SkyUp Airlines Coming to Brno

SkyUp Airlines is a Ukrainian low-cost airline that opened in 2018.  It currently has 11 planes flying to 33 different destinations and soon Brno will be one of them.

The Ukrainian State Aviation Commission approved the airline to begin 7 new routes between Ukraine and Czechland from April 2021.  The airline already had routes to Prague but all flights are currently suspended due to COVID-19.  I'm not so sure that things will be much better by April but let's hope.

The plan is to have flights going from Kyiv to Prague, Pardubice, Ostrava, and Brno.  There will also be flights from Prague to Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Zaporizhia.

They will also fly from Bratislava to Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Currently, again due to COVID-19, there are no passenger flights right now at the Brno Airport.  

Ryanair permanently cancelled its route between Brno and Bergamo (Milan) last year.  In Spring they should resume regular flights to London Stansted.  I still avoid Ryanair as much as possible because they suck.  The good news is that once SkyUp does actually begin flying to Brno there will be two airlines flying to Brno, even if one of them is Ryanair.

Update March 2021:  Due to COVID-19, SkyUp flights from Brno are delayed until at least June 2021.  Ryanair will resume flights to London Stansted and Bergamo in May 2021.

Post-Brexit EU Trade Deal

Thanks to Brexit, the UK is no longer part of the single customs union.  The UK and the EU did manage to agree on a last minute trade deal right before Christmas.  The impact of which is already starting to be felt and I believe that more problems will continue to pop up as Brexiters begin to realise the implications of voting to leave the EU.

The deal maintains the Good Friday peace deal so there is no hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.  In order to do this, Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market for goods, which means that Northern Ireland has to follow the EU's customs rules.  So now there's a customs border in the Irish Sea which basically separates the UK, between Northern Ireland and England/Scotland/Wales.

All goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland now require a customs declaration, and additional certification on some goods and products, just as it does between the UK and any other EU-member country.

There's no more unlimited freedom to work and live between the UK and the EU.  UK citizens are free to visit Europe but have to follow the Schengen rules which means they can only be in the EU for up to 90 days in a 180-day period.  Any stay over 90 days will require a visa.

Not that there's a whole lot of travel now due to COVID-19 but when arriving in the EU, UK citizens no longer get to use the EU/EEA queues.  They have to use the non-EU citizen queues.

There are now additional customs duties, import fees and VAT when you purchase something online from the UK.  EU consumer protection rules no longer apply to purchases made from the UK.  So I won't be buying anything any longer from Amazon.co.uk.  I need to switch to Amazon in Germany. 

Mail will be more complicated.  Both from the UK to the EU and vice versa.  All customs fees, duties and taxes need to be paid in order to pick up any packages.  Some shipping companies have already increased their fees to cover the cost of the extra paperwork required.

The UK has set new tax rules where taxes must be collected at the point of sale which means that a business in the EU must collect taxes on sales made to UK customers which means a lot of tax headaches because now the EU firm must establish an account with the UK tax authorities and keep up with ever changing UK tax laws.  There are already cases where EU firms are no longer selling goods to UK customers.

I'm still not sure what's going to happen with surcharge-free roaming.  I have no idea what I'll pay to use my mobile whenever I actually make it back to the UK for a visit.

Booze cruises to the wine shops in Calais, France, were popular because there was an unlimited allowance on alcohol.  That comes to an end because now, there's a limit on the amount of alcohol allowed from the EU for personal consumption.  UK citizens can now only take back home up to 42 litres of beer, 18 litres of wine and 4 litres of spirits, plus up to 200 cigarettes.

On top of all of the this the UK still has to settle a £25 billion ($X) divorce bill by 2057.  It will be interesting to see what other unintended headaches pop up as a result of Brexit

Here are a few short videos already showing up on YouTube showing some of the consequences of the post-Brexit trade deals.

©Al Jazeera

©9 News Australia

©Sky News

There was speculation that with the UK out of the EU, that English would no longer be an official EU language.  Every country gets to put up an official language and Ireland chose Irish and Malta chose Maltese so now there's no EU country with English as its official language.  English is the most widely taught foreign language in the EU.  It appears that English will be kept on as an official EU language.

©Euronews

Update:  Here's a short story on Brexit's impact on the music industry.  I never even thought about this one.  What a mess.

