Arrival in Prague

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Somewhere over the North Atlantic we passed from Tuesday to Wednesday. We landed at Heathrow International Airport a few minutes before nine. Our flight from London to Prague was not schedulce to leave until 2:25 giving us a five-hour layover. Deplaning out on the tarmack a bus drove us to Terminal no. 4 and we had to transfer 4 to Terminal 1, but this proved to be no problem as there are excellent signs pointing the passenger along the way to a shuttle bus that transports travelers from one terminal to the other. With the driver sitting on the right side I had an erie feeling of being in Japan. It has been a long time since I was in England. In fact, I have been in Japan several times since my last visit to Lodon.

I was somewhat surprised to see there are no luggage carts at Heathrow ... or if there are I did not see them. I could not remember if there are luggage carts available at the Prague International Airport or not. I certainly hoped they would be available as life would be so much easier with a luggage cart each han having to struggle along with our four suitcases, two backpacks and Nancy's daypack.

Time crawled by slowly as we waited for our connecting flight from London to Prague. Time seems to always pass at its slowest when a traveller is waiting for a connecting flight but speeds by if that same traveller is late and rushing to catch a flight. Alternatively we dozed, talked, watched other passengers and dozed again. I bought a large bottle of water. Yes, the shop operators take US dollars. I am not sure what it is about airports, but I always become very thirsty when I am in one.

Like Frankfurt, Germany, Heathrow is truely an international airport with planes arriving and departing to cities all over the world. Passengers in the waiting area refect this diversity as languages from the East, West, North and South can be heard being spoken.

Our plane left London on time and arrived in Prague on schedule. As we approached Prague the landscape was coated with a thin coating of snow. It looked like powdered sugar sprinkled on a cake. As the plane approached the airport the outline of the Vltava River was easy to see because of the lights lining the banks of the river.

Cleaning customs was very easy. The customs officials seem to have a much more relaxed attitude than what we encountered last June in Frankfurt, Germany and in the United States.

As we left customs, entering the main terminal I immediately saw a young man with a sign with large letters, "IBTS." This was Linas; a young man from Lithuania who received his masters degree last year from IBTS and is working in the library. In face, he is to be our boss.

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Photos

Prague at night
Taken from the airplane as it made its landing approach in Prague.