Change of plans - BIG change of the blog

I have finally decided to change the 123 Prague airport transfer blog to be rather more personal blog than business transfer blog. I am not the kind of person that wants to copy news articles to my blog or to write about stuff that is not really important to me. Everybody knows that the prices of petrol and diesel are raising, conversion rates to foreign currencies are dropping and most of us can imagine why. If not there are plenty of more specialized websites that focus on such topics. From now I am going to post anything I find interesting. Reviews on books I read, people I meet etc. So see you on the next level :D!

Exams passed!

I am glad to announce that today at 13:00 we have managed to pass the coach driving course and we are officially licensed to drive any coach. Exams were not easy, but we were well prepared. I would like to recommend AUTOSKOLA PIMES to anyone who is looking for a driving course and I would also like to thank our teacher Zdenek, who had the patience and skills to train us in this uneasy proficiency.

Videos from driving school

As previously announced we are going to get coach driving licenses (Martin and Petr) soon. Here are couple of videos from the actual driving courses. You may need proper codecs to play the videos, you can download the K-Lite codec pack version 3.65.

Video 1 - Our KAROSA coach is getting ready to do the job
Video 2 - Petr is driving KAROSA coach up to Barrandov studios
Video 3 - Another shots from driving up the Barrandov hills

It is BIIIIG!

Prague - the gourmet's city

No matter whether during airport shuttle or private airport transfers, I get constantly asked about good places to eat at. I am not a type of person that goes out a lot. I usually eat quick snacks at petrol stops on my way from Prague Ruzyne airport or when I have more time I stop by „U Drahusky“ restaurant near the Prague airport Ruzyne. Such a tip would be good for our competitors, but not travellers. Today I found a very nice article in „MF DNES Magazine“ in which various authors focused on prestigious restaurants that offer delicious food and wines. These tips are not for travellers who are looking for cheap, but good meals. Eating in Prague in general is cheap compared to Western countries, but the restaurants I am going to mention below are not the case. Prepare about 1500 – 3000 CZK if you plan a visit. For the cost, you will get the quality. Guaranteed.

The article mentions following places to which I added some contact details:

Allegro restaurant
Opening: Mon – Sun: from 11:00 to 24:00
Chef: Andrea Accordi
Cuisine: Italian, seafood, mediterranean, classic continental
Reservations: 00420 221427000
Address: Hotel Four seasons, Veleslavinova street, Prague 1

La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise
Opening: Mon – Sat: from 11:00 to 24:00 (closed on Sundays)
Chef: Oldrich Sahajdak & Fernando David Diaz Delgado
Cuisine: combined international including Czech
Reservations: 00420 222311234
Address: Hastalska 18, Prague 1

Maze
Opening: Mon – Sat: from 12:00 to 15:00 Lunch, from 18:00 to 23:00 Dinner
Chef: Carmichael
Cuisine: sample menu PDF file
Reservations: 00420 221822300
Address: Hilton Old Town hotel, V Celnici 7, Prague 1

The above mentioned restaurants are undoubtfully top three places to visit in Prague (food-wise). The article speaks of a few more places that should not miss your attention and are not that expensive. As I said in the beginning I am not outgoing person myself therefor I have to refer to someone's else recommendations. Once I have visited any of what I am trying to recommend I will post my opinions. The average dinner cost should not exceed much more than CZK 1500 for two persons.

Brasserie M
Opening: Mon – Fri: from 11:00 to 23:00, Sat: from 12:00 to 24:00, Sun: Closed
Chef: Jean Paul Manzac
Cuisine: French
Reservations: 00420 224054070
Address: Vladislavova 17, Prague 1

Aromi
Opening: Mon – Sat: from 12:00 to 23:00, Sun: from 12:00 to 22:00
Chef: Radek Hasman
Cuisine: Italian
Reservations: 00420 222713222
Address: Manesova 78/442, Prague 2

Le Terroir
Opening: Tue – Sat: from 11:00 to 22:00, Sun - Mon: closed
Chef: not sure :(
Cuisine: European
Reservations: 00420 222220260
Address: Vejvodova 1, Prague 1

As this should be mainly Prague airport transfer blog, I will only mention links to other restaurants websites. I also added couple of those that our clients, who used our Prague taxi service to take them to restaurants, found impressive or at least worth a visit.

