Now I am coming to the topic which feels awkward to talk about. I planned firstly to skip it over and write about my trip to Indonesia where I travelled last year in June but I have to talk about it because it was a significant turning point in my life. 

The decision to travel to Indonesia was taken last year in April when my friend Sarka who travelled there with me made a suggestion to visit this country. I was reluctant at first because I thought it was not a good idea to spend money on travelling while I was not able to find a job, but my mother agreed to pay my trip and we bought flight tickets. 

It was Easter at the end of April 2011 and I travelled to Slovakia with my mother to visit my family there. It was the last time when I met my father. While I was there he looked healthy and I didn't have any premonition that anything bad would happen soon. He arranged going to the hockey championship with his girlfriend who invited him there and at the beginning of May they went there. While the weather in April was relatively warm then it got much colder and it was almost freezing at the beginning of May. My father drank cold beer at the stadium and this was probably when he became ill. He went to see a doctor who sent him to X-Ray which revealed that my father had pneumonia and he was taken to the hospital around May 10th. I was in Prague at that time but I used to call my grandmother who told me at first that he was going to be fine and then she told me that it was very serious. However, my grandmother is a neurotic person in general that's why I wasn't worried about my father so much. When I speak about my grandmother I mean a maternal grandmother, my paternal one died n November 2009 after a long illness.

My grandmother went to the hospital to visit my father on Friday May 20th just 3 days before he died. She went there with my father's best friend and his son who took her there by car. They all had an impression that my father was doing well because he seemed very excited and talkative. 

On Tuesday 24th May the phone was ringing in the morning around 9am and it woke me up. My apparently agitated grandmother asked me if my mother was at home but was unwilling to tell me what happened. I didn't want to ask her questions because it was obvious that she didn't want to tell me. I called to my mother who told me that my father died. I was shocked but we had leave to Slovakia immediately to arrange the funeral there. My father's relatives from USA came too. The funeral was emotive and mainly the song Ave Maria made me cry a lot. After the funeral we went to a restaurant for a feast. 

I wasn't sure if I still wanted to travel to Indonesia after what happened but finally I decided to go there because I didn't want to make my friend disappointed. We left to Indonesia on June 28th. 

My last day in Israel I took a bus to Bethlehem which is very close to Jerusalem. We crossed Palestinian borders, nobody checked passports while we were going there but on the way back they did. I was travelling alone until a guy from the Ivory Coast noticed me in the bus and offered to show me the city. His name was Alya and he was 5 years younger than me. He played football in Israel. We met his friend Raad who was originally from Bethlehem and we visited the city and then we went to Raad's house for a lunch. Raad's family was Christian. His mother cooked grape leaves stuffed with rice and fish. I was wondering if his mother didn't mind that he brought a stranger to his house for the lunch but he said it was no problem.

I took a taxi to Solomon's Pools after the lunch. It was getting much colder that day and I didn't bring any warm clothes with me so I was frozen when I returned to Bethlehem. Some people who waited with me at the bus stop made me worried when they told me that the border crossing we were going to was only for the Israeli residents and there was a chance that they wouldn't let me cross, but fortunately I passed without any problem. When I returned to Jerusalem I went to a sushi restaurant with my host. The following day he accompanied me to the bus station and I took a bus to Eilat. The journey took 5 hours and we were travelling along the Dead sea. I had to take another bus to the Taba border and then I took a taxi which took me to my hotel in Nuweiba for 40 USD. I returned to Egypt on Thursday around 5pm and I quickly took a bath in the sea. I stayed in Egypt till Sunday and I spent the last days there just relaxing on the beach and walking around with two Jordanian guys who stayed in the same hotel as me. The weather was warm but windy. We took a bus late at night to the Taba airport and we arrived to Prague on Monday morning.

When I arrived to the Israeli border on Sunday it was already quite late, around 8pm. Jerusalem and Amman are not far away from each other but I didn't know that the border crossing was in the north of the country so when I arrived there I found out that I was more than 100 km far away from Jerusalem. A customs officer interrogated me thoroughly at the Israeli border and I felt almost like a criminal. Finally I was allowed to enter Israel and I found a taxi driver who took me to Tiberias where I caught the last bus to Jerusalem and it was around 10:30pm when I arrived there.
I had two hosts in Jerusalem from couchsurfing, both of them were called Asaf and lived next to the Aza street which is close to the city center. The first one was studying medicine and the second one was working. Both of them were busy so they couldn't show me around therefore I visited the city by myself. The first one hosted me one night and the second one three nights.
Obviously I didn't have much time to visit Israel because I had to return to Egypt to catch my flight there. I stayed 3 days in Israel and I visited Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Bethlehem. The first day I went to the Old City and I was initially walking around by myself. I didn't even have a map but it didn't bother me, I was walking around the city and taking pictures.

