Some things, I think, are just meant to be. And my trip to Croatia, which begins tomorrow, is one of them. Perhaps it's the leftover Mayan woo-woo (see http://tinyurl.com/27hhoo3) from my very spiritual trip to Mexico earlier this summer, but I've had signs to confirm the rightness of this journey.

For instance: I thought I'd introduce myself to the woman who is to be my roommate on the yacht sailing among the Adriatic islands. ROW adventures told me she was Jayme Otto, a major writer of women's adventure stories based in Colorado. So I emailed Jayme to tell her about myself. "You won't believe this," she replied. "But I grew up in Mentor." She actually was in town for her grandmother's funeral when she got my email and saw my Wednesday Food section, complete with my photo. I got goosebumps over that astonishing coincidence.

Not long after, Nada Milkovic served me dinner at Gavi's and I learned that she was from Split, the city I will visit at the end of my voyage. She's among the 30,000 or so Croatians living in Eastlake and has been here 22 years.

I asked her about restaurants, some basic terminology and what to eat and drink while I was in her homeland. In between serving tables she wrote some things down on the back on an old menu. I had planned to write the words' meanings and their phonetic pronounciation, but time got away from me. So I asked Nada (maybe it's Neda!) to come to the News-Herald so I could shoot some video. Now all I need to do is to look at the film of Neda telling me about the foods and wine, and I'll be good to go.

Click here to meet Nada.