Flambée, Zlata Praha (Golden Prague) at the intercontinental hotel, Kampa Park, Kampa fish, Hergetova Cihelna, Hanavsky pavilon

Dobrou chut! (Enjoy your meal!)

123-Prague-airport-transfers coach and bus drivers

I and my brother Petr are going to pass bus driving license (D class). We do not plan to purchase a big coach to join our fleet yet. Our fleet will probably gain new Mercedes Benz Sprinter minicoach for 19 passengers.

It will help us providing high quality shuttle service and Prague airport transfers for bigger groups.

Currently we outsource vehicles bigger than 8 seaters. Prague as center of Europe is also the center for stag do's. Thus we want to supply high quality airport transfers for groups of upto 19 passengers who do not want to be split in several smaller groups and minibuses.

Sprinter is a nice minicoach which offers full comfort as well as easy driving through narrow streets of Prague. Additionaly we will be able to provide multiple Prague airport shuttle pick ups and thereby keep our extremely competitive rates (starting from 400 CZK per one way).

On the other hand Mercedes Benz Sprinter is luxurious minibus and apart of shuttle Prague airport service we will use it for regular and VIP Prague transfers as well as sightseeing tours within the Czech republic / European Union. Sprinter is a limousine minicoach.

Good luck to both of us! :D

SCAM attack - Accommodation attempt

It has not been the first time that I have received scam, but this one seems to be very smart way to do it. As we also operate couple of accommodation websites (www.123Praha.com and www.Prague-guide.com) we are ideal target for accommodation scam.

So what is it all about? You receive an email like this:

Hello Sir/Madam,
I am Dr Miky Fare of Miky Travels & Tours. I need reservation in your facility for 3 double or 6 single rooms. Arrival date:20th June 2008 Departure date :30th June 2008 Number of nights: 10 nights, Number of Room: 3 DBL or 6 Sgl, Type of Room: Double or Single,Number of Guest 6, Mode of Payment: Credit card, Confirm availability and get back to me with your rates and total cost.

Best Regards,
Dr Miky Fare

The email looks ok, but second look at it reveals, that the email address is usually freely accessible (aol., yahoo. Etc.) and does not have to do anything with any agent's website (e.g. As I would expect miky.fare@mikytravel.com).

I gave the reply a try and I offered accommodation of undescribed type at rate 350 EUR per night per room. I could feel some trick in the email so I was not properly worried of loosing an client.

The reply I received thereafter clearly convinced me of SCAM. Dr. Miky Fare accepted my ridiculous offer.

I did not go to much further in the communication and therefor I can not refer from my own experience, but basically what is suppossed to happen:

1.You charge their credit card
2.Your bank does not proceed the payment
3.You do not mention it
4.You send the partial money somewhere to cover other expenses that Dr. Fare is unable to proceed on his own (usually car rental, logistics etc.)
5.You lost what you sent. Good job.

Conclusion? DO NOT SEND ANYONE ANYTHING and DO NOT TRUST ANYONE ELSE BUT YOURSELF!

Now I am awaiting SCAM attack on Prague airport transfers, I can imagine that someone will request full service on congress meeting where part of the money will be used for transfers and rest to be abused... But that wont work with us!

Virtual identity of Martin Stich

After looooong weekend Martin AKA (also known as) smRt or sMARTIN is back to the real life. Me - Martin Stich apart of being a real identity lives also in virtuality.

This weekend a local area network was set up in a small village Ostrovce where other freaks like me met to play computer games. The event was temporary called Hell Mill Lan as the house we used as a shelter was situated near very old scary mill.

The atmosphere at the LAN was great, however I was out of reach on my mobile which may have caused some trouble to those who were trying to call me. I have had the phone calls forwarded though. Thank you for patience and please accept my apology for inconvinience. After all I am back. I am upset that I had to leave such a good fun behind, but where something ends something starts. Let's see what future brings.

Thanks and regards to all who attended the ultimate HELL MILL LAN FEBRUARY 2008 :

Simon AKA Ody, Kubik AKA K3K, Patrick Aka War_machine, Marek AKA Mustafa, Honza AKA Sipkos, Tomas AKA Karax, Ondra AKA Blackhawk and Filip AKA Wulezz

Prague airport transfers - SKODA SUPERB limousine

Official website of the leading Czech car producer SKODA recently released pictures of the upcoming new model of limo SKODA SUPERB. The car looks simply great. Front may remind you of BMW and rear seems to be a little bit like Renault Laguna. However the unique limo look remains. Once our current SUPERB limos get three years old, we have worthy replace. On March 2008 the model will go gold and become available to purchase. I am already thinking about buying one!!

