A Christmas holiday trip down memory lane!
10 years ago in 2014, 19-year-old Mary Grace went to Prague, Czech Republic with her dad just a few short days before Christmas to meet and spend long-awaited time with her online friend and Czech crush in the city, 25-year-old Liam. This episode recounts a highly personal account of Mary Grace’s short fairytale and memories with Liam at Christmas time in Prague, as well as dives deep into the innocence, emotional struggles of long distance and the lack of regrets in actively seeking out a young long distance love potential. Enjoy!
(00:00) Intro
(00:33) Episode Overview
(02:33) First times in Europe & Setting the Scene
(03:21) My Dad in the Airlines, Standby Flying
(04:29) Wanting to go to Prague & Background on Knowing Liam
(06:28) Taking Back the Host Offer
(07:23) Making the Journey to Prague
(08:55) Arriving and First Moments in Prague
(10:20) The Hotel Perspective Moment
(11:33) Getting Settled and Moments with Matthew
(14:00) Free Walking Tour and Prague McDonald’s
(15:14) First Time at the Prague Christmas Market
(16:43) Day 2 Festivities
(17:52) Setting the Night Scene
(18:30) The Santa Christmas Elf Moment
(20:53) Hanging out at Liam’s Apartment
(22:09) Making a Move
(23:48) Change of Plans
(25:38) The 2am Night Stroll & Street Car
(26:17) The Hardest Goodbye
(27:59) Going to the Airport
(28:25) The Amsterdam to New York Flight
(29:46) Aftermath, Reality of Long Distance & Rough Season
(32:05) What Happened After Prague
(33:58) Importance of Living in the Moment
(35:02) Episode Last Remarks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Once Upon a Trip podcast,
(00:03):
where we dive deep into sharing everything crazy travel stories,
dating adventures, culture fusions, and plenty of takeaways
to entertain and feed your inner curiosity and travel bug.
I'm your host, Mary Grace Crawford,
travel enthusiast, content creator, ex-digital nomad,
avid storyteller, and lover of all things Europe,
(00:27):
based now in Atlanta, Georgia.
I'll start this off by saying good morning, good evening,
good afternoon, whatever time of the day it is right now
when you're listening or watching this.
I chose this Christmas themed episode to share,
not just because it is exactly 10 years
(00:48):
since 19-year-old Mary Grace was naive and running around Prague
with a guy who she had a crush on
and was experiencing Christmas for the first time,
but also because I think that it's quite funny and important
in a lot of ways for us to laugh at our past naive selves.
When I was 19, I hadn't really understood
(01:10):
what it meant to have a crush on somebody or to be in love.
I had never been to Europe at Christmas time.
I didn't know what a Christmas market was.
I didn't know anything.
This story involves a guy who I'm going to be calling Liam.
This is not his name in real life,
as well as briefly another guy who I'm going to be calling Matthew.
(01:34):
So we have Matthew and the main center of the story,
the crush of Prague around Christmas time, Liam.
It doesn't necessarily have a happy ending,
as you would imagine in a lot of Hallmark movies
or at least a lot of the romance movies,
but at the same time, I do think that the actual ending
(01:57):
turned out being long-term, the better one.
There are details in this story that I think will make you crack up.
I know when I look back on it, I definitely laugh at myself,
even though at the time it was embarrassing.
I hope that this episode inspires you or encourages you,
at least a little bit, to just make a little bit more of a move,
(02:19):
to be more audacious, to be brave,
and to say what you feel in the moment.
I'm very glad I at least did.
So without further ado, let's go ahead and jump straight into the episode.
I hope you enjoy.
This story took place in late December 2014.
I was 19 at the time,
(02:39):
and I was in my very first year at the University of Georgia.
I had gone to Europe for the very first time in summer of 2014.
So a few months earlier than the setting of this Prague story,
and I remember my very first time in Europe.
I remember going to France and Belgium,
and I really fell head over heels for the idea of being in Europe,
(03:03):
because I had never experienced that before.
The special thing about this Prague trip is
it was my very first winter experience in Europe.
It was the first time I discovered what a Christmas market was.
It was the first time for a lot of things.
So it really is a chapter marker that is hard to forget.
In 2014, my dad was working for Delta Airlines,
(03:25):
which is one of the major airline companies here,
if you are not aware.
Because of my dad's job in the airlines,
we were able to get heavily discounted or even free Delta flights to Europe.
So I'm being transparent here when I say that
in the very, very, very beginning stages of my traveling,
(03:46):
which this is really, really the beginning,
I was able to have a shortcut flight wise going to Europe
through my dad and his benefits.
This is one of the very few trips that I have taken abroad
where I did not pay for the flight.
This didn't last very long, but more on that later.
We were able to have standby benefits for flying.
(04:06):
If you are a flight attendant or you have worked in the airlines,
you know just how difficult it is to try to get on a standby flight,
especially at Christmas time.
You don't even know if you will make the flight.
You don't know if you'll be sleeping on the airport ground that night.
And you don't even know if you're going to go at all to your destination.
(04:27):
So it was extremely stressful.
I had mentioned to my dad that I really wanted to go to Prague at Christmas time.
So, of course, I wanted to see Prague.
I wanted to see the beauty of Christmas.
I wanted to see the decorations.
Of course, I wanted to see it for those reasons.
But let's be real.
The number one reason why I wanted to go was because I wanted to meet my online check crush in person.
(04:53):
Here's a little bit of background on Liam and how we met,
just so that this story makes a little bit more sense.
Liam and I met on Twitter slash X in 2012 through an online connections post.
The online connection I had at the time was a high school friend of his,
(05:13):
and I had met this other connection on a pen pal website.
So became kind of friends with him, started following each other on Twitter slash X.
And then Liam comes into the picture because he comments on this post that this online connection leaves.
I don't remember why or how we started talking, but we started talking after that.
(05:37):
We started sending DMS on Twitter and then eventually we started emailing each other.
And I think that went on for a couple of years, 2012 to 2014.
And over the course of that time, I had developed this infatuation slash crush on Liam.
I think it was around November.
I told my dad that I really would love to go to Prague if possible.
(06:01):
And come early December, he decided, yes, we are able to make that happen with his work schedule and all that was going on during the holidays.
The catch was, though, we were going to be going via standby flights.
And like I just mentioned a little bit earlier, standby flights don't guarantee that they will get you to your destination.
(06:24):
So there was a whole lot of uncertainty in getting to Prague.
Liam had mentioned to me at some point that if I ever came to Prague, that he'd be very happy to give me a tour and to act as a host.
I actually remember this one detail Liam had told me that it would be OK for me to stay with him in his apartment and he could host me.
(06:48):
But then I mentioned that my dad was also coming and at the time we were emailing, it was back and forth.
And he told me in a very awkward way, which is understandable in this situation.
Oh, I thought it was just you.
My roommate and I don't have enough space for more than one other person.
(07:09):
Oh, this is awkward. I'm sorry.
