So this is day 1-2 of the Prague journey. My soul needed this. It was really hard leaving everyone behind this time. Everything is so uncertain and transitioning. It's hard to leave while things are in limbo. I keep trying to remind myself that it's about me this time. Even though I"m here for work, I have to stop being preocuppied with how other people are doing and feeling, and let myself enjoy this.

I was too overwhelmed with work to pack until the morning of my flight. With traffic and everything I barely made it to the airport on time, and didn't have time to do random things I wanted to like get a watch battery. I was supposed to be sitting next to Dana - I am still processing what it's like to be on a trip that we were supposed to do together, for the second time, and not have him here. So instead a Finnish girl sat next to me. She was young and cute and petite. (David you would have had a total crush on her.) Wasn't very nice initially but warmed up to me. Spoke great English and reminded me how small my world is and once again how eurocentric I am. I want to learn more languages.

The flight was ok. I don't like flying American Airlines. They only had center TVs (instead of on the back of your seat), charged for headphones, seats were dirty, etc. I know I'm a travel brat. I was in and out of sleep, my hips cramping up. Started to read the book Heather gave me "tales of a female nomad" which was very well-timed for this point in my life. The flight went quickly - more or less, and the food was the best plane food I've had in a long time lol. It was still plane food.

Finnair was a delight. I was the only one checked through customs, but it was super quick and painless. "passport? ok go ahead ma'am". and that was it. No stamp when I entered prague. =( I was so tired and tried to sleep on Finnair but it didn't really work. I sat next to a gay Finnish couple. They were so cute. And went through 3 bottles of champaigne. It was an 8am flight. lol

After I landed in Prague, I went straight to get on wifi and email my loved ones. Tried to plug my phone up because it was almost dead, but the converter I was using wasn't getting a charge. Lugged all my stuff upstairs to buy a new converter. It was kind of expensive but an all in one, so hopefully it will last me through many more travels.

Turns out after all that lugging, it was the outlet, and not my converter that was faulty. Sat by the entrance to the billa supermaket inside the airport. Here, I could charge my devices, but the wireless wasn't working. So I charged them up. Then I went into the bathroom to take my contacts out and wash my face. Found a little area of the airport under construction. Set up a fort with my suitcases and laid down on some abanded seats. Fell in and out of sleep for a few hours while waiting for Heather to arrive from her connection in Germany.

Heather got in from her Germany flight about 6:30pm. She had a long 2 days of travel as well. It was good to see her. We got 2 tram tickets and waited for our bus outside. We took the bus, to the tram, to the place to pick up our keys. It was probably an hour all together. The suitcases are heavy. The office was almost closed on us 8:pm) and we almost couldn't get our apt keys. Terrifying to think of no place to sleep after 2 days of travel and no sleep and dark streets in a foreign language speaking country. It's really hot and humid. Sweating inside the apartment. No AC.

We got here successfully after quite a walk. It is gorgeous. Huge. Great location. We both showered (2 bathrooms) and got ready to eat. We found a cute little almost empty place for dinner. We shared an appetizer of cucumber, tomatoes and fried zuchini flower. I got the mackeral with tomatoes and artichokes. Heather got the gnocci. Both were delicious. We each had a glass of wine.

We then roamed the streets. We stopped in 2 different pubs for a drink. Kozel both times. I love it. People still smoke here. We met a charming Czech waiter who lived in Ohio temporarily. We got confused about krowns and exchange rates. We judged young girls in too short of skirts. At the second pub they were playing the stanley cup finals replay. Chicago vs Boston. All of the chairs also had little painted men in uniforms on them. I wanted to ask if they symbolized anything, but it was getting too late to start a political discussion. There were large salted pretzels on the tables. They were dried out. Heather ate one. lol

Tomorrow we will run errands. It is already 4am. I need to push back my wakeup call.