Travel

Most everyone likes to travel, but everyone has a very different idea about what traveling means. So here is the way I see it.

Childhood Travels

Having parents who travel a lot, I don't remember time when I didn't. My dad worked on international train routes, so he has traveling in his blood and the ability to speak “any language”. By the time I was 18 I had a whole list of countries under my traveler’s belt: Germany (many times), Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria, Greece and Italy.

As a matter of fact, traveling was so normal in my family, that I was completely stunned when I met a 15 year old girl who never saw the sea. Only then I realized what an advantage my parents gave me by saving money each ear to take me someplace interesting.

On My Own

I picked up the legacy quickly. My first big trip “on my own” was a European tour with a busload of young people. We camped along the way, visited cities, mountains, beaches. As a low-budget starter, it was perfect: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Monaco and back.

I’m not the kind of person for mountain climbing, jungle expeditions or wild water rafting, although all these sound intriguing. Being a pale-skinned natural blond, I also can’t lie on a beach for too long. So I had to find something in the middle, that suits my need to explore. All this was solved when I met my husband Jim, who feels the same way and … owned a motorcycle. I fell in love – with both.

Czech Republic

We first explored the Czech Republic, which was actually a novelty in my life. Since 1995 we marked our trips on a map and the spiderweb now covers the entire country - interesting towns, countryside villages, castles, mountains, nature reserves... I came to believe that my own country has the best package of diverse interesting sites in the smallest possible area. I love it.

Motorcycle Trips

Our first motorcycle trip abroad was to Salzburg, Austria, which is sort of on the other side of the border. It wasn't a long trip, but being a big fan of Mozart, it was meaningful to me. In 1995 we also took our first big bike trip to Florence, Italy and back. Florence was my dream destination and proved to be what I expected - magical with lot of spectacular architecture, great art, delicious food and friendly people. But the trip also tested our relationship with unbelivable amount of rain. The following year, we motorcycled to Croatia with a stop in Slovenia on the way. We spent time on the Croatian island of Krk, just enjoying the beach and being tourists.

In 1997 we took a long motorcycle trip to Benelux - Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg. These are three tiny countries with much to offer and being able to criss-cross the countryside as well as visit great cities was the way to go. The highlights of that trip were, perhaps unexpectedly, Bremen in Germany and Brugge. Our (so-far) last big motorcycle trip was to Sicily. We are simply in love with Italy and wanted to see everything all the way to the "tip of the boot". If I didn't live in the Czech Republic, I would be in Italy. Amen.

Road Trips

At the end of 1996 we made our first trip to Asia and it was also my first flight. We spent three weeks traveling in Thailand, the first part on the beaches of Koh Samui island, the second in the mountain region near Chiang Mai in the North. We ran into our friend Ken Nash on New Years Eve in the crowded night market of Chiang Mai and spent the next three days traveling together. There are no accidents, right?

Our friends played a major role in our next two road trips. In 1998, captain Noah Barnes came back to the Czech Republic for some conference and we decided to go visit his sister in London. Our (then London-based) friend Tim Simmonds gave us a personal tour and on the way back we even stopped in Paris for a baguette. In 1998 we went to visit our friend Morgan in the post-war Sarajevo, Bosnia, then extending the trip down to Dubrovnik and up the Croatian coast. At the time, Sarajevo was still far from cleaned up and repaired with many areas still mined or just de-mined and the visit was very educational.

The US Grand Tour

In 1999 my husband's play won a competition and was produced in Pennsylvania. It gave us an excuse to go to the US, although, at the time, I had little interest. But as we started to plan and realized we have friends all over the country, I got excited. We marked all the dots on the map of places to stay with friends and family, campgrounds along the way and national parks in between. We ended up covering 27.000 miles, visiting 31 states, 16 national parks and most major cities. So, if I talk about America, I mean a little more than a trip to New York. On the other hand, I realize that we saw the US in the time it was prosperous and fun and, unfortunately, the same trip today would probably feel much different.

More Road Trips around Europe

In 2001 I've had the opportunity to join a busload of film students and their arts teacher on their trip to Paris. My friend Daniel and I spent a few days in museums, sites, cafes and even saw the cathedral at Charters. It was the right way to see Paris, if not opting for a romantic weekend with a partner. This was the crash course on art and history and I loved it. We also spent time admiring modern architecture and saw a great pop art exhibition.

In the winter of 2005, my husband and I went to visit our friend Elvia in Ventimiglia, Italy. Our initial intention of helping her harvest olives didn't work out due to weather, but we had great time gardening with her in time when our own garden was under a meter of snow. This was by far the best trip that allowed me to see how people live in Italy. We did the ordinary things - fixed the gardening equipment, trimmed the trees, took the branches to a dump, went shopping, made dinner, played cards. A perfect holiday for me, really - away from the computer and loving it. Anyone out there who needs gardening help? Will work for food ... that is, if you can cook as well as Elvia.

Jim's Travelogues

If you are interested in reading more about some of these trips, you can visit Jim’s travelogue section of his Praguewriter.com site. He keeps excellent travel journals which may help you plan your own trips.