Our Work Trip To Croatia Started As A Team Retreat...

If someone told me a work trip would involve luxury villas, influencer campaign calls, questionable decisions, and a CEO who may or may not have been temporarily blacklisted from Airbnb…

I’d probably still book the flights.

Picture this.

Five marketers.
One CEO.
A villa perched on top of a Croatian hillside overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

It sounds like the beginning of a wellness retreat.

It wasn’t.

Despite the breathtaking views and enough luxury amenities to make you forget what day it was, we were still working. Campaigns don’t stop just because you’ve swapped your office chair for a sun lounger.

Every morning looked completely different.

Some of us were smashing out emails before 8AM.

Others emerged around 10AM wrapped in duvets, clutching an iced coffee like it was life support.

No prizes for guessing which group I belonged to.

Then there was our CEO.

Fresh from having a tooth removed before the trip, he was surviving on painkillers and sheer determination.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the villa’s downstairs bathroom happened to be… directly next to the kitchen.

Which also happened to be our office.

Let’s just say there are some sounds you don’t expect to hear while replying to campaign emails.

After a few days of balancing strategy decks with sunset views, our CEO flew home.

Now the real holiday could begin.

We embraced every luxury the villa had to offer.

The pool. The jacuzzi. The sauna.

Questionable late night conversations that somehow felt incredibly important at 2AM.

And then we went into town.

What started as a quiet drink quickly escalated into one of those nights that nobody can accurately explain.

Someone allegedly found themselves in a swimming pool that definitely didn’t belong to us.

Someone else (cough… me) discovered their alcohol limit the hard way after waiting far too long for an Uber.

Memory?

Gone.

Dignity?

Also gone.

Surely we’d learned our lesson. Of course we hadn’t.

The final night somehow managed to outdo the first.

We made friends with fellow tourists.

Whether they invited themselves back to the villa or we enthusiastically extended the invitation remains a topic of debate.

Either way…

There were suddenly a lot more people at our Airbnb than the booking originally suggested.

The following morning’s highlights included:

• One missing passport.
• A collection of concerned looks from Croatian locals.
• An Airbnb host who was considerably less enthusiastic than when we’d checked in.
• Several conversations beginning with, “So… whose idea was that?”

By the time we rolled our suitcases towards the airport, it felt like half the neighbourhood was silently celebrating our departure.

Working in social media means you’re permanently switched on.

You’re chasing trends. Watching creators. Refreshing analytics.

Answering emails at times you promised yourself you wouldn’t.

So when a few days off finally arrive, you make the most of them.

Sometimes a little too much.

There are plenty more stories from Croatia that will remain safely locked away in the team group chat forever.

Because what happens in Croatia stays in Croatia.

Right?

(Although our CEO’s Airbnb account being banned for 6 months may tell a slightly different story.)

Sorry, Luka. 💛