Copenhagen

Day 1: September 2, 2015 –

I was never one to plan ahead. I typically just went for things, whether they were realistic or not, I just tried to do them. It takes a lot of optimism to just go for something without planning, and then if things start blowing up in your face, you eventually start to think that everything that you try might result in failure. Many times I would jump into doing things with no research and no plan, and then become completely convinced that the whole world was against me when things didn’t turn out happily ever after. At some point in time, I started to over worry and over prepare for things, for fear that if I didn’t have 5 back up plans, then I would certainly be fucked.

So, in planning this trip, I downloaded lots of maps and information into my NVidia Shield Tablet. I had city maps and translate apps, eBooks, games, and drawing apps. Pretty much anything that I would ever need on my European adventure, I had set up. But in my experience, relying on one thing never seems to work out as planned.

After my 15 hours of travel time and layovers, coupled with my in ability to sleep on a plane, it isn’t surprising that I would misplace, the most expensive gadget that I own and the grail diary of my trip (I have the maps, but the maps are worthless without the diary!).

When we arrived in Chicago, we were already exhausted from flying. We spend almost our entire layover in the international passenger security checkpoint. When we finally got on the plane, we thought it would be a peaceful, sleepy flight, especially since I was taking generic sleeping pills…I never fell completely asleep. During the first two hours of the flight, we had dinner and the last two hours of the flight we had breakfast, so during the middle 4 hours, we were supposed to fall asleep.

When I eat a big meal at night, I can never fall right to sleep. The food gives me energy, and I can sit up watching movies and surfing the internet for hours. On our 8 hour flight, I received NO sleep with the sleeping pills. My brain was really out of it, and I was bound to lose something…It’s a little fuzzy, but at some point, my debit card never made it back into my money clip…

When we finally landed, I was really spaced out, and the fact that I was able to function, even on a minor level was a miracle. When I picked my huge pack off the carousel, and was transferring my carry on into the bag that I had checked, I set down my tablet on a luggage cart. It isn’t a surprise that I walked away with a zombie state of mind, out of the baggage claim section, and out into the real world.

Welcome to Copenhagen

Copenhagen was not like American airports; you can’t meet someone in baggage claim. They have to leave the baggage claim area and meet you. If you leave something in baggage claim, you probably aren’t going to get it back. I wouldn’t know that my tablet or my debit card was missing until we arrived at the apartment that we booked, when I started looking through my stuff.

After exiting the baggage claim area, we followed the signs to the Metro train that runs throughout the city. We purchased passes for the metro and took it to the Norreport station, which is fairly central in Copenhagen. From there we took the 9A bus, down a long street that was lined with every shop that you could imagine. This area was mostly run by people that weren’t of Danish decent, so there was a large variety of shops and brands that sold anything that you would ever need.

When we reached our stop, we traveled through a walkway between shops and passed an amazing gallery of graffiti. We continued past an empty lot, where any number of illegal activities could’ve taken place, and through a large parking lot for the area businesses. After one last amazing graffiti wall, we headed towards residential apartment buildings, which contained thousands of small units.

We walked to the address that we thought was written down, even though the whole street was pretty haphazardly marked, and looked for the buzzer next to the door. The apartment was only one floor up, so when our temporary landlord heard us below, she called down from the window and told us that she was coming down.

We walked up the stairs to the apartment, while she explained the house rules, using the kitchen and bathroom, etc. She said that her uncle owned the apartment and she was renting out one of the rooms, while he was away. While she was explaining to us all that we needed to know about Copenhagen, I looked through all of my belongings in search of my tablet. While rummaging through, I noticed my debit card was missing as well.

I started quietly freaking out. The first thing that I felt I needed to do was call the debit card company and report the card lost. In order to do that, I needed to get a SIM card that I could use in the iPhone that my boss let me borrow. I had no clue what to ask for specifically, but in my exhausted state, anyone that would provide the internet and a phone line in the palm of my hand was a friend.

We walked from the apartment to the first cellphone shop that we saw. When we walked in, the clerk saw us as the perfect marks. The fact that I still have no idea what a Kroner is really worth, I let this clerk, overcharge me for a SIM card, that was only really going to be good in Denmark (the country that we might be staying in the least). Relieved that I purchased a SIM card and learned about the 00 country code, I was eventually able report the debit card stolen. Now, I had the peace of mind that Europe wasn’t going to take all of my money, at least not through my debit card.

