Golden Prague, Expat life, tips and reviews

A heartfelt thanks to everybody that made the month of January such a success for this blog by visiting and commenting here! My Top Droppers were:

A Malaysian Abroad Lynne has not only dropped the most visiting cards on this blog (via Entrecard) she also invited me to participate in my first ever meme and left a lot of helpful comments on my posts. Her blog about life as a Malaysian-Swiss expat living in the US is always a joy to read, go ahead, visit her! Thanks again, Lynne!

Computer Aid was the second Top Dropper, Luigi’s’ blog is a sort of all knowledge regarding Windows problems. And don’t we have them all, at least from time to time? For all Gremlins or just for a good, geeky read, visit his blog.

Internation Musings is a multi-national, multi-blogger blog adventure that covers events and –yes- musings from an international perspective. A compassionate and intellectually honest blog with posts that go under the surface of our often too fast paced internet world. Take your time, take a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a good read.

Moshi & Kibo’s Dog Blog makes me always smile when I visit, not only because I am a doggie person, also because they give human peculiarities a canine perspective. Oh, and did I mention that they are outright cute? A gem in the dogosphere There are also the most social media savvy English toy spaniels that I know of!

Lights Camera Action is a niche blog commenting and accompanying Bollywood and Asian lifestyle events in Houston, USA together with current Asian political developments. Ruchi, the blogger, is a seasoned journalist who grounds her blog in knowledge and not in hearsay.

Good Life Review is exactly what is in the title, a blog reviewing travel destinations, hotels etc. Unfortunately they seem to have some technical problems at the moment ;-( Get well soon!

Viewpoint Publication is a mixed bag of paid/ sponsored posts and original/ personal content. I must say I am not madly keen on reading sponsored posts but the non-sponsored ones on this blog I do enjoy.

Experience DeLux Luxurious lifestyle is the main theme of this blog. I like looking at all the goodies and enjoy their beauty and well made design and know at the same time how fortunate I am that I don’t need them. Or do you need a Rubik’s Cube made with 185 carats of precious gems set in 18-karat gold, including 22.5 karats of amethyst, 34 karats of rubies and 34 karats of emeralds that is worth around $1.5 million?

Dallas Marketing Services is a colorful mix of marketing tricks and tips, especially for improving your web traffic via social media and humor with a lot of freebies thrown in.

Beyond Feron is a cover-all-and-add-my-opinion-to-it blog that makes for a good read. I only wish that it would be updated more frequently, but as they say: Who sits in a glasshouse, shouldn’t throw stones

I am glad to have all of you as my blogger friends, together with all the other countless visitors and I am looking forward to connect with you again in February in the blogosphere! And thanks to Entrecard for uniting us in a great blogging network, SY

PS If you want to be mentioned in my next “Top Droppers Day” post for February, you have to drop your entrecard. Also don’t forget to sign up to my RSS feed for free and/ or to comment on this blog, who knows I might make a “Top Commentators Post” soon SY

I noticed that I am slipping, again!, in updating this blog, so here a mixed bag of tips and tricks for travelers from the airport to the Golden City:

Prague airport parking: If you come with a car to pick somebody up and have to park at the airport you can save money by parking at terminal 2, not terminal 1. Both terminals are in walking distant from each other but terminal 2 parking is 1/3 the price. No idea why, but it is like that, just checked it today

Airport to Prague city: Between terminal 1 and 2 is a big kiosk that sells bus/ metro/ tram tickets that get you into town for 26k. They even help you to find your way around the public transport system of Prague (which is excellent by the way) for the first time. Really a bargain, considering prices for taxis. If you want to check your way into Prague beforehand, have a look here: DPP Travelplaner

Taxis in Prague: For a long time Prague’s’ taxi drivers had the fame of ripping unwary tourists off, but situation is getting better. Look out for AAA taxis, but be aware that there is also a cheap expensive impostor around that tries to impersonate them. Have a look at the AAA taxi web site to see how the taxis should look like. They are also to find at the so called “fair taxi points” In case you can’t find an AAA taxi, ask for the price first, before boarding the taxi, a ride from the airport to Prague city center shouldn’t be more then 650-750 k. See? Public transport is sooo much cheaper!

Last but not least: Use the ATM to get Czech korunas/ crowns, never use an exchange bureau, they are always overpriced, period.

Have a nice time in Prague, SY

Lynne from A Malaysian Abroad agreed to interview me, in what is in the blogosphere often called a “meme”. So here it comes, my first ever meme…

But first, what is actually a “meme”? Wikipedia explains meme more scientifically, whilst The Daily Meme has more an internet/ blog specific approach. So, in a nutshell: A meme, in the blogosphere, is a task that wanders from blog, evolving with the time, as the same task, here answering/ posing questions, is done by very different people. But enough bubble-bubble, here my answers to Lynnes’ questions:

1. Tell us about how you came to be an expat in Prague: where are you from, originally, and how did you end up in Prague? How different is Prague from your home country? How long will you be there? Do you know what your next destination might be?

