Ninety plus percent of the time that we’re one the road, it’s just the two of us. The restless duo, ever in pursuit of the next experience. Dolly and Kenny against the world. In Prague, this changed. Me’s parents, after a number of month’s of eager anticipation from both sides (no, really), we greeted two jet-lagged Canadian seniors that were in astonishingly good spirits considering the duration of the first flight from Vancouver to Munich before taking the short hop to the Václav Havel Airport. Getting to and from the airport is a cheapskate’s dream, with our without in-laws that I’m way past impressing. For a single 90 minute regular transit ticket, you can take the #26 tram almost to the end of the line where you hop on a 101 airport bus that runs every three or four minutes. Airport express shuttles are left for the aristocrats.

This was our second time in Prague having first visited in 2015 about the same time of year. We had decided to come back for the almost unbelievable reason that last time, in 2015, we were prevented from visiting the Slav Epic exhibit due to plaster falling from the ceiling in the exhibit room literally the day before were supposed to go. For those who don’t know, the Slav Epic is an impressive collection of 20 massive canvases painted by Czech’s own Alphonse Mucha over a span of 18 years. Luck was however not on our side this time either. While the plaster this time was blameless, the whole collection was out gallivanting so we had little choice but to visit the cozy and totally worthwhile Mucha museum in the city centre again.

While we hadn’t necessarily planned with this in mind, Prague turned out to be a very inlaw-friendly city. The transit options in general, but the trams in particular, are just fantastic. We ensured we were always stocked with enough 30 minute tickets to get back from pretty much anywhere in Prague proper after aches and pains started making themselves known. If the tram that rolled up was of the circa 1950 era where the steps are very high (people must just have been more fit back then), just wait a few minutes and a gleaming new, and accessible, beauty would arrive to whisk us towards home where certain someones would engage in 2.5h afternoon naps to make sure the jet lag didn’t pass too quickly.

As the days in Prague were drawing to a close, we needed to make our way to Berlin. Me and I had had great experiences with Student Agency, or RegioJet as it’s now called. Not only is it generally very affordable, they serve complimentary coffee, provide Czech lessons by way of free local newspapers and magazine. We even got half our ticket price refunded from a RegioJet train ride because the AC was only working at half speed. The choice of carrier to Berlin was therefore simple. After a largely sunny and generally pleasant five days in Prague, the four of us board the yellow bus to Berlin.