May 4-5. We made good progress this week preparing for the trip so that we did not have to rush around today. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:35pm. Rob made final preparations to the house in the morning and Michele vacuumed to burn off nervous energy. After lunch Marcia picked us up at 1:45pm and stopped at Roy and Gwyn’s house to pick them up on the way to Dulles. Rob and Michele haven’t been on a plane since our 2018 Barcelona/Mediterranean Cruise!
Departure terminal traffic at Dulles was moderate and Marcia dropped us off in front of the United curb-side baggage check in. We were the only ones at the bag check-in so it took under 5 minutes to drop off the checked bags and start heading to security, completely avoiding the inside check-in lines.
Roy and Gwyn went to pre-TSA check security and Rob and Michele went through regular security. It was fairly busy, but the line steadily advanced and we were through in about 10-15 minutes. After a live photo and ID check, only four things are now needed at security: coats off, shoes off, pockets empty, and everything in a huge gray bin. No more toiletries bags or laptops out. Michele got randomly selected for a warm hand wand test, perhaps testing for gunpowder residue. Rob and Michele arrived at the train platform just a few minutes ahead of Roy and Gwyn. Sometimes regular security is faster than pre-check.
Our plane was scheduled to depart from gate C4 near the end of terminal C. It took about 10 minutes to walk to the gate. By this time it was 3pm and we found open seats to wait for boarding to begin at 4:30. We got money exchanged for Euros and Czech Koruna and picked up snacks for the trip.
Our Boeing 777 flight was completely full. In fact, when we checked in the day before, the airline was offering incentives for anyone willing to give up their seat. As we got in line to board the plane, the gate agents were strongly encouraging folks to check any of their roll-on luggage. Those who were boarding the plane in the last two groups would likely not have any overhead space left and have to gate check anyway. We did not have such concerns since we were flying in United’s Premium Plus cabin.
We boarded just after business class, which is basically first class in single pod configurations, and had plenty of storage space. The cabin configuration in premium plus is 2-4-2 versus 3-5-3 in the economy cabin. Rob and Michele were in the last row of the Premium Plus cabin on the left side of the plane. There were just 24 seats in this section, vs. 80 in Business Class. Roy and Gwyn were in the row in front of us.
We were in our seats and ready to go by 5pm. The plane pushed back from the gate a few minutes later than the 5:35pm scheduled time, but not enough to affect our arrival time in Brussels. In Premium Plus we got fancy blankets from Saks Fifth Avenue and a pillow for the flight only, not to keep.
Shortly after we were in the air we were served dinner. Michele got the last of the chicken meals leaving Rob with the vegetarian noodle meal. Neither were tasty, but the small salads were okay, so hopefully the return flight is better.
After dinner we settled in for the remaining portion of the 7 hour flight. Rob finished watching the Cobra Kia series he downloaded from Netflix and tried to sleep unsuccessfully. Michele watched Young Sheldon episodes, Ocean’s Eleven, and Back to the Future. She also tried to sleep unsuccessfully. Had the seats reclined further we think we might have slept.
Our route took us up through New York, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland for the first two hours.
We had shorts periods of chop as we passed over the rainstorms from yesterday. The rest of the flight was fairly smooth with few seatbelt on periods.
About two hours before we landed, the flight crew served breakfast. Rob chose banana bread pudding versus the egg white bites that Michele chose and enjoyed with yogurt.
The flight landed in Brussels at 7:30am local time on Monday, May 5 (1:30am EDT). Our arrival gate was near the very end of the terminal (again). We made our way to the A terminal where our connection would take us to Prague. Since we were connecting to an EU country, we had to go through customs on our way to the A terminal. Customs took 5 minutes and was so easy it didn’t seem as if we went through Customs. The agent only asked us one question: Where are you going?
It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the A terminal, and along the way it looked more like a fancy mall than an airport. Unfortunately, Brussels Air doesn’t identify the departure gate until 45 minutes before your flight. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9:30am. We walked along the terminal until we found some open seats where we waited until they posted our departure gate at 8:45am.
Our departure gate wound up being A34 which required us to back track down Terminal A and drop down a level. We would enter this plane from the airport tarmac, and stood outside for 20 minutes in the chilly 50F shade before they opened the plane doors to allow us to board. At least it wasn't raining or snowing.
Our tightly packed Brussels Air flight left at about 9:30 for the short 1.5 hour flight to Prague. No Premium Plus on this flight. We landed in Prague and were off the plane at about 11am local time (GMT +2) or 5am EDT. Whew, we made it to the Czech Republic, a new country for both Rob and Michele. After a 10 minute walk to baggage claim we found the carousel for our flight and only waited 10 more minutes for our bags. All four of our bags were among the first 15 bags out. Premium Plus also has the benefit of priority checked bags so they come out first, nice! It’s always a relief to see the bags after connecting overseas flights.
We placed our Viking tour baggage tags on our luggage, slapped our “I am with Viking Cruises” sticker on our clothes, and walked around the corner to the arrivals greeting area where we were spotted by a Viking Cruises representative. He guided us and one other couple from Florida to the taxi pickup area and helped us load into a pre-arranged taxi van for the 40 minute ride to our hotel.
A few first images of Czech Republic.
Gwyn liked this flowering shrub that we saw blooming all over the city.
We arrived at the Hilton Prague hotel a little past 12pm local time (6am EDT). Viking Cruises reps greeted us outside. Very efficiently they loaded our luggage, guided us to a special Viking check in and tour area, and let us know that our rooms were ready and waiting for us even at our early arrival. We filled out a quick document and were given our room keys without having to visit the regular hotel check in. Our bags arrived at our room 5 minutes after us. Michele and Rob freshened up and then went to the Cafe & Bistro, one of the many on-site restaurants at the hotel, for lunch that is in the bright atrium area. We shared a fried chicken and coleslaw sandwich with fries on a black brioche bun.
We were back in our room just before 2pm (8am EDT). Feeling like walking zombies, we closed the curtains and took a 3 hour nap. We woke up at 5pm and by 7pm we decided on dinner at the on-site hotel restaurant, Hop House. We ordered a burger and salad and watched the last set of the Madrid Open tennis match on a wall sized TV display. The pub has a nice vibe and we relaxed there awhile. We were back in our hotel room around 8:30pm. We have plans to eat breakfast with Roy and Gwyn tomorrow morning and then we have our first Viking tour excursion at 2pm tomorrow.
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