Yikes!!! I thought the meme was about answering 5 questions and not 5×5

Ok, lets see, we, hubby and I moved to Prague from the UK because of his work. We will stay here for several years and our next destination is unknown to us. I myself am German (hubby is a Brit) and I have lived, before I married, in Spain. Prague and the Czech Republic strike me actually as very similar to my birth-country Germany, food, culture, attitude and especially the bureaucrazy seem utterly familiar. ;-(

2. You’ve mentioned that one of your resolutions of 2009 is to Learn More Czech. How tough or easy is it to be in Prague without a good command of Czech? Apart from the basic polite phrases you know, how else do you communicate with the locals? Do they understand English?

It is actually quite easy to get here by without speaking proper Czech, Prague is a tourist destination, what means that a lot of things are translated into, at least, English. A lot of the younger people speak some English and some of the older ones have some German. So you can get by, but I personally think that when living in a country one should make an effort to learn the language. As for “how else do you communicate with the locals?” Non-verbal communication, especially a big, huge smile helps a lot.

3. What’s the story behind the name you blog with: “hospitalera”?

That is the easy one I used to volunteer on the Camino de Santiago in the refuges and albergues, i.e. places that give hospitality to pilgrims, such a person is called “hospitalera/o” depending on the gender in Spanish. As I made my first steps on the www I needed a nickname and hospitalera was the then logical choice to make, at least for me it seemed logical;-)

4. Tell us more about your favourite castle in Scotland (that’s a fantastic picture, btw!): where is it located, what is its history, and why is that particular one your favourite?

Huch??? That is not even on this blog, that is on my posterous How did you come across that? Thanks for the compliments, btw. OK, here for everybody to see:

Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland

It is my favourite castle because it is an absolute dream to photograph, I never was inside but I have dozens of images of it, it changes so much with the light, the camera angle, the lens you choose, it is a photographers dream castle, challenging and rewarding at the same time. Oh, and it is also one of my most successful images in my portfolio as a microstock contributor.

5. What did you want to be when you were 6 years old? How different is that from what you studied in college and/or what you’re doing now, job-wise? How do you feel about the difference/similarity?

I honestly don’t think there was only one thing I wanted to do as a child, I think I wanted to do so much and some of this I have achieved. I always wanted to travel, to observe and to know the “why?” behind things and thanks to God, I had and have the opportunity to do most of this now. I didn’t become a full-time traveller but I live now in my 4^th country and travel extensively with hubby during vacations/ holidays. And I can always travel via the internet and learn new things, meet new people and visit different spaces and opinions.

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Thank you Lynne for asking me all of these and if you, my blog readers want you can also check out Lynnes’ other blog Life after work

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You want to get in on the fun? You can be a part of it by following a few simple steps:

• Leave a comment on this post and ask me to interview you.
• I’ll respond within 1-5 days with 5 questions directed to you (only 5 and relevant to your blog, promised
• Answer the questions on your own blog and link back to this post.
• Invite others to participate by re-posting these steps.
• Once you’ve posted your interview, tell me and I’ll post a link to it here on my blog. Like I did with commenting on Lynnes’ original meme post .
  

OK, I admit, I doubted a bit and took some time to decide if I put the images up here or not. But then, how can one resist to blog about this glorious mixture of Photoshop and linguistic skills ?

So here the story: One evening hubby and I were going for a leisurely stroll in the centre of Prague, near the old town square when we see the billboard. (photo at the left) And I must say it didn’t get better when we walked closer. (photo below) We stop dead and laugh so hard that we nearly really ROFL. I came back on another evening to took the photos. I normally always take my camera with me, but as it was already dark I didn’t want to carry camera and tripod… I really need to get myself a little point & shoot camera just for taking snapshots for the blog. Oh, in case you can’t read the stamp over her tummy, it reads:

Newly reconstructed? ROFL!

Hubby and I had a day off yesterday, so we packed the backpacks with guides and photo equipment and went down to the car for a day out. Only one problem-the car didn’t start! We tried everything, including a bump start whilst rolling down the hill, nothing. So here we were, not speaking more then few polite words in Czech, in need of getting the car to a garage, preferably one that speaks one of the languages we speak and not only Czech Calling somebody was out of question as most of our multi-lingual friends where either abroad or at work, sigh!

So what to do? Cutting a long story short:

At the end of the road was a car dealer, so we walked over in the hope to pursue somebody more knowledgeable then us to have a look under the bonnet and to figure out what the problem was. That didn’t work out, they would only look at their “makes” but not at our strange, right-hand-drive Renault! Instead they made contact for us with the local Renault dealer and a “rescue company” to get us there, not charging anything, nor for the phone calls, nor the time two people spend with us to sort our car out.

The tow truck arrived, loaded us and our car and drove us to the Renault garage for approximately ½-1/3 of the price it would have been  in the UK. At the Renault dealer we got assigned to a young man that spoke very good English and after some investigation and waiting he brought us to our, repaired and ready to go car. Apparently the immobiliser had had a hiccup and shut the car down. But now all was ok and we could go, *wave, wave*. 

Moment, stop, don’t we have to pay? Nops, little present for you, car repaired for free, nada, gratis, zdarma! 

Czech people are not helpful? You must be joking!

PS The people at the car dealer are now enjoying a box of pralines, the tow truck driver got a good tip and the Renault dealer can be sure to get our business when it comes to servicing the car next fall/ autumn…