PragueBuzz!

Estonia has decided to Skyped Czech.

The Internet communications company Skype will in the first quarter of 2007 open a development centre in the Czech capital Prague which expects to hire almost 30 specialists in a year; the centre will be operated from Estonia.

“We decided in favour of the Czech Republic because of the good educational system and quality workforce. The favourable location and flexible labour policy also make Prague an attractive destination for mobile labour throughout Europe,” Kaukver said.

This news has almost no impact to Czech tech personnel as Skype plans to hire only 30 computer programmers. In the future, this may change.

I’ve been using Skype for over a year for both local and international calls. I’m very satisfied with the rates although the call quality is often not as clear. And I’m extremely grateful for Skype’s US and Canada free-calling promotion when I lived in the US. A lot of money would have drained out of my pocket had I used my mobile or traditional phone line.

I cross my finger for similar promotions in the Czech Republic. Be more generous, Skype.

[Link to article]

Tags: Prague, PragueBuzz, Technology, Skype, Czech

Skype for Business

Sorry, no James Bond here. Not even a slightest mention of him.

This story is about a missile defense radar, the first in Europe, the US hopes to deploy in the Czech Republic. The project is predicted to cost 1.6 billions and takes 5 years to complete.

What’s in it for America?: Defense against long-range missiles from North Korea and Iran.

What’s in it for Czech?: Big money from America. Traveling to US without a visa?

The current government head by Mirek Topolanek, the PM who just dumped his wife (I swear I won’t bring up this fact ever again.) seemed to support the plan despite objection from other parties and about two-third of Czech citizens.

Think about it.

1. Europeans share this “strange” dislike for the American government; Czech is no exception.
2. Czech is known as a very liberal country and liked by many. Now if they have the radar base in the territory, America’s enemies (boys, plenty) might turn against Czech and its citizens. No more nice guy image for the Czech Republic.

This love story about a future Czech spy and America doesn’t promise a happy ending, does it?

[Full article]

Tags: Czech Republic, Prague, PragueBuzz, Politics

CAR

Update: By car go Prague - Vienna - Graz - Zagreb - Slavonski Brod - Sarajevo. [thanks novala]

I don’t know how. I guess you just buy a map, locate the highway and drive.

BOAT/FERRY

Sorry! Both countries are land lock. Suck heh? No wonder tourists keep flocking to the Croatia’s seaside.

FOOT

Right! You do it and let me know. I promise to write about you and your foot journey for a week straight.

AIR

1. Czech Airline (CSA ): This will take the least time, ~ 4 hours. There used to be direct flights, but I think due to Sarajevo’s out-of-beaten-path location and CSA’s losing money, all flights will stop at some other cities, for example Budapest. This explains the 4-hours instead of two. Oneway ticket can be overwhelming from $400 up to $900.
2. Low-cost Germanwings : Depend on when you fly, you can grab a really cheap oneway, about 20 EUR flying in and out many major cities. (Best chance if you fly in and out of Germanwings’ main hub, Cologne-Bonn). So you can make a multiple point-to-point trip. By the way, if you buy a ticket from Germanwings to and from Cologne, you can get a 2 beer for the price of 1 . Double check the offer though.

Prague-Cologne/Bonn-Sarajevo: Germanwings has recently added Sarajevo to its flight destination so there might not be any scheduled flights at the moment, but check to see if there is during your travel period. Unless you’re really lucky and find two flights scheduled close to one another, you might have to wait at Cologne airport, possibly overnight.

BUS/TRAIN: From Prague, the 2 shortest routes to Sarajevo are through Vienna and Budapest.