After crossing the bazaar I met a Jewish guy who approached me and offered to show me the city. I agreed and we visited together the Western Wall and then we went to the Mount of Olives. His name was Chaim and he was 38. He lived in the Jewish quarter street. The place he lived in looked like a shop from outside but when I entered I found out it was just one room around 4m2 big. There was only enough space for a bed and a cupboard, but there was no toilet or shower, just a sink. We decided to travel to Tel Aviv together the following day but there was a big storm in the evening and it got much colder during the night. While it was 31°C during my first day in Israel the following day it was only 18°C.
When we took a bus to Tel Aviv there was one Orthodox Jewish man sitting close to us. I was talking to Chaim and I mentioned several times during our conversation that I wasn't Jewish. When the Orthodox Jewish man was getting off the bus, he gave a paper to my friend where he wrote that he was sorry, he could understand that my friend was lonely, but he should talk to me or spend time with me because I wasn't Jewish and we weren't going to get married. I was partly amused and partly annoyed because I found it quite insolent, but Chaim told me that I mustn't say in Israel that I am not Jewish.
When we arrived to the sea in Tel Aviv I went to swim even though it was windy and relatively cold.

I didn't have a swimsuit with me but the beach was quite empty so I could swim in my pants. Then we went to the city and Chaim told me that he often meets girls in Jerusalem and makes them visit some places but he expects something in return. He said that he either has sex with them or they give him money. I told him that he couldn't expect anything like that from me so he left to Jerusalem alone and I stayed in Tel Aviv longer, I was watching a sunset there and visited bazaar and then I went to the bus station to take a bus to Jerusalem.

I arrived to Amman on Friday evening. My host lived close to the Baraka Mall. We met his friend from Norway who was working in Jordan and we had a dinner together in the restaurant. The following day we travelled by car to the Dead sea and we stayed on the beach in a hotel where we had to pay an entrance fee.
As soon as we arrived to the beach I entered the sea and I was floating there for a very long time, maybe one hour. The concentration of the salt was so high that my skin got itchy but I didn't mind because I really enjoyed bathing there although the water felt kind of oily. Then we covered ourselves in the mud which was in the bucket on the beach.

                                                                     Dead sea

We had a dinner in the hotel where we were staying during the day. Afterwards we returned to my host's place and that was when my troubles started because my host tried to abuse me and he became pushy despite I repeatedly said no. I certainly knew that it wasn't very safe for a girl alone to visit guys in Africa and Middle East so I counted on it, but I didn't expect it from this guy because he initially looked trustworthy.
Finally he let me be and we agreed that he was going to spend a night at this parents' house and I would stay in his flat with his flatmates. I wanted to visit Amman so I went out in the evening when it was already dark. I was walking next to the busy road and I attracted attention of many drivers, they were obviously not used to seeing a tourist walking alone in the evening in Amman. I put myself to troubles again because one guy stopped a car and I got in and he took me to the city center where we had a drink together and visited the city, we climbed the hill and I saw a Citadel. I spent a good time but the problems started when I asked him to bring me back home, he didn't want to let me get out of the car and asked me for more. I opened the door while he was still driving and threatened to jump out. At last I gave him some money and I returned home by taxi. I had a conversation with my host's flatmates in the evening and the next day I visited one of them. He ordered a taxi which took me to Israeli border in the evening.

Wadi Rum is a valley with rocks located in the east of Aqaba. It is one of the most spectacular places which I have seen so far. It is a place which is a must see in Jordan. When we arrived there, my host hired a jeep with a driver and we went for a ride in the sand dunes. Then we drank mint tea in the bedouin market. I borrowed some traditional clothes and dressed myself like a bedouin woman, but it was around 30°C that day so I took it off very soon.

                                                         me in burqua

After visiting Wadi Rum we travelled to Petra where we rented a room in a hotel. I was not fully satisfied with it because I expected to stay in my host's flat, but he said he was living with his family and he couldn't accommodate me there. We bought a ticket for a night show in Petra. We were sitting on the rocks where we climbed (it is not usually allowed but my host was working as a tour guide in Petra so it was ok) and we were listening to music in the dark, the only light was coming from candles. I remember a man playing a flute. I even took a photo there, but it is completely dark with orange spots so I am not going to insert it here.
The following day (it was Thursday) my host had to work and we went together on a tour in Petra. I rode a horse there and then a donkey. We drank mint tea again, but it was so hot that day and the tea was so sweet that it almost made me sick.

Temple in Petra

I left to Amman on Friday to visit another guy there. My host in Petra got other couchsurfers that day and didn't have time for me anymore. I found a taxi driver who took me to Amman. 

