This summer, I got to spend a couple weeks in Europe! It was an amazing trip, and it started off with a great weekend in Split celebrating my friend’s birthday. While I had spent about two weeks in Croatia back in 2023, that was an area I didn’t spend much time in, so I was excited to have a chance to visit again.
Before that, though, I had another cool start to the trip – I got to fly Polaris! Polaris is United’s business class. Before the trip even begins, you get access to the Polaris lounge at the airport, which has all kinds of perks, including fancy cocktails, nap pods, showers, and even a fully functioning restaurant that you can sit down at for a complimentary three course meal.
From there, the experience on the plane is pretty nice too. It was fun to get a glass of champagne before we took off, and then the plane food is actually quite good. What Polaris is known for, though, is the ice cream cart, which is one of those things people like to talk about from flying back when airlines first started that made the experience so luxurious. After eating my ice cream, I got to try out the lie-flat seat, which was really a game changer.
I definitely won’t be able to do this consistently – it’s more of a game of whether or not I can use my miles and cash to get an upgrade that isn’t outrageously expensive, but it was a really nice way to travel. My priority, as you can probably tell, is traveling more often, not necessarily traveling in the fanciest manner, but nonetheless. If Polaris is in your budget and that’s where you want to splurge on a trip, it was pretty great!
I don’t have as many photos from the birthday celebration, because I was mostly busy having fun and meeting all of Harry’s friends from his normal life, since he and I met traveling in West Africa! But we had such a great time in Split. The first full day, we all hired a boat to take us around, which was beautiful.
We went swimming, ate good food, and drank good wine, which is really all you can ask for!
With our second full day, we got a bit of a late start after going out to the bars the night before. We wanted to do a beach day, but the beaches in Split were too crowded, so we ended up heading down to Podstrana. That ended up being the right move – it was so much more relaxed than Split, and we had food options where a larger group of people could actually sit and talk.
I love Croatia. It can be touristy, it is much more expensive than the regions that surround it, but everywhere I’ve been is so stunning. And you can still get off the beaten path if you try! I am sure I will return again some day in the future.