Getting Ready For Prague

As I've done for the majority of my other travels, I've collected links to articles and blog posts about traveling around Prague. And even though we aren't going for a couple of months I thought I'd share my current findings because someone else might find them useful.

♥ A Little Adrift -- A Little Visit… How to Spend 3 Days in Prague (Plus 5 Things You’ll Love)
♥ Adventure In You
♥ The Blonde Abroad -- A Perfect Day in Prague
♥ Blonde Atlas -- Prague Travel Guide
♥ Bobo & Chi Chi -- Ultimate Czech Republic Travel Guide
♥ The Broke Backpacker
♥ Food & Drink Destinations -- Prague Travel Blog: How To Visit Prague Czech Republic
♥ Helene In Between --  The Perfect 3 Days in Prague Travel Guide
♥ The Invisible Tourist -- 4 Days in Prague Itinerary: Complete Travel Guide for First-Timers
♥ Jessie On A Journey -- Solo Travel In Prague: How To Have An Amazing Trip On Your Own
♥ Kevin & Amanda -- Best Things To Do In Prague
♥ Living Nomads -- My Trip To Prague Blog: Visit Prague, The Most Charming City In Europe
♥ Nomadic Matt -- How To Spend Four Days In Prague
♥ Salt In Our Hair -- 12 Things To Do in Prague in 3 Days
♥ Solo Sophie -- Prague Travel Tips You Need to Know Before Your First Visit
♥ Will Fly For Food -- The First-Timer’s Prague Travel Guide (2022)

Even though it's been almost four years, it still pains us but we're going to rewatch the episode Anthony Bourdain has about Prague.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005 – 2012)
• Season Six, Episode Four: Prague

Have any of you been to Prague before? If so, I'd love some suggestions!

Sunday Steal...

What’s Your Favorite Word Or Phrase?  
"Fuck that noise..."

Tell Us About A Person Who Made You Smile Today. 
The dumb phone conversation I had with Justin made me smile (He is in Florida right now).

What Were You Doing At 8AM This Morning?  
Sleeping at my parents' house because I got home at 2AM from Brooklyn and didn't wanna drive back to mine and Justin's apartment.

What Were You Doing 30 Minutes Ago?  
Driving home from my parents' house.

What Is Your Favorite Holiday? Why? 
Christmas because presents!

Tell Us About A Visit To Another Country.  
I've been to a bunch of countries but I guess I'll tell you about France. While in Paris in 2010 with Erin, we were taking pictures at Place du Trocadéro of the Eiffel Tower when a man walks ups to us. He puts a string bracelet on my wrist and starts making on on Erin's. He is talking to us, Erin is pretending not to speak English, I am looking around for his partner who will try to rob us. When he is done with the bracelt he says it will cost small change. I being me say "Fuck that!" rip the braclet off my wrist and Erin's, throw them at him and some guy (Whom I assumed was his partner) comes up and starts telling me that I am behaving like an animal and I am too beautiful to be behaving like an animal. I start yelling that I know the one guy was just trying to get us to open our wallets to see how much money we had, so that down the way the other dude could pickpocket us. They walked away quickly after that.

What Is The Last Thing You Said Aloud?  
"Bye! Love you!"

What Was The Last Thing You Had To Drink?  
Diet Cherry Pepsi.

What Are You Wearing Right Now?  
Shorts and a tank top.

What Was The Last Thing You Ate?  
Bean and cheese pupusas.

Have You Bought Any New Clothing Items This Week?  
Yup, I went shopping the other day with my sister.

When Was The Last Time You Ran?  
I'm fat. I don't run.

What’s The Last Sporting Event You Watched?  
I was at Citi Field Tuesday for the Subway Series.

If You Could Go Anywhere In The World, Where Would You Go?  
I want to go to Antarctica.

Who Is The Last Person You Sent A Comment/Message To On Facebook?  
I posted on our Fat Kid Sunday private group a video from Tasty.

Ever Go Camping? If Yes, Tell Us About One Time.  
Well I guess what we do upstate for the rafting trip is kinda camping but not. There isn't really much to tell, we sleep outside and get drunk in front of a fire before doing so.

Do You Think A Tan Improves Your Looks?  
Yes is does. I look glorious with my current tan.

Have You Ever Lost Anything Down A Toilet?  
Not lost lost but I dropped my iPhone in the toilet last summer the day I got back from Ocean City.

