The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Next stop, Czech Republic!

My older sister Elaine, was the correct one to guess Czech Republic yesterday. And no, she didn't have any hints. Other than the fact that she knows I like to do family history research, and that our paternal grandmother was born in that area.

But there were quite a few other factors that affected our decision.

The first one was the price and availability of flights. There are quite a few discount airlines flying around the UK and Europe. And although they can sometimes have ridiculously low airfares, we are now in the peak summer season, and the really low airfares are usually only if you book at least a month in advance. The nearest major city that would be most convenient is Bristol, and there are quite a few choices out of Bristol, so we chose that as our departure point.

Based on airfare price alone, we narrowed it down to three choices. (1) Edinburgh, Scotland (2) Geneva, Switzerland and (3) Prague, Czech Republic.

Scotland was the cheapest airfare, and may have been the cheapest trip overall. And, my maternal grandmother was from Scotland so I could have done some family history research there as well. And, we could have visited some friends there. But the drawback was that we have already been to Scotland and although it was many years ago (1987) we really wanted to go somewhere we've never been before! And, Scotland (and the UK in general) has not been having nice weather. And although that can change, we thought our odds were better somewhere else!

Geneva, Switzerland was the second cheapest airfare and we really want to visit Switzerland sometime. But once you get there, Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world. As an example, a dozen eggs is around $7.00! But, we could have limited our time in Switzerland and made it into France, Italy, or Germany from there. So it was a bit of a toss-up between there are our third choice.

Prague, Czech Republic airfare was only slightly more than the one to Geneva. But once you are in Czech Republic it is one of the cheaper places to visit. Plus, if you continue further east you can make it into Poland,  Slovakia, or Hungary all of which are also reasonably priced. Train and bus travel is cheap in those countries as well. So we figured we would be able to see a few different countries over the following six weeks after we land. Or, from there we could head northeast into Germany and that's another place we want to go that is apparently more reasonably priced than some other European countries.

So we booked a flight with easyJet, one way from Bristol to Prague for a total price of £62.97 ($103.28) each.

We fly out on July 23rd!

13 comments:

  1. More like "west" or "north west" to Germany. But you're right, there are several countries within a few hours train ride from Prague.
    You'll like Prague, the old city (Staroměstská) is quite compact. Lots of history went on, and not that long ago. (Velvet revolution etc.)
    My wife's been there more often than the two of us together. Someone decided to have a meeting in Prague that she had to get to, and last year she took her Nephew there from here on the train.
    The weather for Prague is certainly warmer and sunnier than the UK for the most part. There may be SOME rain, but it's usually short lived.
    Have fun!

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    1. Ah right...should have been northWEST into Germany!

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  2. Sounds like another great adventure in the making. We are packed and ready to go.

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  3. I never thought of the CR as a destination. Cool. Leave it to you guys to do the unexpected. Have fun and take care. Love reading about the places you go, in case we never make it there.

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  4. I hope you do a blog on the Germans and invading
    Prague, Czech Republic. I read a super author...Thonene (pronounced TA NEE...actually they are from England) wrote a super series of books about WWII. Prague was a huge part of Hilter's "grand plan."
    Looking forward to seeing your photos of the area.

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  5. So looking forward to this leg of our journey.

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  6. Decisions, decisions! Good choice and great logic behind your decision. Get more bang for your dollar if you can. Meanwhile enjoy the countryside.

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  7. I CANNOT wait to see all of the architectural pictures of Prague! GREAT CHOICE!

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  8. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I am heading to Prague in October with my daughter so will look forward to all your goodies! So nice following along with you.

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  9. My most favorite piece of classical music is called "The Moldau" which is the river that goes through Prague. It's by Bedrich Smetana.

    Wish I was standing on it's banks with that music flowing through my head!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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  10. Doh! I knew it, I knew it! I had been reading about Prague and that it is the best city for tourism because of price and location. I need to go with instinct.

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  11. Looking forward to more lovely photos! We are living vicariously through you two!

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  12. I'm catching up on your travels and this is exciting. Thanks for sharing the world with us!

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