The public transportation system in Prague is ranked one of the best in the world and has made navigating the city during my time here incredibly safe and easy. While my friends and I frequent the underground metro most often, above-ground trams are another useful tool we’ve utilized for traveling farther distances. Unsurprisingly, unique Czech customs seep their way even into metro and tram etiquette.

As a young and able-bodied person, I am low on the social hierarchy when it comes to sitting down on public transit. It goes without saying among Czechs that the elderly are most deserving of a seat on trains and metros, followed by other adults, then children, then young adults and teenagers. If there are limited seats available on the metro when I walk on, I look around and make sure there are no elderly people boarding behind me before I take that seat, if I have the courage to sit at all. When I do sit down, I am constantly scanning the visitors that board at each stop to make sure I am ready to offer up my seat to someone who ranks above me.

If you disrupt or ignore this system by taking a seat when you shouldn’t, you will likely be glared at or even yelled at until you yield your spot (and trust me, the Czechs are not afraid of public shouting). That’s why the woman I encountered above stood out to me instantly; she remained standing in front of me our entire tram ride despite the plethora of open seats around her. Her gaze was glued to the city beyond the tram windows, and standing certainly gave her a better view of outside. In fact, she was so fascinated by what was whizzing by her window that she never once noticed me snapping pictures over her shoulder in the reflection of the tram’s front wall. I can only guess that she cared just as much about enjoying her journey as reaching her destination, a refreshing thing to witness in the busy times we live in.