What Is Your Guilty Pleasure?
Cheese and truffle oil.

Iceland & Amsterdam | The Part About Amsterdam...

And here's the part about Amsterdam. Remember, I was in Amsterdam so there may or may not be parts of my travel tale that I leave out...

Day Five - Monday, September 28th
As I mentioned in my post about Iceland, this day was a partial travel day. We woke up at like 3:00AM to get the last of our things ready and be picked up at 4:30AM for our forty-five minute drive to the airport.

At the airport we did all the normal airport stuff. In addition we ate overpriced breakfast, I bought European beauty products from Duty Free, etc. And by 7:40AM we were on our way to Amsterdam.

Fast forward three hours... We arrive, make our way across the airport and wait for our ride to drive us to the apartment we rented on Airbnb.

Like in Iceland, once we arrive we picked out rooms, found a grocery store to buy food and just chilled at the apartment until it was time to head into the city center (The apartment we rented was about fifteen minutes by tram outside the middle of the city) for our first tour in Amsterdam. A private Red Light District Tour given by Mark (or That Dam Guide).

Mark spent the next two hours teaching us about the history of the Red Light District, telling us stories from his time living in the area, etc. It was super fascinating. I highly recommend the tour if you're going to be in Amsterdam. Mark is so knowledgeable and passionate about the preservation of the area, it makes the tour that much better.

By the time we were done with Mark, we were wanting to get back to the apartment because it was getting late. But before jumping on the tram we stopped off at a falafel place with the weirdest dude behind the counter. The falafels were good but not worth dealing with that strange strange man.

As soon as we were done eating we escaped the place as he was distracted by other potential customers and got our tram.

Day Six - Tuesday, September 29th
We woke up early-ish and headed into the city center for yet another tour with Mark. This time we were going on a general three hour walking tour of the city where we learned some history, as well as awesome places to eat, etc.

Again, Mark was amazing. 

Once we finished up the tour we decided to go check out Vondelpark (Which is a big ol' park) and the Van Gogh Museum. Both were beautiful.

While we were visiting the Van Gogh Museum there was (And it's still currently going on until January 17th 2016) an exhibit called "Munch : Van Gogh" that shows the parallels between the two artists' works. It was really neat to see their work side by side and to see pieces like The Scream, Vampire II, etc. because I wasn't expecting to see them.

By the time we found the tram that would get us back to the area our apartment was in we were all pretty hungry, so we decided to check out this Thai restaurant around the corner from where we were staying called Thai Tiger. The food was really good but the service was shitty and they told us we couldn't have glasses of water unless we bought other drinks but then they charged us for waters anyway. It was just weird.

When we finished there we just went back to the apartment and started playing Exploding Kittens, followed by a very interesting drinking game.

Day Seven - Wednesday, September 30th
Since we drank so much the night before we slept in before heading to The Pancake Bakery to try out Dutch pancakes. Unfortunately we didn't really care for them. C'est la vie.

After our disappointing breakfast we went to meet up with our guide (Whose name I cannot recall for the life of me right now) from Those Dam Boat Guys for a canal tour of the city and to begin celebrating Rob's birthday.

Two hours later we found ourselves in a bar around the corner from where we were dropped off trying to figure out where to go for dinner. Eventually they decided upon Café de Klos a little place that apparently has the best ribs ever.

When we were done eating we just decided to find a bar and wander around a bit before going to a show. After the show we popped into another bar as we decided what to do next.

We couldn't think of anything to do so we just went back to the apartment to chill.

Day Nine - Thursday, October 1st
Phil and Rob decided to go off and do their own thing, so the rest of us decided that we were going to do various randomness around the city. So myself, Justin and Erin walked through an outdoor flea market and then we hit up the Artis Royal Zoo (Which is one of the oldest zoos of mainland Europe).

After finishing up at the zoo we met up with Day (Who somehow snuck into the zoo) and had lunch at Café-Restaurant De Plantage. We followed lunch up with some beers at Brouwerij 't IJ, which is a brewery and bar inside of a windmill.

Once Justin and Day had their fill of Brouwerij 't IJ's beer selection, all of us minus Day headed into the city center to pick up some souvenirs. After picking up everything that we needed for our various family members, Erin hopped back on to the tram, while Justin and I went to Café Bern for dinner.

After dinner we went back to the apartment and again we just hung out.