We took the bus to the metro station, and rode back to the airport. After taking the wrong Metro and having to backtrack, we arrived at the information desk, where the gentleman basically told us that we were never going to see the tablet again. It was locked behind the heavy security doors and could possibly be in the possession of shady, baggage handlers.

Not only does it stink that all of my downloads for the trip were on the tablet, but I also had comics that I had been working on for the prior 2 months stored on the card. I probably had close to 100 hours’ worth of work that was on the microSD card. I had assumed that I would never take my hands off the tablet…again…not planning ahead, I should have backed up all the drawings. Although, they will probably look better, the next time I draw them.

After we left the airport, we just wanted to get some food and a drink. We noticed that Copenhagen is a beautiful city with lots of people biking around. I mean bikes everywhere. It would be pointless to own a car in this city, because there doesn’t look like there is any place to park. I also had a new found confidence, which made me feel like I could talk to anybody. I remember in high school and college, when I could go up to anyone and ask them a stupid question? Well, that’s how I felt in Copenhagen.

We stopped into a wine bar, and talked to some girls who were sitting on the patio, and they directed us to a place to eat. We went through a few narrow cobblestone streets, and ended up at a restaurant that had beer and a vegetarian buffet. Elizabeth ordered the buffet and ate like a queen, while I ordered an appetizer. It was just that, a tiny portion for you to eat before your actual meal.

Exhausted and frustrated we took the bus back to the Airbnb. If we learned something useful today, it is that the tourist passes work for both the bus and metro. Also, always order more Kroners than you think you will need back in the states, because if you aren’t familiar with the conversation, you will run out instantly. 1 Kroner is equal to about 15 cents, and not 1 dollar.

Even though I had all my train tickets and my travel guides on the tablet, I also printed out all of the train tickets twice and designed my own city guide. My city guide isn’t much. It is basically where are we staying, how are we getting there, our points of interest, and locations where we might be able to do caricatures and face paint. I wanted to make sure that if anything happened with the tablet that I would have a backup plan, and I do.

Day 2: Copenhagen

For a person, whose sleep schedule is affected, when the clocks spring forward and fall back, a 7 hour spring forward is a shock to the system. Even though I was exhausted by the multiple trips to the airport, along with the stress and anxiety of losing my tablet and debit card, I couldn’t sleep soundly. My mind kept racing and going over the trip, and eventually I stopped trying to sleep. It is possible that I was able to sleep 15 minutes here or there, but I spent most of the evening proofreading my previous blog post, and planning out the next day.

When Elizabeth finally woke up around 8am, I finally started to get slightly drowsy (because it was one in the morning in California). I got out of bed and took a shower in the bathroom. It was one of the few showers that I’ve seen where the drain is the same level as the floor in the rest of the bathroom, other than in a locker room. Usually there is some sort of tub or pooled area, but this was just a drain in the floor. Luckily, I didn’t make too big of a mess.

On the previous night’s flight, I wasn’t hungry enough to eat the airplane meal, and Elizabeth didn’t eat hers, because it was roast beef, so I had a free breakfast. It was a little weird eating cold roast beef and potatoes out of a tin foil container, while sitting on the floor of the Airbnb bedroom, but since everything seems more expensive than it probably is in Copenhagen, I didn’t want to spend money on breakfast.

Once Elizabeth and I got ready, we went down to Cortador, a hip coffee shop, where none of the furniture matched. It was a nice little spot, with questionable Wi-Fi connectivity, which forced us into overhearing the Danish conversations, making our coffee time a bit more interesting. I ordered a mocha, and instead of getting it in a mug, it was served in a tall glass, which made it scalding to the touch. It was, however, delicious.

After our morning dosage of caffeine, we hopped on the 5A bus to Tivoli Gardens. We ended up getting off a few stops early, so we were able to explore the neighborhood a little and experience the touristy part of Copenhagen. When we got to Tivoli, we were an hour early. I assumed that the park opened at 10.00, but in reality it opened at 11.00. This gave us more opportunity to explore Copenhagen, and see things that we didn’t have planned in our itinerary.

