Just the Two of Us

Traveling as a single parent comes with challenges. But as Anja Mutic realizes during a mother-son trip to the Croatian island of Hvar, the opportunities for deep connection make it well worth the effort.

- Anja Mutic

MAMAAAAA!" MY SON, Kweli, screamed as a baby donkey named Matilda bit his big toe. By the sound of his cry, I thought the animal had taken a generous chunk one that might necessitate an emergency speedboat trip from the island of Hvar, where we were staying, back to mainland Croatia. Thankfully, Kweli was just shaken up, and his toe only lightly nipped, but Matilda's overzealous greeting wasn't an ideal start to what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway.

The preceding year had been relentless, between family health issues and COVID lockdowns, which had confined me and my six-year-old to our Zagreb apartment for more than two months and eliminated the possibility of travel, my primary beat as a writer. Around the time restrictions started to ease, I caught wind of Maslina Resort, a new beachfront property with 53 rooms and villas on the laid-back northern coast of Hvar-an island I've visited frequently since the early 1990s. I immediately booked a five-day escape to help us decompress.

Our adventure had begun with a jolt, even before the encounter with Matilda. We'd driven four hours from Zagreb to a dock outside the coastal city of Split, where the resort's custom-crafted Colnago 45 TS speedboat was waiting for us. Kweli dug right into the cookies and sugarcoated orange peels the crew provided, and we woohoo-ed as the boat bumped through the waves-until we hit a big one that left Kweli rattled and seasick for the rest of the one-hour voyage.

After reaching the island, we climbed into the golf cart that would take us the six minutes to Maslina. As the resort's larch-wood façade emerged from forests of Aleppo pine, both Kweli and both of us began to relax. By the time we checked in to our room, with its peaceful palette of grays and greens and panoramic views of the azure Adriatic Sea, the big wave had become a hazy memory.