I wore shorts and miniclothes during my stay in Jordan. It was fine in the tourist places but it is not recommended in Amman. I had to wear a long skirt there. Although my stay in Aqaba and Petra went smoothly I had some troubles in Amman.

Now I am going to talk about my travels during last 2 years which I would like to describe in detail. After taking my final exam at the Czech university of life sciences I decided to go to Egypt for the third time. I went there in March 2010 and bought a 2 weeks trip from a travel agency, however I decided not to stay in Egypt all the time and I went to explore its neighbor countries.

This time I chose to spend my holidays in Egypt in Nuweiba which is around 65 km far away from Taba border with Israel. I took a flight late at night and arrived to Taba very early in the morning. Then we had to take a bus to Nuweiba and the travel took around one hour. It was around 8am when we got there. It was sunny and warm and I initially hesitated whether I should go to swim or to sleep, but I was tired so I slept till afternoon.

The weather in Egypt was warm, around 27°C. I stayed in the hotel called Helnan Nuweiba which was quite empty at the time. The hotel has its private beach where I was snorkeling. The sea was nice, there were coral reefs and fishes, but it can't be compared with Sharm El Sheikh. I paid for the half board and I used to go to the restaurant in the morning and evening where we could take as much as we wanted from the buffet. The food was tasty, but I usually enjoy overeating so I took so much food that I couldn't even finish it.

I arrived to Egypt on Monday 10th March and I knew quite soon that I didn't want to stay there because I had been there twice before and Nuweiba doesn't offer many opportunities to have fun. I left Egypt on Tuesday afternoon when I took a taxi to the Israeli border and then another one to the Jordanian border. I had already found couchsurfers to stay with before leaving Prague, however I didn't expect to stay in Egypt such a short time. My delegate didn't really appreciate the idea that I would go travelling alone to other countries, but I was adamant so she had to deal with it. 

I crossed both borders very quickly. An Israeli customs officer was questioning me where I was going to and who I would stay with, but she let me go after a few minutes. Nobody asked me anything in the Jordanian border, I just paid for the visa and I waited for my host who was originally from Petra, but had also another flat in Aqaba. We stayed one night in Aqaba and the following day we swam in the Red sea and visited the city and then we travelled to Wadi Rum.

                                                         Fountain in Aqaba

My second trip to Egypt happened during Christmas 2004 when we travelled to Hurghada and this time we didn't like our stay very much. Our hotel was next to the busy road with the noisy traffic during the night. The weather was cold, only around 17°C and very windy. I went to swim in the sea almost every day, but most of the time I was just freezing on the beach in the sweater. This weather would be ideal for windsurfing but not for spending holidays on the beach. The sea was dredged, therefore there were only a few coral reefs left. We were disappointed with Hurghada because there was nothing to see and comparing to Sharm it was much worse place. We were also not satisfied with the delegate who didn't take care of us properly.

Luxor

 We went on a trip to Luxor for one day. It was warmer there and the city was interesting. However, we were dissatisfied with our trip in Hurghada and we don't want to go there again.

My other two trips outside Europe were during Christmas 2003 and 2004 to Egypt. I went there with my mother and we bought a trip from a travel agency. We were staying there around 10 days each time The first time we travelled to Sharm El Sheikh and the second time to Hurghada.

Cairo

Sphinx

Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm El Sheikh

We were lucky with the weather in Sharm El Sheikh because it was around 25°C and sunny. The sea was wonderful with coral reefs and colorful fishes. We saw also a blue spotted ray there. We were staying in the hotel Dive Inn which had a swimming pool. A few days after our arrival we went on a boat trip, where some people were fishing, while I was just swimming and sunbathing. We sailed to Ras Muhammad where I was diving a bit (but just with my glasses, I would be scared to try the scuba diving). I considered Ras Muhammad to be an amazing place and one of the most beautiful places for diving.

We went to Cairo where we visited the National museum, the Alabaster mosque, pyramids and sphinx and also the factory with perfumes and carpets. I rode a camel for the first time in my life. We had two guides there, the first one was an Arabic man who could speak Czech fluently and the second one was a woman who studied Czech at the university and she spent one year in the Czech Republic. Cairo wasn't very warm at that time, only around 20°C and it was raining a little which is quite rare in Egypt. My mother didn't stay in Cairo during the night but I did. I stayed in the hotel Victoria. It was fine but I was woken up early in the morning by a praying muezzin. I met three friends from IRC, one of them joined me in the evening in the hotel and we went for a walk. 

The next day I visited the pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara and the lying statue of Ramses II. Then I returned to Sharm. 

