A lifetime experience in Prague

As I said before, if you are Erasmus student it's not normal to visit just one country and spend all your time just at the dorm. Because Erasmus is about travelling, making new friends and experience new culture. So if you are in Erasmus program that’s mean you are ready for new adventure, ready to experience new things and ready to travel with your friends.

Everybody on the 4th floor is ready to experience new adventure. Some of us make a plan were we want to go, another ones just join our friends in their new adventure. Sometimes even when we don’t have enough money to go somewhere, we still going anyway. I heard about a group of students which were in Sweden and they slept in the Mc Donalds because it is an expensive country and as students we never have enough money. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but I think if you want to follow your dreams, nothing should stop you. Because travelling is never a matter of money but of courage. So take your backpack, make a list and go. This experience will last forever. Don’t waste your life thinking too much, follow you dreams and they will lead you to happiness.

So let’s begin our travel experience from Prague…

I confess this crazy idea was mine. Someone told me Prague is more beautiful than Paris. I don’t know if it’s true because I never been in Paris, but I can say Prague is gorgeous. It deserves place in the top of the most beautiful city from Europe.

So I come up with the idea, my friends like it and they join me in this new adventure even if they didn’t know what they can expect during this trip. If they knew it I’m sure they will not follow me in this trip. Our first mistake when we plan this trip was to book first the Hotel and after to take care of our transport. We didn’t expect the trains and the buses to be full on that day.

We reserved a room at the Hotel Alexander which is a good and cheap place to sleep in Prague but is far away from the city centre (15 minutes with the tram). But the Kaufland supermarket is close and if you are a poor student like us, you will find cheap food to eat there. Also there is only 5 minute to get to a big park for walking and running and you need just 3 minutes to get to the tram stop from the hotel.

So a good advice for you, if you plan a trip first buy your tickets, find the best price and you will not have the same problem like us. Because after we reserve the hotel the hardest part was to find a cheap bus or train tickets for Prague. Why? The Polski bus was full. We started thinking about tickets just within 2 days before the day when we have to leave. Just be prepare on time, not just because it's not a chance to find tickets but if you will book tickets earlier you can safe a lot of money. For example if you buy a ticket 2 weeks before the trip starts you will have at least 20 % off, with 1 week before 10 % off and it's beside the 50% reduce ticket for student to take a train (Polski bus don't have reduce tickets if you are student but is still cheaper than train).

So because we don’t find bus tickets, we have to search train tickets even they were more expensive. One day before the trip we went to buy the train tickets. We had a problem with language because not so many people understand English so well. But Polish people are very friendly and willing to help. So a man helps us with the language problem. But still we have other problems:

• First we couldn’t find a direct connection from Bydgoszcz to Prague. We have to go in Warsaw and after change the train there for Prague.
• Secondly the train from Warsaw to Prague was so full that the only seats we can find available were the.
• So the tickets were so expensive but it was the only way to get to Prague.

After we buy the tickets, we were on the one hand satisfied because we found a way to get there on time, on other hand sad because we spend a lot of money for tickets to go there and bus tickets to come back. But we didn’t realise that our problems had just begun.

In that day when our trip started, I was very excited. We bought and prepared food for our trip and also we packed our luggage. During the time in the train from Bydgoszcz to Warsaw one of my friends, Deniz, realised that one of us doesn’t have the ticket (because we were three in the train). We didn’t check it because all three tickets were printed just on one paper and also because the tickets were in Polish. So when the controller comes to check our tickets one of us have to buy it in the train. But the bigger problem was from Warsaw to Prague. We knew that the train was full and we have just small chances to buy one more ticket. We still hope that we will find one. When we arrive there, we had just one hour until our train to Prague arrived in the rail station. The line for the ticket office was big, we split in two, trying to find a solution everywhere for our problem. At one point, the man selling the tickets didn’t want to sell us one, but near there was an office for international tickets and we could buy a place in the train, but without a bed.

We got in the train, but again when the controller comes and we have the problem with the one bed missing. We tried to invent excuses. Deniz said that my roommate is his girlfriend and they will sleep together in his bed, but the controller didn't agree with this. He wants just to pay for one more bed, so we paid it. After a terrible day we just sleep in the train hoping this trip wasn’t a mistake.

When we got to Prague, we walked a lot to find a bank, the mall and after all, our hotel. In that day we walked almost 7 km. But we have fun.

First day of sightseeing the Prague…

In the first day we walked a lot, we find a mall after few hours Atrium Flora. But the best time was when we got close to the city centre. A lot of people walking, tourist everywhere, was amazing.

On this square, benches are marked with the best quotes about life. I read all of them! Here is my advice: don’t just sit on them, read it.

"You must fight against stupidity, but you cannot win"

"Travel is never a matter of money but of courage"

In old town you can find few people, who make children's hearts happier. Soap balloons are the biggest and the best one. I really enjoy the time running through them.

If you want to do a picture with this statue, please don’t forget to live a tip in that box. He can talk.

You can find near an information point for tourists. Is the best place if you want to find your hotel, trams or bus or information about free tour guide. They will give you also a map with all places you can visit in Prague.

Read also the second part...