Via Vienna:

• Student Agency bus or “Yellow Bus”: Web site in Czech only. Once you’re on that page (to get to the page from the home page, locate the yellow bus and click “Praha-Brno-Viden (Vienna)”) click “Jízdní rád/Rezervace” (Schedule & Reservation), scroll down and you’ll see the bus schedule from Prague to Vienna. At the time of this post, the buses depart at 4 different times: 23:55, 3:00, 10:30, and 12:30. It stops in Wien, Nord-Praterstern and Wien, Flughafen Wien (airport). To buy: go to one of SA’s agencies. Costs are 300KC/$15 to Nord-Praterstern and 450KC/$23 to the airport or Flughafen.
• Also check this web site written in English. They also sell Yellow Bus’s tickets and currently have a promotion Praha-Vienna for only 200KC/$10.
• Eurolines bus to Sarajevo: You can book online at Eurolines Austria (*) (45+ EUR oneway) or buy it at at Sud Bahnhof. My friend say that you can buy ticket on the bus for the same price, but he’s not too sure. Buses here depart to former Yugoslavia. It’s likely that you leave from here to Sarajevo.
• To get to Sud Bahnhof from Nord-Praterstern bus stop: Praterstern Wien-Nord metro station, Red Line, is near the bus stop. Take the subway to Sudtiroler Platz. Metro ticket cost €1.5. Trip lasts 20 minutes. From Sudtiroler Platz, you can walk about 10 minutes to Sud Bahnhof.

Via Budapest :

• Never tried this route, but I think it’s the longest and most costly.

Additional Remarks:Try this amazingly cool National timetable information system where you can search for a detailed of transportation means + schedule from a Czech city to another domestic or international city.

COMBO: Remember that from Prague direction, there are 4 shortest possible routes into Sarajevo: Budapest, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik.

You can make a combo air, bus, train, etc. Again depend on your travel plan if you want to stop at those three cities. I suggest you should if you’ve never been there and do not have too much luggage.

Via Budapest:

• Prague-Budapest (Smartwing).
• Budapest-Sarajevo (by train): See Budapest-Sarajevo train schedule here. Read more about train transportation in Sarajevo.

Via Zagreb:

• Prague-Cologne/Bonn-Zagreb (Germanwings flight ): Tickets can be booked easily online. Bookmark T ravelJo! and know when Germanwings offers promotions. (*)
• Zagreb - Sarajevo (Croatia bus or other): Buy at the main bus station. In late 2005, an oneway ticket cost $35. If you have to wait for many hours before the departure, then explore the city. It’s quite nice .

Via Split:

• Prague-Split (SkyEurope): Flights might be seasonal, available only during the summer.
• Split airport to bus station: Don’t know.
• Split to Sarajevo: Can easily be done once there. Buses depart often to Sarajevo. Probably less than $30/oneway.

Via Dubrovnik:

• Prague-Dubrovnik(SkyEurope): Flights might be seasonal, available only during the summer.
• Dubrovnik airport to bus station: Don’t know.
• Dubrovnik to Sarajevo: Can easily be done once there. Buses depart very often to Sarajevo. Probably less than $30/oneway.
• If you choose this route, please do yourself a favor by heading to Mostar first as it’s on the way to Sarajevo. The city is amazingly nice. One-day stop might not be enough. Mostar is only 2.5 hours away from Sarajevo. Getting to Sarajevo from there is a piece of cake.

Notes:

(*) I used to think there is nothing to see in Cologne-Bonn. But CNN Travel seems to disagree. You might want to check out their story for possible activities in Colgone.

(*) Eurolines.com web site sucks as you can’t do much thing there. Instead try locate Eurolines’ web sites for their operating countries, for example Austrian Eurolines is eurolines.at, Czech Eurolines, eurolines.cz, etc.

Tags: Sarajevo, Prague, PragueBuzz, Travel

He would be booed all the way down to his walk of fame before forced to resigned from the post.

The PM, Mirek Topolanek, apparently left his wife of many years to live with his pregnant girl-friend, who is also a fellow politician. This is no soap opera.

The forever-liberal, secular Czech gave him and his party the confidence vote only a few weeks after.

Hah. Only in Europe. I forgot to mention that he leads a conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

The mistress

The wife during the good old days

Tags: PragueBuzz, Czech Republic, Prague, People