I was satisfied with my trip in Sharm El Sheikh, even though I was sick for some time of my trip because of the Egyptian food. We bought quite a lot of stuff in Egypt in the markets, including perfumes, clothes and other stuff, but later we found out that most of it was shoddy goods.

Only two days after our return to Prague there was a plane crash in Sharm El Sheikh where 148 people on the board died, the majority of them were French tourists. It was very shocking news for me and I was thinking that we might have seen some of those people in Sharm. When I flew to the Martha's Vineyard island another disaster stroke when J.F. Kennedy, Jr. crashed into the Atlantic ocean off Martha's Vineyard just the night I arrived there. 

It is hard for me to describe what happened during my trip to Martha's Vineyard because I am hesitant to reveal details from my privacy. My trip was finished in a bad way and I will try to be as unbiased as possible while explaining the reasons for my short stay in my aunt's house.
First of all, I didn't know my aunt well. I met her only few times and I always spent a few days with her, but we were surrounded by other people all the time and we didn't really get to know each other. When she invited me to Martha's Vineyard to spend summer holidays there and I accepted her invitation we didn't consider the fact that even though we were close relatives we didn't know much about each other.
The Martha's Vineyard island is a wonderful place. It is a holiday resort for rich people. However, there is nothing to do except going to the beach. There are no possibilities to go out in the evening and enjoy the nightlife. All my friends know that I love sea and I am always happy to spend holidays on the beach, but I was a bit disappointed that there was were only small towns, beaches and lighthouses (and skunks).
My aunt used to work as a cleaner in the houses of rich people and I was helping her. She shared her income with me in a fair way as she gave me the half of the money earned. We often went to Thrift shop where she was working too and I chose some clothes there. She lived with her boyfriend in a small house with three rooms and I was sleeping in the living room on the sofa.
As I said, the conflicts between me and my aunt started very soon after my arrival. I felt deprived of my privacy because she and her boyfriend used to get up at 7am and go to sleep at 9pm. When I wanted to use the computer in the evening she told me that I was disturbing her because the house had thin walls and she could hear the noise. I told her I didn't imagine my holidays in this way. I considered myself to be an adult and she considered me to be a disobedient child. My aunt was overbearing and I was stubborn so I didn't want to comply with her requirements.
I sent an e-mail to my mother and told her that my aunt commanded me and I would like to return home. I forgot to delete the e-mail from the computer and my aunt found it and was furious. We had some arguments together but we decided soon that it would be the best solution if I returned back home soon. I think we were all relieved that I left. My stay on the Martha's Vineyard island lasted only 2 weeks.

As I said before, my first travel outside Europe took place in 1995 when I travelled to USA to visit my uncle and his family who emigrated there around 1990. They lived in a small town in New Jersey called Plainsboro. I stayed there around 6 weeks and I had an overall exciting time, we visited many funfairs and relatives and friends who emigrated to USA. There was a swimming pool close to our home and we went there very often. It was very hot there, temperatures were reaching 35-40°C, but I got a bad cold due to the air-conditioner.
I stayed with my uncle, his wife and their two sons who were both older than me (one was 15 and another one 19 at that time). We had a good time but sometimes the relations were tight because my uncle was unemployed and only his wife was working. I visited also my father's sister who emigrated to USA in 1968 and she lived in Florham Park in New Jersey. She has two children, Diana and John. I spent with her maybe 4 or 5 days, we went to the Cornell university where my cousin Diana was studying. We probably crossed Pennsylvania on our way but I don't remember anymore. I met my cousin John at my aunt's place but I didn't see him again ever since. We went to a beach but it wasn't possible to swim there due to the big waves. I saw lifeguards saving two men who decided to go to swim despite of the warning. My cousin Diana took me to the funfair with her friends. We played ping-pong together and we took a bath in jacuzzi which they had at home.
My uncle took me on a trip to New York for one day and we went to the Empire state building. We took a lift on the top of the building. It was exciting to see big skyscrapers for the first time in my life.
My first stay in USA was pleasant in general and I returned home satisfied with my visit. However, I went to USA again in 1999 to visit my aunt who left her husband in between and moved to the Martha's Vineyard island in Massachusetts and this time my trip wasn't finished in a good way.

I just returned home now. It is the Walpurgis Night tonight. I went to the park called Kampa where many people gathered at the bonfire. Someone was playing drums. The weather is unusually warm for this time of the year, even after the midnight it is more than 20°C. Such weather is more typical for summer.
I went for a lunch at the restaurant U Bulinu. I ordered chicken with potatoes, cheese and salad. My mother bought me new shoes as a birthday present. Tomorrow the weather should be nice so we will probably go to swim to the dam called Slapy, but on Thursday it should get colder.