We’ve
traveled to Europe every other year since 2012 to visit Karel’s family (and in
2014, 2016, and 2018 we raced Ironman Austria and in 2018 we also raced
Challenge Prague). Packing for this Europe trip was a bit different compared to
years past. With all the recent issues and complaints with international
travel, packing was not as easy as throwing everything into a suitcase.
With two bikes (we brought our mountain bikes for Xterra European Championship
and we are renting road bikes for Haute route – more on this later) and two
suitcases to get us through two races and 4 weeks in Europe, we needed to
account for the chance of lost/delayed luggage. We both brought a carry-one
with all our race stuff – mountain bike and road shoes, helmet, 3 cycling kits,
Xterra race kit, 2 pairs of regular clothes and other race stuff. We packed our
sport nutrition in our checked bag, with the rest of our everyday clothing and
a few more cycling kits. For this trip, we ordered 4 Apple Air tags ($99 on
Amazon) as well as tag key rings and bike adapters (for under the frame bottle
cage) so that we could track our bags and bikes throughout our travels. The app
is free and you get real time info on where your stuff is as well as when it’s
handled/moved. This would give us peace of mind that we would know where our
luggage was at all times.
Karel
packed our Biknd bike cases to be 50 lbs so that our bikes could travel free on
Delta. Packing our mountain bikes was really easy for him in these cases – much
easier than tri bikes. The Biknd cases are soft cases but reinforced with
airbags inside for extra protection. The only downside is that there are only
wheels on one end so you have to lift one end and pull the case to wheel it.
We did most of our packing on the weekend (and by we I mean I packed on
Saturday, Karel tends to wait until the last minute to pack so I was proud that
he actually started packing on the weekend – but finished on Tuesday) and then
did a good cleaning of the house on Tuesday. We have a few different pet sitters
for the cats while we are away and my mom will have Campy.
On
Wednesday morning, I went for a 40 minute run. I didn’t have time for any
longer so I did 8 x 30 sec hill repeaters to add some quality and intensity to
the run. Karel planned to do a workout but he didn’t sleep well so he tried to
get a little extra sleep in the morning.
After packing up our Jeep (leaving one extra seat for Karel’s mom to return
home with us for 3 months), we said a long good-bye to the furries. It’s so
hard to leave them. We dropped Campy off with my mom who lives a mile away and
then we made the 2 hour drive to Charlotte, NC for the first of two flights to
Prague Czech Republic.
We
drove to our friends house – Kelly and Meg Fillnow – and arrived around 11am. I
gave us a buffer of around 30 minutes in case we had any delays before heading
to the airport at 11:30am. Kelly drove us to the airport (in our Jeep) and she
will be keeping our car at her place for the month. So thankful for them to
save us some money by not having to keep the car at long term parking. We
arrived to the airport just before noon and there was no line to check in for
our 3:50pm flight. I wanted to give us at least 3 hours before boarding due to
all the delays and issues at the airport lately. We checked in two bags each
(bike + suitcase = both were free) and by 12:20pm we were all checked in. Karel
and I signed up for TSA pre-check ($85 for 5 years) but only I was approved
within a few days – Karel’s application is still awaiting approval – it can
take up to 60 days) so I got to go through the TSA pre-check (which was a
breeze) and Karel went through the regular security check.
Since
we had over 3 hours until we boarded our flight, we got smoothies (and Karel
had a pita sandwich, I brought a PBJ bagel sandwich) and worked on Training
Peaks until it was time for us to board.
I selected Comfort Plus seats (front row) for our flights – a luxury that I
will always pay for when traveling. We both napped for our 80-minute flight to
JFK.
When we arrived in JFK around 5:30pm we walked from gate 40 to 26 for our next
flight which boarded at 8:30 (9:30 take off). We would be getting dinner on the
plane but we were hungry so we purchased food from a vending machine – and it
was really good! I got hardboiled eggs from Vital Farms with my bowl and Karel
got chicken. After we ate, we learned that our gate changed to 38 so we walked
back to where we landed in JFK and worked some more on the computer until we
started to board.
As
we were waiting to board, we started to track our bags with our apple air tag.
It was fun to see our bags/bikes being moved in Charlotte. But when we were in
JFK we noticed that our bikes were still sitting near gate 26 (our original
gate) and our suitcases were near 38. This had us a little concerned but they
still had time to move the bikes over 12 gates.
Tracking our bags in Charlotte - everything was on our plane.
We
got settled in our seats and continued to track our bikes….which were not
moving. Around 9pm, we were getting a bit stressed so I approached the flight
attendant and showed her our bikes on the app and asked if there was anything
that she could do. Without hesitation, she contacted a gate attendant from her
phone and continued to send her messages for the next 20 minutes. Finally,
around 10 minutes before the door closed to the plane, we received notification
that our bikes were on the plane (along with our suitcases). If it wasn’t for
the Apple Air Tags, we would not have known that our bikes were still sitting
at another gate. And we had proof that our bikes were there for the flight
attendant to notify someone to help us out. When we finally took off, we felt
relieved and could relax on our 8-hour flight to Prague.
We
fell asleep pretty quickly but woke up for our dinner around 11pm. I requested
a lacto-ovo vegetarian meal online (special meal) and it was delicious. Karel
got the chicken dish and he said it was pretty good. After we ate, I started to
watch Marry Me but was too tired to pay attention and slept on and off for the
rest of the flight. With 90 min to go, we woke up for “breakfast” – they gave
me a plain bagel as my vegetarian meal so I asked for the egg sandwich that
everyone else was getting for some protein. I watched a bit more of Marry Me (I
love a good RomCom) until we landed in Prague.
It was smooth going through customs (Karel has dual citizenship but since he’s with me he uses his US passport) and then our bikes were waiting for us in the luggage area (and our bags came shortly after we got our bikes).
Our
good friend and athlete Roman (who lives outside of Prague) had his assistant
pick us up and he was waiting for us when we walked out of the terminal. We are
very lucky that Karel has so many wonderful people in Czech who help us out
when we travel. It saves us money as well as stress. I feel asleep in the car
in route to Roman’s house (Roman is traveling but we will see him next week at
the Xterra race) but woke up in time for a popsicle and mineral water at the
gas station. Karel enjoyed a non-alcoholic beer with his popsicle. After
arriving to Roman’s house, we checked out his new endless pool (which took over
a year to arrive and install), Karel checked out Roman’s new Mercedes and then
Karel had an espresso before it was time for us to pack up our “rental” car
from Roman and make the 2.5 hour drive to Znojmo – Karel’s hometown to see his
mom. Karel’s mom is so excited to see us and feed us. On Sunday, as Karel was
skyping with his mom, she asked us what we wanted to eat when arrive. 😊
Our new car. 
Just kidding! This is our car for the next few weeks ;) It's a stick so Karel will be doing all the driving. It's been 4 years since Karel has been home (Czech Republic)
and three years since seeing his mom. Sadly, his dad passed away unexpectedly
from Covid in Feb of 2021 and Karel was unable to travel home due to border
closures. This trip will not be normal for us as we are used to spending time
with his mom and his dad (who lived in the same town but in separate flats).
Although Karel is excited to be back home, I know it’s going to bring a host of
different emotions for him. We are really looking forward to our time in Europe
and I’m excited to share our experiences with you.
