So, I have a sister who likes to travel. Damn near every year she takes all of her vacation time, which is a considerable amount, and goes somewhere far, far away. The past couple of years it has been somewhere in the UK.
She has a friend who visits another friend who resides in the Champagne region of France every other year. On the other “every other year” this friend comes out to visit my sister’s friend here in Seattle.
This year is the year for going to France. Having met this French friend when she was out last year, my sister was invited to visit this year, and she accepted. She is visiting Versailles today.
A couple years back, before I was laid off and went away to learn welding, her and I had made plans for a grand European vacation. My sister has a romanticized ideal of Berlin, and would love to go, but not alone. I told her I’d sherpa her around Berlin and greater Deutschland, if we could spend an equal amount of time in Prague and maybe a few days in Budapest.
Well, I got laid off and had to go to college so as to be employable, and that plan was put away.
I had dinner with her the night before her flight to the land of the Francs, and she brought it up again, since I’m employed and she still really wants to go.
I agreed to our departure next September.
I knew of the “refugee crisis”. And of the hassle of getting a rental car anywhere east of Germany. And of having to get a new phone, since US phones don’t work “over there”. And that, not counting food, fuel and other daily costs, this trip is going to set me back $2500 before I even get to the airport. But I agreed anyway.
Trust me, I do want to go. Rather badly, actually. If only to see Prague and Budapest before they get swallowed into the caliphate (but I’d also like to visit the CZ factory in Brno, and leave some flowers for Vaclav Havel, and maybe urinate on some infamous communist’s graves, etc), but also because, if I don’t take her to her favorite historical monument, the remnants of the Berlin Wall, she’ll likely never see it.
So, any bets on whether Germany, the Czech Republic and/or Hungary will be touristable in a year’s time?
On a more realistic note, does anyone know if there is a “Security Personnel” certification I can take so I can go in heavy? My sister is a VIP (to me at least).
Why not make it a hunting trip? Hunting permits should be easier.
Go! Just to drink Pilsner Urquell fresh from the keg and not battered and bruised by travel. If you only get as far as Vienna say “Hi” – or, “Servus!” My .243 Interarms Mauser is from Brno.
Most newer phones do work, check your model to see if it supports it. My Galaxy S4 and Nexus 6 and Wife’s Note 3 and a friend’s iphone 4 all worked fine.
2 good ways we’ve found to get access over there. The first is that T-mobile has free international roaming, although the data speed is pretty slow (2G). $30/month for a T-mo account, just buy it for one month. Second is to buy prepaid SIM cards, available in the airport there and not hard to find elsewhere. 15 Euro will get you a month’s worth of voice and more data than you can use in a few weeks vacation, and you can call a number to top it up with a credit card if you do run out. Downside to this is that they generally only work for one country, so if you’re hopping around Europe you may need to buy a new one each time you cross a border.
Do not miss the Lobkowicz family museum in Prague. Fantastic collection of art, dinnerware, music (Beethoven’s 9th, in his own hand!), and yes, guns! There’s a little narrator machine you can carry around voiced by the head of the family and it’s a fantastic bunch of stories, including standing the very room where the Defenestration of Prague happened.
In Berlin, visit the Museum Insel, five great museums all right next to each other. Drink an Augustiner beer somewhere around the Tierpark, and enjoy the view from the Siegesaule.
You will enjoy it, I guarantee it.