Prague

It took me a while to book a flight to Prague. I went back and forth about a million times in my head before I mustered enough courage to book my ticket and just go. The biggest reason for my hesitation was the fact that I'd be traveling alone and with financial reasons being the second. During the semester, one of the places I HAD to go see was Prague but my schedule didn't match up with my friends so I never had the opportunity. After finally convincing myself this trip would be worth it and that I needed a break from Holland, off to the Czech Republic I went. I still have not seen "Taken" and refuse to, but I've been told too many stories about young girls being kidnapped in Europe. Of course, I knew this trip would be challenging and I've had far too many adventures the past 6 months, so I wasn't looking for anymore obstacles or crazy stories. I definitely wanted to be smart and safe about everything. Here I am three days later and so happy that I took this trip, but let's rewind a few days back to discuss what I did on the trip. Like I mentioned, I had my apprehensions and insecurities going in to this Prague trip. Quite honestly, I don't know much about Eastern Europe and it has always been conveyed as the dirtier, less glamorous part of Europe, and on top of that I don't know a lick of Czech but that's all part of the fun, isn't it? The traveling from the bus station to the airport and the flight to Prague was pretty smooth. At the airport I exchanged my money into Korunas ( the Czech currency) which was extremely sucky. Don't ever exchange your money at the airport. They have the worst exchange rates but I needed cash and had no other choice. The exchange rate was something like 24 korunas to one Euro or 16 Koruna to $1. Dammit America and your weak dollar it's totally screwing me over here in Europe. Anyways, Korunas made paying for anything a pain the ass. I constantly had to pull out my phone and divide the prices. I did feel like a baller walking around with 2000 Kc even though its worth about $125. After exchanging my money, I had to buy a bus ticket to get to my hostel. After standing in line, I hear the policemen talking to the lady in front of me and telling her to wait a second because they had to check a bag. It was an abandoned backpack left in the front the ticket window in the middle of the Prague Airport. The policeman was very blunt and in his thick accented English said, " We check if Bomb. Move back. " Obviously, I stepped maybe ten feet back because I didn't want my face to get blown off. Luckily, the policeman said we could buy tickets outside so I ran the freak outta there, so I don't know what became of the backpack. Then after I take the bus we get to my stop and I needed to take the metro to get to my hostel. Just my luck of course, the public transportation was on strike that day so the metro was not running. After running around in the sun trying to find a taxi that would take me to my hostel, I finally found one that would take me. I read lots of reviews to be careful with taxi drivers in Prague because they all try to rip you off and are assholes. Mine was actually really nice and tried to have a conversation with me and give me back a 50 when the ride cost 276 and I gave him 300.
Finally, I get to my hostel. It was a pretty clean and nice hostel. I quickly changed my clothes ( it was HOT in prague and rainy and cold when I left Rotterdam) and tried to do as much sight seeing I could for the rest of the day. Upon trying to figure out the metro, bus and tram lines I stand in line for the tram and this random guys walks up to me and starts to talk. He asks,"How are you? where are you from? Are you traveling alone? " What the hell...A red flag obviously went up in my head and I said, "no I'm meeting my dad." I get a pat on the back for that one right, yall? I did good haha.
The weather was great and I enjoyed my first day of exploration in Prague. It was kinda fun getting lost and discovering weird buildings and such. I held onto my purse the entire time like it was my child, which was probably a little excessive but I didn't want to take any chances. After a few hours, I called it a day and went back to my hostel to sleep.I hadn't met my hostel mates yet because they weren't there. I later met the guy that ended up sleeping in the bunk above me. The only way to describe him is the Sri Lankan version of Dobby ( Yes the elf/hobbit from Harry Potter). My Sri Lankan friend was really nice and we even had a couple good conversations the following nights. He was doctor in London on leave. He wanted to take a break from work and travel the world for a few months. Sounds pretty sweet to me. Though don't let his appearance fool you, this little Dobby snored like a bear which made it very difficult for me to fall asleep. The next morning I wake up and finally see my other hostel mates. They were two dudes that came in really late at night and slept in past noon. I woke up to see them both across from me sleeping in their boxers and had huge tats on their backs. It was really hot in our room and I guess they didn't care a girl was in the room. The only girl with 3 guys. Why does this always happen to me?!
The next two days went by pretty smoothly. I took a tour the second day and really got to see a lot of Prague and learn about some history and culture. Prague is really known for its mystical tales and legends. I wish I had more time to hear/see more about them. Every monument or building has some kind of story behind it. Prague is kind of like Disneyland but with a lot more history and fighting. Traveling alone was kinda nice because you get to meet other loners like yourself instead of sticking to your group of friend. For instance, on the tour this Finnish guy awkwardly threw a "hi" at me to start a conversation. It was really forced and caught me off guard because I was trying to keep up with the tour guide. He was nice and talked A LOT haha but it was good because I had someone to take pictures of me instead of awkwardly taking pictures of myself or asking random strangers. Unfortunately, we didn't become best friends or pen pals for life because at the end of the tour instead of saying goodbye I got caught up with trying to find a garden and rudely left. Oops. A definite downside to traveling alone is that you have no one to enjoy the sights with. You kind of end up talking to yourself a lot or taking pictures sans people. Overall, one of my favorite trips. Partly because traveling alone gave me more independence and freedom to do whatever I wanted but also because Prague is amazing!!! I took way too many picture, but I'll be sure to post my favorites. Nashledanou ( goodbye)Prague. Dekuji ( thank you)!!