Renting a car

As Jason previously posted we rented a car on the weekend to drive into the Czech countryside. We took full advantage of having the car after we were done sightseeing. We got back from Orlik and had dinner and put the kids to bed and I headed to the supermarket. The timing was perfect since we had just run out of milk last week. I had bought a couple milks here and there over the week but we had run out of our stock pile. I entered the Tesco in Letnany into the TomTom and hit the road. It was so nice to just have the freedom of hopping in the car and going to the store. Once I got to the Tesco I filled two huge grocery carts with groceries. It was a little bit of a challenge to navigate two shopping carts but I managed. A few people looked at me like I was insane for buying that much stuff but I didn't care. I checked out and bagged all my groceries since they don't have baggers in the grocery stores here. I wheeled the carts out to the car and started loading the car. Since we had rented a Fabia my space was limited so I filled the truck and the backseat with groceries. It took me about 2 hours to get the shopping done but now I don't have to worry about buying the heavy stuff like milk, water, juice, and beer for another month. Since we plan on renting a car again this summer to see the countryside I will just try to time it with my next big shop. Before we returned the car on Sunday we took a trip to Ikea to pick up a couple things that we needed. The trip to Ikea on the metro takes about 45 minutes but in a car it takes 15min. We drove by Motol Hospital on the way to Ikea. Motol is the hospital I had to go to with the kids when we were enrolling in the Czech healthcare. Going to Motol on public transit takes about 45 min but only 10 min by car!! Having the car definitely made me long for a car. I know that the reality is that I don't need one and it would only be useful for big grocery shops and the occassional long metro trip but it sure was nice having the freedom to get somewhere quick and to get as many groceries as I wanted. I still think the cons outweigh the pros for having a car in the city but I will enjoy our rentals over the summer.