GMC in Europe 2008

Related entry: Pickpockets in Prague

Remember the old Batman show with all the ker-pows, blam and ooof graphics during the fight scenes?  John and I were walking back one lovely morning to our hotel in Prague when an overgrown child gyspy, ok, maybe just some 20 something punk, walked by, reached into John’s pocket and man, he just didn’t see it coming.  Too bad the graphics were missing but I think I can say that the moves we pulled were just too fast to add graphics.  Guess it was all those Bond movies too…must tell mom that the boob tube came in handy!

John and I walked away totally unscathed, unafraid and feeling quite proud of our tag teaming that helped vanquish the potential thief.  We taught him a lesson he won’t soon forget…never underestimate the power of two guys with grey hair after a few Pilsners!  We made sure he would never bother any of you again! 

See you at the gym or the bar!  Rich

Dear GMC’ers who toured and who waited,

While vistas, music and food (and Rich’s Lime Juice) were an amazing part of our tour, I cannot help but say I will miss the people the most.  There were a few folks who stood out, like Ian and Peter, our guides from Scotland and England respectively along the way to make it a ton of fun.

But what will always make me smile are those many moments of connecting with our many wonderful chorale folks.  Truly, we learned lots about each other; it has added a dimension of opening up a lot more and seeing sides of folks that we never saw before.  Yes Colin, there is really a 20-year-old Rich inside this 50-year-old man!

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So far we have had pretty good advice sent our way by John Coghill about notifying credit card companies about your planned travel, finding out which bank ATM’s in Europe will not charge a service fee for use, and info from Casterbridge on how much to budget.

Two more ideas (travel debit card and pre-purchase of Euro’s):

You can go to any AAA store, there is one in Cromwell I use, and purchase a VISA travel debit card (just use it like a credit card abroad and not a debit) that you pre-load money onto before you leave.

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