"This year the Youth Panel decided to take an international trip to Croatia! Out of all the places I've been, this one hit the spot. It was warm and sunny, the city (and the food!) was exquisite, and travelling with my amazing friends in the Youth Panel made it all worth it. To be able to experience something so outside of your comfort zone while also feeling the safest you've ever felt is such an amazing experience, and I would totally recommend!"
Croatia is a country across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. Zadar is a walled city located on the Dalmatian Coast and boasts of beautiful buildings and churches left behind from the Roman and Venetian empires.
We wandered through the tiny side streets of this ancient fortified town and found our way to the 'Sea Organ' - a piece of installation art that uses the motion of the sea to play soothing notes as it sweeps in against the coast.
We ate lunch in a wonderful restaurant, enjoying burgers and pasta and grilled vegetable dishes. We had ice-creams from one of the many gelateria that offered countless flavour combinations!
The 9th century round church of St Donus stands immediately on the site of a genuine Roman forum - and we wandered freely around these amazing places before souvenir shopping in the market place and shops.
We flew to Zadar on 25th June. The participating panel members that were in school were given dispensation from their headteachers to take part in this special cultural experience.
13 of us travelled in total - Libby was joined by Hannah, Molly, Natty, Angel, Jamie, Sophia, Evelyn, Phil, Jonathan, Tilly, Hollie and Juliette. This was the first international trip that the Cambs Youth Panel has organised - but it was such a success that we'll be definitely be doing another one.
Our next trip will be another European city and we're already looking at Milan as a strong possibility. We're also having conversations about visiting Scandinavia in December prior to Christmas which could be an awful lot of fun too.
We have a tradition of going bigger and better on everything we do!
We kept our costs low by flying with a budget airline and managed to secure return tickets, with full travel insurance, for £35 each.
It's important for us to keep our experiences and opportunities as affordable and accessible to everyone as possible because we don't want anyone to feel left out.
On the day we spent around 30 Euros on things like bus and taxi fares, eating lunch and buying souvenirs. The ice-creams were 3 euros each and they were totally worth it!
We had to start our day at about 4AM to be at Stansted Airport for 6AM. We arrived in Croatia for about 11AM and were back home in the UK for about 10PM following a delay in our return flight.
We think that opportunities to travel are important for young people. Travelling alone can be good, but travelling with friends is incredibly exciting!
Travel and the experience of international cultures helps to broaden the mind. It encourages people to become multi-lingual and it defeats xenophobia and racial prejudice in the most healthy way.
