Practical advice for traveling in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

On a warm Saturday morning in September, my mother and I caught the 10:47am train to Uherský Brod – a small Moravian town about five hours southeast of Prague.Many of the windows lining the side of the train were open, letting a breeze pass through and cool the air of our compartment. We journeyed into dense forest before reaching the countryside – it took but twenty minutes to leave the capital behind.