Day Ten - Friday, October 2nd
For our last full day in Amsterdam Justin and I decided to wake up early to go visit the Anne Frank House (Which if you decide to do while you're in Amsterdam, and you really should, you either need to try and get tickets online or go an half an hour before it opens in the morning because the lines get crazy there) before meeting up with the others for a four hour bike tour of the countryside with Mike's Bike Tour.

After getting our bike on, we wander around a bit trying to figure out if we wanted to eat or drink or whatever. So we bounce from bar to restaurant to bar until we decided to go to In de Wildeman, a bar that was featured on an episode of one of Anthony Bourdain's shows that serves 18 beers on draft and 250 different types of beers on bottle -- Justin and the boys were super happy.

Several hours, a bunch of beers and an interesting conversation with a gentleman from England later we decided we could not live off of beer alone and we needed to find something to eat. Eventually we ended up at an Italian restaurant that was pretty good but I can't remember the name of it for the life if me.

When we were finished stuffing our faces we headed back to the apartment to do some packing and such since we were leaving the next day.

Day Eleven - Saturday, October 3rd
I woke up way earlier than I should have so that I could shower and repack my suitcase before everyone else was up -- I have slight OCD and have to repack my suitcase or it drives me crazy.

One by one everyone else got up, showered, packed, etc. And then almost all of us helped clean up the apartment before we were picked up to go to the airport.

Like I did in Iceland, I bought makeup from Duty Free and BSed until it was time for our flight. Fast forward three-ish hours and a bunch of episodes of Gotham (2014-Present) and we were back in Iceland. While there we picked up some last minute souvenirs, some really shitty pizza and waited for our flight back to New York.

Fast forward six-ish hours, more episodes of Gotham (2014-Present), the movie The Butler (2013) and we were back in New York. And can I tell you, it was colder in New York than it was in Iceland. But I was happy to be back home.

So yeah, that was the rest of our trip. We had a great time and I cannot wait for my next adventure.

Iceland & Amsterdam | The Part About Iceland...

As promised, here is a big old blog post about the first half of my trip...

Day One - Thursday, September 24th
We arrived at Keflavík International Airport at around 6:00AM after a six hour flight from New York. From there we had a car pick us up and bring us to the house that we rented from Airbnb in Reykjavík.

After picking out rooms, finding something to eat near by and hanging out in the house for a few hours we were picked up by our guide for our first excursion, which was the Into The Blue Snorkeling Tour of the Silfra ravine in Thingvellir, National Park.

For those of you that don't know, Silfra is a rift that is part of the divergent tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. And it has some of the clearest water you've ever seen, with visibility up to 80 meters. So we literally went swimming between continents.

Honestly, I typically love snorkeling but I hated snorkeling in a dry suit. My suit didn't fit right because apparently they don't have dry suits for fat chicks, so I had to wear a men's dry suit which was bunchy at the knees because apparently when you're fat you're also tall (I'm about 5'6" for anyone wondering). So because the suit was ill fitted I was super uncomfortable the whole time. I couldn't really lift my head out of the water. It was all very very unpleasant for me, but it was also for Erin and Day. The guys on the other hand, loved it.

I mean, I'm glad I did it but I wont be doing it again.

WARNING: This is a theme throughout the course of this trip.

Once we were done our guide (Who we are convinced hated us by the end of the whole thing) drove us back to our house in Reykjavík, where we got ready for our next excursion. A private walking tour of Reykjavík with Ásta from I Heart Reykjavík.

Since we were meeting up in front of Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church, we decided to go inside and check out the views from the observation tower because we heard that you can see all of Reykjavík from the viewing deck.

After checking out the view from the church, which were amazing, we headed across the street to see The Einar Jónsson Sculpture Garden.

Once we were done checking out the sculptures and learning about Jónsson we just walked around Reykjavík listening to what Ásta had to say about the city. Which was actually very interesting.

When we were done touring with Ásta (Who was great and I highly recommend touring with) we had a bite to eat and then headed back to the house before going on a Northern Lights Tour.

Unfortunately the Norther Lights Tour was terrible. The driver was a maniac. The tour guide was making excuses for our maniac driver. It just sucked. It was so bad I'm actually in the process of trying to get my money back from Capital One.

Day Two - Friday, September 25th
The six of us were booked to go on The Golden Circle Tour (An eight hour tour that highlights Iceland's natural wonders) with GeoIceland but Phil and Rob totally weren't feeling it after the chaos that was the night before. So just myself, Justin, Erin and I went.

