There's a clear link between cheap flights and drunken nights. But whose responsibility is it to get you safely back home?
Sharp shooting? Stag dos are events British embassy offices could do without. Photograph: Roy McMahon/Corbis
So, Prague has gained a reputation as an international slops tray, according to a report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A city awash with Brits wasted on industrial quantities of Staropramen, Budvar and mind-addling absinthe. They can't remember where they left their passports, their clothes or their friends. But they can, miraculously, conjure up the number of the British embassy duty mobile phone. And, presumably, the £80 an hour call-out fee the embassy charges for "easily avoided incidents".
It's no surprise that the tens of thousands of hen and stag dos that visit the city each year are carrying the can for this. But when exactly did a stag do transform from a pub crawl in your local town followed by a bag of chips/kebab/curry into an international tour of duty?
Draw a line (but don't ask them to attempt to walk it), and you can see the bawdy progression. First there was Dublin in the late 90s. But the pubs in Temple Bar soon caught on and spoiled the party with "No Stag or Hen Parties" signs; besides, the price of a round in Dublin is ruinously expensive. The rutting parties moved on to Barcelona. In 2005, the Spanish city introduced on-the-spot fines for loutish behaviour such as vomiting, urinating and wandering around with open beer cans. So they headed further east on the trail of ever-cheaper booze: Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and, lately, Krakow. In February, the Polish city started a campaign to promote its cultural heritage over the fact that beer and strip clubs cost next to nothing.
Where will be next on the last nights of freedom tour? What about Bydgoszcz, officer? Just follow the low-cost airlines' vapour trail ...
Of course, there's nothing wrong with tying one on when one of your mates is about to get hitched. But at the end of a very tiring and emotional day, is it the job of the local consulate to bail you out, dress you up and pack you off home?
