When traveling abroad alone I feel the safest when I limit my time in transit. I prefer to cruise around unfamiliar foreign lands when I travel with a partner. My solo adventures involve staying in the center of a large city, such as Paris or London, where I maintain a home base and have plenty of options for entertainment, art, and walking. I have the freedom to explore at will in familiar territory.
Days after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, I had to decide if I’d follow through on a solo trip I booked to Prague. I figured it would be one of the safest times to travel with everyone on high alert. And I was not going to let “them” prevent me from enjoying the things I love.
As one of the few medieval European cities that wasn’t destroyed by bombs, it is a treat to walk Prague’s streets, visit the castle, and loiter on bridges over the River Vltava. I was introduced to the art of Josef Capek (at home I quickly painted his “Head of a Woman” (1915) from my sketch so I wouldn’t forget it, but my execution is dreadfully poor and I hope to re-do it someday). Another highlight was a concert by Jablkon, a Czech acid folk group whose instruments include freaky bells, gongs, horns, guitars, and voices.
In the Prague metro I helped prevent a 100 person pile-up on the steep escalator. A huge drunk man was wobbling in front of me as we quickly descended. I backed off as far as I could, but there were lots of people behind me. Sure enough, at the bottom he fell on his backside and I had to vault over him to avoid falling on top of him. A woman in front who heard the commotion helped as we each grabbed one of his huge arms and hauled him off the escalator. She proceeded to get in his face and yell in Czech. It’s one of my distorted thrills to hear someone being scolded in a foreign tongue. You don’t know what they’re saying, but you know what they’re saying.
I would have missed all this and more if I let terrorists prevent me from travelling. My individualism flies in the face of “their” philosophy on so many levels. Only later did I recognize the significance of my chosen destination since reports alleged a connection between 9/11 terrorists and Prague.
