Editor’s Note: This article is based on a recent Substack Live conversation with Robyn Levin of Rare Finds - Luxury Travel. Together, we explored why returning to the same country doesn’t mean repeating the same trip, and how looking beyond the places you’ve already seen can reveal entirely new people, stories, and experiences.
There’s a phrase travelers say all the time.
“I’ve already been there.”
We say it about cities, countries, and sometimes entire regions of the world.
We visit once, see the famous places, take the photos, and mentally check the destination off our list.
Done.
Next.
However, during my latest conversation with Robyn Levin of Rare Finds - Luxury Travel, I started thinking about how much that mindset can cause us to miss.
Robyn first traveled to Croatia four years ago.
Since then, she has kept going back.
Not to repeat the same trip.
To discover how much she didn’t see the first time.
A Country Isn’t One Destination
When most people think about Croatia, a few familiar destinations probably come to mind.
Dubrovnik.
Split.
The coast.
But during our live, Robyn pulled up a map and started walking me through the country.
Zagreb.
Rijeka.
Pula.
Poreč.
Istria.
She showed me just how close northern Croatia sits to Slovenia and Italy. Trieste is nearby. Venice isn’t nearly as far away as many travelers might assume.
And I realized how easy it is to reduce an entire country to the one place we’ve heard the most about.
Robyn’s first Croatia experience was Zagreb during Christmas.
She arrived from Florida to temperatures around 17 degrees and her luggage was lost.
She had one set of clothes and instead of sitting in her hotel waiting for her suitcase to arrive, she went out with a private guide and explored the city.
There was an ice-skating rink winding around a park, a DJ, music, food booths, and Christmas markets!
An entirely different version of Croatia than the coastal summer destination many travelers imagine.
That’s the first lesson.
A country isn’t one destination.
And one trip rarely tells you the entire story.
Sometimes You Have To Go Back
I asked Robyn near the end of our conversation where she wanted to travel next.
She started listing places she hasn’t seen yet.
The Baltics.
Finland.
Scotland.
Ireland.
Southeast Asia.
There’s still so much of the world she wants to explore; however, she said something that stayed with me.
She never expected to keep returning to the same countries because when you love travel, the instinct is often to keep moving.
A new country, a new stamp, and a new destination.
But Robyn has learned that going back doesn’t necessarily mean doing the same trip again.
You can visit the mountains in one region and the coast in another.
You can experience a country in December and return in May.
You can stay in the capital on one trip and discover a 2,500-year-old town you had never heard of on the next.
Going back isn’t always repeating yourself.
Sometimes it’s how you finally begin to understand a place.
The Croatia Most Travelers Miss
For this episode, Robyn took me into Istria.
It’s a region in northern Croatia with hills, vineyards, coastal towns, and access to the Adriatic.
Last time we talked about Croatia, Robyn took us truffle hunting.
We talked about wine, olive oil, and family-owned businesses.
This time, she brought me into Poreč and showed me two completely different ways to experience the same town.
One had more than 500 rooms. The other had 13.
One Town. Two Completely Different Trips.
The first property Robyn showed me was a sprawling five-star coastal resort.
Eleven swimming pools.
Seven restaurants.
Water slides.
Family activities.
Adults-only suites.
A rooftop deck overlooking the Adriatic.
Robyn described it as almost like Disney on the beach in Croatia.
Families can bring their children and find enough activities to keep them entertained, while adults looking for a quieter experience can stay in a separate adults-only building.
The resort had only recently opened when Robyn visited, yet it was already attracting significant demand.
Then, only minutes away, Robyn took us somewhere entirely different.
A 13-room heritage hotel.
The rooms don’t have numbers.
They have names.
Robyn stayed in the Teresa room, named after the woman who helped open, manage, and design the hotel with her husband in 1913.
Even the bedside experience was personal.
Guests are given four scented cards.
You scratch them, smell them, and choose your favorite.
The next day, a diffuser with your chosen scent appears beside your bed.
My immediate reaction during the live was simple:
“That’s next level.”
Because it is.
Neither hotel is automatically better.
They simply offer completely different ways to experience the same destination and that’s the point.
The same place can become a completely different trip depending on how you choose to experience it.