©Euronews

Significant Days

The Czech government has 15 days which are designated as významné dny which translates to "significant days."  These are days worth paying attention to but they are not public holidays.  In other words, there's no day off as these are all working days.  

16 January is Jan Palach Remembrance Day.  It commemorates his self-immolation in 1969.

27 January is Holocaust Remembrance Day and the prevention of crimes against humanity.  It remembers the 1945 liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

8 March is International Women's Day.  

9 March is Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Extermination of the Terezín Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944.

12 March is the Day of Accession of the Czech Republic to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  This commemorates the day Czechia joined NATO in 1999.

28 March commemorates the birth date of Jan Amos Komenský in 1592.

7 April is Education Day.  It commemorates the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348.

5 May remembers the May Uprising of the Czech People which took place in 1945.

15 May is International Family Day.

10 June is the Memorial Day for the Victims of the Extermination of Lidice which took place in 1942.

18 June is the Day of the Heroes of the Second Resistance which commemorates the fight in Prague's Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius that took place in 1942.

27 June is Memorial Day of the Victims of the Communist Regime and pays respect to the 1950 execution of Milada Horáková.

21 August is Remembrace Day for the Victims of the Invasion and Subsequent Occupation by Warsaw Pact Troops.

8 October is Memorial Day of the Falconry.  In 1941 the Nazi Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich issued a decree in 1941 for the dissolution of the Czechoslovak Sokol community.

11 November is War Veterans Day.  It commemorates the end of WWI in 1918.  This is the same as Armistice Day.

Update:  There's now a 16th significant day, the Day of Czechs Abroad.

2021 Public Holidays

The good thing about 2020 was that it was a leap year with 1 January falling on a Wednesday which meant that we got the maximum of 11 out of 13 public holidays off.  The rub was that whilst we had the days off we couldn't go anywhere due to COVID-19.

Since the 1st fell on a Friday this year we only get 9 public holidays this year with only 2 long weekends.

We lose out on any public holidays that fall on a weekend which means that we don't get any days off in May because the 1st and 8th both fall on Saturdays.

Christmas falls on Friday which means that we only get the 24th off because the 25th and 26th fall on Saturday and Sunday.  Even 1 January 2022 falls on a Saturday.

There was talk of getting a new public holiday for 21 August to mark the 1968 invasion but it ended up being designated as a "significant day" rather than a public holiday.

Now we've just got to hold out until April for a four-day weekend.

The Velvet Divorce

Happy Czech Independence Day!  Happy Slovak Independence Day too.  It's been 28 years since the Velvet Divorce on 31 December 1992 which let to the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

Following the Velvet Revolution, and the removal of the Communist regime, the country became the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (ČSFR).  So there was a Czech Republic and a Slovak Republic and both were governed by a Federal Assembly in Prague.

In the 1990s, Czechia's GDP was 20% higher than Slovakia's.  I understand that some Czechs felt that the Slovaks had too much say given the size of the population and were weighing them down.  In 1991, Czechia stopped making transfer payments to Slovakia.  Slovaks wanted wanted greater decentralisation while Czechs were happy to maintain control from Prague.

In 1992, Václav Klaus became the Czech Prime Minister and Vladimír Mečiar became the Slovak Prime Minister.  Klaus wanted continued integration while Mečiar was a separatist whose party, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), wanted independence.  

At the time, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution of the country.  However, Klaus and Mečiar were unable to agree on how to move forward.  In July 1992 the Slovak Parliament adopted a declaration of independence.  About a week later, Klaus and Mečiar agreed to split up the country without ever putting forward a referendum for people to vote on.  Probably because they knew that a referendum to split up the country would have failed.  Václav Havel was opposed to the split so he resigned because he didn't want to be the President of the broken state.  In November the Federal Assembly agreed on the dissolution of the country effective 31 December.  At midnight there were two new countries.  The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

Like in any divorce, the assets needed to be divided.  Most everything, including military equipment, was split two to one in line with the populations of the two countries.  Unlike the break-ups of Yugoslavia and the USSR, this one was smooth.

People living in Czechia became Czech citizens and those living in Slovakia became Slovak citizens.  People then had one year to decide if they wanted to switch or not.  There was a customs union between the two countries that lasted until 2004 when both joined the European Union.  There were border controls between the two until 2007 when they both joined Schengen.

Today only about 46% of Czechs and 44% of Slovaks think that the split was a good thing.

