Organising the trip is part of the fun

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A bit more about My Czech Beer Festival trip.

I always think that planning a trip is almost as much fun as the trip itself,In my younger days this was done by getting guide books,reading up on various places ,watching geography and history programmes on TV, or just getting a map out and looking at what was in an area.The international youth hostel hand book was the bible of the independant traveller in these days but now we have the Internet and it has completely changed the way I travel and the way I organise my travel.

I am not rich,never have been and never will be unless my lottery ticket comes up.but that has never stopped me travelling.I am much better off now than I was 35 years or so ago when I first started travelling but that still means that I don't mind a bargain or two or that I have the cash to splash out on first class travel and top hotels.
I have swapped tents and youth hostels for 3 and 4 star hotel these days,ferries, trains,buses and bicycles for aeroplanes.
I still love travelling by train in the various countries I have visited,just something magic about travelling through a foreign country ,relaxing and taking it all in.

So back to the trip,as I have said the Internet has changed everything,you can book flights,accommodation,trains,tours,theatre tickets,taxis,buses and even meals all on line these days .
I booked ny flights and hotel through Expedia and have book prague-Airport-shuttle to take me to the hotel.
http://www.prague-airport-shuttle.com/
I know I can get there by using public transport at a fraction of the cost but as far as I an concerned it is not expensive and it is a nice relaxing start to the holiday.

More joys of the internet is you can print off maps of the areas you are visiting or even use them to mark routes from one place in town to another ,a resourse I have used many times and wish it had been available when I was trying to find youth hostels in many out of the way places all over Europe.
The Internet has been great for finding out what is on when.I would never have found out about the beer festival had I not been planning a trip to Prague a few years ago and asked on a travel forum about something else,some one then metioned I would be there about the time of the festival and things sort of exploded from there,I changed the whole format of the trip and based in around the festival.
For this trip however I have found out about various football teams that will be playing so a trip to Dukla Prague game on the friday night and to Slavia Prague on the sunday will be in the offing.BTW Slavia Prague have a brand new stadium with a sliding roof,one of the few such stadiums in Europe,looking forward to seeing it and of course the football game.

One of the main resources I have used is travel websites and in particular the forums, a place where even the stupidist or questions will get answered and your plans can be fine tuned,want to know when a football game kicks off,need to find an internet cafe,want a laundry,need a bus to such and such a place,what train station do I need to go to,how long will it take to get to........,any place I can get my bag,shoes,spectcles etc repaired,where are the vegetarian resturants in............. and loads of other questions,all answered on these forums.
I have used Trip advisor,Frommers,Fodors and Thorn Tree (lonely Planet) ,often just reading other folks questions gives you the info you need.


In reading some of the threads on these various forums I have been lead to some interesting places to visit,2 of the places I hope to see during my trip.
Tabor and Mlada Boleslav.
Tabor is a very interesting town with unusual defense system and a series of underground passage ways.it also has a bar where you can pour your own beer and a hotel that has a specilaist whisky bar,just amazing what info you can find out there.
http://www.pragueholiday.cz/tabor.html
actually whilst I was talking to my travelling companion about Tabor he said it was familiar to him is some way,a few days later he found out that he had a DVD of European train journeys and Tabor was a stop on the Czech Republic one,so we watched the DVD and were well impressed by Tabor.

Mlada Boleslav is an ancient town over a thousand years old but is also the home to Skoda cars and it has a car museum there,so well worth visiting in my opinion,again it is only an hour or so from Prague.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mlad%C3%A1_Boleslav

Both these places are on train routes and info on what train can be got from this website.
http://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/vlakyautobusy/spojeni/

Thats the main bones of our holiday,all gleamed from the wonderful pages of the internet,I just find it an amazing tool as I am sure many of you also do.
So thats me for today,I will try and give more info on other things i plan to do and of some of the folk I hope to meet,yes the internet allow you to talk to other travellers before you go and meet up with them if you wish.
Craig.

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