So I did not stay with Liam because my dad was there, which is OK.
I mean, being in that situation, I think I would have reacted the same way, too.
Honestly, we left for Prague on the 20th of December 2014 and we had to leave Prague on the 23rd of December
(07:31):
because my dad at the time had to work on Christmas Eve and couldn't get out of it.
I think it's really wild to think, oh, why would you go from America to Prague or Europe in general for like two days, two and a half, three days even, and come back?
People in the airline industry really have the leverage to pull a whole lot of strings to make that happen.
(07:54):
So we didn't have a lot of time in Prague.
I remember my dad originally, I think, had to route us from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Prague.
But I think at the last minute he had to reroute us.
I think at some point we had like five alternative routes.
It was really crazy. In the end, I think we went through Amsterdam.
(08:16):
I remember being in Amsterdam and the immigration line in Amsterdam was just insane.
I really was so scared and stressed that entire time because, you know, all I'm thinking is I want to meet my crush.
I want to go to Prague and I want to meet my crush.
And this damn immigration line is too long.
And, oh, it was just a mess.
(08:37):
But my dad finagled some strings or did something to get us through that line.
And we barely made the flight.
I think if we had been in immigration just a little bit longer, we would not have made it to Prague.
So thank you, Lord. We leave Amsterdam. We get to Prague.
I think we get there at about 10 in the morning, got off the flight, went through baggage claim.
(09:03):
And I don't think that we saw Liam immediately.
But once we did, I was just in awe.
I was just having such a surreal moment thinking, oh, my gosh, you're a real person.
I can like touch you because, you know, we had been talking online for two years at that point.
So to see that person in front of you in real life form is just a whole other level of emotions.
(09:29):
It was very cool. It was very weird, but also really, really exciting.
My other friend in Prague, Matthew, had also texted around the time that we landed.
Matthew and I met earlier that year in 2014 on this same pen pal website that I had met the online connection
(09:49):
that connected Liam and me. And he had mentioned that he also wanted us to meet during our short time in Prague.
I told him that time was really tight and we were mainly going to be with Liam because that was the plan all along.
But that I still would really love to see him even briefly.
When we landed in Prague, he texted me and said, I welcome you and your dad to Prague.
(10:13):
We left the airport. We started going to this hotel that my dad had booked.
It was either in the old town or it was a little bit outside.
We went to this hotel my dad had booked. And I remember Liam was with us.
I remember when we got to the hotel, Liam had kind of looked around the hotel and I don't think it was a very fancy hotel at all,
(10:36):
or at least not that I remember. It wasn't anything special.
And he looked really perplexed, like really just blown away by the small decorations.
And he said, oh, this is a nice hotel. He almost looked embarrassed and I didn't know why.
So my dad, I think, asked him, oh, have you ever stayed in a similar hotel?
(11:00):
And again, this is not a fancy hotel at all. Again, he looked a little embarrassed and he said, no, all the places I ever stayed in were quite hostile.
Hostile? What? Like bad? I have no idea what stories he has of his accommodations in traveling, but oh, that's not good.
(11:26):
Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. I just thought that that little detail and different perspective were quite interesting.
My dad checks us in. My dad and I go upstairs and I think just empty our bags.
Liam goes home for a little while because his apartment was only about a 15 minute walk from where we were staying.
(11:47):
During the time that Liam was gone, Matthew comes and stops by the hotel because I gave him the address.
And I remember meeting him outside and he was walking towards me on the street.
I just remember how happy he looked. He was smiling and beaming and he had his arms wide open like this.
He just gave me like the warmest hug and it was so tight and so nice.
(12:10):
It was really my first time in Eastern Europe and the impression of Eastern Europeans often is that they don't smile and they're grumpy and they're cold and a lot of details like this.
But when Matthew approached me on the street, I didn't get that vibe.
It was really so nice and so different.
(12:33):
So we hug each other. Matthew and I go into the hotel. We meet my dad up in the room.
He gives us these Czech wafers, which are very popular and famous in Prague and in the Czech Republic.
They are everywhere and very traditional, very delicious, very good.
We took a couple of pictures, which I don't know where they are now.
(12:57):
I would have to look in my archives again to maybe locate that picture.
He talked to me and my dad for some time and my dad was really impressed with him.
I remember my dad said he is such a nice gentleman. He's very well mannered and Mary Grace, he really seems to take an interest in you.
And of course, I'm thinking, but I like Liam. I don't like Matthew. I like Liam.
(13:21):
Yes, Matthew is warm and yeah, he's showing interest, but I don't like him.
I think we can all relate to this situation. I don't know. I just didn't like him like that.
But anyway, he made a good impression. We didn't get a lot of time together because again, when we spend only two or two and a half days in Prague, we don't have time.
(13:44):
So that made me a little bit sad. But seeing him at all was just wonderful and a really, really, really nice addition to the very first time I ever went to Prague.
He hung around the hotel for some time and eventually he left because we had to go on a free walking tour that I believe Liam had found for us to take.
(14:05):
Liam joined on that tour. It was still the first day. We took a three hour free walking tour.
This was my first introduction to free walking tours around Europe. I had no idea what a free walking tour was.
You can give whatever tip money you want to the tour guide. I don't really know if the US has very many of those.
(14:27):
It is not so widespread like Europe. So this was a nice discovery. Went on this walking tour.
It was interesting. Went around the old town, saw the sights.
And I believe it was the first day that for lunch, my dad and I and Liam went to McDonald's.
I don't know why we go all the way to Prague to go to McDonald's. We can get that in the US.
(14:52):
But anyway, we went to McDonald's. I remember my dad bought lunch for me and Liam.
I don't even remember what we had. Chicken nuggets, fries, just usual stuff. We felt like kids.
So we had our happy meal McDonald's lunch. And then eventually we make our way to the old town again.
(15:12):
And we experienced the magical, wonderful Christmas market.
As I had mentioned, this was my very first Christmas market in Europe that I ever experienced.
So I didn't know what to expect. I was just following along. So we go to the Christmas market.
I immediately fall in love with this place. I remember seeing this really massive, beautiful Christmas tree
(15:36):
in the main square of Prague in the old town in front of the teen church.
I remember the stalls. I remember seeing decorations on all the stalls. I remember everything.
I remember the lights. I remember that feeling in the air.
I remember what it was like to discover mulled wine or grue vine for the very first time.
(15:59):
I hadn't had a clue what that was. Hot mulled wine. Whoever invented that is a genius.
I remember this was also the time that I learned what tredelnik was, which in English is chimney cake.
So I remember the hot mulled wine. I remember the tredelnik, the smell of chimney cake in the air.
(16:19):
I just remember it being very crowded, understandably, because it was a really beautiful, fun, delicious filled place.
So we experienced the Christmas market for that first night. And I think we just parted ways.
It was not that special, but it's more so the second day and the second night that gets more intense, which will be getting too soon.
