ahoy!

WE'RE IN PRAGUE! Huzzuh!
Didn't know if we'd make it for a while. We're in the Perla hotel at the moment, it's about 9am, we've had b'fast and are about to go out and explore + catch up with Isobelle - after we update with Teh Story...of leaving amerika.

Okay. We were really quite well organised and on time (a result of missing the 80's party, I'm sure). Caught the shuttle to McCarran, only to find out that United's computers had gone down; so they were checking everyone in manually. Thus commenced the longest, most disorganised queue in the history of time. Thank god we were 4 hours early.

Not that it mattered. We checked our luggage, and headed for the terminal - another massively long queue here to go through the security checks...
The terminal and the security/check in area are connected by train, and we made it with about 1 1/2 hours before we were due to take off...only to find out that our plane had been delayed by 25 minutes.
We weren't overly panicing at this point...we had an hour and a half to connect in San Fransico, so as long as it wasn't any later than that, we'd be okay...

We sat, avoided the coffee @ Starbucks (which has been woeful the entire journey), and watched the chaos ensue. There were planes that had been cancelled that morning, so there were a load of people on waitlist to Denver or something.

Then our plane was pushed back even later. We were supposed to originally leave at 3:35, the original delay was 3:55, and then the final delay time was 4:25.
Cue panic attack. We were NEVER going to make the San Fransico connection, since we'd have to go to the international terminal, AND through customs.

I hopped into the queue to try and talk to the people at the Ted gate(Ted is to United what Jetstar is to Qantas)...45 minutes later, when finally I was at the front of the queue, the woman behind the counter put up her sign and said she was closed. I just gaped; "You're coming back, right??" and she just scowled and said she had to do some work.
Me: "Please, I just need some information!"
Woman: *ignores, on computer*
Man-in-queue-behind-me: "This is the worst airport..."
Me: *agrees* Oh hell yes, worst in the world, and I'm in a position to say that!!
Woman: Ma'am would you like to work for us then??
Me: Huh!? I'm complaining about the company, not you!!
Stupid bitch. After that, I just lost it. I swore my head off at her, told her I was going to find management, and lodge a complaint, that it was the worst customer service I'd ever encountered and I would never fly with Ted again. Paul and I tried to find an information desk; eventually did, but it was unmanned, of course. They engineer things in a way that you cannot lodge complaints, unless you want to put yourself out completely. Paul tried going to the same desk later on when I was still fuming, and had the same treatment; sign up "sorry, I have to do work now"...but he did talk to a lady who assured us that the Frankfurt connection was still okay, becuase it was also with United. I assured Paul that they were just fobbing us off; what would it matter to them if we missed our next flight??
The funniest thing happened, though, when we were eventually being boarded. Not a lot of people might realise it, but Autodesk's head office is quite close to San Francisco. We had Carl Bass (CEO of Autodesk) come over to the gate when we were boarding, and he looked *pissed off*. It made us feel a bit better about the situation; the CEO of the 2nd largest software company in the world had been put out by Ted's idiocy as well, so our hope is that something's done about it.

Anyway, let me get out of Vegas. I'm angry just thinking about it. We got on the plane at 4:25, didn't take off until after 5pm, and ended up sitting next to another guy from AU; another AE (like me)! He used to work for Autodesk too.

We made it to San Fran with 30 minutes until our plane was going to take off; there were a total of 7 of us who were supposed to be connecting to that flight. We were met at the gate by an official, who escorted us all, running, through the terminal; we had the quickest encounter with customs in the history of the world (about 8 seconds - flash your passport at a side staff entrance, through to the airside and onto a bus on the tarmac). The plane had - thankfully - waited for us.

Our plane to Frankfurt was then - amazingly - early. We had a great flight, got about 5 hours sleep, it was either more comfortable than the last long flight, or we were so exhausted from the stress and worry that we just bombed. Paul felt GREAT after the sleep and I wasn't that bad either.
Best thing about the flight for me; COFFEE. REAL, DECENT COFFEE. THANK LUD.

At Frankfurt we basically just changed gates, and got onto the bus to lead us to the plane (on the tarmac). Very quick and easy.

In Prague; customs was a snap. They just glanced at our passports, stamped them, and we were in the country in a matter of minutes. Luggage was quick; nothing to declare; we were in a taxi within 15 minutes of landing.

You have no idea how much more relaxed we were to be in Europe. Vegas was mad; sleep was oddly structured and fatigue kept creeping over us at the oddest moments. In Prague, perhaps its because it's quieter, or because we're not surrounded by Amerikans, but we both feel lots more comfortable.

We checked into Perla, which is gorgeous. The hotel's only been open for a couple of months, so everything's new. It's got a slight Japanese theme happening, so the rooms feel very comfortable and Zen. Breakfast was wonderful; probably the best meal we've had since we left Australia, and don't get me started on the quality of the coffee; I think I'm going to hook it up to a drip.

The city is something else entirely; chilly but refreshing weather, gorgeous buildings, I really can't put it into words, so I'll leave it for the photos (we'll have to post them when we get to Caroline's).

Anyway I'd better go. Internet's free to guests, but I'm on the only computer and I'm sure there's other's that want to use it.

Na shledanou!
Min & Paul