Sisterhood of the Traveling Powells: Prague, Czech Republic
We left our hostel in Budapest shortly after 4:30 AM to catch our 5:40 AM train. Construction prevented us from using the metro, so we ended up having to walk a mile to the train station. Normally, I would have felt uncomfortable walking in a strange city in the dark, but Budapest was fairly lively for 4:30 AM!
Our train trip to Prague was uneventful and we arrived just a few minutes after noon. Hostel Ananas was located right off Wenceslas Square. We dumped our backpacks in the luggage room and went in search of lunch. Nothing sounded amazing and we ended up at an Asian restaurant where I ate THE best spring roll.
We perused the open market in search of a ring for Jordan, but came up empty handed. We headed for the Old Town Square to see the Prague astronomical clock, which was undergoing renovations. We still decided to climb the clock tower for some killer views of the city! We meandered through the alleys of Prague in the general direction of the Charles Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1402 and is now reduced to foot traffic only. It was insanely hot outside, but we pushed across and located the John Lennon Wall and a lock bridge before heading back to our hostel.
We had reservations at Hotel U Prince rooftop restaurant for dinner so we cleaned up before visiting Old Town Square again before sunset. Teresa U Prince has been recognized in the Top 15 hotel rooftop views in the world so we had high expectations. The view was pretty good, but our table had an obstructed view so we were slightly disappointed. The meal itself was delicious, but the portion sizes were smaller than even traditional European portions! We both chose pasta dishes, Jordan's with veal and mine with chicken.
We rounded off the evening with scoops of gelato and visited the metro station to buy our airport transfer tickets for the following morning. Our flight to Amsterdam was scheduled to depart shortly after 10 AM, so we started our journey to the airport at 7 AM. We arrived just before 8 AM and made it through security with time for breakfast. We munched on croissants and listened to announcements over the intercom. We heard a cancellation bulletin for a flight to Germany and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't our plane. We found our gate and settled in for a short wait before boarding. 30 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off, there still weren't many passengers waiting. I set my Kindle aside and went to check the monitors for an update, expecting a delay. Instead I was greeted with a flashing red "cancelled."
I hurried back to our spot and informed Jordan of our continued bad luck. We hoisted our backpacks up and went off in search of a solution. This was the first time that I truly was at a loss of what to do. We didn't speak the language and I couldn't read the signs of where to go. We followed other disgruntled travelers to the baggage claim area where we found an information desk. We were told to exit the terminal and go back to the check in counters for assistance.
We got in line behind an informed gentleman who told us that Schiphol airport in Amsterdam experienced a power outage which was affecting all of these flights. It was our turn at the counter and we asked about our options. The lady was sympathetic, but informed us that there would be no other flights to Amsterdam on our airline (EasyJet) that day.
We found a place to sit down as I tried to process what our next step should be. We needed to get to Amsterdam to catch our flight to London the following evening so that we could catch our flight home, but if we couldn't get to Amsterdam today, then there wasn't a point in going at all. I messaged my friend Margie, who is currently studying in Amsterdam, to update her on our situation. Jordan and I agreed that it made more sense to try to find a flight to London instead, hopefully one on EasyJet so we wouldn't have to buy another plane ticket (we were already going to lose money on the flight from Amsterdam to London that we weren't going to end up on). Flights to the UK left out of a separate terminal so we made the trek, crossing our fingers.
After standing in yet another line, we were booked onto a flight into London Stansted that would depart Prague at 10:30 PM. At this point it was close to 11 AM. The trip to get to the airport on public transportation was relatively complicated and involved changing buses and metros. We decided we felt more comfortable waiting in the airport, rather than fighting public transportation and carrying our backpacks all day in Prague. We passed the time in the KFC lounge, which I ate for lunch and for dinner #NoShame. In my defense, there weren't very many options and Prague KFC chicken strips are on another level. I read a few books, Jordan wrote in her travel journal, and we took advantage of the free Wifi. We finally lined up for passport check and security, only for our flight to be delayed due to...the French airstrike. Apparently French air traffic controllers decided to strike to any flights due to fly over France had to be rerouted, which obviously caused some traffic jams in the clouds. We ended up sitting on the runway for over half an hour, waiting for our turn for take off. Finally, we were airborne, scheduled to land at London Stansted after midnight with no plans in place for a hostel.
We perused the open market in search of a ring for Jordan, but came up empty handed. We headed for the Old Town Square to see the Prague astronomical clock, which was undergoing renovations. We still decided to climb the clock tower for some killer views of the city! We meandered through the alleys of Prague in the general direction of the Charles Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1402 and is now reduced to foot traffic only. It was insanely hot outside, but we pushed across and located the John Lennon Wall and a lock bridge before heading back to our hostel. 
We had reservations at Hotel U Prince rooftop restaurant for dinner so we cleaned up before visiting Old Town Square again before sunset. Teresa U Prince has been recognized in the Top 15 hotel rooftop views in the world so we had high expectations. The view was pretty good, but our table had an obstructed view so we were slightly disappointed. The meal itself was delicious, but the portion sizes were smaller than even traditional European portions! We both chose pasta dishes, Jordan's with veal and mine with chicken.
We rounded off the evening with scoops of gelato and visited the metro station to buy our airport transfer tickets for the following morning. Our flight to Amsterdam was scheduled to depart shortly after 10 AM, so we started our journey to the airport at 7 AM. We arrived just before 8 AM and made it through security with time for breakfast. We munched on croissants and listened to announcements over the intercom. We heard a cancellation bulletin for a flight to Germany and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't our plane. We found our gate and settled in for a short wait before boarding. 30 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off, there still weren't many passengers waiting. I set my Kindle aside and went to check the monitors for an update, expecting a delay. Instead I was greeted with a flashing red "cancelled." 
We got in line behind an informed gentleman who told us that Schiphol airport in Amsterdam experienced a power outage which was affecting all of these flights. It was our turn at the counter and we asked about our options. The lady was sympathetic, but informed us that there would be no other flights to Amsterdam on our airline (EasyJet) that day.
We found a place to sit down as I tried to process what our next step should be. We needed to get to Amsterdam to catch our flight to London the following evening so that we could catch our flight home, but if we couldn't get to Amsterdam today, then there wasn't a point in going at all. I messaged my friend Margie, who is currently studying in Amsterdam, to update her on our situation. Jordan and I agreed that it made more sense to try to find a flight to London instead, hopefully one on EasyJet so we wouldn't have to buy another plane ticket (we were already going to lose money on the flight from Amsterdam to London that we weren't going to end up on). Flights to the UK left out of a separate terminal so we made the trek, crossing our fingers.
After standing in yet another line, we were booked onto a flight into London Stansted that would depart Prague at 10:30 PM. At this point it was close to 11 AM. The trip to get to the airport on public transportation was relatively complicated and involved changing buses and metros. We decided we felt more comfortable waiting in the airport, rather than fighting public transportation and carrying our backpacks all day in Prague. We passed the time in the KFC lounge, which I ate for lunch and for dinner #NoShame. In my defense, there weren't very many options and Prague KFC chicken strips are on another level. I read a few books, Jordan wrote in her travel journal, and we took advantage of the free Wifi. We finally lined up for passport check and security, only for our flight to be delayed due to...the French airstrike. Apparently French air traffic controllers decided to strike to any flights due to fly over France had to be rerouted, which obviously caused some traffic jams in the clouds. We ended up sitting on the runway for over half an hour, waiting for our turn for take off. Finally, we were airborne, scheduled to land at London Stansted after midnight with no plans in place for a hostel.
Prague Stats
32,100 steps walked
$100 US dollars spent
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