(16:44):
On the second day, Liam came to our hotel again, met my dad and me. We just did more sightseeing.
We went and saw the astronomical clock, which if you have been to Prague or you are in Prague,
it's just something that you need to see. Then we went out for lunch somewhere again.
I don't remember where, but as the day goes on, we want to go to the Christmas market again.
(17:08):
My dad at this point was really exhausted, really tired.
He was really, really tired because of the stress in finagling the flights on standby to get us to Prague,
along probably with the time difference and along with just the entire effort of being able to again, make it to Prague in the first place.
(17:30):
On that second night, he did not want to come to the Christmas market. He wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep.
So he told me, yes, you can go with Liam by yourself. That's OK.
I mean, I was 19. It's not like I was 10 years old. But again, it's a foreign country. You never know.
So my dad went back to the hotel and this is where the fun starts.
(17:51):
I think it was this second night that I wore this ridiculous outfit all around Prague and I got left at Forest.
But we'll get to that in a minute. Liam and I go to the Christmas market, do the same thing basically as the day before,
got hot mulled wine, got trére le nique, good stuff.
(18:12):
At some point it got late and Liam asked me if I wanted to see his apartment,
which again, it was not that far from the old town.
And yeah, I wanted to steal all the time I could with this crush of mine.
So, yes, please. Yes, I would love to see your place.
So we start walking out of the old town. I remember as we were walking out, he started laughing and I'm looking over.
(18:38):
And of course, I'm wondering what is so funny.
So I asked him, what are you laughing at? What's so funny?
And he at first didn't look at me and he kind of did something like, oh, nothing, nothing, no, nothing, nothing.
He's like smiling as he's saying, nothing, nothing, nothing.
I mean, not like that, but you understand.
(19:00):
And of course, if you tell a girl, especially nothing, that's not going to be the end of the conversation.
So I asked him again, no, what was so funny? Tell me.
And then he says, well, there was a group of Czech girls that just passed us and they were laughing at you and your Santa hat.
(19:22):
This is one of those moments where I was really an oblivious American walking around Prague,
thinking that I look so cute and that I'm in Christmas colors and look at me, I'm so flashy.
No, that was not a good idea. That was really embarrassing.
I was basically wearing a red coat with red gloves and a Santa hat and this red and green and white scarf.
(19:51):
Like, really, I was a fucking Santa Christmas elf. It was horrible.
Of course, now I'm not offended. It's OK.
Honestly, looking at me, I would have laughed at me, too.
I didn't even notice the girls.
Honestly, the girls laughing at me didn't bother me.
What bothered me was here I am in the middle of Prague and I'm here with my crush and my crush is fucking laughing at me
(20:16):
because I'm wearing a damn Santa hat and I'm looking like a fucking Christmas elf walking around this damn city.
Like, here I am. My crush is laughing at me. Stop laughing at me.
I am pretty sure at the time I took that Santa hat and I found a garbage can somewhere in the old town as we were leaving.
(20:36):
And I threw that Santa hat in the trash.
I never wore a Santa hat anywhere again.
Getting laughed at for being dressed like a Christmas Santa elf was not on my list of to do's for Prague.
It's a funny story now, but at the time I was not laughing.
We walked back to Liam's apartment. We go up some stairs.
(20:58):
His roommate is in their apartment because he at the time he shared his apartment with his roommate.
He didn't introduce us, but that's fine. His roommate was busy doing other stuff.
So Liam and I went to his room and Liam had a little present for me.
He gave me this beautiful Prague souvenir mug.
I unfortunately don't have that mug to this day because that same night I ended up dropping it and breaking it on stairs.
(21:28):
My crush gave me this beautiful mug and I broke it.
Woo. After he gave me the mug, I thought that was really sweet.
I noticed he had a guitar in the corner of his room.
In the past, he had been in a band and so I think I asked if he would play something and I think he did.
(21:49):
I think it made me like him even more thinking, oh, you can really play guitar.
So I got the mug. He played guitar.
We just sat on his bed and we just talked and at some point he laid down.
I was thinking, OK, well, I'm sitting here on the edge of the bed.
I kind of want to lay down with him, too.
(22:10):
I laid down with him like we were we were on our stomachs and I don't remember what conversation we had.
But I think it was at that point that I wanted to kiss him.
I think I was pretty audacious. I think I even said to his face, I want to kiss you.
I wanted to kiss him if I didn't say it, then my body language said it.
I don't think he did anything at first.
(22:33):
I think that he wasn't feeling it.
But eventually he did kiss me and I was so thrilled.
I was thinking, yes, I'm in Prague and I got my crush to kiss me.
And it's Christmas time. This is so romantic.
Oh, like in my head, I was just coming up with this fairy tale of my own.
I stayed with Liam for some hours.
(22:54):
No, nothing promiscuous happened.
But we did get very physically close, like it was really cold outside.
And we got under his covers and we just snuggled and talked.
And I told Liam how much I didn't want to leave Prague, how I just wanted to stay there with him.
I didn't want to go back to Georgia.
I just remember being in his bed and I remember just thinking this is the coolest thing ever.
(23:21):
I never could have imagined that it would be this good.
And again, nothing risque, nothing promiscuous happened.
I was literally just cuddling with this crush of mine in this tiny cozy apartment in Prague right before Christmas.
Why would I have wanted to leave that behind?
(23:43):
I didn't. It was actually the night before my dad and I were supposed to leave to come back to the US.
The original plan was for my dad and I to catch a 9 a.m. flight from Prague to I don't even remember where.
Prague to somewhere and then from Frankfurt to go to Georgia.
(24:04):
Well, that's not what happened.
There I am with Liam. I think it's like one in the morning at this point.
I like a lot of time had just gone by and we just it passed so fast.
And we were just cuddling and just talking and kissing and like very innocent stuff.
My dad text me at one something in the morning and says, Mary Grace, we need to change our flights.
(24:29):
You need to come back now as soon and as fast as you can.
We have to take a 6 a.m. flight now from Prague to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to New York, New York to Atlanta.
We will not be able to get home if we don't take the 6 a.m. flight.
So you need to come back to the hotel now.
(24:52):
And of course, I'm thinking, oh, no, my fairy tale is ending.
I don't want to leave like this is my fairy tale.
Why is it being snatched from me?
So I told Liam the situation I said, I have to go back to the hotel.
My dad says we have a 6 a.m. flight. We have to take it.
(25:15):
My dad has to work on Christmas Eve so we can't postpone.
And he understood, I think at the time, or at least by that point, he was feeling the same as me.
I don't think he really wanted me to necessarily leave either.
So we left his apartment.
This is the time when I dropped the damn bug.
(25:36):
And unfortunately, yeah, that mug went bye bye.
Never again. We got on a streetcar that was very close to Liam's apartment.
It was deserted outside like no body.
I mean, it was two in the morning at this point.
We were walking around Prague.
We eventually walked in the old town again.
