Slovenia 2026 Prep and Travel

This entry covers August 30 departure, August 31 arrival, time change (Slovenia is 7 hours ahead of my home base in Fort Worth), and catching up on sleep and such! 😉

I hadn’t planned to do so many trips this year! With the Utah river rafting trip postponed from 2025 to this year, though, and the opportunity to visit Slovenia came up, well, I decided to go for it.

It took me a few weeks to process the rafting trip. Besides the physical recovery, it was just kind of luxurious to consider and reconsider experiences from the trip. So many interactions in those seven days. So many landscapes and sensations to recall, review, and settle with. It was kind of hard to leave that behind and start looking forward to Slovenia.

And yet, time to move on to the next adventure! Traveling with Honest Heart Journeys involves self examination and reflection, so I did move on to the pre-work. And logistically, packing for Slovenia wasn’t as complicated as being on the river, so that didn’t require as much planning, thank goodness. I started collecting clothes and such into packing cubes, but didn’t bring out the suitcase until the day before leaving.

The day’s itinerary called for an afternoon flight from DFW to Denver, then a 10-hour flight from Denver to Munich, Germany. Then a 50-minute hop to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The last bit was an additional 90-minutes (or so) drive to the place where we’ll be staying for the pre-trip.

We got on kind of at mid-plane. It was one of those situations where first- and business-class folks get their own entrance, so we didn’t even see what those seats look like. There are two aisles, so as we got on, we were directed to either turn right for the first aisle or go straight through to turn at the next.

I was down the first aisle and found my seat pretty quickly. My home for the next 10 hours.

The seat was nothing fancy, but was on the aisle, thank goodness. There was no power outlet I could see. It seemed like a really long flight to not have power! The first hostess I asked didn’t know if there was one so had to ask someone else. Eventually the two of them found it, a USB-A outlet underneath the armrest. And it was a slow charger, like, from the early days. My Kindle warned me that it was slow and that it probably wouldn’t charge while I was using the device. Wow.

My seatmate helped me get my backpack in the upper bin, ’cause it was really high and I couldn’t lift it that far. After I sat down, I noticed some foot holders for stepping up. Using that, I was able to get up high enough to get things out of the backpack during the trip.

We had two meals on the trip, but other than that were pretty much left to our own devices. Nothing really memorable. The flight was long, as I knew it would be. A good chunk of it was what should have been overnight. I got out my Kindle to read a book I’d downloaded, and since it was interesting (The Dutch House by Ann Patchett), I read a lot. I knew I should try to get some sleep, but I wasn’t tired. I did try, eventually, though. I think maybe I got a couple of hours.

And then we arrived in Munich. The eight of us gathered at the departure gate, eventually. There was some confusion at the passport area, and after that with gate changes and poor signage, but we made it. At the departure gate, we got on a bus that took us to the plane. Then it was a short hop to Ljubljana.

All the way, there were lots of stairs to navigate, with only a couple of escalators. I was very glad I’d made the decision to check a bag. No one else had done so, and they each had to haul two suitcases up and down all those steps. It was enough for me to manage my backpack (heavy since all my electronics are in it).

At this final airport, most of the crew went to a hotel in the city. Jen and I went to the van she’d rented and took off for the Logar Valley, to Lenar Farm, a B&B we’ll all be staying at for the pre-trip. Jen hadn’t been there before and wanted to check things out before bringing everyone along. That was a good plan, because we kind of got off the main track and it was rather an adventure getting there. It was beautiful scenery, though, and we did make it.

Jen and I got checked into our rooms, had time for a quick shower, then met for dinner. We ate outside and enjoyed the spectacular view and wonderful food (I had beef goulash and noodles).

There’s a balcony in my room, so I have a fabulous view of the mountains we saw from dinner. I’ll be changing rooms tomorrow as I’m sharing a room for a couple of nights with a couple of fellow travelers, so I’m going to enjoy this while I can.

After dinner, we said goodnight and I proceeded to try to find out where I’d put everything I’d so diligently packed. I hadn’t planned to take much out, but I ended up doing just that. This happens every trip. It’ll take me a few days to be able to zero in on all the pieces I need. Thankfully, I had enough of the right kind of adapters to be able to charge my phone, Kindle, and computer, so that part came together!

I finished reading the book and had planned to start this blog, but ended up pushing that off. Good night’s sleep first, blog entry in the morning.

G’night from Lenar Farm, in the Logar Valley, Slovenia!