By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
Along my travels, I have come to find that most of my great stories begin with a lack of caution and an abundance of trust in strangers. You learn to not ask too many questions and just roll with the punches. It is under these conditions that I found myself staying in the home of Croatia's polygamous, conspiracy theorist, politician. A girl that I had met only a week earlier in Munich told me that she was going to couch surf at a house in Zagreb with a man named Ivan. That was all the information she had and it was more than enough details for me. I had never planned on going to Croatia but a simple invitation over a few beers in Germany was all the convincing that I needed. The Taxi driver informed us that our destination was in the "Beverly Hills of Zagreb". Upon our arrival, the name began to make sense. All of the houses were perched on a hill overlooking Zagreb, built in a modern style and all of them were white. En Route to Ivan's house we had acquired a stray Belgian boy that would join us at Ivan's. The three of us approached the front door with the confidence that you find only in a group of travelers that had spent the past several months in Hostels and camping in a parking lot in Munich. We knew that there was no way this could be worse than sharing an 18-bed dorm with a group of British lads on a stag party. Ivan's girlfriend opened the door and greeted us warmly. We then heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs and out of the narrow stairway in the kitchen emerged Ivan. His pants were unzipped and he was not wearing a shirt but that was not going to delay him from welcoming his guests. We exchanged pleasantries that highlighted the manic energy that lived within Ivan. He was so excited to meet us and could not wait to show us around. First, he had to establish sleeping arrangements. He looked at my friend Alex and me and said: "You will sleep together?". It was more of a statement than a question but we agreed and he gave us a suggestive wink and whispered "Good. Patrick needs love". He brought us to our room and then proceeded to show our Belgian companion, Bjorn, where he would be sleeping. He brought us up three flights of stairs to the master bedroom and pointed to an extra bed that was directly next to his bed. We foolishly asked why he had an extra bed to which he immediately replied "It is for when I have threesome and want to sleep alone after". We had no further questions but it was at that moment that he informed him of his lifestyle that involved numerous sexual partners and swinger parties. Despite his many assurances that he would not have sex with his many girlfriends while Bjorn slept in the bed next to them, Bjorn decided to sleep on the couch. That evening at dinner, we began to learn more about our fascinating host. We learned that he went to school to be a nurse, impregnated a german woman on vacation simply because she asked him to, then proceeded to go through a "gay phase" until he ultimately watched enough youtube videos that he became a straight polygamist and ran for parliament. Incredibly, he won. Every conversation we had would inevitably be spun to suggest that polygamy was the ultimate solution to the world's problems. He would not entertain the idea of a woman with many husbands. Polygamy was a one-way road. Ivan was a vegan. He did not drink or smoke. He was very religious but only faithful to the religion that he created by cherrypicking the parts that he liked from other religions. At the end of dinner, he invited us to join him at the Croatian parliament the next day. As he ascended the stairs he turned to us and wished us a good night and said he would pray that we would find God and many wives We had four more days with him.