TIP #38 – Travel light, bring plenty of deodorant
You will not be wearing most of those clothes, so don’t pack them. In, fact, you’ll be lucky if you change your clothes once during the
course of the weekend. All you really need is your bank card, a passport and plenty of mouthwash and deodorant.

TIP #41 – The stereotypes about the beautiful Eastern European women are absolutely true
Except for the one about moustaches and armpit hair. In fact, they had to cancel the waxing bit of “Hungary’s Next Top Model” because there was no point.

Excerpt from Stag Republic’s  “50 Tips To A Perfect Stag Weekend” Guide:

TIP #9 – Assign duties to members of the group

This sounds boring, but it can be a lot of fun and help bring the stag party together. Examples include navigator (the guy with the map), bar staff and waitress liaison officer (orders drinks and manages the kitty), clothing referee (enforces stag attire), etc.

TIP #17 – Do not all order at once

Either have one person order for the entire group or, if you are all want something different, one-by-one around the table. Assign a bar staff and waitress liaison officer (see Tip #9) to prevent double ordering.

www.stagrepublic.co.uk - we knows it

We’ve introduced Tamara in an older post, but we’d like to get to know her a little bit better; please read on to acquaint yourself with our lovely Baltic Region tour manager:

My name is Tamara. I’m 28 yrs old, and I’ve been working at Stag Republic for over three years now. I started at the company as a part-time guide in Budapest next to my studies.  As the years passed I absolutely fell in love with guiding and decided to stay with the company even after finishing my degree. In fact, I started up the Riga branch and became destination manager. I still guide in Budapest on occasion.

What do I love about this job?

The vibrant environment, meeting new people, exchanging cultures, etc.  I lived England for over 5 years (went even to 6th Form and university there). When I moved back from the UK I started to miss the people and speaking English, so this job gave me the perfect opportunity to keep up  my English-language skills and to be surrounded by Brits!

Why Riga?

I have Russian roots, and when I first visited my friends in Latvia, I felt at home. Everybody speaks Russian and everything reminded me of Russia, but still, it has its own spice. Riga is an amazingly cool city, with loads of parties, lovely bars and restaurants, a great atmosphere and really nice people.

The beach is nearby which makes summer more enjoyable, and there is plenty of snow for winter-lovers, so what else do you need? After many visits to Riga, I finally decided to move there, and have been living there for half a year.

Funny stag stories …

Well, to be honest, I  can definitely NOT say all groups are the same! Each group has its unique traditions: the dress , the drinking games, so on… But each time there is one out of the group that surprises me, and that’s the reason why its never boring!!! I have many stories to tell, but here is one of the funnier ones:

I had been out on a pub crawl with one of my groups. One of the guys was really drunk and he couldn’t remember how he lost his expensive watch. The watch which he actually hadn’t lost because one of his mates had it but hadn’t told him. The poor bloke was really upset, but his mate was in stitches because he didn’t tell him he had it and let him go to the police station while the rest of the group was having fun. He had to sit for most of the day in a stuffy police station with people who couldn’t understand a word of English. Just before departure, when he finally sorted the police report out and had gotten the necessary papers, the other guy took out his watch and gave it to him. I will never forget his face at that moment!!! It was really funny…

Favourite activities:

Of course the best time with a group is on a pub crawl (sometimes this can be the worst as well). It’s the most fun when the group can really get to know the guide and bond with the other members of the group, because sometimes not everybody knows each other. A great pub crawl really sets the tone for the weekend.

BUT my second favourite is the sauna party in Riga. It’s a nice relaxing time but still can get crazy, especially in when you rent the sauna out with your own booze,  music and company (wink, wink - nudge, nudge )

And last but not least - winter bobsledding!!! It’s fun fun fun! An awesome adrenaline rush!

Hope to see you in Riga soon!

Tamara

We’re all feeling the crunch these days. So I’m going to post info on one of our cheap European Stag Destinations every so often, to help you decide which one is best for you.
This week it’s all about Budapest!!!

First of all, Hungary is not yet on the Euro, so your Pound goes a lot further. Other Central European Euro zone countries have become less popular with stags because of the exchange rate, but Budapest still represents very good value for money.

So, we’ve added Hostels to the list of accommodation choices. So what if it doesn’t include breakfast?! Who the hell gets up that early any way on a stag do? Get straight out of bed and go to the pub. All the hostels we use are in the thick of it, downtown, central - you’ve got the idea - right? You’ll be sharing big rooms with lots of beds (4, 6, 8 or 12 beds) but once again - who cares?! You shouldn’t be sleeping on a stag do anyways. Price is 55 GBP per person all year round for two nights. This price also includes round-trip airport transfers and a six-hour guided pub crawl. You really can’t do better than that lads! Click here for more info - Budapest Hostel Package. This leaves the bulk of the stag kitty for beers, bullets and babes.

If you still want the comforts of a hotel, that’s where our budget package comes in. You’ll still be staying in centrally located 2 and 3 star hotels, just sharing triples or quads. The rooms are ensuite, breakfast is included, as are the usual Stag Republic perks (pretty guides, airport transfers and pub crawl) Click here for prices and full info - Budapest Budget Package

Please remember, the words hostel and budget do not mean we cut corners on quality. We still provide top guides, top transfers and top local knowledge and advice. After all memories are not made from which hotel you stay in but the quality time spent with your mates shooting guns, drinking beers and chatting up the ladies.

Credit Crunch Strippers - Beautiful strippers with half the teeth… Just kidding! Just Kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helen and I went on another recce - this time to Bratislava. Bratislava is filled with awesome clubs and fantastic restaurants. Perfect for a Stag or Hen weekend! The strip clubs are great too, because they cater to men AND women. Apparently, the Slovaks like going to strip clubs with their significant other. We were told that it is absolutely normal to find husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends enjoying a good, raunchy sex show together. Maybe that’s why Slovakia’s divorce rate is lower than most…

So here are pictures from our own little Bratislava Stag Weekend

Helen fell in love with this tractor as soon as we hit Bratislava and insisted she get photographed with it. After the tractor love-in we got ready in our hotel room and headed out for some din-din at a place called Slang Pub right across from our hotel.

After a tasty Slovakian meal, we went for a walk around town. Bratislava is beautifully lit at night with a lot of nice views on the Danube River. We walked all the way to the UFO restaurant, across a really long bridge just to get a cocktail, but when we got there they wouldn’t let us in because they were closed - oh well, next time!

After that we did our own little Pub Crawl in Bratislava’s Old Town. At our first stop Helen was still needing some tea to get her party game going. The rest of us drank some local Slovak brew. We stopped by this ultra cool cocktail club with really funky lamps outside.

Our next stop was Club Trafo which was a funky little club playing pretty good dance music. Helen was drinking Breezers I think. And we did a couple of scary shots, I think. My memory starts getting hazy around this point.

We met some American soldiers on their weekend off. Helen took a ‘lickin’ to a Slovakian ad campaign. We then stopped in at Moulin Rouge, one of the better strip clubs in Bratislava. The girls were pretty hot AND they had a male stripper. I’ll spare you that picture, but check out my face in this picture - the male stripper had just grabbed my hand and was slowly running it down his stomach… BLECCCHHH!