(25:57):
And I just remember seeing the Prague Castle at night.
It was just all lit up in gold.
And I remember just seeing the entire landscape of the city all lit up.
Nobody around except me and Liam, my crush.
You could not get more romantic than this.
Anyway, got on the streetcar. Liam took me back to the hotel.
(26:18):
I remember getting off the streetcar and it was freezing cold.
And I remember standing in front of the hotel with Liam and having to say goodbye.
And that was so difficult to do. That was heart wrenching.
I almost wanted to cry. I think at that point, I was just like,
I'm not going to see you tomorrow.
(26:39):
I'm not going to see you next week or next month.
I don't live anywhere close to Prague.
I'm so far away.
And of course, I had no idea if I would even see him ever again.
So you can imagine the emotions are high, very intense.
I was feeling all sorts of ways.
I just stood there in the cold with Liam outside of this hotel.
(27:01):
I was just trying to stall.
I was trying to push the time as far as I could to not lose any of it.
I didn't want to. I just didn't want to leave.
So Liam and I were standing in front of the hotel and I think I said goodbye
maybe 10 times and I gave him this very tight hug.
And he gave me a tight hug back, several of them.
(27:23):
And I remember he kissed me a few times on my forehead
because he was quite a bit taller than me.
I think I was probably up to about his shoulder.
And eventually we did say goodbye and it really was the last goodbye.
I went in the hotel. It was like two something.
The flight was at 6 a.m. to Amsterdam and I wasn't going to go to sleep.
(27:46):
I don't think I could go to sleep with all of the high emotions and intense
everything that I was feeling on top of the limited and very condensed time crunch.
I just couldn't sleep.
So I don't think I slept.
And I think at three o'clock my dad and I started hauling ass to the airport
because it was two days before Christmas.
(28:08):
And we were, of course, having to fight all sorts of standby chaos at airports.
We got to the airport. We flew to Amsterdam.
I think I probably slept on that flight because I had a little bit of opportunity.
I don't remember that flight specifically, but what I do remember is the flight from Amsterdam to New York.
(28:30):
And that is when my feelings of heartbreak and this long distance shit really started hitting the fan.
And I really was starting to feel all of these very sad emotions.
I remember on the flight, I was trying not to cry.
I was trying to like turn my head so that my dad wouldn't see me cry or wouldn't see me tear up.
(28:51):
But I was just so deep in my emotions.
I'm young, but I was really young at the time.
I was 19.
I hadn't really had a lot of experience with any sort of love or any sort of intimacy, any sort of relationship stuff.
So when you get cut for the very first time, of course, it's going to sting like hell.
(29:14):
You've never been cut before.
And that's kind of what this felt like.
I also just remember that Amsterdam to New York flight, listening to Ed Sheeran's thinking out loud over and over and over again,
because I think 2014 was the year that that song came out.
But that song was stuck on repeat and it was inducing all sorts of tears.
(29:37):
And I was just like, oh, no.
So, yeah, that flight was rough.
And then when I got to Atlanta, I spent the next few days.
I mean, it was Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day.
And then after Christmas Day, I did talk to Liam again.
I think it was on Facebook Messenger.
I told him, Liam, I really like you.
(29:58):
You know, I wish we could have a relationship.
I would love to at least try it.
And he seemed kind of distant or at least he I didn't feel he was putting in that same energy that I was.
And then he told me after that, oh, I'm sorry, I'm just I'm still just getting over my ex from earlier this year
(30:20):
because he had broken up with another girl just months before I came to Prague.
And then eventually the reality came along not too long after.
And he told me, I don't want to do long distance.
I want to be with somebody who I can be close to physically, who I can wake up in the morning and see first thing.
(30:42):
I want to be with somebody who I can watch movies with, who I can go out with.
But with us, we can only talk.
We can only talk.
That's it. And I knew deep down that he was right.
But I didn't want to see that reality, though.
I wanted him to have some sort of resilience, some sort of hope, some sort of desire to try.
(31:06):
But he didn't have that.
There is a good five thousand miles of land or ocean between us.
How the hell was I going to manage that?
And I know that you may be thinking, well, your dad had flight benefits.
You could have just went to see him.
That never happened because my dad actually, unfortunately, lost his job with Delta,
(31:31):
I think, a month after this Prague story happened.
All of his benefits were lost.
And as a byproduct, I essentially lost the benefits.
The beginning of 2015 was rough.
Twenty fifteen. I was also losing some friends at the beginning of that year.
I had a roommate in college who hated me, which, yeah, that's another story for another day.
(31:52):
I had this crush who was on the other side of the world and I couldn't even go see him.
My dad had lost his job. Like it was just everything.
I wanted some sort of outlet, some sort of hope to see Liam again.
I didn't get that. In the end, we remained friends.
We still know each other to this day.
I have no idea if he is going to see or listen to this podcast.
(32:17):
I'm really happy that things didn't go above the level of friendship,
because I don't think we would be friends today.
I don't think we would talk at all if something had happened.
I also look back on that time and I realize that, OK, had we been together,
I don't think it would have worked out knowing what I know now.
(32:40):
Me not being 19 anymore, me not being in my feelings and being infatuated with this cute guy
who I think is so interesting and cool.
I don't think it would have worked because we actually met seven years later in 2021
just for the purpose of brevity. We met briefly in 2021.
(33:00):
I realized after meeting him that things would not have worked even if we had tried.
I don't think that with his personality and my personality that we would have given each other
what we needed in terms of a relationship.
He didn't have this same curiosity of the world as I did.
And also the language barrier in Prague.
(33:20):
Like I would have had to learn Czech, which is OK, but it would have been very difficult.
There are just so many things now when I look back that, yeah,
I did not know that at the time when I was 19, even though Liam and I did not end up together.
I am so happy that I tried.
I'm so happy that I was audacious, that I took a chance,
(33:45):
that I said what I felt in the moment, and it didn't destroy me.
That just gets you one step closer to finding somebody who will reciprocate those feelings,
who will appreciate you and give you what you need. All of those things.
In the years after this story happened, I have always tried to apply this same mentality to traveling,
(34:07):
discovering the world, meeting people, job opportunities.
I really tried to incorporate this, do this for today moment because you don't know what's happening tomorrow kind of thing.
And I think for the most part, this has fared well in the last 10 years.
I've gotten to see many beautiful countries because of this attitude and mindset of, oh, what if there is no tomorrow?
(34:31):
What if I don't have that chance later in life? What if, what if, what if I really love Prague?
I really would love to go back at Christmas time one day.
So if you are single and it's Christmas time when you're seeing this and you have a love interest or you have a crush,
go and talk to that person, go and ask that person to grab coffee with you, go for a walk somewhere,
(34:55):
go to the mall and go out for lunch or whatever.
You really never know where in the world that is going to take you.
And it's with these words that I'm going to end this and start wrapping up our episode today of my little mini Christmas Prague fairy tale 10 years ago.
