Let's Get Babicka a Skateboard for Vanoce
Nov. 18, 2011

As we enter the final stretch of 2011, the Autumn is upon us like the morning fog. The year was good to us, and left us just enough time to take care. Our children continue to grow and never cease to surprise us by how well they accept our hectic Summer schedule.

The van, now in it's 4th year, is as reliable as ever. Even the Dollar, which skirted near a 2 year low, was still manageable. All in all, 2011 marked the first time in several years that we dared dream again. The view from our window in Prague is that of hope.

The season started earlier than usual in March, which typically is rather slow here. This was followed by a family trip to Germany, for our first flight in a Zeppelin NT. We hope that such Airship Cruises will become more common, and become yet another way to visit the old country. This alone could have been the highlight of the year, but it proved only to be a great start. With each day, the Spring brought a host of new requests, that filled our Summer calendar.

As we look back, there were more trips in 2011 than we have enjoyed for many years. Most of these to extraordinary places, accompanied by new and old friends. It is as though we took off in a dirigible, and we have not yet come down. Return to earth we must, however, to resume the work at hand. To improve ourselves further, what must be done?

As we asked our 4 year old, what to get grandma for Christmas, he quickly replied, a skateboard. And so, here are the results of many wakeful dreams (Tom's contribution), and concrete business planning (Marie's influence)

1. We plan to expand our travel services to include destinations and activities we enjoyed most over the years. These can be found at www.pathways.cz. Keep in mind, though, that these trips are mostly the product of our guests requests, and so we welcome you to send us your wish list, whatever strikes your fancy. Yes, we can turn your dream into reality.
   
   
2. We plan to increase the number of our Friends & Partners, listed on both P.A.T.H. FINDERS Intl. and PATHWAYS s.r.o. web sites. These will include several old acquaintances and new associates. There will be more tips for lodging and places of interest, and a new "Feedback" page. We encourage all our visitors and guests to add their overall impressions about lodging, restaurants, transportation, etc. (not only the nice things that they say about Marie).
   
   
3. We wish to thank those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Simply identify your branch of the armed services, and we will discount the cost of our travel services by 15%. Also, for anyone serving their local communities as fire fighters, police, or teachers, we will give a discount of 10% for research and travel services (combined).
   
   
4. Finally, we wish to remind those of you who have someone special you wish to send your holiday greetings to, we can help. This year our "Gift Baskets for Friends & Relatives" is more affordable and convenient than ever. While prices remain mostly unchanged from last year, we have increased the size of the message you can now send, and reduced the cost to send a color family picture. Furthermore, we now accept payment by credit card, to help expedite the process. To insure that your gift basket will arrive on time, though, please order as soon as possible, as the coming weeks always seem to disappear too quickly.

Best Wishes for Blessed Thanksgiving
Tom & Marie Zahn

THE NEWS FROM PRAGUE
Feb. 3, 2011

As with the weather everywhere this year, Prague is in the grips of an unusually cold and snowy Winter. I think we already had enough by the end of Dec., spending our evenings curled up with books, and keeping out of harm's way. By Feb., though, the ants in our 3 year old's pants have made this impossible, and so regardless of the weather, we venture out, to stretch our limbs and fill our lungs with fresh air. This time around, Spring cannot arrive soon enough.

And so, with Spring in mind, we are busy taking new requests for research and travel, and combing through the records, making the most of the season to find places of particular interest to our visitors. We are further expanding our list of travel offers and redefining products for our family history clients.

In April we are taking our first group to Friedrichshafen, Germany to attend AERO 2011, General Aviation Fair, to fly in the Zeppelin NT and tour the shipyard with Mr. Wolfgang von Zeppelin himself. We are excited at the prospect that similar flights will someday be available in Prague.

The new emphasis for research will be to introduce a comprehensive strategy to help our family history clients plan for a finished product from earlier in the process. Up until now, we would typically arrive at the point where an Heirloom Family History was called for only after we had thoroughly exhausted all other avenues for research. In review of this policy we discovered that it would be better to begin planning the finished product from the outset, to avoid redundancy and help economize on the overall time and cost to accomplish something of great value to all involved.

Finally, as many clients over the years have expressed their wish to pay by credit card, we recently made these arrangement with our bank. We can now accept Payment by VISA and Master Card, through Komercni Bank here in the Czech Republic.
For those requesting research alone, payments will continue to be handled as before, through personal check or money order sent to our US address. For those who are planning to visit, however, you will now be able to avoid making expensive cash withdrawals during your travels. You may now pay us directly by credit card.

In addition to the merchant services, there is one last news item that we must report here. As the US Dollar has steadily declined since the first of the year , we have had to increase our rates accordingly.

Effective Feb. 1, 2011, there was roughly a 6-8% increase to our rates, across the board. Simultaneously, we sought ways to minimize the effects of this for those who have been long term clients, or who plan to combine research and travel services together.

For example, offering Local Contacts free of charge when clients combine a Complex Research with a Family History Day Trip. We will be adding this, as well as other "Special Offers", to our web pages in the weeks and months ahead in an effort to bundle different services and products for discounted rates.

We hope that overall this news will be well received, and that it will find you safe and warm. In times of calamity there are often some benefits. In the case of this long, cold Winter, we hope you have more time with those you love, and together you may find new clues to help you further along with your Family History.

You may rest assured that we remain dedicated to the needs and wishes of our clients here in the Czech Republic.

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