so, the flights back to the Czech Republic were miserable. well, they weren't unbearable, but they did suck. why, Iain? why did they suck?
well, to start off, i took a total of no fewer than four airplanes - three of which originated in the states. that is to say: i flew from Indianapolis to Minneapolis-St. Paul, from there i flew to Chicago... that's right, i flew from IND to MSP in order to get to ORD (O'Hare). from there it was a KLM flight from ORD to Amsterdam and then CSA airlines from AMS to Prague.
okay, but that isn't the entire reason why it sucked.
let me complain a little bit more. travelling during the holiday season sucks. every flight i took off an hour late but they all loaded on time. that's right, i was stuck on the ground in airplanes for a total of about 4 hours. this, of course, caused some tight connections in two or three instances.
okay, let me complain even more.
Northwest airlines is ridiculous. i've flown with them for awhile, since MN is a key stopping/layover point for me as family and friends provide plenty of distractions during purposeful prolonged layovers. this, of course, means i have to buy separate tickets a lot of the time since NW doesn't allow a layover to last over a nighttime, unless its a last flight in/first flight out thing.
anyway, since i like to stop for a few days every time i fly through MN, it means that i have to buy many separate tickets, as i've already noted. this is why i flew from IND to MSP in order to go to ORD. my first leg was the result of a return trip of a ticket i bought over the summer - the flight from MSP to IND i took on the 20th was the return trip, meaning that i had to buy a whole new ticket for the return to MSP. the subsequent 3 legs were all part of my winter trip - that is to say that this winter trip from Prague was round trip to MN, not IND. whoof. that's a lot of words to make that simple point. sorry, if that bored you...
now, i don't mind NW as i feel they are no worse, or even slightly better than all of the other big carriers. but they were absolutely incompetent when i checked in in IND - first off, i needed to combine the two tickets, so i wouldn't have to retrieve my luggage in MSP and re-check it... i flew on the 27th of December, peak holiday traffic time. what's more, NW had just expanded its service out of IND, adding a whole new selection of destinations...
so, what's your point, iain? well, they had THREE, that's right, count 'em, THREE agents there to assist with checking people in. and there was a constant line of about 500 people. because the line was so long (and one of the agents was absolutely incompetent), people kept missing their flights. having an e-ticket, i stood in line for about an hour and 15 minutes, about 6 people back from one of the three agents for a vast majority of said time, before i decided to simply check in and re-check my luggage in MN. this, of course, enabled me to actually catch my flight. but it also meant that my 3 hour layover in MSP would be a hassle of exiting security, grabbing my luggage, checking in again, and going through security again.
of course, since the line was so miserably slow in IND, it was a breeze walking through security because the crowd was caught at check-in, not security.
alright, enough bitching about the flights.
now to bitch about returning to PRG.. when i arrived in PRG, i hired an airport car - the most expensive way to travel, i found out. but as i was putting my luggage in the car, the driver started to yell at me (in Czech, nonetheless) about the fact that i was resting my suitcase on the bumper on its way into the trunk. he threw some monetary number at me, as in "this is how much my bumper costs"... if i hadn't already been travelling for 24 hours and had had real sleep - hence being more alert - i would've dumped the cab in favor of a nicer individual (and cheaper mode of transport).
and lastly, i can't seem to get on a good schedule. i took a nap on the 28th (the day i arrived) for about 2 hours. i then ended up staying up until about 12:30. after which, i slept until 8. i took a nap yesterday from noon to about 4:30 and ended up going to bed at around 2:30. i woke up this morning at 6. i read in my bed for two hours, hoping that i would fall back asleep, but alas i did not. now i'm feeling tired, but i'm going to resort to caffeine, methinks.
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after all of that, i would like to wish you all a happy new year!
so, it's done. i have finally updated my images page with many pictures dating back to the winter of 2004.
Click here to see them! I'll be editing this post with specific links later. I'll let you know then.
so, i'm back stateside for the short time being.
i'm writing this from my friends house in Los Gatos, CA.
upon returning, the realizations this time:
- you can take the man out of Plzen, but you can never take the pilsener out of the man: i was walking down Haight St in San Francisco yesterday and passed by a bar. sitting outside the bar was a stand-alone slate announcing the specials of the day. the slate itself was topped by none-other than a Pilsner Urquell logo. Pilsner beers take their name from Plzen, the city in the Czech Republic. Pilsner Urquell is brewed there, to boot... so, i can leave the Czech Republic, but i don't think it will ever leave me.
- i'm more accustomed to European architecture now, by sight: flying into Amsterdam's Schipol airport, i saw the city of Amsterdam. it didn't strike me as looking any different to anything else in the world - it was not unique. there was nothing special. everything was normal in my mind.
and then i flew into Minneapolis... and it looked like a foreign country. i felt like i was in another world, almost... and i am, almost...
- warm climates are nice: it's nice to be just south of San Francisco and not have to worry about wearing a winter jacket. very nice indeed.
- you can stop the man from teaching English, but you can never take the English teacher out of the man: i'm cursed for life now. having been teaching English for over a year now, i will never be able to stop noticing grammatical errors in spoken and written english. it's nice to know the rules, but now i'm becoming a nightmare of proper English.
- reuniting with old friends is nice: i got to see one TP yesterday, after having not seen him since my 21st birthday when we hit the bars as a duo on that long-ago monday night. it was fantastic to catch up with him and to help drive home how much people can change in four years time - and i noticed it on both our sides. life is great and throws us some really interesting truths.
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short summary of this trip so far:
on Saturday I flew into MN and spent the night at my brother and sister-in-law's house. we ate Malts.
on Sunday, we started the day lazily by playing one of the fastest games of Monopoly in history - i just deSTROYed him. we followed that with Trivial Pursuit, which i won by answering a question about Judge Judy. we ate Noodles & Co.
that evening, i got on a plane to CA where i was picked up by my good friend (via prague) CMS. we drove to San Jose and had a beer at her boyfriend's bar before retiring to her house for a night of sleep.
two days ago, we drove up to San Francisco and did a mini-Vertigo tour of San Francisco, seeing the Palace of the Legion of Honor, Mission Dolores and Fort Point (where Kim Novak's character jumps into the bay). we also walked the length of upper-Haight St. we ate Mexican.
that night we went to karaoke at a bar where her boyfriend was running the show, but only after we ate chicken and asparagus.
yesterday, i woke up and caught a Caltrain from San Jose to San Francisco, where i met TP. we had a vegan lunch.
after lunch, we played some darts and i did some shopping. i ate a falafel.
i spent last night on the train and sitting in CMS's house and ate a second dinner of shrimp pasta.
now you know more about my dietary habits than my San Francisco trip. i hope you enjoyed it.
in an effort to not forget to do some VERY important things before i leave in three days time, i'm posting them publicly as a reminder to myself:
bank it
buy things for people for when you go to that one place where you'll do that thing
visa visa visa
pack