If you have a Christmas crush or love story that you'd really like to share, please message me on Instagram at once upon a trip dot PC.
(35:22):
Or you can message me directly on my host Instagram account at Mary Grace Crawford.
I really would love to hear your story.
I think it's always fascinating to hear about what many people around the holidays experience.
Please don't be shy. Please send me a message. I would really love to hear from you.
Please give this show a five star review. If you have not done so already, that would really mean a great deal to me as well.
(35:49):
Thank you so much for tuning in today and for sticking through to this point in the episode.
If you are still here, I wish you a Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.
Happy Hanukkah. If you are celebrating Hanukkah, happy holidays in general and be brave this holiday season.
I believe in you. You can do it. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you took something away.
(36:13):
I hope you were entertained. I look forward to being back here with you next Tuesday for another fun, adventurous trip of an episode.
I will tune in with you again next week.
Welcome to the Once Upon a Trip podcast,
(00:03):
where we dive deep into sharing everything crazy travel stories,
dating adventures, culture fusions, and plenty of takeaways
to entertain and feed your inner curiosity and travel bug.
I'm your host, Mary Grace Crawford,
travel enthusiast, content creator, ex-digital nomad,
avid storyteller, and lover of all things Europe,
(00:27):
based now in Atlanta, Georgia.
I'll start this off by saying good morning, good evening,
good afternoon, whatever time of the day it is right now
when you're listening or watching this.
I chose this Christmas themed episode to share,
not just because it is exactly 10 years
(00:48):
since 19-year-old Mary Grace was naive and running around Prague
with a guy who she had a crush on
and was experiencing Christmas for the first time,
but also because I think that it's quite funny and important
in a lot of ways for us to laugh at our past naive selves.
When I was 19, I hadn't really understood
(01:10):
what it meant to have a crush on somebody or to be in love.
I had never been to Europe at Christmas time.
I didn't know what a Christmas market was.
I didn't know anything.
This story involves a guy who I'm going to be calling Liam.
This is not his name in real life,
as well as briefly another guy who I'm going to be calling Matthew.
(01:34):
So we have Matthew and the main center of the story,
the crush of Prague around Christmas time, Liam.
It doesn't necessarily have a happy ending,
as you would imagine in a lot of Hallmark movies
or at least a lot of the romance movies,
but at the same time, I do think that the actual ending
(01:57):
turned out being long-term, the better one.
There are details in this story that I think will make you crack up.
I know when I look back on it, I definitely laugh at myself,
even though at the time it was embarrassing.
I hope that this episode inspires you or encourages you,
at least a little bit, to just make a little bit more of a move,
(02:19):
to be more audacious, to be brave,
and to say what you feel in the moment.
I'm very glad I at least did.
So without further ado, let's go ahead and jump straight into the episode.
I hope you enjoy.
This story took place in late December 2014.
I was 19 at the time,
(02:39):
and I was in my very first year at the University of Georgia.
I had gone to Europe for the very first time in summer of 2014.
So a few months earlier than the setting of this Prague story,
and I remember my very first time in Europe.
I remember going to France and Belgium,
and I really fell head over heels for the idea of being in Europe,
(03:03):
because I had never experienced that before.
The special thing about this Prague trip is
it was my very first winter experience in Europe.
It was the first time I discovered what a Christmas market was.
It was the first time for a lot of things.
So it really is a chapter marker that is hard to forget.
In 2014, my dad was working for Delta Airlines,
(03:25):
which is one of the major airline companies here,
if you are not aware.
Because of my dad's job in the airlines,
we were able to get heavily discounted or even free Delta flights to Europe.
So I'm being transparent here when I say that
in the very, very, very beginning stages of my traveling,
(03:46):
which this is really, really the beginning,
I was able to have a shortcut flight wise going to Europe
through my dad and his benefits.
This is one of the very few trips that I have taken abroad
where I did not pay for the flight.
This didn't last very long, but more on that later.
We were able to have standby benefits for flying.
(04:06):
If you are a flight attendant or you have worked in the airlines,
you know just how difficult it is to try to get on a standby flight,
especially at Christmas time.
You don't even know if you will make the flight.
You don't know if you'll be sleeping on the airport ground that night.
And you don't even know if you're going to go at all to your destination.
(04:27):
So it was extremely stressful.
I had mentioned to my dad that I really wanted to go to Prague at Christmas time.
So, of course, I wanted to see Prague.
I wanted to see the beauty of Christmas.
I wanted to see the decorations.
Of course, I wanted to see it for those reasons.
But let's be real.
The number one reason why I wanted to go was because I wanted to meet my online check crush in person.
(04:53):
Here's a little bit of background on Liam and how we met,
just so that this story makes a little bit more sense.
Liam and I met on Twitter slash X in 2012 through an online connections post.
The online connection I had at the time was a high school friend of his,
(05:13):
and I had met this other connection on a pen pal website.
So became kind of friends with him, started following each other on Twitter slash X.
And then Liam comes into the picture because he comments on this post that this online connection leaves.
I don't remember why or how we started talking, but we started talking after that.
(05:37):
We started sending DMS on Twitter and then eventually we started emailing each other.
And I think that went on for a couple of years, 2012 to 2014.
And over the course of that time, I had developed this infatuation slash crush on Liam.
I think it was around November.
I told my dad that I really would love to go to Prague if possible.
(06:01):
And come early December, he decided, yes, we are able to make that happen with his work schedule and all that was going on during the holidays.
The catch was, though, we were going to be going via standby flights.
And like I just mentioned a little bit earlier, standby flights don't guarantee that they will get you to your destination.
(06:24):
So there was a whole lot of uncertainty in getting to Prague.
Liam had mentioned to me at some point that if I ever came to Prague, that he'd be very happy to give me a tour and to act as a host.
I actually remember this one detail Liam had told me that it would be OK for me to stay with him in his apartment and he could host me.
(06:48):
But then I mentioned that my dad was also coming and at the time we were emailing, it was back and forth.
And he told me in a very awkward way, which is understandable in this situation.
Oh, I thought it was just you.
My roommate and I don't have enough space for more than one other person.
(07:09):
Oh, this is awkward. I'm sorry.
So I did not stay with Liam because my dad was there, which is OK.
I mean, being in that situation, I think I would have reacted the same way, too.
Honestly, we left for Prague on the 20th of December 2014 and we had to leave Prague on the 23rd of December
(07:31):
because my dad at the time had to work on Christmas Eve and couldn't get out of it.
I think it's really wild to think, oh, why would you go from America to Prague or Europe in general for like two days, two and a half, three days even, and come back?
People in the airline industry really have the leverage to pull a whole lot of strings to make that happen.
(07:54):
So we didn't have a lot of time in Prague.
I remember my dad originally, I think, had to route us from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Prague.
But I think at the last minute he had to reroute us.
I think at some point we had like five alternative routes.
It was really crazy. In the end, I think we went through Amsterdam.
