Last year the girls decided it would be a good idea to get away and practice cheerleading in a foreign country. A weeks intensive cheer training in Czech Republic at a sports hotel. I was invited, but unfortunately I could not afford to go. At this point I was still dead set on learning to drive during the summer and foolishly withheld most of the years finances for that. As you might know, in the end I bought this sweet ass PC which on the whole has served me well, although I do not know how it compares to a driving liscence, at least this thing doesn't have recurring bills.
However, I saw on their return that they had this fantastic bond, and clearly they enjoyed themselves while they were away as the pictures and the stories attest. I decided this year that I would join my team mates, bite the bullet and head off to Czech.
The arrangement this year was somewhat different. The plan was to travel out on the eighth (a Monday) and spend the evening in Prague. Our arrival time would have been rather late, so we had little choice but to stick around in Prague city until transport became avilable to take us to Kitlice, where we were to spend a few days before camp started. The plan was to stunt early morning in Prague, when it was light enough to take some decent pictures, but quiet enough as we would not be disturbed. From there, the morning after, we jump on the train to Kitlice where we spend a few days at the cottage where our gracious guide, good friend and squad captain's mother takes her holiday. After a few days in that beautiful remote village we would catch the train again and land at Machovo Jezero (on the Thursday) where the camp is located. Check in to the hotel, then the camp started in the afternoon on the Thursday and ran right till the afternoon on the Sunday, where we say our goodbyes and leave the hotel. We will have a little time to go swimming at this point and there is a lake nearby, so hopefully we could do that before leaving for Prague by bus later that afternoon, to catch out flight later that evening and arrive back in Manchester in the wee early hours of Monday the fifteenth.
So we flew out on the eighth. I'd never flown before so this was a fantastic experience for me. We had no trouble at the airport and borded the plain in a pleasant and timely fashion. Taking off is awesome! They lull you into a false sense of anti-climax by taking their sweet-ass time maneuvering the plane into place, and then BAM the engines kick in and the plane shoots from naught to eithy eight in the blink of an eye. Taking off is a rollercoaster, landing is torture. I like the whole turning and descending thing, but my ears are so painful when it comes to dropping so quickly. Going up doesn't hurt, it's just a weird sensation. Going down is very painful indeed. Luckily in a single plane journey you only have to do it once.
Touch down in Prague, we caught the bus to town centre and wandered aimlessly before finding a big pretty church which we decided to stunt infront of...
From here we wandered aimlessly again in search of the famed Charles Bridge which we found, and promptly turned into a slum...
The plan to stunt in the wee hours fell through. Unfortunately with us avoiding to pay for a hostel for the night in the hopes of saving a bit of money and under the assumption that we wouldn't need it we inadvertantly tired ourselves to the point where most of us believed that stunting would be dangerous. We went to the train station and tried to kip on the floor for a bit until two warm-friendly looking security guards came to move us on. No matter, at this point it was soon to be time to jump on the train.
Now, this is where the holiday takes a dramatic turn for me. It's a slightly long story but I'll shorten it for you. When I took my money to the post office to exchange it for Czech Corona it was my first time doing so and I admit to the person serving me that I didn't really understand the whole exchange rate thing. I gave her £150, she gave me 1200¢ and I went to Prague safe in the knowledge that I had enough money. Turns out that she'd only given me about £50 worth of Czech money, and considering I still had to pay the equivilant of £60 to the FCC people for the camp, it was at this point in the station that I found out I had come to a different country without so much as my camp fees in cash. Luckily my dad is a genius and gave me £60 to bring with me 'just in case', well, that should read 'just in case, and if not, get me some fags' but I'm still glad the man is on the ball. I changed that at 30% commission at the train station (I know right!) and jumped on the train to Kitlice feeling thoroughly depressed.