Our first stop was at the town of Hveragerdi, where we saw a small exhibition about a 6.3-6.6 earthquake that took place in the town in 2008. Which was actually pretty interesting for an exhibit in a little rest stop kinda place.

When we were done at Hveragerdi we drove to Faxi to see the first of many waterfalls (We saw a lot of waterfalls throughout the course of our stay in Iceland).

After we were done at Faxi we drove to see the Gullfoss waterfall (Which was bigger than the first) and have lunch.

Once we were done at Gullfoss we hopped on the bus and hit up the Haukadalur geothermal area, which included Geysir hot springs.

Unfortunately while we were checking out the geysers we got an e-mail that the tour we had planned for the following day (We were going to hike up a volcano and go inside of it) was canceled because the weather was supposed to be bad -- We were bummed about it at first, but two days later when we were going on another tour I was super happy we didn't have two crazy physical tours two days in a row.

When we were done checking out the geysers we got back on the bus and headed for our final location of the tour, the Thingvellir valley (Which is in the area Silfra is in).

We wandered around an area that we didn't see the previous day and took a walk up to the top of a hill to see the views of the valley from above.

Once we were back in Reykjavík we showered and decided that we were going to go out to a gay bar, Kíkí Queer Bar, that we had wondered past during our walking tour with Ásta the day before.

During the process of getting ready I ended up kicking Justin's suitcase so hard that I thought that I broke my pinkie toe. But that did not stop us from going out. I limped all the way to the bar, got a couple of drinks in myself and danced the night away (Gay bars play the best music).

When we were tired of being at the bar and wanted to move on to the next is when chaos ensued. The group got separated. People couldn't find one another. Someone went screaming my name down the streets of Reykjavík trying to find me. Someone got slapped. It was a royal cluster fuck.

Eventually everyone ended up back at the house and we all went to bed to sleep whatever just happened off.

Day Three - Saturday, September 26th
After the chaos of the night before we all slept in, which I think was good for everyone because we talked about what happened calmly and forgave one another.

When everything was peachy keen again we all got ready for a relaxing trip to the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa.

We swam, drank champagne and slathered silica mud all over our faces. It was pretty awesome.

When we had our fill (Basically when our fingers were super pruney and we were tried of floating around) we decided that it was time to head back to the house and get ready for a fancy "family" dinner.

After spiffying up we walking into the city center to have dinner at this amazing restaurant called Grillmarkaðurinn (Grillmarket). The food there was so good. We all really enjoyed our meal choices (I had a trio of fish and Justin had the lamb) and would highly recommend the place to anyone who wants to have a nice dinner in Reykjavík.

Day Four - Sunday, September 27th
Unlike the day before, this was not a relaxing day (It was also our last day in Iceland). This was the day that we were all going on a glacier hike. And from the minute I woke up in the morning I was totally dreading it and I made it known.

Despite not being a happy camper (I bitched the whole way up and the whole way down), I went along with the group and went for the glacier hike.

This was the other "I'm glad I did it but I wont be doing it again" I warned you all about. Plus I would like to note that I had to fake all of the smiles you see in the pictures above.

I did not like the glacier walk but everyone else loved it. So if you were thinking about going to Iceland and doing this, unless you are a mouthy fat chick you will probably enjoy the hike.

After the walk (And forever hike back to the equipment area) was over we stopped off at yet another waterfall before going back to the city.

When we got back we all argued over who would shower first, showered, packed a little bit and got ready for our final meal in Reykjavík. Which we had at The Pizza Place With No Name, followed by drinks upstairs at Mikkeller & Friends.

It was the perfect ending to our little Icelandic vacation.

The next day was a travel day and our first day in Amsterdam, so I'll talk about it in my Amsterdam post...

Guess Who's Back | Home From Iceland & Amsterdam...

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back from my latest adventures in Iceland and Amsterdam. This unfortunately not a post about the trip because even though I got back to the states Saturday night after about twelve plus hours of traveling, I am suffering from a wicked case of jet lag.

So no real post about the trip today but I promise that I will have a post up about it within the next week and a half (No waiting for months like my trip to Greece last year). Hopefully I will have it done sooner rather than later because I'll be at New York Comic Con at the end of the week, so I obviously want to write about that too.  Fingers crossed.

That all being said, I'll leave you with a few pictures from my Instagram...