We saw a tower a few blocks over and walked over to it. After closer examination, we learned that it was the town hall. There was a fountain in the front, with gargoyle statues, and a line of gargoyles guarding the front of the building. Despite our previous thoughts, there wasn’t a fee to get in. We did a walk around inside, and while it was pretty impressive, we weren’t blow away by it, until we went into the room with the World Clock.

The world clock was built in 1955, and is planned to last practically until the end of time itself, if all goes well. While most clocks have hours, minutes and seconds, this clock also had the position of the moon, the rotation of planets and a hand that moves every 25,000 years. There was a sign that said that when smart phones and LED TV’s are obsolete, that this clock will still be running.

The next place of interest nearby, according to the Former’s map, was the Christiansburg Palace. This palace houses the court of the royal family, reception halls, a number of granite statues and the queen is there on special occasions. There was a fee to enter, so we just looked at the free stuff. The person in the gift shop told us that down the road at the Amalienborg Palace, they were changing the guards in an hour. We wanted to participate in this Danish tradition, so we rented some bikes and rode over.

Amalienborg is where the Queen of Denmark actually lives, and every 24 hours her guards “clock in” and “clock out” per se. They do a formal change over, and the police are brought in to hold back the crowds of tourist, who are filming and taking pictures. There is always a few people trying to get away with not following the rules, which are crossing the line in the cobblestone, or riding their bikes in the courtyard, but they are quickly called out by the authorities.

To get to Amalienborg from Christiansburg, we rented a couple of the “city bikes”. The city bikes have a little electric motor that speeds you along, to keep up with the racing style of the average Copenhagen citizen. Biking through the streets is exhilarating, even on these heavy rental bikes. The bikes had a tablet with a GPS attached to the handle bars to get you around, but we felt like the directions that we were getting was taking us out of our way. Especially on our way back to Tivoli gardens. The route that the bikes were leading us on was different on each of our bikes. One bike would say to turn and the other would say to go straight. As a result, we probably ended going a mile or so out of our way, but it wasn’t too bad.

In addition to Tivoli Gardens, the place that you have to visit in Copenhagen is Christiania. We took the bus back to our main hub in the city for getting around, Norreport Station. There, we hopped on the M2 Metro to Christianshavn, and took a little walk in the rain a few miles to the Freetown.

There is a sign marking the entrance, but you will know it when you see it. The day we arrived, there was a giant graffiti mural of a dragon and an arch next to that said, “Beware, there be Dragons”.

Christiana was a town created by squatters on an abandoned military installation and it doesn’t look any different from what you’d imagine. If you don’t like hippies, graffiti and “legal” weed, Christiania isn’t for you. If you are into those things, make sure that you exchanged your dollars for Kroners, because they don’t take Visa. We took some photos of some amazing graffiti, and as we approached the “green light district”, a guy yelled at Elizabeth to put her camera away, as to not document incriminating evidence. It was like a pot farmers market with vendors in ski masks, and customers smoking Cheech and Chong sized joints. Just the contact high gave us the munchies, so we explored our food options.

50 DKK is about $7.50, and even though it is called Freetown, they charge hipster prices. To get out of the rain for a minute, we popped into a buffet. A counter, spread like a potluck stood in front of us with a sign that read, “30Kr for 200g”. Clearly we weren’t going to get much, but I asked the girl, whom made this food with love, how much we could get for 50kr. She looked at us and rolled her eyes.

She gave us a paper plate and said, “You can fill this plate and it will be 50kr”. We started dishing things out, a bit of lasagna, a piece of chicken, a veggie patty, a pork and beef item that looked vegan, a beet salad, and some hummus. It was a delicious blend of flavors, so much that I could taste the love. I think that Elizabeth ate a bit of meat by accident, so she couldn’t wait to get out of Christiania and see something different.

We got back on the M2, took it to the next station, then walked to Nyhavn. You know those bright colored buildings next to the canal that are on all the postcards? That’s Nyhavn. There were a few buskers, and if it wasn’t questionable weather, it might have been a good place to do caricatures and henna. Alas, between the jet lag and the weather, we didn’t get to do any busking. We still had one day in Copenhagen at the end of the month, so we had a second chance. We were only in Nyhavn for a minute, when we saw the sign for the canal tours. If you know me, you know that I love going on short boat rides. It was pretty fun. We were able to see a few sites from a distance, but the highlight of the tour is the Little Mermaid statue. It isn’t very big and we were pretty far away, but it was something to tick off the bucket list.

