Prague Urban Adventures

This was the first thing we had booked for the day that we arrived in Praha. We had done a bit of research (of course) and found this company. We liked the tour description, and the fact that it came with food (it’s billed as a «beer and Czech tapas» tour).
When we first approached the statue of King Wenceslas — about twenty minutes early — we saw a large group of guys. We were afraid that they would be on the tour with us, too! Not that it would have been horrible, but I really am a fan of the smaller, easier to manage tours. So we walk up and see a group of about 25 people, and my heart sank.
A couple of minutes later, I looked up and saw someone holding what I thought was a sign for the tour. We headed over towards him (thankfully he wasn’t being mobbed by the group of guys), and sure enough, it was our tour guide, Travis.
He greeted us by name, which I thought was strange. How did he know us? Half a second later, he put his sign away, and it hit me: we were the only ones on this tour! Thank goodness I like the small tours, eh?
I won’t recap the entire night of booze and food for you, but I do need to say that Travis now shares the title of «best tour guide EVER» with our guide Mac from Edinburgh.
Travis is an expat — originally from Idaho. And listening to him talk about Prague validated my initial love for this city. He speaks with such passion about the place, the history, the beer and the people that it absolutely makes me love the city even more. I tried to explain to him why I’m so in love with a place I’ve never visited, but I felt like I was stumbling over the words. It didn’t matter to him, though, because he not only understands it, he’s living it.
The tour took us to four places in total, where we had beer and food based on his recommendations. Now, I had just had a fairly large beer on a mostly empty stomach not two hours prior, so I was certain that I’d have a sip or two of the first one, and then call it quits.
Prague beer must be magical. I didn’t feel the beer at lunch, and two tour beers later, I was still feeling fine. I swear that had this been San Diego, I would’ve been on the floor at that point.
I did end up passing on beers three and four (though I took a couple hearty sips of my husband’s serving of beer 3 before he took it away from me), but mostly because I was feeling a slight scratchiness in the back of my throat. In hindsight, drowning these cold germs in booze might have been the best course of action.
One of the things we initially liked from the tour description was that the tour promised not to take us to the «touristy» places. Travis took us to places that meant something to him personally, which made it more special for us. These weren’t places that were getting a kick-​back from his company (or if they were, it wasn’t obvious!) These were places that were important to him — to his connection with the city or to his connection with beer. In most of the places, we were the only ones speaking English. It was a fantastic, immersive experience in this country!
Besides the booze and food, Travis delivered some excellent history, not only on the city as a whole, but on the neighborhoods we passed through. He was full of suggestions of where to go to eat, drink (of course) and play tourist. And he made us feel like we could belong in a place like this, despite the fact that we don’t speak Czech.
We’re both so happy that we chose this tour, and that we met Travis, his wife Jessica and their friend Diego (they joined us at the second to last stop, and accepted our invitation to finish the night out with us). I was telling my husband afterwards that Travis could have canceled or tried to reschedule us to a different day with a bigger group, and we would never have known. The fact that he came out to tour with just us — and delivered a quality, fun and informative tour every step of the way — speaks loads to his character.
My only regret is that we didn’t get a picture with the group!
Five hours after the tour started, we were making our way back to our hotel (with a map full of Travis-​approved selections in our pocket). That definitely was a great way to kick off our time in Prague, and we were excited to try some of the beers and locations (and beers) that Travis had recommended.