(08:16):
I remember being in Amsterdam and the immigration line in Amsterdam was just insane.
I really was so scared and stressed that entire time because, you know, all I'm thinking is I want to meet my crush.
I want to go to Prague and I want to meet my crush.
And this damn immigration line is too long.
And, oh, it was just a mess.
(08:37):
But my dad finagled some strings or did something to get us through that line.
And we barely made the flight.
I think if we had been in immigration just a little bit longer, we would not have made it to Prague.
So thank you, Lord. We leave Amsterdam. We get to Prague.
I think we get there at about 10 in the morning, got off the flight, went through baggage claim.
(09:03):
And I don't think that we saw Liam immediately.
But once we did, I was just in awe.
I was just having such a surreal moment thinking, oh, my gosh, you're a real person.
I can like touch you because, you know, we had been talking online for two years at that point.
So to see that person in front of you in real life form is just a whole other level of emotions.
(09:29):
It was very cool. It was very weird, but also really, really exciting.
My other friend in Prague, Matthew, had also texted around the time that we landed.
Matthew and I met earlier that year in 2014 on this same pen pal website that I had met the online connection
(09:49):
that connected Liam and me. And he had mentioned that he also wanted us to meet during our short time in Prague.
I told him that time was really tight and we were mainly going to be with Liam because that was the plan all along.
But that I still would really love to see him even briefly.
When we landed in Prague, he texted me and said, I welcome you and your dad to Prague.
(10:13):
We left the airport. We started going to this hotel that my dad had booked.
It was either in the old town or it was a little bit outside.
We went to this hotel my dad had booked. And I remember Liam was with us.
I remember when we got to the hotel, Liam had kind of looked around the hotel and I don't think it was a very fancy hotel at all,
(10:36):
or at least not that I remember. It wasn't anything special.
And he looked really perplexed, like really just blown away by the small decorations.
And he said, oh, this is a nice hotel. He almost looked embarrassed and I didn't know why.
So my dad, I think, asked him, oh, have you ever stayed in a similar hotel?
(11:00):
And again, this is not a fancy hotel at all. Again, he looked a little embarrassed and he said, no, all the places I ever stayed in were quite hostile.
Hostile? What? Like bad? I have no idea what stories he has of his accommodations in traveling, but oh, that's not good.
(11:26):
Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. I just thought that that little detail and different perspective were quite interesting.
My dad checks us in. My dad and I go upstairs and I think just empty our bags.
Liam goes home for a little while because his apartment was only about a 15 minute walk from where we were staying.
(11:47):
During the time that Liam was gone, Matthew comes and stops by the hotel because I gave him the address.
And I remember meeting him outside and he was walking towards me on the street.
I just remember how happy he looked. He was smiling and beaming and he had his arms wide open like this.
He just gave me like the warmest hug and it was so tight and so nice.
(12:10):
It was really my first time in Eastern Europe and the impression of Eastern Europeans often is that they don't smile and they're grumpy and they're cold and a lot of details like this.
But when Matthew approached me on the street, I didn't get that vibe.
It was really so nice and so different.
(12:33):
So we hug each other. Matthew and I go into the hotel. We meet my dad up in the room.
He gives us these Czech wafers, which are very popular and famous in Prague and in the Czech Republic.
They are everywhere and very traditional, very delicious, very good.
We took a couple of pictures, which I don't know where they are now.
(12:57):
I would have to look in my archives again to maybe locate that picture.
He talked to me and my dad for some time and my dad was really impressed with him.
I remember my dad said he is such a nice gentleman. He's very well mannered and Mary Grace, he really seems to take an interest in you.
And of course, I'm thinking, but I like Liam. I don't like Matthew. I like Liam.
(13:21):
Yes, Matthew is warm and yeah, he's showing interest, but I don't like him.
I think we can all relate to this situation. I don't know. I just didn't like him like that.
But anyway, he made a good impression. We didn't get a lot of time together because again, when we spend only two or two and a half days in Prague, we don't have time.
(13:44):
So that made me a little bit sad. But seeing him at all was just wonderful and a really, really, really nice addition to the very first time I ever went to Prague.
He hung around the hotel for some time and eventually he left because we had to go on a free walking tour that I believe Liam had found for us to take.
(14:05):
Liam joined on that tour. It was still the first day. We took a three hour free walking tour.
This was my first introduction to free walking tours around Europe. I had no idea what a free walking tour was.
You can give whatever tip money you want to the tour guide. I don't really know if the US has very many of those.
(14:27):
It is not so widespread like Europe. So this was a nice discovery. Went on this walking tour.
It was interesting. Went around the old town, saw the sights.
And I believe it was the first day that for lunch, my dad and I and Liam went to McDonald's.
I don't know why we go all the way to Prague to go to McDonald's. We can get that in the US.
(14:52):
But anyway, we went to McDonald's. I remember my dad bought lunch for me and Liam.
I don't even remember what we had. Chicken nuggets, fries, just usual stuff. We felt like kids.
So we had our happy meal McDonald's lunch. And then eventually we make our way to the old town again.
(15:12):
And we experienced the magical, wonderful Christmas market.
As I had mentioned, this was my very first Christmas market in Europe that I ever experienced.
So I didn't know what to expect. I was just following along. So we go to the Christmas market.
I immediately fall in love with this place. I remember seeing this really massive, beautiful Christmas tree
(15:36):
in the main square of Prague in the old town in front of the teen church.
I remember the stalls. I remember seeing decorations on all the stalls. I remember everything.
I remember the lights. I remember that feeling in the air.
I remember what it was like to discover mulled wine or grue vine for the very first time.
(15:59):
I hadn't had a clue what that was. Hot mulled wine. Whoever invented that is a genius.
I remember this was also the time that I learned what tredelnik was, which in English is chimney cake.
So I remember the hot mulled wine. I remember the tredelnik, the smell of chimney cake in the air.
(16:19):
I just remember it being very crowded, understandably, because it was a really beautiful, fun, delicious filled place.
So we experienced the Christmas market for that first night. And I think we just parted ways.
It was not that special, but it's more so the second day and the second night that gets more intense, which will be getting too soon.
(16:44):
On the second day, Liam came to our hotel again, met my dad and me. We just did more sightseeing.
We went and saw the astronomical clock, which if you have been to Prague or you are in Prague,
it's just something that you need to see. Then we went out for lunch somewhere again.
I don't remember where, but as the day goes on, we want to go to the Christmas market again.
(17:08):
My dad at this point was really exhausted, really tired.
He was really, really tired because of the stress in finagling the flights on standby to get us to Prague,
along probably with the time difference and along with just the entire effort of being able to again, make it to Prague in the first place.
(17:30):
On that second night, he did not want to come to the Christmas market. He wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep.
So he told me, yes, you can go with Liam by yourself. That's OK.
I mean, I was 19. It's not like I was 10 years old. But again, it's a foreign country. You never know.
So my dad went back to the hotel and this is where the fun starts.