Luckily my squaddies saw this and were able to make me laugh, and not feel sorry for myself (though I think unfortunately until we arrived at the village I was adamant on that.) Funny thing the effect the countryside has on a person. I mean I genuinely love travelling on trains anyway, but Czech is so similar to england in it's countryside it was a pleasant journey. That is apart from the fact that at this point most of us had gone a full day without sleeping. I can't sleep on trains, so while a few of the others could catch up, I remained unfortunately vigilant (not through lack of trying.)
Our arrival in Kitlice was a welcome relief from an evening and a mornings worth of travel. Many of us were ready to wash, change, or simply to lie down for five or ten minutes. The cottage was still under construction, though you could see even without carpets or a door for the toilet it was a labour of love, and would be stunning when completed. Our hosts were very gracious to let eight of us stay in one room, even more gracious on the second night after finding how loud we can be in the evening. We waste no time that day, and later in the evening after resting and washing, which was an event in itself; the shower directly faced a large window, and had no door to the shower room (I'd luckily showered in the train station that morning and managed to avoid it) we went to a local pub for a meal. The food was fantastic! Easily something a fine diner would serve here and yet a three course meal with drinks cost no more than the equivilant of £8. I think eight of us had three courses and drinks and the total came to just over £25 or so.
The choice of cuisine was not particularly varied for vegitarian/herbivore types such as myself. I usually had to choose from fried mushrooms, fried cheese, fried coliflour... you get the point. Still, fried cheese is something of a high end delicacy here, something you might find as a starter in an expensive resturaunte; having it as a meal with rice or chips in is a welcome turn of events, even afer the third time eating it in a week.
On the second day we went horse riding. I'd never been horse riding before, something which I romantically held as the unattainable in my head. I live in Wigan, even if there were more than one or two schools which offered such a service, the price would take the shine off of the experience. We spent a few hours taking turns on the horses while we walked through the amazing Czech forrest and countryside. It was a lot like Wales (Angelsey, to be particular) with thick forrests of large Redwoods and sprawling green valleys, and rain; Only a touch of rain mind. The rain in Czech Republic is not like the rain here. It is predictable rain; you know when it starts, no matter how heavy it is, that it will last no more than an hour or two. This was the case on a few days over the week but the weather didn't effect the holiday at any point, apart from when it was beautifully sunny, which was wonderful! On our way back to the cottage at this point we walked by a small lake which we decided to explore with our feet. Posing for pictures became a given on this holiday and all of us (even the ones who usually object) obliged and indulged. The water was freezing.
Later that evening we went back to the same eatery as in the afternoon and had a wonderful evening meal which was fllowed not too soon after by one of the most funny nights I have ever shared on holiday. Everyone in the room together might not have been the most comfortable of evenings (I spent the entire holiday sleeping either on the floor or on an air-bed on the floor) it was made perfect by the company. I don't think I've laughed so much or had so much fun with my squaddies in my whole time as a cheerleader as I did when I was with them in that room. My holiday to Czech was an amazing experience, but it wouldn't have been half as good without the people I shared it with.
On our final day in Czech we went for a long hike up a rather large hill. It took us through some rural roadways (at which point we found a camp called U Skaly which caused hours of amusement) and on through a dense, sprawling forrest, over a couple of railway tracks and up a steep gradient which led to a charming little eatery at the top. There was also a high, round tower which we payed to ascend giving us a wonderful panoramic of the vista which seemed to go on to eternity. I am romantic when it comes to places of natural beauty and awe-inspiring views, perticularly if you work to see it such as a hike up a hill. The journey was as wonderful as the destination; we even found an old WWII bunker (Czech was occupied by Nazi Germany during the war) which we poked around before heading back to the cottage.
That evening we tried a different resturaunt, well... it seemed like there was a choice of two pub's in town, so we chose the other one in which to dine on our last night in Kitlice. We enjoyed our food, our host was very warm towards us and we even stayed a little later to enjoy some drinking games. Of course jocularity continued to a lesser scale that evening as we were all feeling the strain of getting such little sleep the past few days. The next morning we awoke bright and early to catch our train to Machovo Jezero and to begin the FCC training camp. Our time spent in Kitlice was a wonderful break but now we all knew, there was hard work ahead.
