PARDUBICE, CZECH REPUBLIC -- Michelle Horton, a telecommunications employee, was surfing the Internet this year in her St. Thomas, Ont., home and found what she believed would be the perfect vacation for her boyfriend, Paul Callaghan.

"Paul was in the next room and I said to him, 'Where does that friend of yours in Europe live?' " she said. "When he answered the Czech Republic, I asked him, 'What would you think about going there for the world junior tournament?' "

Callaghan, a truck driver, didn't hesitate to say yes. He's a hockey nut and wanted to meet up again with his old Czech buddy who emigrated to Canada in the late 1960s, ran a pool hall in St. Thomas and returned to his country once its Communist regime fell.

So the couple called Destiny Tours, one of a handful of travel companies that offer world junior packages, and booked their journey. After several days at the world junior championship here, the smiles can't be wiped off their faces. They are among the more than 3,000 Canadians who forked out between $3,000 and $4,500 (depending on the package chosen) to travel to the 11-day tournament.