When you've only ever lived along coastal Florida, Spring Break vacay getaways may lead to unconventional destinations. After my life changing month in Europe last summer, I'd been itching to get back and explore off the beaten touristy path, so to speak. Better yet, I yearned to do so SOLO! I've always tended to "march to the beat of my own drum", or so I've been told, and had no reservations in mapping out and executing this trip- on a strict budget, mind you.
First things first, the mission. While carelessly gallivanting across foreign countries sounded blissful, I always strive to enlist a deeply meaningful experience into my travels. For this trip, I decided to try out Angloville- a voluntary native English speaker cultural exchange program that did not disappoint (more on this later). With this 6 day chunk of my 10 day trip, my schedule became as tight as a drum.
The plan: The biggest variable in my trip planning was the train schedules. Sure, you can travel across Europe by plane fairly cheap if your dates are flexible but, alas, none of mine seemed to match up. Since train transportation was the most cost effective mode between my four targets (timeframe considered) I had to arrange my stops based on the days and times of those schedules. I didn't purchase any of my tickets ahead of time online for several reasons. 1- Price inflation. 2- Often, printouts were not available. 3- Ya never know what's going to throw you off schedule and I couldn't bear the thought of wasting money on a train that I couldn't make. Nonetheless, the Euro Rail and Czech Transport sites were imperative to my scheduling as I needed to know what trains were available and when for my itinerary. If Euro Train travel is in your future, I highly suggest consulting The Man in Seat Sixty-One. Also, be sure to note the elapsed time in choosing an appropriate train as some are speed rails and will deliver you hours sooner. Another scheduling consideration is ensuring that the day allotted to each mark has availability in the museum or tour that you have planned.
Finally, I had my trip mapped out. With one wrench: I had booked a roundtrip flight to Budapest, Hungary, as that was where I would be picked up for the Angloville program, but I was arriving Thursday and the program didn't begin until Sunday. I had planned to hit Prague and Krakow in those next days but the train from Budapest to Prague was 8 hours and a flight was less than 1. After outweighing the time/ cost basis, I splurged on the flight and continued my 20 hours of air travel. I should also note that I only packed a carryon for this trip since I had so many connections (Pensacola, Atlanta, Amsterdam, Budapest, Prague- Budapest, Paris, Atlanta, Pensacola) not to mention, I'd be lugging it around by foot and train.
Alas, the plan was set forth, clock changed to 24 hour format, and mental preparation for conflict: initiated.
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