Stay tuned for part two...
However, I saw on their return that they had this fantastic bond, and clearly they enjoyed themselves while they were away as the pictures and the stories attest. I decided this year that I would join my team mates, bite the bullet and head off to Czech.
The arrangement this year was somewhat different. The plan was to travel out on the eighth (a Monday) and spend the evening in Prague. Our arrival time would have been rather late, so we had little choice but to stick around in Prague city until transport became avilable to take us to Kitlice, where we were to spend a few days before camp started. The plan was to stunt early morning in Prague, when it was light enough to take some decent pictures, but quiet enough as we would not be disturbed. From there, the morning after, we jump on the train to Kitlice where we spend a few days at the cottage where our gracious guide, good friend and squad captain's mother takes her holiday. After a few days in that beautiful remote village we would catch the train again and land at Machovo Jezero (on the Thursday) where the camp is located. Check in to the hotel, then the camp started in the afternoon on the Thursday and ran right till the afternoon on the Sunday, where we say our goodbyes and leave the hotel. We will have a little time to go swimming at this point and there is a lake nearby, so hopefully we could do that before leaving for Prague by bus later that afternoon, to catch out flight later that evening and arrive back in Manchester in the wee early hours of Monday the fifteenth.
So we flew out on the eighth. I'd never flown before so this was a fantastic experience for me. We had no trouble at the airport and borded the plain in a pleasant and timely fashion. Taking off is awesome! They lull you into a false sense of anti-climax by taking their sweet-ass time maneuvering the plane into place, and then BAM the engines kick in and the plane shoots from naught to eithy eight in the blink of an eye. Taking off is a rollercoaster, landing is torture. I like the whole turning and descending thing, but my ears are so painful when it comes to dropping so quickly. Going up doesn't hurt, it's just a weird sensation. Going down is very painful indeed. Luckily in a single plane journey you only have to do it once.
Touch down in Prague, we caught the bus to town centre and wandered aimlessly before finding a big pretty church which we decided to stunt infront of...
 |  |  |
From here we wandered aimlessly again in search of the famed Charles Bridge which we found, and promptly turned into a slum...
The plan to stunt in the wee hours fell through. Unfortunately with us avoiding to pay for a hostel for the night in the hopes of saving a bit of money and under the assumption that we wouldn't need it we inadvertantly tired ourselves to the point where most of us believed that stunting would be dangerous. We went to the train station and tried to kip on the floor for a bit until two warm-friendly looking security guards came to move us on. No matter, at this point it was soon to be time to jump on the train.
Now, this is where the holiday takes a dramatic turn for me. It's a slightly long story but I'll shorten it for you. When I took my money to the post office to exchange it for Czech Corona it was my first time doing so and I admit to the person serving me that I didn't really understand the whole exchange rate thing. I gave her £150, she gave me 1200¢ and I went to Prague safe in the knowledge that I had enough money. Turns out that she'd only given me about £50 worth of Czech money, and considering I still had to pay the equivilant of £60 to the FCC people for the camp, it was at this point in the station that I found out I had come to a different country without so much as my camp fees in cash. Luckily my dad is a genius and gave me £60 to bring with me 'just in case', well, that should read 'just in case, and if not, get me some fags' but I'm still glad the man is on the ball. I changed that at 30% commission at the train station (I know right!) and jumped on the train to Kitlice feeling thoroughly depressed.
Luckily my squaddies saw this and were able to make me laugh, and not feel sorry for myself (though I think unfortunately until we arrived at the village I was adamant on that.) Funny thing the effect the countryside has on a person. I mean I genuinely love travelling on trains anyway, but Czech is so similar to england in it's countryside it was a pleasant journey. That is apart from the fact that at this point most of us had gone a full day without sleeping. I can't sleep on trains, so while a few of the others could catch up, I remained unfortunately vigilant (not through lack of trying.)
