Departure and Arrival

Greetings from Prague!

My adventure abroad started 2 days ago (has it really been 2 days!?) when I left Madison for the Atlanta Airport with entirely too much luggage and, admittedly, some nervous butterflies.  My flight from Atlanta to JFK left at 12:25 and I thankfully got a seat.  As I was boarding, they said there was no room for carry-ons so they grabbed my carry-on suitcase and checked it through to Prague.  At first I was trying to think if there was anything I could need out of it... but in the end, I figured it was one less thing to lug around and just let them take it without worrying about it.  

Once to JFK, I had a 5 hour lay-over.  I mostly read and finished up last minute things... getting a bit of money exchanged, checked loads for the flight to Prague, etc.  Closer to boarding, the gate area became a mad-house.  For some reason, the airport was boarding a Seattle flight and the Prague flight from the same gate (the Seattle flight left about a 40 minutes before the Prague flight).  There were several Czechs around who didn't speak English and the gate people wouldn't let them on the flight (since it was going to Seattle) and there was lots of yelling and confusion.  That flight was late getting off so when ours finally started boarding, it was only about 20 minutes before departure... not a lot of time for an international, passport controlled flight. 

As names were called and passengers were boarding, I waited like a typical non-rev... sitting all relaxed in my seat at first and then getting up and hanging back from the desk in hopes they would call my name.  I finally called mom and dad in a panic as I realized that the final paperwork was going down and I wasn't on the flight.  There was 1 seat on the flight and 2 people in front of me on the non-rev list... but thankfully they didn't want to split up so I took the very last seat on the flight... not just a huge relief in general but also because the next flight out (on Saturday) had no open seats and the flight after that (leaving Monday) would have meant not arriving in Prague until Tuesday (right before I start work).  Plus, my checked carry on had pretty much everything I would have needed to be stranded somewhere in it.  Needless to say... I felt much better when that boarding door finally closed.  

Anyway, my seat was in an exit row (limited recline) and right next to the lavatory (smell, butts in my faces, constant bumping into me as people maneuvered in and out of the area, but I was so glad to be on the plane that I didn't care.  I sat down, got settled, and waited on the flight to push back... and waited... and waited.  An hour later, the pilot announced that the delay had ben caused by problems loading cardo but it was finally loaded and we were ready to push back.  I put my kindle away and we taxied out to a runway and I waited for take-off, and waited... and waited.  After 30 minutes or so the pilot came back on and informed us that there was a mechanical issue on the flight and to hang tight.  Another 10 minutes pass and we were told the plane may need to go back to the gate and we may or may not need to de-plane.  Thankfully, after another 30 minutes we find out that it was all fixed while we sat there and we're good to go.  So over 2 hours after our scheduled departure, I was finally off to Prague.  

The flight wasn't super restful, but it was uneventful once we finally got in the air.  We landed in Prague at 11:35AM local time and I headed through customs and to get all my luggage.  Some nice Czech man helped me load it on to a (free!) baggage cart and then I got a cab to my apartment. (Yes, I know the cab driver very likely ripped me off, but with my luggage being larger than me in size and weight it was worth every penny!)  My roommate is traveling right now so his Slovak friend met me at the apartment to give me keys and let me in.  The location is PERFECT (I seriously couldn't have asked for a better place) and the apartment itself is pretty nice.  I have a big room, it's clean and furnished.  The living room and kitchen are roomy for the city I think, and the bathroom is teeny-tiny but clean with lots of hot water.

After I unpacked I went to pick up a few necessities (a laundry hamper, some coat hangers, etc).  After dropping those back by the apartment, I explored my new neighborhood and stopped to have dinner and a beer.  Food might be a challenge for me here (even every single chicken dish had bacon or ham with it) but I finally spotted a fillet of fish over potatoes with peas and slaw.  After a beer the size of my head, all I wanted to do was sleep so I wandered back to my apartment for the night... not super exciting but I haven't met anyone yet and I was exhausted from the 24 hours of travel.  

Today I slept in and have been running errands and stumbling across gorgeous places in the process.  I've bought a few more things for my room and conquered my first trip to the grocery store.  I'm still puzzled by sheet sizes here (no direct translations of "double" or "queen" and of course the measurements are all metric), where to buy a hair dryer (not the mall, the grocery store, or the pharmacy), and how to pay for the tram (I bought tickets, but the machine on the tram won't validate them so I've been riding without technically paying... need to figure out that one soon).  

Tomorrow I'll stop being boring and do some legitimate exploring... for some reason jet lag hit me harder than it normally does and tonight I think I'm going to relax with pasta and a good book.