(17:51):
I think it was this second night that I wore this ridiculous outfit all around Prague and I got left at Forest.
But we'll get to that in a minute. Liam and I go to the Christmas market, do the same thing basically as the day before,
got hot mulled wine, got trére le nique, good stuff.
(18:12):
At some point it got late and Liam asked me if I wanted to see his apartment,
which again, it was not that far from the old town.
And yeah, I wanted to steal all the time I could with this crush of mine.
So, yes, please. Yes, I would love to see your place.
So we start walking out of the old town. I remember as we were walking out, he started laughing and I'm looking over.
(18:38):
And of course, I'm wondering what is so funny.
So I asked him, what are you laughing at? What's so funny?
And he at first didn't look at me and he kind of did something like, oh, nothing, nothing, no, nothing, nothing.
He's like smiling as he's saying, nothing, nothing, nothing.
I mean, not like that, but you understand.
(19:00):
And of course, if you tell a girl, especially nothing, that's not going to be the end of the conversation.
So I asked him again, no, what was so funny? Tell me.
And then he says, well, there was a group of Czech girls that just passed us and they were laughing at you and your Santa hat.
(19:22):
This is one of those moments where I was really an oblivious American walking around Prague,
thinking that I look so cute and that I'm in Christmas colors and look at me, I'm so flashy.
No, that was not a good idea. That was really embarrassing.
I was basically wearing a red coat with red gloves and a Santa hat and this red and green and white scarf.
(19:51):
Like, really, I was a fucking Santa Christmas elf. It was horrible.
Of course, now I'm not offended. It's OK.
Honestly, looking at me, I would have laughed at me, too.
I didn't even notice the girls.
Honestly, the girls laughing at me didn't bother me.
What bothered me was here I am in the middle of Prague and I'm here with my crush and my crush is fucking laughing at me
(20:16):
because I'm wearing a damn Santa hat and I'm looking like a fucking Christmas elf walking around this damn city.
Like, here I am. My crush is laughing at me. Stop laughing at me.
I am pretty sure at the time I took that Santa hat and I found a garbage can somewhere in the old town as we were leaving.
(20:36):
And I threw that Santa hat in the trash.
I never wore a Santa hat anywhere again.
Getting laughed at for being dressed like a Christmas Santa elf was not on my list of to do's for Prague.
It's a funny story now, but at the time I was not laughing.
We walked back to Liam's apartment. We go up some stairs.
(20:58):
His roommate is in their apartment because he at the time he shared his apartment with his roommate.
He didn't introduce us, but that's fine. His roommate was busy doing other stuff.
So Liam and I went to his room and Liam had a little present for me.
He gave me this beautiful Prague souvenir mug.
I unfortunately don't have that mug to this day because that same night I ended up dropping it and breaking it on stairs.
(21:28):
My crush gave me this beautiful mug and I broke it.
Woo. After he gave me the mug, I thought that was really sweet.
I noticed he had a guitar in the corner of his room.
In the past, he had been in a band and so I think I asked if he would play something and I think he did.
(21:49):
I think it made me like him even more thinking, oh, you can really play guitar.
So I got the mug. He played guitar.
We just sat on his bed and we just talked and at some point he laid down.
I was thinking, OK, well, I'm sitting here on the edge of the bed.
I kind of want to lay down with him, too.
(22:10):
I laid down with him like we were we were on our stomachs and I don't remember what conversation we had.
But I think it was at that point that I wanted to kiss him.
I think I was pretty audacious. I think I even said to his face, I want to kiss you.
I wanted to kiss him if I didn't say it, then my body language said it.
I don't think he did anything at first.
(22:33):
I think that he wasn't feeling it.
But eventually he did kiss me and I was so thrilled.
I was thinking, yes, I'm in Prague and I got my crush to kiss me.
And it's Christmas time. This is so romantic.
Oh, like in my head, I was just coming up with this fairy tale of my own.
I stayed with Liam for some hours.
(22:54):
No, nothing promiscuous happened.
But we did get very physically close, like it was really cold outside.
And we got under his covers and we just snuggled and talked.
And I told Liam how much I didn't want to leave Prague, how I just wanted to stay there with him.
I didn't want to go back to Georgia.
I just remember being in his bed and I remember just thinking this is the coolest thing ever.
(23:21):
I never could have imagined that it would be this good.
And again, nothing risque, nothing promiscuous happened.
I was literally just cuddling with this crush of mine in this tiny cozy apartment in Prague right before Christmas.
Why would I have wanted to leave that behind?
(23:43):
I didn't. It was actually the night before my dad and I were supposed to leave to come back to the US.
The original plan was for my dad and I to catch a 9 a.m. flight from Prague to I don't even remember where.
Prague to somewhere and then from Frankfurt to go to Georgia.
(24:04):
Well, that's not what happened.
There I am with Liam. I think it's like one in the morning at this point.
I like a lot of time had just gone by and we just it passed so fast.
And we were just cuddling and just talking and kissing and like very innocent stuff.
My dad text me at one something in the morning and says, Mary Grace, we need to change our flights.
(24:29):
You need to come back now as soon and as fast as you can.
We have to take a 6 a.m. flight now from Prague to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to New York, New York to Atlanta.
We will not be able to get home if we don't take the 6 a.m. flight.
So you need to come back to the hotel now.
(24:52):
And of course, I'm thinking, oh, no, my fairy tale is ending.
I don't want to leave like this is my fairy tale.
Why is it being snatched from me?
So I told Liam the situation I said, I have to go back to the hotel.
My dad says we have a 6 a.m. flight. We have to take it.
(25:15):
My dad has to work on Christmas Eve so we can't postpone.
And he understood, I think at the time, or at least by that point, he was feeling the same as me.
I don't think he really wanted me to necessarily leave either.
So we left his apartment.
This is the time when I dropped the damn bug.
(25:36):
And unfortunately, yeah, that mug went bye bye.
Never again. We got on a streetcar that was very close to Liam's apartment.
It was deserted outside like no body.
I mean, it was two in the morning at this point.
We were walking around Prague.
We eventually walked in the old town again.
(25:57):
And I just remember seeing the Prague Castle at night.
It was just all lit up in gold.
And I remember just seeing the entire landscape of the city all lit up.
Nobody around except me and Liam, my crush.
You could not get more romantic than this.
Anyway, got on the streetcar. Liam took me back to the hotel.
(26:18):
I remember getting off the streetcar and it was freezing cold.
And I remember standing in front of the hotel with Liam and having to say goodbye.
And that was so difficult to do. That was heart wrenching.
I almost wanted to cry. I think at that point, I was just like,
I'm not going to see you tomorrow.
(26:39):
I'm not going to see you next week or next month.
I don't live anywhere close to Prague.
I'm so far away.
And of course, I had no idea if I would even see him ever again.
So you can imagine the emotions are high, very intense.
I was feeling all sorts of ways.
I just stood there in the cold with Liam outside of this hotel.