Picture 1, picture 2, picture 3, picture 4

All pictures were downloaded from www.skoda-auto.cz, all rights reserved to: 2008 ŠKODA AUTO a.s.

Conversion rate of Czech koruna - impact on Prague taxi prices

Czech koruna (CZK) the official currency of the Czech republic gets stronger. It is breaking its maximum records on conversion rate to Euro as well as the U.S. Dollar.

It may be unfortunate for travel and tourism in Prague as visitors find the city being more expensive. To give comparison, not even a year ago we charged 20 EUR each way (return airport transfers), nowadays (February 2008) we charge 24 EUR each. I find 20% rate-increase already dramatic.

Although the rates of Prague airport transfers and taxi services have not raised much in local currency the impact on tourism is already obvious.
Visitors tend to use cheaper ways to get from the airport to the city center such as Prague public transport or Prague airport shuttle services. Public transport prices were raised recently by almost 30%! One way regular ticket costs 26 CZK (cost 20).

Public transport as well as regular Prague city taxi drivers are still not happy with the prices and their maximums. It seems that increase of the maximum taxi rates as well as costs of Prague public transport is inevitable. Not only because of the strong currency but also more expensive energies and resources (electricity, gas, petrol, diesel).

Among the most known airport shuttle providers are:
CEDAZ (operated by AAA taxis since 2007/2008)
Smart Shuttle (operated by Stefanie s.r.o.)
Both companies provide fixed-rate shuttle service from Prague airport to city center.

Fortunately the dominance of the CEDAZ shuttle gets weaker as more companies approached shuttle transport services. We can see the same what happened in private airport transfers in last two years. Prices of shuttle services DECREASE due to stronger competition in the market.

Along with CEDAZ and SMART SHUTTLE you can find other shuttle providers:

HFS s.r.o. - http://www.123-Prague.com (3 GBP per person minimum / 12 GBP per person maximum - depends on group size, 2 EUR per person surplus to non-city center hotels)

Resorthoppa.com and Cityhoppa.com (8 GBP per person - flat rate, no surplus on non-city center

Holidaytaxis.com (8,4 GBP per person - flat rate, no surplus on non-city center)

Prague-transfers.cz (provides only city center shuttle - 12 GBP - 1-2 persons)

Praguenet.com (shuttle for 1-2 persons 15 GBP)

Shuttlepragueairport.com (from 4 GBP per person, depending on group size, the rates are not clear on the website, website also does not say surplus on non-center)

World-airport-transfer.com (8 GBP per person - operates only 6:00am - 9:00pm)

Comfort-shuttle.com (14 GBP per two persons, no surplus)

Cedaz shuttle bus (1-4 persons 15 GBP - 1 persons pays the same as 4, 5 - 8 persons 30 GBP, there is surplus to non-city center hotels, ZONE price list is available on their website)

Smart shuttle (very similiar pricing as CEDAZ)

I am sure that Prague airport shuttle services will now become more demanded especially due to the strong currency and increased prices of services in general.

Jump to www.123-Prague.com to book our shuttle service

If you operate independent Prague airport shuttle services and you wish to get listed in this article, feel free to contact me office@prague-guide.com. Please do not contact me if you provide private transfers and just call yourself Prague airport shuttle :P (Hi Chris :)).

Privatization of Prague Ruzyne airport

finally becomes a headliner all around Europe not just in the Czech republic. Privatization of Prague airport is a slow process, however it is moving forwards and quickly brings big attention. Prague Ruzyne airport is currently ran and owned by the Czech republic.

Credit suisse - the advisor of the Czech goverment on sale of Prague airport - should let the goverment know about the best option on March 2008. There are several companies and organizations interested in purchase of Prague airport. Essar, GMR group, Flughaffen Wien (Vienna, Austria), Fraport (Frankfurt, Germany), Abertis airport (Spain), hochtief airport (Budapest, Hungary), GVK (operator of Mombaj airport) and a few more international subject. There are several issues especially with sale / purchase of land around Prague airport. Agreement is yet to be negotiated.

We as airport transfers providers are not really interested in the sale itself, morelikely we are a bit frightened of what restrictions may the new owners bring and thereby complicate pick up service and parking. Prague airport expands and the sale is going to bring 70 - 100 billion Czech korunas to Czech treasury...