A Little About Us

So although the title of this blog is an American living in Prague, as many of you can guess from the pictures it is not only about me. Kristyna and I are a team in this endeavor and we have an extremely interesting story for anyone who cares to listen. That being said I am a red-blooded American, I am from the south, I attended The Great Auburn University, and I spent most of my childhood being raised in Atlanta Georgia. Getting down to business let me talk about meeting the girl who changed me from a simple "Stay in America there is nothing else out there" kinda guy to a world traveler.

 This was our like 2nd week together riding on a rainy day to work. The jeep never did seal all the way up. 

So I had been living in the Keys for about 2 months, fresh out of a crummy relationship that had ended horribly. I was in no mood to find anyone and was focused only on having fun and working at the Dive shop. Of course, I was on Tinder and was down at the bar every weekend hanging with my friends getting into trouble and raising hell. I had just bought this wonderful old school 88' jeep wrangler at the time that could not have been a better car for the keys. I still miss this jeep....

Man she was purdy

So one day I'm on tinder and this little blond girl matches with me. I don't think much of it and continue with my day. We talk for about a week and decide to meet up, still no big deal. So I roll up in this heap and she asks if we want to go for a walk around her island (Big Coppit Key), sure I was thinking dinner but a walk is nice as well. So we walk for 2 hours talking about one another and it was surprisingly refreshing. We talked about life, travel, future plans, and how we both ended up in the keys. She laughs at all my stupid jokes and seems interested in all of my little stories I have about everything including political views and thoughts on religion. Little do I know, she doesn't understand a word I am saying. 

Well, at least I thought I was funny and charming. Later she would tell me she was just looking for a job through Tinder. Well, short story after that we began dating and have been together ever since, right now it has been about 9 months since we met and we are still going strong. 

One of the best days I saw diving in the keys

Although we were super happy in our little paradise we had a problem, her visa expires every 3 months. So she would either be trapped here in the states never to see her family again under the threat of deportation or she would have to go back for one month. (side note: we could have been married but I wasn't ready for that). 

I decide that we have been together for quite enough time to go with her to Prague to meet her parents and see where she is from. So at the end of her first 2 months, I decided it best that I jump on a flight across the pond and show up here in Prague for a week. See the sights, meet her friends and family. It was an amazing experience and as it turns out is why we made certain future decisions.

Tyna and I at a cathedral near her hometown on my first visit over.

Some awesome churches in the countryside of Prague

So after my week in Prague, I come back to the keys and get back to the humdrum part of my life. Wake up, Work, sleep, wake up, work, sleep. It was a good time that I spent working on my savings as well as working on the jeep. Soon though Tyna would be back in the USA and she would interrupt my hum-drum existence. 

Hockey game in Miami.

 After a 4 hour drive in the jeep, we were just glad not to be freezing anymore.

So Just for those of you who don't know Tyna came here on whats called an Esta visa. This means that you are qualified to visit the USA over a 5 year period of time for 3-month increments at a time. if she spends the full 3 months in the states then she has to have one full month outside of the states. This only works for the first few times. The state department begins to ask questions if you go home for a month and come back for 3. They think you are abusing the system and working illegally. 

Gieger Key Sunset.

So Tyna arrives back in the states with no problems. No questions at customs no questions anywhere she just walked right through. (We were super worried she would have trouble getting through). So we continue our little life we eek out in the keys without any bumps or hitches. We got our own place (it was about as big as a shoebox) without Roommates and we brought down my motorcycle from Atlanta. It was a lot of fun but we both knew that in less than 3 months we would have to make a serious decision regarding if we were to stay in the keys and marry or move to another country and keep dating. 

Fort Zachary Taylor

After a long and hard 3 months of hard decision making, we decided it best to move to Europe. I had always wanted to travel the world and see things normally others never only dream of seeing. So we sold everything that wasn't bolted to the floor and hit the road. It has been hard getting used to living here in Prague. The culture shock alone would put anyone on their ass for a few days. Sometimes I do miss the little things like clothes dryers and Walmart but you have to sit and think about all the other fools who are still doing the same old thing all day and night. Never going out into the world and seeing all its glory. Well with Tyna by my side, it looks like we will continue to travel and see the world just like we always wanted. 

Renting a boat on the  Vltava river in Prague 

Since meeting her we have been to:

Germany

Poland 

New York City

Miami

Key West

Atlanta

Auburn

and much more to come soon

Food festival in Prague

New York City, The Top of the Rock