has Anyone been to Prague?

[Pkeel]

Hi,

I would like to schedule a trip to Prague in September.  I would welcome any information somebody may have for me.

The issues I am having at present are the following:

She will need a Visa and it will be easier for her to get if she plans a trip with a local travel agency.  Also if she does go through an agency in her town, it will make it more complicated for me.  I would either have to go to her town and leave with her, or schedule my own plans from here.  Just wondering if anyone else has run into any of these problems and how they solved it.

[Shadow]

You are offering her another vacation? IS the interpreter coming as well ?

[Pkeel]

Of course not.  She is starting English lessons now in earnest.  Not sure how far she will progress by September. 

Really I don't care to rehash the whole is she a scammer crap. 

I asked a fairly simple question.  Has anyone gone to Prague?

I am rapidly finding this site to be a bunch of angry men that wish they had a life.  After I post this, I am gone.

What little anyone on here has to offer is rapidly wasted by internet heroes.

[GoodOlBoy]

I asked a fairly simple question.  Has anyone gone to Prague?

Marina and I went on a "holiday" together to Prague (while waiting for her K-1), but we are talking about something that happened 9 years ago. So my intel is definitely outdated. One other important thing, she is Russian and lived in Russia (Siberia). Is your lady Ukrainian?
 
Anyway, I gave Marina the money and she booked a tour through an agency. It was VERY cheap back then to go on a Russian tour. I flew out of MIA and met her and the tour group at Sheremetyevo and we all flew together to Prague.
 
On a side note, I made several Russian friends on that trip that I am still in contact with today.
 
GOB
 
BTW... If I ever had a chance to live somewhere else besides the GoodOl' USA, it would be Prague!

[tfcrew]

I asked a fairly simple question.  Has anyone gone to Prague?

I am rapidly finding this site to be a bunch of angry men that wish they had a life.  After I post this, I am gone.

What little anyone on here has to offer is rapidly wasted by internet heroes.

Golly Pkeel that's not how you felt a couple of months ago...

Hello to you all and I have enjoyed reading many of the threads on here. 

No one is 'angry' and you provided little response time to indicate so.
Probably, you could use the search function to look for posts on Prague.
The usual pit-stops for Russia are Warsaw and Vienna.
[I could tell you some stuff about those cities]
Otherwise consider a new travel a one unique adventure.

Karl

[Shadow]

Of course not.  She is starting English lessons now in earnest.  Not sure how far she will progress by September. 

Really I don't care to rehash the whole is she a scammer crap. 

I asked a fairly simple question.  Has anyone gone to Prague?

I am rapidly finding this site to be a bunch of angry men that wish they had a life.  After I post this, I am gone.

What little anyone on here has to offer is rapidly wasted by internet heroes.

I am not in any way accusing her or you. Just as I told you before, it is time to see and meet her in her natural environment. If you do not, you run the risk of having seen her only on her best behaviour, and that is a risk for later on.

My advice here would be to go through her home town, and spend three or four days there at leaset before going to Prague.

[GoodOlBoy]

My advice here would be to go through her home town, and spend three or four days there at leaset before going to Prague.

Solid advice.
 
GOB

PS.... On one trip, I spent 90 straight days in Omsk with Marina. 

[Shadow]

Solid advice.
 
GOB

PS.... On one trip, I spent 90 straight days in Omsk with Marina. 

.... and got a souvenir 9 months later? 

[GoodOlBoy]

.... and got a souvenir 9 months later? 

Nah, way to old for that foolishness (children) Shadow.... way to old. 
 
GOB

[CDW]

I don't normally agree with Shadow, but in this case, I agree with him. 

[ML]

What little anyone on here has to offer is rapidly wasted by internet heroes.

I remember posting to you many  things to do in Sevastopol, and later I told you about many things to do on your side trip to Yalta.

I have met with FSUW in Prague, however, they were able to get a visa quite easily.  So I only just booked the hotel and we both showed up.

When the FSU gals book a tour from their country (I am talking here in general about tours that I and other men I have  known have been involved in to Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus, etc.), it gets a little dicey and expensive to coordinate for the man.  The woman's tour includes the flight, hotel and often many meals, etc.  When you say you want to be included in the hotel it can throw the hotel and others into a tizzy.  Quite often what happens is the man has to pay completely again for a hotel plus meals for he and the gal AFTER she (really he) has already paid for this in her tour package.

And yet, at other times, the man has been able to add himself to the hotel at very little cost.  It is all like a grab bag with much uncertainty.

In the end analysis, it is often cheaper to book a tour for two from her country . . . and you fly there to travel with her.

In your case, she could probably book the tour from Kyiv (possibly Kharkiv, but often even booking from Kharkiv the charter plane leaves from Kyiv) and you fly there to leave with her.  This  would save you the cost and hassle of getting a visa to Russia to start the tour there.

Note:   When others tell you to go visit her in her city . . . they are not just warning you about possible scammers, particularly in your  case since you have already met at least once.  They are advising you to see her in action in her home environment because a person can act differently day to day compared to a fun vacation.

However, I realize you are in a somewhat different situation because your gal is from a relatively small town and . . . everyone will know, which can be a problem for the gal.  So I will cut you a lot of slack on this factor.

Oh . . . almost forgot to mention . . . Prague is a charming 'little' place and quite romantic.  It has very good walking tours around the relatively small city center and up the hill to the castles.  However, two days is about  all that is needed to see the sites.  It can't compare to the variety of sites you have  seen in Crimea, and other places such as southern Turkey, Egypt, etc.  But you can gain a lot of weight in Prague with the excellent pastries.

Best to you

[Shadow]

Note:   When others tell you to go visit her in her city . . . they are not just warning you about possible scammers, particularly in your  case since you have already met at least once.  They are advising you to see her in action in her home environment because a person can act differently day to day compared to a fun vacation.

However, I realize you are in a somewhat different situation because your gal is from a relatively small town and . . . everyone will know, which can be a problem for the gal.  So I will cut you a lot of slack on this factor.

While I do understand she is from a small town, the babushka network in Moscow is just as large and active as any town. But I am willing to listen to the opinion of the women present here who are from a small town.

[ML]

The small towns are nothing like the large towns in terms of potential problems for  the woman.

In the small  towns . . . you and she will be THE TOPIC, THE ONLY TOPIC.

She has know almost everyone from birth, her grade school teachers, bakery workers, etc., etc.  They have nothing else to  talk about.
Everyone  will  be questioning her parents and/or other relatives.  When and if the man later falls by  the wayside . . . she will be treated almost as a scarlet woman . . . and may have to put an A on her forehead.

In the largest cities in FSU, it is likely no one would ever notice or see the  two of them on the street.  Sure, there are the apartment babushkas, but likely the gal cares zilch about them.  And, there are so many strangers (including foreigners) coming and going from the large apartment complexes in the big cities, that they rarely attract any attention.

I have never once had a gal from the big city show any concern about being out and about with me, or inviting me to their apartments.  But those same gals reacted with some horror at the thought of taking me to their small 'ancestral homes.'

[rambler]

A bit late to reply, have you got it sorted yet?
I married in Prague. I booked hotels, flights, restaurants online, with email confirmations to her email,  told the hotel (Bhuddabar) my wife would arrive before me from Moscow, me from London.  I paid nowhere near the asking prices for rooms and suites. The visa was a non issue, I didn't even need one, I do  not even recall that she did. We stayed in the centre, yards form the old square.  Very romantic with the river, the castle etc. If you want to marry there, contact Velvet Weddings Prague, great help with all aspects of getting it done.


Rambler