Dear Blog, It's me Katie.

FLASHBACK ENTRY:
March 29th, 2007
I'm sitting here in the Prague Airport and I just heard a Simple Plan song ("I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare") blasting from the "Enjoy Food" station... it made me smile. Caitlin and Liz left for the airport this morning, leaving me to fend for myself for a whole day- SCARY. I walked around all day and pretty much revisited every sight we had seen since being there. I thought it was probably not a good idea to take out my guide book so as not to stand out as such a blatent tourist..even though it seemed that Prague itself was in fact ONLY tourists. Anyway it seemed like every turn I took I somehow ended up back at the Easter market/fair in the city center... I mean who was I to argue- they did sell my new addiction: chocolate covered apples! So anyway, after wandering and wandering for about 6 hours (this includes and hour of facebook at the hostel), I decided to call for a cab to the airport. I figured at least I would be able to sit in a nice warm place for awhile instead of endless walking. About 20 mins after calling for the cab, a guy with bleached hair tips shows up wearing sunglasses.. apparently he is my cab driver. He takes my suitcase, banging it on the door as we left the hostel (good thing I decided against getting the decoartive Czech easter eggs...) We go across the street and it turns out he drives the sketchiest unmarked white van I've ever seen... At this point I'm thinking this has the sniper scenario written all over it. I got into the "taxi" reluctantly and before I know it we are turning down small cobble stone streets & picking up speed by the minute. At this point I ask him, "How long does it take to get to the airport?" Keep in mind this is our first exchange of words on this journey. His response, "Spreken zie Deutsch?" GREAT. He doesn't speak English. I point to my watch, I mean I am afterall a charades champion. He says, "OH! 20 minutes." About 35 minutes later I see a sign for the airport- thank goodness. My death grip on my seatbelt loosened. I wasn't out of the clear however. We turn into the departure lane and are immediately pulled over and there are 5 police surrounding the van within minutes. The taxi driver starts frantically searching for documents and gets out of the van. The police lift up the hood of the van and pull out a flashlight to inspect. Five minutes later the "taxi" driver gets back in the van and starts talking to himself (most likely cursing, but I'm clueless at this point.) Finally the police come back and let us go. I have no idea what we were stopped for, but as soon as we pulled up to the airport I had the money ready in my hand and rapidly grabbed my luggage and ran! Yay for traveling solo?

*If only at this point I knew what was to lie ahead in my travel experiences with the police...