the eccentric, mulish billionaire in the Adam Sandler classic Mr. Deeds, who freezes to death while climbing Mount Everest, sans the money.

But luckily, Hong Kong offers no shortage of hikes, for mountaineers of all skill levels. 

With the weather finally cooling in my second home, here are 9 Hong Kong hikes for all the intrepid explorers, weekend warriors, and those just trying to sweat out a hangover. 

If you’re based in Hong Kong and/or planning on making a trip, you can find a truckload of content on my main site - Pale Ale Travel.

While Thackery Binx never stood a chance after witnessing the Sanderson Sisters drain his sister of her life force to restore their youth, you (hopefully) do when it comes to knowing where to go and what to do on your next trip to Europe or Asia.

For next week’s ‘Destination Spotlight’, I’d love to hear from you if there are any regions of the world you’d like me to tackle. If it’s in my wheelhouse (Asia, Europe, North America), and somewhere I’ve been, I’ll make sure to prioritize it! 

This newsletter is for you and my goal is to help get you content that ultimately makes your next trip a little bit easier, so please don’t hesitate to ever reach out to me with questions or content you’d like to see (or see more of). 

Travel well everyone, 

Big Body