Prague, Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic

(This is just one out of dozens of photos I took in Prague. Almost every single photo is post card perfect).


May 2004


Hi there. A quick live report from Prague. I arrived yesterday and the city is really beautiful. The weather couldn't be more perfect. Upper 60's maybe lower 70's. This is high season. Last night I stayed in the Renaissance which is very nice but pricey. Today I moved over to the Marriott across the street which is even nicer than the Renaissance. A true 5 star hotel.

I met a guy named Mikhal from Sweden. He's also a younger guy so we got along pretty good. He has been here before so he kind of knows his way around. Last night we went to a nice restaurant and food here seems to be relatively cheap. I think we paid like $12 including tip for a pasta dish and a coke but it was in a super touristy area.

The girls here are amazingly beautiful. This was my first trip to Eastern Europe. The nightlife is pretty good here in Prague. Mikhal and I hit some clubs and we had a great time. He was also single so we shared the same attitudes about life and had no restrictions or anything or anyone holding us back from having fun.

MAKE SURE you only call AAA Taxi to get a taxi. Actually the first thing you should do when you arrive at the airport is to go to the T Mobile store and get a SIM card for your unlocked GSM phone. If you don't have one, make sure you rent one. A cellphone is a MUST in Prague in order to call the taxi's and if you are meeting girls. The number to AAA Taxi is 14014 from your cell phone.

The Prague Airport is actually not that good. Their system of baggage is horrible. The conveyer belt won't load bags if there are bags in the way so it took almost 45 minutes to get my bags. One Czeck lady was even yelling at one of the airport workers telling them they were horrible and didn't help at all. The system was really antiquated and it was almost something out of an old Russian movie.

The taxi from the airport shouldn't cost more than 500 Krns or so. I saw a shuttle that said 480 K. (26 Kn= $ 1 us) so I negotiated with a taxi to take me to my hotel for the same price. I gave him a tip though. Taxis can be rip offs though. Last night we didn't have my cell phone and M. didn't know to use AAA taxi so we had to use a regular taxi. We had to pay 500 Kwn! ($20) to get to this club not too far away! Another time before that we had to pay 200 K to go a short distance. The AAA taxi's you can go across town for about 100 Krn. They are VERY honest. If you call them it only takes about 5 minutes for them to get to your destination.

Mikhal was really funny and an all around good guy. I love girls more than just about anyone but this guy takes chasing skirt to a new level. This was his 2nd trip to Prague and he never made it to see any of the city or even take one photo. He would stay out partying all night, go to clubs picking up girls and then sleep until late afternoon.

I did party a lot with him and we got lucky with girls almost every day of our trip. Still, I was in town to mainly see the city.

Keeping with my "A doctor told me I only have 3 years to live" scenario, I usually stayed in 5 star hotels with great beds and great service. Yeah, they are more expensive but I guess I tend to spoil myself. I went to check out Mikhal's apartment. He got a really good deal. He was joking that he paid less for his entire stay than I was paying just one night in my hotel but I couldn't sleep on that crackerjack box that was his bed. It was clean though but there were some gypsies in that area. If you're not picky with your bed than the apartment is a good, viable cheap option. The bed was a single though so I'm not sure where the girls slept that he brought home.

Quick update. I am taking refuge from the rain but I have to meet Mikhal soon. We just parted company since he is busy with girls he met. We are having lots of laughs! He is a cool guy. Today was beautiful out until late afternoon and it started raining. I walked all over the city and have to say this is one beautiful city! The architecture is great. There is something quite mysterious to me about Eastern Europe. I had a few beers with Mikhal where he was reluctant to confess that he met an older woman today and took her home!!!! I was surprised but to each his own. We had a lot of laughs about it. He was curious about what it would be like to be with an older woman. The lady said she was 51 which we laughed about because we were joking how all the girls in town claim to be 21 or 22 when they are really 26 or 27 so I told him the 51 year old was probably closer to 60. Oh well. I asked him what the Swedish word is for senior citizen and he said something like "phar mor". Ha, ha.

We both have a metro card that was 250 Krn. And it's good for a week. The metro is easy but sometimes you might have to walk a bit. . We just ate in a restaurant in non-touristy Praha 3 with NO English menus so we didn't really even know what we were going to get. No one there spoke English. We both didn't like our dishes. We have reservations for a nice place I read about in a travel magazine for dinner tomorrow. I thought I'd take charge of the dinner plans as I need to eat well. Most of the girls we are meeting speak no English so although we are having fun...we can't communicate too well. Life is tough, huh? More later.

