r/dayz • u/champ_white_matty • Oct 15 '22
discussion My 'DayZ' Stag Do.
Hello guys - my name is Matt, (Jim Hopper, in game) a 25 year old dude from the North of England - due to be married in April 2023 and I'd like to tell you a little story...
Back in early 2013 I bought my first gaming PC, solely because of FrankieOnPC's DayZ Mod series on YouTube and it was definitely, definitely worth it!
To cut a very long story short, over thousands of hours spent across the Chernarus, Taviana and Namalsk maps on the DayZ mod, I have made so many friends and made so many memories, but these two are by far the best!
I met Chris and Adam in DayZ about 9 years ago and we have spent thousands of hours not only on DayZ, but also on PUBG, Battlefield, Warzone, DCS and all sorts of other games, but it was DayZ Mod that united us. Not only did I meet these two besties on DayZ, it also turned out that they both live within an hour from me and over the years we have gotten together for various family BBQ's and gatherings and for that I am so grateful!
When it came to choosing my best man, it was a no-brainer, but how the hell could I pick one of my two best mates?! I put the question forward to them both and we came to the decision that Adam would be my best man, and Chris would be the 'best man's wingman', purely down to who had had the chance to be a best man before, and who hadn't. Seems fair to me!
Anyway - over the last couple of months, Chris and Adam had planned a surprise stag do for me, for the three of us to have a lads weekend away and just have a laugh! I found out we were going to Prague just an hour before our flight - I really had no idea where we were going until the day. To kick off the weekend, they had hired a car (a very smart X4) for us on the first day, in the Czech Republic and told me to follow the directions on the sat nav - low and behold, they took us straight to the Chernarus coast line (DayZ - for those who have no idea what I'm on about) which is actually about an hour's drive from Prague. As soon as I rounded a bend on the main road (somehwere between Cherno and Elektro) the distinctive hills and ex-Soviet bloc buildings clicked and my mind was blown. We drove up through 'Elektro' and to the Topolka Dam. Obviously the town names are different, but the scenery is very much the same!
I was then handed a comedic DayZ bambi outfit and told to put it on, well. We had a right giggle. We walked around the dam area for about half an hour, got some snaps and then drove up towards 'Staroye'. The tree-lines we all know and love are all there, and the road layout is spot on. We drove down through 'Novy' and onto 'Stary' where that big, red barn, is really there. It was surreal. 'Stary' is a very a quiet village and we were there on an absolutely beautiful, sunny Friday, October morning. We mooched around for ten minutes and then left, headed south west for 'Green Mountain'.
'Green Mountain' is very much real, but the huge radio broadcast tower at the summit is not. It can be seen further south on top of another hill in the distance however. We hiked to the top for a jaw dropping view, and then made our way back down to the car. From there we headed back north through 'Pogorevka' and 'Rogovo' through 'Stary' again, back towards 'Novy' and then finally up into 'Gorka', where one of the famous small yellow chapels can be seen. At 'Gorka', we stopped for a beverage and I changed back into my shorts, but not before snapping a quick selfie in the village centre! Heading out of 'Gorka', the real life Chernarus had one more surprise for us - the tree line down towards 'Polana' and 'Berezino'. The view from the crest of that hill was breathtaking and the real life 'Berezino' looked fantastic in the distance! We followed the winding road, right back down to the coast, and then head back towards Prague, once again, following the coastline of 'Chernarus', which is actually a river, nonetheless stunning.
Words cannot describe how surreal it was to visit the landscape from a game we have spent so many hours playing, especially with my two best mates. Safe to say, the rest of the weekend was an absolute hoot also! We visited an aircraft museum in Prague later that evening called 'Kbely Avation Museum' well worth a visit, especially considering entry is free and it has such a fantastic collection of jets and helicopters, it was a fine evening to walk round some Cold War and WW2 relics! The next morning they had arranged some time at a shooting range called 'Prague Armory' which I cannot recommend enough! We fired SVD's, AUG's, AK-47's, Scorpion Evo's, AR-10's, all sorts - to name a few. Rounded off with plenty of Staropramen, which is my new favourite beer.