(27:01):
I was just trying to stall.
I was trying to push the time as far as I could to not lose any of it.
I didn't want to. I just didn't want to leave.
So Liam and I were standing in front of the hotel and I think I said goodbye
maybe 10 times and I gave him this very tight hug.
And he gave me a tight hug back, several of them.
(27:23):
And I remember he kissed me a few times on my forehead
because he was quite a bit taller than me.
I think I was probably up to about his shoulder.
And eventually we did say goodbye and it really was the last goodbye.
I went in the hotel. It was like two something.
The flight was at 6 a.m. to Amsterdam and I wasn't going to go to sleep.
(27:46):
I don't think I could go to sleep with all of the high emotions and intense
everything that I was feeling on top of the limited and very condensed time crunch.
I just couldn't sleep.
So I don't think I slept.
And I think at three o'clock my dad and I started hauling ass to the airport
because it was two days before Christmas.
(28:08):
And we were, of course, having to fight all sorts of standby chaos at airports.
We got to the airport. We flew to Amsterdam.
I think I probably slept on that flight because I had a little bit of opportunity.
I don't remember that flight specifically, but what I do remember is the flight from Amsterdam to New York.
(28:30):
And that is when my feelings of heartbreak and this long distance shit really started hitting the fan.
And I really was starting to feel all of these very sad emotions.
I remember on the flight, I was trying not to cry.
I was trying to like turn my head so that my dad wouldn't see me cry or wouldn't see me tear up.
(28:51):
But I was just so deep in my emotions.
I'm young, but I was really young at the time.
I was 19.
I hadn't really had a lot of experience with any sort of love or any sort of intimacy, any sort of relationship stuff.
So when you get cut for the very first time, of course, it's going to sting like hell.
(29:14):
You've never been cut before.
And that's kind of what this felt like.
I also just remember that Amsterdam to New York flight, listening to Ed Sheeran's thinking out loud over and over and over again,
because I think 2014 was the year that that song came out.
But that song was stuck on repeat and it was inducing all sorts of tears.
(29:37):
And I was just like, oh, no.
So, yeah, that flight was rough.
And then when I got to Atlanta, I spent the next few days.
I mean, it was Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day.
And then after Christmas Day, I did talk to Liam again.
I think it was on Facebook Messenger.
I told him, Liam, I really like you.
(29:58):
You know, I wish we could have a relationship.
I would love to at least try it.
And he seemed kind of distant or at least he I didn't feel he was putting in that same energy that I was.
And then he told me after that, oh, I'm sorry, I'm just I'm still just getting over my ex from earlier this year
(30:20):
because he had broken up with another girl just months before I came to Prague.
And then eventually the reality came along not too long after.
And he told me, I don't want to do long distance.
I want to be with somebody who I can be close to physically, who I can wake up in the morning and see first thing.
(30:42):
I want to be with somebody who I can watch movies with, who I can go out with.
But with us, we can only talk.
We can only talk.
That's it. And I knew deep down that he was right.
But I didn't want to see that reality, though.
I wanted him to have some sort of resilience, some sort of hope, some sort of desire to try.
(31:06):
But he didn't have that.
There is a good five thousand miles of land or ocean between us.
How the hell was I going to manage that?
And I know that you may be thinking, well, your dad had flight benefits.
You could have just went to see him.
That never happened because my dad actually, unfortunately, lost his job with Delta,
(31:31):
I think, a month after this Prague story happened.
All of his benefits were lost.
And as a byproduct, I essentially lost the benefits.
The beginning of 2015 was rough.
Twenty fifteen. I was also losing some friends at the beginning of that year.
I had a roommate in college who hated me, which, yeah, that's another story for another day.
(31:52):
I had this crush who was on the other side of the world and I couldn't even go see him.
My dad had lost his job. Like it was just everything.
I wanted some sort of outlet, some sort of hope to see Liam again.
I didn't get that. In the end, we remained friends.
We still know each other to this day.
I have no idea if he is going to see or listen to this podcast.
(32:17):
I'm really happy that things didn't go above the level of friendship,
because I don't think we would be friends today.
I don't think we would talk at all if something had happened.
I also look back on that time and I realize that, OK, had we been together,
I don't think it would have worked out knowing what I know now.
(32:40):
Me not being 19 anymore, me not being in my feelings and being infatuated with this cute guy
who I think is so interesting and cool.
I don't think it would have worked because we actually met seven years later in 2021
just for the purpose of brevity. We met briefly in 2021.
(33:00):
I realized after meeting him that things would not have worked even if we had tried.
I don't think that with his personality and my personality that we would have given each other
what we needed in terms of a relationship.
He didn't have this same curiosity of the world as I did.
And also the language barrier in Prague.
(33:20):
Like I would have had to learn Czech, which is OK, but it would have been very difficult.
There are just so many things now when I look back that, yeah,
I did not know that at the time when I was 19, even though Liam and I did not end up together.
I am so happy that I tried.
I'm so happy that I was audacious, that I took a chance,
(33:45):
that I said what I felt in the moment, and it didn't destroy me.
That just gets you one step closer to finding somebody who will reciprocate those feelings,
who will appreciate you and give you what you need. All of those things.
In the years after this story happened, I have always tried to apply this same mentality to traveling,
(34:07):
discovering the world, meeting people, job opportunities.
I really tried to incorporate this, do this for today moment because you don't know what's happening tomorrow kind of thing.
And I think for the most part, this has fared well in the last 10 years.
I've gotten to see many beautiful countries because of this attitude and mindset of, oh, what if there is no tomorrow?
(34:31):
What if I don't have that chance later in life? What if, what if, what if I really love Prague?
I really would love to go back at Christmas time one day.
So if you are single and it's Christmas time when you're seeing this and you have a love interest or you have a crush,
go and talk to that person, go and ask that person to grab coffee with you, go for a walk somewhere,
(34:55):
go to the mall and go out for lunch or whatever.
You really never know where in the world that is going to take you.
And it's with these words that I'm going to end this and start wrapping up our episode today of my little mini Christmas Prague fairy tale 10 years ago.
If you have a Christmas crush or love story that you'd really like to share, please message me on Instagram at once upon a trip dot PC.
(35:22):
Or you can message me directly on my host Instagram account at Mary Grace Crawford.
I really would love to hear your story.
I think it's always fascinating to hear about what many people around the holidays experience.
Please don't be shy. Please send me a message. I would really love to hear from you.
Please give this show a five star review. If you have not done so already, that would really mean a great deal to me as well.
(35:49):
Thank you so much for tuning in today and for sticking through to this point in the episode.
If you are still here, I wish you a Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.
Happy Hanukkah. If you are celebrating Hanukkah, happy holidays in general and be brave this holiday season.
I believe in you. You can do it. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you took something away.
(36:13):
I hope you were entertained. I look forward to being back here with you next Tuesday for another fun, adventurous trip of an episode.
I will tune in with you again next week.
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