What was Prague like? It was beautiful and very picturesque. I had long term travel fatigue episode, I had coped with it. I tried out my first couch surfing experience. I’m glad I’m an older solo traveler, I can’t keep up with these young people. Meeting local people is my favorite part about traveling. I met up with a old friend from when I was in the Navy. Took a train out of Prague to Dresden. I will definitely love to come back and visit the city.
I came to Prague with over 100 days on the road. It is very tiring being a tourist. Some days you just want to go back home. Yes, even for the people living their dream there are bad days. After I had this thought of long term travel fatigue, I looked and there was already a blog post about it, here. I read this post after I recovered. What did I do to recover. I kept going, I pushed through. There are interesting places everywhere, you just have to keep looking. I went to the National Technical Museum in Prague, practically no tourists there. It was an inspiring to see different types of technology evolve with time. There is a photography exhibit, medical technology, film, architecture, appliances, printing presses and many more. Then I went to see the National Gallery. I enjoy looking at painting and modern art because I studied a little bit when I was in art school. It was really exciting to some famous artists that I admired. The title picture is a close up of a Alphonse Mucha. I love his decorative style and color palette. What got me out of the slump was to keep doing what I’m doing, keep working, keep searching, and keep exploring. Eventually it will pass. That’s advice if you need it. Please see the link above, that post is also good advice for any plateau.
You know when your friend would send you a postcard from Europe, Prague is a perfect card. Prague is located in central Europe as the capital city of the Czech Republic. It’s the fifth most visited city Europe. To say there were a lot of tourist is an understatement. When Richard Simcott, the polyglot superstar, studied here in the 90’s he described the Charles bridge as walking through a living radio when you turn the dial fast. So many people and so many languages you can hear maybe five or six walking through it. I didn’t have that exact experience, but I did hear a lot of English. Prague is beautiful but the amount of people detract from it. There are cool things to do you just have to look closer than the average tourist.
I managed to get some training amidst my slump. In fact, Jiu Jitsu is a really good way to get back into it. Exercise is good to way to move forward with a situation. I have now taken classes in Spanish, German, Czech and English. I wonder how many more languages I can learn Jiu Jitsu in. Honza Stach told me about Richard Andres at Penta BJJ. It’s great to meet people and that other people recommend. Richard spoke English very well and took time to show me certain details in English. He trained on and off in Minnesota. He is as technical as Honza said he was. I really enjoy that the network of Jiu Jitsu is just an interconnected network of people.
I met Jan through a mutual acquaintance. I was in Chile on a bike wine tour. A fellow, Matej from Slovakia, told me to check Czech Republic out and if I was going to Prague he might know someone to put me up. I didn’t think anything of it. I gave him my email address, usually nothing comes from these situations. Maybe because I’m American and people are flaky in America. I’m used to it. After a few weeks he emailed me some advice on Slovakia and Czech Republic. He gave me a contact for Prague. That is how I ended up on the Jan’s couch. It’s so great to hear the perspective of a local about their city. It’s honestly a priceless experience. I don’t think many tourists experience traveling this way. I learned a lot about the history and attitude of Czech People through Jan. He is one of the reason I want to return and really experience Czech Republic.
I extended my stay in Prague an extra day to see and old Navy buddy, Robbie. I was his LPO(Leading Petty Officer) in the department of ICU. He is now stationed in Japan.He has been traveling around Europe for about a week now. He showed me his itinerary and I managed move some things around and spend a day catching up. We went to pub crawl, urgh I thought. A bunch of other English speaking tourists. Not really my scene but nonetheless I had fun. I met some new people, I got lost, I found my friends and I had a great time. Normally I would shy away from stuff like that. The further I go along in Europe I will probably go on more drunken nights with big groups of strangers.
Overall a good time in Prague. Sometimes you feel down even in the most beautiful locations. Just keep going and learn from the experience. Keep your hobbies close so that you can feel normal even in a foreign country. It’s great to meet new friends and old friends all in the same city. Czech Republic left as space in my heart I will try to fill it some day.
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