So many of my friends and people that hear about all my adventures and my trips ask me how I do it. They tell me that I'm wasting my money and that I'm not thinking things through by going through all my savings traveling under my imaginary scenario. Here is the answer I give them:

What I'm doing is not for everyone. You ask how I do it? Simple. I stepped up to the plate about 4 years ago when I decided to leave my wife and get divorced when she told me she wanted kids. Many of you have kids, wives, etc. I'm a single guy so while you're paying for Susy and Johnny's college education.... I'm traveling and seeing the world. In life you make choices. You can either step up to the plate and decide to do it or you can bitch and complain about how life is unfair and how everyone else has it better than you. Life is as fair as you make it.

I keep meeting these great girls that I could potentially settle down with. Then I ask myself, "am I ready for this"? "How will it affect my lifestyle"? Then I know I'm not ready. Could I do better things with my money? Sure. Is my money better off sitting in a Money Market earning interest? Sure..I guess? To me, there is no better investment than enriching yourself and seeing the world. Knowing different cultures. Do what makes you happy in life I always say. Also, if you don't think you are getting enough vacation at your work. Ask for more. If they say no, try to find another job. If you can't afford to travel, try to make more money somewhere else. There are no shortcuts for having a lot of money in life short of winning the lottery or having a trust fund. (I have neither. ) The best advice I can give is work hard, make a lot of money, then play hard and spend your money. That formula works for me. Good luck.

Yet another fun filled day/night under my belt. I met up with a girl that I met earlier on my trip and had a great afternoon with her. I met up with Mikhal after the date and we had some great Za (pizza) at this place next to the internet cafe I go. It was really good. We both kept really busy. Mikhal with girls and me with girls and also seeing the beautiful city. Mikhal had yet to take one photo. I had to promise to email him my photos.

We walked around and met up later for dinner. I made reservations at a place I read about in one of my travel magazines. It's called Arzenal and it's a cool Thai restaurant in back of an art gallery. You'd never know there was a restaurant back there unless someone told you. So I'm telling you. The food is really good and not expensive for Europe standards. Address is Valentinska 11, Praha 1. Tel: 224-814-099. www.arzenal.cz I highly recommend it. I'm making reservations tonight for somewhere else.

We did some clubbing and hit some good places. We went to Ocean Drive and Tretters. Tretters is a cool bar with a good atmosphere and good drinks. There are some beautiful Czech girls here that were getting hit on by every guy under the sun. We had a good time just drinking Black Russians and chatting about life. We really have become good friends and I'm sure I'll see him again. I invited Mikhal to my home in USA and I hope he takes me up on the offer sometime. We decided to go to this new club. Here is where it gets funny. We've had a lot of funny moments. The taxi driver from AAA can't speak English and he doesn't know the address. We are screwed. Then I took out my cellphone and called my friend in the USA who is always on his computer. Luckily there is a 7 hour time difference so even though it was 2 AM in Prague it was early in USA. He looked up the website and gave us the phone number. Talk about the beauty of high tech! We are in the taxi and he calls to get the directions and address.

Mikhal is here now at the internet cafe. We are going to eat. This is our last day in Prague. The time flew by quickly. It's beautiful out today with lots of sun. I like this city. More later.

I’m somewhere over the Atlantic now headed back to the USA from London. Sadly another European adventure comes to an end. Prague was more than I could hope for as a total vacation destination. The city has to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The history there is amazing. Yesterday when I last posted I was getting ready to go to dinner. Mikhal and I went to this upscale diner called Dynamo. It was a cool spot and kind of eclectic but the service was super slow and the food wasn’t anything to write home about.

After that we met up with some Czech girlfriends we had met. My girl from Budapest wanted a little farewell and so did I! His girlfriend was really pretty and mine was model material. (This girl from Budapest). We had a great afternoon.

Later that night we went out and laughed and joked and reminisced about our trip and how it went by so quickly. I’ll miss going around to the various places with him as we got along very well and had so many laughs. We kept a pretty busy schedule. I was barely in my hotel. He came to my hotel and saw my room and was blown away. I had this luxury suite that was really big with a separate living room, big bedroom with King Size bed and luxurious bathroom. It was much different than his small apartment. Ha, ha.

Anyway, it was a great trip. Until the next adventure.