Luxury Is Often In The Details
One thing I’ve learned from listening to Robyn talk about travel is that she notices details some people would probably miss.
The glass bar holding the utensils at dinner.
The architecture of a hotel lobby.
The way a building resembles a ship.
The scent waiting beside the bed.
The story behind a room’s name.
The concierge who remembers what you need before you ask.
These details are why I think Rare Finds works.
Robyn doesn’t just walk into a hotel, take a picture of the pool, and tell you the view is beautiful.
She pays attention to how a place makes you feel.
At the larger resort, she experienced a nearly four-hour, 12-course dinner with nine wine pairings.
Each course came with an explanation, how the dish was made, what went into it, and why a particular wine was chosen.
At one point, Robyn explained that she had a 4 a.m. flight to catch.
The concierge’s response?
Essentially: no.
You’re doing the tasting menu.
That story made me laugh during the live, but it also says something about hospitality.
Sometimes the thing you remember isn’t the meal.
It’s the person who made sure you stayed long enough to experience it.
You Remember The People
This might have been my biggest takeaway from the entire episode.
Toward the end of our conversation, Robyn said:
“It’s not just the destinations, but it’s the people you meet that make the experience so much better.”
And when I look back at everything she shared, the people are everywhere.
The private guide who showed her Zagreb.
The concierge who wouldn’t let her skip dinner.
The hotel team who made her feel welcome.
And then there was chef Ana Roš.
Robyn sat with Ana for an hour over a glass of Merlot.
They talked about her upbringing in Slovenia, her background as an athlete, her path into food without a traditional culinary career, her travels, her creativity, and the way she thinks about flavor.
When Robyn asked how she creates her dishes, Ana gave an answer I love:
“Painters see colors. I see flavors.”
That’s the story Robyn remembers.
Yes, the restaurant matters, the food matters, and the destination matters, but years from now, I have a feeling she’ll still remember sitting on that deck and having that conversation.
You may choose a destination because of the place, but you often remember it because of the people.
The Big Lesson
One trip gives you an introduction.
It doesn’t always give you the full story.
Sometimes you have to return in a different season, to a different region, and with a different itinerary.
You have to be willing to look beyond the place everyone told you to visit and ask what else is there because a country can hold more than one version of itself.
Mountains and coastlines.
Five-hundred-room resorts and thirteen-room heritage hotels.
Christmas markets and Adriatic sunsets.
Michelin-starred tasting menus and conversations over Merlot.
Going back doesn’t always mean repeating the same trip.
Sometimes it means discovering the place for the first time all over again and maybe that’s why Robyn keeps returning to Croatia.
She hasn’t run out of things to see and she keeps discovering how much more there is to find.
In This Episode
Robyn Levin from Rare Finds - Luxury Travel and I discuss:
Why Croatia keeps pulling her back.
The difference between visiting Zagreb, Split, Pula, and Istria.
Why shoulder-season and winter travel can completely change a destination.
The quieter Croatian town of Poreč.
Two completely different luxury hotel experiences in the same town.
A sprawling five-star coastal resort and an intimate 13-room heritage hotel.
The small hospitality details Robyn notices while traveling.
A 12-course tasting menu with nine wine pairings.
Robyn’s conversation with chef Ana Roš.
Why the people you meet often become the most memorable part of a trip.
Why returning to the same country doesn’t mean repeating the same experience.
Whether you’ve been to Croatia before or it’s still somewhere on your travel list, I hope this conversation makes you reconsider the phrase:
“I’ve already been there.”
Maybe you have. but maybe there’s still an entirely different version of that place waiting for you.
↑ Replay Above
Resources From This Conversation
Scan Robyn’s QR code for exclusive activities in Jadran →
Scan Robyn’s QR code for exclusive activities in Pical →
Follow Robyn at Rare Finds - Luxury Travel →
Follow Robyn at Finding Your Edge →
Scan Robyn’s QR code to access her Youtube channel →
Follow Jess at Unstuck to Published →
Thank You
Thank you so much for everyone who tuned into this live, your presence is truly appreciated, and to the people who are watching the replay, thank you!
See you next Friday at 12pm ET for our weekly show, stay tuned!
-Jess, The Creator & Robyn Levin
