In Prague

I travelled to Prague, Czech Republic yesterday. I'm here for a business conference, so unfortunately I'll be spending most of my time inside at meetings. My adventure, however, started as soon as I landed.

We were instructed by the conference organizers to NOT take a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Apparently, it is a largely unregulated industry here in Prague, with a propensity to over-charge and/or rip off foreigners. So, we were given instructions on how to make use of the abundant public transportation found here. Now, I purposely did not over-pack, but I had 1 suitcase, a hang-up bag, my laptop bag and a carry-on bag. And now I was going to try to get on a bus into the city center, then transfer to a tram, then walk about 3 blocks to the hotel? Fun. Kinda made me want to take my chances with a cab.

But, being a good and fiscally responsible employee, I heeded the advise of the trip planners and decided to take the bus. This is my bus below.

I bought my ticket (280 Kc, which is about $14 US, for the whole week - not bad, as it covers all buses, trams, and subways), and found the bus stop no problem. When the bus arrived, I turned and picked up all of my luggage, and right when I got to the stairs, the bus driver looked me in the eye, closed the doors, and drove off!

Great! Is this how my stay is going to begin?!

Grumbling, I sat back down and waited another 10 minutes for the next bus.

I should note at this time that I had just gotten off an 8 hour flight from Atlanta, I hadn't really slept in almost 3 days, it was 8am local time, and it was about 30 degrees outside. I was not in a cheery mood.

When the next bus showed up, I grabbed my bags and headed for the door. As soon as the other passengers boarded (I was not the only one waiting, but I WAS the only one with luggage.) the driver (new driver this time) looked me in the eye, closed the doors, and drove off, leaving me standing there holding my bags again! I yelled something at the departing bus (could have been English, but might have passed for Czech) and scared a lady with a couple of small kids that was walking past, and started to formulate a plan for the next bus. I was determined to not miss it again.

When I saw the next bus coming 1/2 block away, I picked up my bags (all of them at once) and pushed my way to the front of the line. Noone protested, but it's possible they might have sensed my precarious mental state. As soon as the doors opened, I vaulted myself onto the bus and into a big pile on the floor. Then the bus sat there for about 5 minutes while a passenger in a wheel chair got off. I had to move my bags out of the way so they could disembark. But I made it! And that's what is important here. Victory was mine.

The rest of the journey to the hotel (right) was quite uneventful. Despite the apparent rudeness of the airport bus drivers, everyone else I have come in contact with here has been incredibly helpful, nice, and accomodating.

Prague is a very beautiful city. I took some time last night to walk around some of the historical parts of town, and I am greatly impressed. Found a nice little restaurant right on the central square of the old city. The picture menu helped. Lots of old buildings and cool architecture. I can't wait to see more!