We were really feeling exhausted from walking around, and my being up all night, so we took the Metro and bus back to the apartment. Instantly, as we got to the room, I took a nap. A few hours later, we debated going back out and redeeming our return ticket to Tivoli Gardens, or just staying in bed. In the end, fun won out because we went back to Tivoli Gardens.

If we thought Tivoli Gardens was amazing during the day, it was even cooler at night. The buildings and fountains were lit up beautifully with small colored light bulbs. There were a few shows that we ended up missing, but we were able to see the Pierrot ballet at the peacock theater. We also rode on the Rutschebanen roller coaster, before we watched the famous light show. It was an old wooden, out and back coaster, similar to Cedar Point’s Blue Streak, but with tunnels and mountains, like Disney’s Matterhorn.

Instead of pushing a button and letting the automation begin, the coaster had a driver that sped up and slowed down the coaster. Concerned about safety? Yeah, me neither. This is why I loved that the lap bar wasn’t locked down, and the attendant didn’t push the bar down to an uncomfortable level. Who needs seat belts anyway? Its way more fun to bounce out of your wooden bench seat on the short hills than to be strapped in. Damn those lawsuits in American that ruined the old rickety coaster experience. After the coaster, we went to the “world of color” style water and light show. While this light show was on a smaller pool of water, it was even more impressive than Disney.

The theme of light show was Denmark in summer: Water, Smoke and Fire. There were no recognizable songs or movie clips. This was pure Danish culture expressed with lasers, water, and smoke machines, and it was incredible! There was hardly anyone there to see it, but the world was missing out on this intimate laser experience. After the coaster and the lasers, we were done for the night. We went back to the Airbnb. I took a sleeping pill, and slept through the whole night.

> Next Chapter

Kvickly (Mini Department/Grocery Store)
Nørrebrogade 157, 2200 København, Denmark
We stopped in here for some bread, cheese, wine and beer. They had everything from socks and sweaters, to beer and fresh bread. There was an Aldi around the corner, but we didn’t need to stop in. The whole street of Nørrebrogade along the Assistens Cemetery has kebab shops, clothing stores, a costume shop, a record store and cell phone stores. We didn’t have time to eat at any of these places, but it looked like there was lots of ethnic food to choose from.

Lidl (Small Grocery Store)
Near the train station.
Vesterbrogade 25, 1620 København, Denmark

Riz Razz Steaks ‘N’ Veggies (Restaurant)
Store Kannikestræde 19, 1169 København, Denmark
This was the place that Elizabeth got her buffet, and I got my salmon dish the first time, and the steak sandwich the second time. The buffet was around $15. It had a few salad bowls and various vegetarian dishes, including lasagna, fried potatoes, oven-baked root vegetables and more. The marinated salmon that I ended up getting was probably more of an appetizer that a group of people would share, and have something else as their main meal, but I didn’t know any better at the time. It tasted good, but for about $10, it left me wishing that I’d ordered the buffet, because I would’ve gotten more food for my money. I ordered the steak sandwich on the second to last day of our trip, when I was just looking to order something that I knew that I would enjoy, and after being underwhelmed by the marinated salmon that I ordered the first time. The steak sandwich was 115 DKK, which didn’t seem expensive, until I found out that it was $17 USD. The meat was sliced, marinated, flank steak, like my mom used to make, served on a baguette. It was amazingly good. After my previously average experience, and receiving enough beef to last two meals, I was more than satisfied this time around. We sat on the patio on both occasions and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather, that we were having on both occasions. Just down the street was a traditional Danish place called Det Lile Apotek. We saw a group of tourists go in, so it might have been a sort of destination place. We looked in the menu before going to Riz Raz, and the prices were relatively higher. They also didn’t have any vegetarian food. If you are looking for a more authentic Copenhagen food experience, love meat and fish, and you have some deep pockets, Det Lile Apotek might be more your style. However, if you like places with a vegetarian buffet with fresh, healthy food, along with some delicious meat options, then Riz Raz is probably the better option.

