A travel to my poem

by Alina Köll (Austria)

I didn't expect to find Croatia

When i got 500€ for birthday i know right away i will hop into the bus and follow the sunshine straight. In austria the sun got missing weeks ago, even though it was hot season. And because a honest writers wallet isn‘t too thick these days, the post ambulance / now flower power VW bus got to see all the mountain tips, moosy forests and endless seeming curved of the passes. Sun and holiday feeling finally cought us through south tirol, und going throw the slowenian forest streets for the first time in my life, brought me right into a great summer adventure. Pretty sure because you are supposed to only drive 40km/h. I couldn‘t help but follow the sun straight like a dog the sausage, even though i really wanted to take some time to check out at least some slovenian food and strangly the same thing happend on the way home. So the first day went by mostly in the car and observing landscapes. After 10h driving i arrived in croatia at ..... the fifth person i saw was my neighbor and his family. You could call it coincidence, but anyway we are not friends because he screamed at me because i gave his dog treats, really expensive and high quality ones, anyway, i can‘t take him for real anymore. Why i include that in my story, you may understand later. So after that meeting i was sure to go more south the next day. The goal of this journey should be to make postcards out of my poems. I wrote poems and some should be used for publishing. When i wrote them i uploaded some to Tumblr. And a couple of month later i found a song of an austrian singer, who was singing my poem in her song. So i contacted her many times but she wouldn‘t answer anything. Anyway, i was in zadar on the beach asking people for nice partys. At this point there‘s to mention one thing, at mostly every parking place like half of the cars weren‘t locked, and it seemed really like a normal thing, and all arround the atmosphere was relaxed and seemed very safe. After barcelona and prague where you have to sit on your bag to not get rubbed, it was really relaxing. But sadly this thing had to happen. So flower power bus and me were heading to zrce beach. This is a beach areal with different kinds of clubs and bars. But even the camping area was pretty expensive so i decided to just stay a few kilometers further on a more silent beach. Where in the middle of the night somebody interrupted my sleep, and it was a police man. The whole situation was strange, it was 3am and he seemed drunk. He told he i get a fine for staying on this parking spot. Even though in croatia you are allowed to stay on public parkings over night. Which was exactly what i did. Because i didn‘t want to pay and also was really scared, i immediatly drove off. After checking my phone and instagram i couldn‘t believe my own eyes. There was a photo of zrce beach with the austrian singer who stole my poem! I uploaded a photo and marked her and zrce beach and told the story,but once again, no answer what so ever. I really wanted to go to police and at least get some money, but after some days, my cat died, which was such an importance to me, and i just couldn‘t find the energy to do so. After all it would bring maybe 2000-5000€ which is something but also includes lot of fight on poison. Anyway, i want to become great writer even more, since this kind of people should not get more attention then honest people who really love every word, where i really count myself to. Thank you very much for reading, and i would be happy to be party of this project and go to caribbean. Best regards, Alina