My time in the Czech Republic came at the end of nine months in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders. On my way to meet my family in Italy, I made my way south through Europe, stopping along the way to visit colleagues and friends I had worked with in the field. Prague was one of those stops.
Although my time in the country was brief, it provided a welcome contrast to the intensity of the previous year. I wandered the streets of Prague, traded stories with friends, and was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the country from above. A neurosurgeon I had worked alongside in South Sudan—who, it turns out, was also a pilot—invited me up in a small plane for a flight over the Czech countryside. Somewhere along the way, he even handed me the controls. For a few unforgettable moments, I found myself flying over patchwork fields, villages, the rolling countryside and also a castle! It was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying, and remains one of the most memorable experiences of my travels.
The photographs in this gallery capture both the beauty of Prague and a brief glimpse of the Czech countryside from a perspective few people ever get to experience.