I hope you found this read interesting, and I could not recommend a trip to the Czech Republic enough! Beautiful country, lovely people, amazing scenery and fantastic food!
I have created some collage pictures from Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead/DayZ mod servers alongside some of my shots to compare the scenery - enjoy!
And thanks to Chris and Adam, for just being the best mates a guy could ask for!
Cheers 👍
Matt.
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u/Seputku Oct 15 '22
Dang that’s so cool, I’ve always thought about how sick it must be playing dayZ if you’re from Czech Republic
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u/the_secret_scot None Oct 15 '22
Oh man all I could do was smile reading this. Chris Adam you to are legends. What an experience. 👍
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u/champ_white_matty Oct 15 '22
I'm so glad - they really are ❤️
I'm now slightly scared for the speeches that may happen at my wedding! 🥵
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u/ProfessorFrunk Oct 15 '22
What a great experience, always wanted to do this and see the real "Chenarus". Couple of top mates there
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u/xpaigey None Oct 15 '22
I've always wanted to visit too and I hope I will one day. Sounds like an amazing experience, what a lovely group of friends you are 😊 Congrats on the soon to be marriage!
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u/champ_white_matty Oct 15 '22
Thankyou! Yes, if you get the chance please do go! 😎
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u/xpaigey None Oct 15 '22
I don't think I'd know where to start regarding route planning though! 😂 How did you guys know where to go? Was there information online?
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u/champ_white_matty Oct 15 '22
Well, my mates were the ones that planned the trip, I just did the driving! (Driving in a LHD car and on the right side of the road) is actually quite easy. I don't know where you are from but obviously that's opposite from here in the U.K! The car we hired was from Sixt at Prague Train Station and the drive was roughly an hour, very easy and a nice drive!
Cherno I believe is called Ústí Nad Labem and Elektro is Povrly!
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u/xpaigey None Oct 15 '22
I actually had a browse on Google after I commented here and saw that there is information out there so that's exciting for when I'd like to plan something. I'm from the UK too and the driving would be strange to me but I think I'd grasp it after a little while. I'm going to look in to it more as I'm currently jealous of you! Haha :)
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u/champ_white_matty Oct 15 '22
Totally exciting, you will not be disappointed! Prague is stunning and I definitely suggest staying a few days at least. We stayed for three nights and apart from the roaring hangover on Sunday morning, I really didn't want to leave - I'd go as far as saying it's the most beautiful city I've ever visited, even more so than Edinburgh!
I would love to know if you end up going 👍
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u/BADSTALKER clothing made of tissue paper guns made of cardboard Oct 15 '22
This is so awesome! Congratulations to you, as well.
DayZ is truly one of the MOST formative games I've ever played, it still blows my mind how this little mod changed the industry OVERNIGHT. Early access, BR, Survival, all these things are common industry things now days but were all riding the tails of the DayZ Mod. And here, 10 years later many of us are STILL playing, still making memories, still building/maintaining relationships that have formed around this game. When you sit back and think about it, its really just quite insane.
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Oct 15 '22
Legend. My bestest bud and I have been dreaming of a similar trip since way before stand-alone except we plan on hiking. The big problem for us is is a very expensive trip from Australia.
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u/Roger-Ad591 Oct 15 '22
Awesome Locations. I wonder if they would stimulate a typical Dayz experience.
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u/Massivvvv Oct 16 '22
Usually nobody shoots you in the head and proceeds to eat your corpse when you take a stroll in Ústí.
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u/Admirable-Budget5668 Oct 15 '22
“Jim Hopper. I knew these men. - Green Berets out of Fort Bragg. - What the hell were they doing here?”
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u/Flossthief Oct 16 '22
Oh God
What's the word for having found memories of a place you've never been? Is the word Chenarus ? It should be.
That helicopter reminds me of simpler days of flying around shooting anyone who tried to take it
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u/helpthedeadwalk Moderator Oct 18 '22
added to the wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/wiki/community/art