part 1: prague

There's only one word to describe the East Midland Airport, one of the country's hubs for discount airlines: chaos.

Our trip to Prague was with BMI Baby but really, the carrier should have been called BB-Queues. The lack of staff checking us in, takes the term 'no frills' to a whole new level. At one point there was only agent serving the 100 -- yes, we counted -- in the snaked queue. And if you thought going through security in the US is pain, you'll have to visit EMA: shoes and belts are not permitted through the security gate. The detectors of the gate were set at ultra-sensitive, such that 98% of the passengers triggered the alarm. I only wished that I was only of those lucky 2% who walked off unscathed from the oh-too-friendly search by the security guard.

Despite the frisk and the plane's late departure, Prague welcomed us with its sunny arms, a lovely change from the weather havoc we'd been having. It was absolutely glorious tank-top-and-strappy-sandal weather but unfortunately, I didn't bring either of the mentioned items. But despite this lack of foresight, I continued with the summertime mode by the endless number of gelato cones eaten.

We sampled traditional Czech food - how many times can you say "goulash and dumplings, with a side of garlic cloves, please"? With 12% alcohol content, I found that a pint of Czech beer was a meal by itself and constantly struggled to finish it and my meal. Even one place advertised ice cream beer float (no 'root' in front of beer), and although we were tempted to try it, we opted for fruit-filled dumplings with milk curds instead.


To be continued...