Destination: Czech Republic

World Travel Watch: Chile Earthquake Aftermath, Rallies in Bangkok and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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The Best Travel Videos of 2009

The Best Travel Videos of 2009 iStockPhoto

We watched a lot of travel videos this year to come up with these: the 12 most hilarious, moving and memorable

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Looking East: 20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On the delights of the former Eastern Bloc

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Fall Foliage Around the World

Central Park, New York Photo of Central Park, New York City, by joiseyshowaa via Flickr (Creative Commons)

From Osaka to Chicago, seven photos of turning leaves around the shrinking planet

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European Flesh and the American Prude

European Flesh and the American Prude Alexandra Beier/Reuters

Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act

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Skip the Colosseum? Give Prague a Pass?

Skip the Colosseum? Give Prague a Pass? Photo by tinou bao via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Eva Holland sees an emerging trend in the world of travel advice, and she's not happy about it

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Six Great Summer Music Festivals in Europe

Six Great Summer Music Festivals in Europe REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Headed overseas this summer? Ben Keene surveys music festivals from Budapest to Stockholm.

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The Last Bite and the Other Part of the Fish

The Last Bite and the Other Part of the Fish Photo by David Farley
Photo by David Farley

Few people are lured to the Czech Republic for its cuisine, but I’m one of them. Actually, hearty Czech food is a taste acquired over time (accompanied by lots of pints of hoppy pilsner). Until recently the pub grub—rich goulash and pork made just about every way you can imagine—functioned more as stomach filler than actual taste bud pleasers. But things are slowly changing.

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Given the Dire Economy, Should I Travel Overseas This Year?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel and the world

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Searching for the Strudel Man of Zizkov

Searching for the Strudel Man of Zizkov Photo by James Cridland, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by James Cridland, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

It might have looked that way, but my Czech friend Milos and I were not aimlessly wandering the hilly streets of Prague’s Zizkov (pronounced: Zheezh-kof) neighborhood. We had a destination in mind. A few minutes earlier, the excitable Milos suddenly got an idea: “Strudel,” he yelled out. “There’s a guy somewhere in Zizkov who’s been selling the best apple strudel in Prague from a tiny shop in his apartment building. We must find him. Now.”

My stomach, which had been rumbling just a few minutes earlier, agreed. Milos began accosting people on the street with the frantic demeanor of someone who’d just realized their child had gone missing. A mother and daughter carrying plastic shopping bags pointed down the hill. A few blocks later a sinewy bearded guy walking a dog pointed up the hill. A gypsy woman standing on the street corner, inexplicably holding a plate of sauerkraut, pointed in a completely different direction. Finally we were crossing Konevova street, the busy dark avenue that splits the valley in Zizkov. 

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Morning Links: Best Job in the World Finalists, ‘Narco-Tours’ and More

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Martha Stewart: Travel Writer

The homemaking maven will soon be penning an “occasional personal travel column” for Martha Stewart Living, Mediaweek reports. Said the acting editor-in-chief: “Martha has been blogging about her trips and gets tons of hits on her blogs.” The first column, covering Stewart’s recent trip to Prague, is due out in April; the shift is part of a larger effort to broaden the magazine’s editorial content and appeal to new advertisers. In this tough publishing climate, I suppose it’s a good thing.


Leave Home Without It

Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel

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Cutting the Cord on Expensive Hotel Internet Service

Thank you, Shangri-La Hotels, for breaking the cycle of expensive internet access. The hotel chain announced that it’s offering free Wi-Fi throughout its 60 properties as of, oh, right now. It’s about damn time—not at Shangri-La specifically, but for hotels in general to start offering this “service” for free, as it should be.

What’s galling is how the higher-end properties love to tack on this charge, while smaller one-off properties tend to give it away for free. It’s shortsighted and unrepresentative of how people travel: wouldn’t you prefer to have free internet access as opposed to free access to, say, Headline News? Not that we don’t all love Nancy Grace. Besides, I’m probably preaching to the internet choir here.

Still, it’s hard to forgo the internet when you work while you travel. I paid exorbitant internet fees many a time in 2008, and I’m sure it’ll happen again in ‘09. At the top of my list: a $15-a-day fee at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. It’s a beautiful, historic hotel—James Bond even stayed there in Casino Royale—but it’s tough to feel as suave as Daniel Craig when you have to trudge downstairs for an ethernet cable first.


Morning Links: Flushing the French Quarter, Car-Rental Madness and More

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