PF 2021

Šťastný nový rok!  

Happy New Year! 

PF 2021

What a year 2020 has been and I'm glad that it is just about over.  Here's hoping that 2021 will be much better.

2020 was supposed to be a big travel year.  I was all set with trips to 20 countries in 2020.  I started off strong and then COVID-19 came in and flipped the script.  However, I was fortunate enough to still hit 8 countries.

Since 2009, I always visit at least one new country a year.  This year it was going to be Vietnam and Cambodia.  That didn't happen so my streak came to an end.  Oh well.  The biggest disappointment was not getting to the USA this year.  I missed getting to see my parents, Steven & Michael, and make it to my nieces's high school graduation which ended up getting cancelled anyway due to COVID-19.  Hopefully I can make it over to the USA in 2021 but it all depends on how quickly the vaccine gets distributed. 

I can't believe that I don't have any travel planned right now.  By this time of the year I've normally pretty much planned out the entire year.  As of now, nothing is in the diary.  I haven't even bothered to look at the 2021 public holiday calendar to find out what long weekends we'll have next year.  Very unlike me.  

At least I'm safe and don't have COVID-19.  All of my family is safe and doing their best to keep isolated.

My biggest hope for 2021 is that I can finally sit for my language exam and citizenship test.  If I pass, and can submit my paperwork then hopefully I'll get Czech citizenship some time in 2022.

Christmas 2020

Merry Covid Christmas!  With the lockdown there was no way for me to go to Berlin for Christmas this year.  So just like the virtual Thanksgiving, this year Christmas is on Skype.  

Der Weihnachtsmann still made an appearance to drop off a bag of presents.  Just this year it was at the fence and he didn't come inside the house.

Dinner in Berlin

Claudia's mom usually makes Buletten, traditional Berlin meatballs, on the 24th.  

So I decided on meatballs for dinner so that we'd all be on the same page.  Not as good as her's but not bad.  There was even some red and green cabbage in that care package I received so it felt more like being there.

This morning, we got up early and Skyped with our favourite Kiwi in Wellington and tonight I'll FaceTime with my family in California.

I've got to admit that Christmas was way better last year.  Hopefully 2021 will be more normal.

Carp Time

It's carp buying time.  

Pandemic or no pandemic, nothing is going to get in the way of Czechs getting carp for Christmas dinner.  Going on 12 years here and I still can't get behind fried carp and potato salad for Christmas.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to have for dinner.  Something easy for sure since it will just be me.  Like the virtual Thanksgiving, this is going to be a virtual Christmas dinner.  

BER Finally Opens

Well it finally happened.  The new Berlin Brandenburg Airport opened on 31 October 2020.  It was supposed to open back in 2011.  Six later opening dates were also missed.  So much for German engineering.

BER was supposed to be a hub for Airberlin, Germania, Germanwings, Easyjet, and Lufthansa.  Well Airberlin closed in 2017, Germania closed in 2019, and Germanwings closed in April 2020. 

There were two airports in Berlin.  Tegel (TXL) in the north and Schönefeld (SXF) in the south-east part of the city.

BER has three terminals.  Terminal 1 is the brand new terminal.  Terminal 2 was supposed to be for the low cost airlines but it's currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Terminal 5 is actually the former Schönefeld Airport which is primarily for Ryanair and some charter flights but it too is currently closed due to decreased demand due to COVID-19.

I remember that the first European protest I saw was about the airport.  The original cost was supposed to be €2,83 billion ($3.47 billion) but in the end it was around €7 billion ($8.59 billion).

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube that gives a bit of the history of Berlin's airports.

©Al Jazeera

Here's a really good 7 minute video that goes in to all of the problems and what all exactly went wrong.

©DW News

Brno Christmas Market 2020

Despite COVID-19, Brno still has its Christmas markets but they feel sad and empty to me. 

All of the stands are social distanced.  The new restrictions prohibit drinking in public it looked like there wouldn't be any mulled wine this year.  However the government changed the rules on this one.  However, you can only get a svařak or medovina (hot honey wine) along a side street; not at the main market.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  It seems that this just encourages people to drink in a more confined space.

This will be the first time that ever that I don't get my favourite Christmas punch.

Update:  No punch in 2021 either.  The government closed the Christmas markets due to the rise in Covid cases.