Our arrival in Kitlice was a welcome relief from an evening and a mornings worth of travel. Many of us were ready to wash, change, or simply to lie down for five or ten minutes. The cottage was still under construction, though you could see even without carpets or a door for the toilet it was a labour of love, and would be stunning when completed. Our hosts were very gracious to let eight of us stay in one room, even more gracious on the second night after finding how loud we can be in the evening. We waste no time that day, and later in the evening after resting and washing, which was an event in itself; the shower directly faced a large window, and had no door to the shower room (I'd luckily showered in the train station that morning and managed to avoid it) we went to a local pub for a meal. The food was fantastic! Easily something a fine diner would serve here and yet a three course meal with drinks cost no more than the equivilant of £8. I think eight of us had three courses and drinks and the total came to just over £25 or so.
The choice of cuisine was not particularly varied for vegitarian/herbivore types such as myself. I usually had to choose from fried mushrooms, fried cheese, fried coliflour... you get the point. Still, fried cheese is something of a high end delicacy here, something you might find as a starter in an expensive resturaunte; having it as a meal with rice or chips in is a welcome turn of events, even afer the third time eating it in a week.
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On the second day we went horse riding. I'd never been horse riding before, something which I romantically held as the unattainable in my head. I live in Wigan, even if there were more than one or two schools which offered such a service, the price would take the shine off of the experience. We spent a few hours taking turns on the horses while we walked through the amazing Czech forrest and countryside. It was a lot like Wales (Angelsey, to be particular) with thick forrests of large Redwoods and sprawling green valleys, and rain; Only a touch of rain mind. The rain in Czech Republic is not like the rain here. It is predictable rain; you know when it starts, no matter how heavy it is, that it will last no more than an hour or two. This was the case on a few days over the week but the weather didn't effect the holiday at any point, apart from when it was beautifully sunny, which was wonderful! On our way back to the cottage at this point we walked by a small lake which we decided to explore with our feet. Posing for pictures became a given on this holiday and all of us (even the ones who usually object) obliged and indulged. The water was freezing.
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Later that evening we went back to the same eatery as in the afternoon and had a wonderful evening meal which was fllowed not too soon after by one of the most funny nights I have ever shared on holiday. Everyone in the room together might not have been the most comfortable of evenings (I spent the entire holiday sleeping either on the floor or on an air-bed on the floor) it was made perfect by the company. I don't think I've laughed so much or had so much fun with my squaddies in my whole time as a cheerleader as I did when I was with them in that room. My holiday to Czech was an amazing experience, but it wouldn't have been half as good without the people I shared it with.
 |  |  |
On our final day in Czech we went for a long hike up a rather large hill. It took us through some rural roadways (at which point we found a camp called U Skaly which caused hours of amusement) and on through a dense, sprawling forrest, over a couple of railway tracks and up a steep gradient which led to a charming little eatery at the top. There was also a high, round tower which we payed to ascend giving us a wonderful panoramic of the vista which seemed to go on to eternity. I am romantic when it comes to places of natural beauty and awe-inspiring views, perticularly if you work to see it such as a hike up a hill. The journey was as wonderful as the destination; we even found an old WWII bunker (Czech was occupied by Nazi Germany during the war) which we poked around before heading back to the cottage.
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That evening we tried a different resturaunt, well... it seemed like there was a choice of two pub's in town, so we chose the other one in which to dine on our last night in Kitlice. We enjoyed our food, our host was very warm towards us and we even stayed a little later to enjoy some drinking games. Of course jocularity continued to a lesser scale that evening as we were all feeling the strain of getting such little sleep the past few days. The next morning we awoke bright and early to catch our train to Machovo Jezero and to begin the FCC training camp. Our time spent in Kitlice was a wonderful break but now we all knew, there was hard work ahead.
Stay tuned for part two...
Glad despite the difficulties that you had a good time. Oh that photo of the horsie makes me want one lamo.
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