Cortado v/Khalid Qasem (Coffee shop)
Nørrebrogade 122, 2200 KØBENHAVN N, Denmark
This coffee shop was right on the corner, across the street from the apartment that we were staying at. There were a wide selections of different coffee and coffee drinks, to drink there or take out. We went in the mid-morning, and there was a fair amount of people sitting at tables in the front, but we opted to sit in the back. The fun thing about the back area was all of the mismatched furniture. It was as if they went to a thrift store, and just bought every piece of furniture that was there, with no regard to interior design. I ordered a mocha, which came in a glass, shaped almost like a pint beer glass, with no handle to hold on to prevent my hand from being burned through the side of the glass. It was a comfortable place to have a bit of coffee and enjoy free wi-fi, but I’d prefer to drink hot beverages out of a mug with a handle.

Christiania
The legend of Christiania runs deep for those Americans that had visited Copenhagen in the 90’s. While it is a hidden city that seems to march to the beat of it’s own drum, there wasn’t much to it on the rainy weekend that we visited. There was a stand that sold tacos and the small buffet that we went to, but nothing else in the way of food. There wasn’t even a community garden that the outcast citizens could tend to and sell in a little market. While we had almost no cash (a mistake that we wouldn’t make twice) we ate at the restaurant that resembled a potluck in the kitchen of a blue house. While I didn’t exactly know what the dishes being served were, they tasted pretty good and the plate of food that we purchased was filling. If you are going to Christiania and you think that you might get hungry, be sure to bring some cash with you, because they don’t take American Express. CASH: Everywhere you want to be!

Map

Day 28: September 29, 2015 – Back to Copenhagen

In the morning, we woke up to the alarm and got ready go. Elizabeth was so disoriented, that after she shut off the alarm, she left my phone plugged into the wall. After we said our goodbyes, we walked to the train station, then took a bus to the airport. Michi and Nancy were really kind and told us, that if we needed anything, that we should go down to the pharmacy, where Michi worked, and she would help us out. They said that next time we are in town, we will walk or bike on the path that follows the Berlin Wall. Now we definitely had something interesting to look forward to.

We arrived at the airport early, as usual, and looked for the check-in desk for SAS airlines. We found out, it was in the international terminal, saw two signs for SAS. The security guard nearby, said that the desk didn’t open until 9:30, and our flight was at 10:30. This definitely caused me some concern, because I am always worried that I am going to miss my flight, no matter how early they let us through. There were already people standing around and getting ready to check in, so as usual my level of anxiety was in full effect. This flight wasn’t really a big deal, we could always take a later flight, if it existed, but our trip was coming to an end, and getting on our flight to California was on my mind.

The check-in desk opened and we filtered into the line, through the turnstiles, with all the other people, who were waiting. There were the usual people cutting the line, and acting like passive aggressive assholes, but I tried to stay calm and collected. When we got to the desk, there was an overweight, young man, and a thin young woman checking people in. I handed him my passport and my credit card, but he asked me for my reservation number. I told him that I didn’t have it. He said that I need the reservation number in order to check in. “Can’t you look it up with my passport and credit card?” I asked. “Well, you aren’t in our system.” He said.

I was definitely starting to get a little frustrated, but I knew that if I stepped out of line, I was going to be screwed. “Do you have the internet? I can look it up in my email.” I said. “There is free Wi-Fi in the airport.” He said. I tried to go through the log-in process, which was so long that you practically had to give them fingerprints and a drop of blood to apply. Elizabeth, out of nowhere starts freaking out, “Can we use your phone? Can we use your phone? Please, just for a second!” She begins asking the people behind the check-in desk.

I finished the log in, got to my email, and there was the ticket numbers. They were 10 digits long and so I began reading them off, with no regard for the time or date listed on the email. He typed them into the computer and said, “Oh, here you are.” Still sort of incredulous, I said, “In all my travels, I’ve always been able to check-in with my credit card and ID! This is ridiculous!” And it was ridiculous, because I have maybe only traveled 20 times in my life. I am hardly a frequent flyer, but in the U.S. an ID and a credit card is enough to get you on the plane that you are booked on.

The gentleman was helpful and cool though because of my tone, the female clerk came over, printed our tickets, and put our luggage in big plastic bags to check-in for the flight. Happy that we had our tickets in hand, along with our carry-on, we continued through to security. I took off my shoes, put my things on the conveyor belt, and walked through. “Excuse me sir, do you have a laptop in your bag?” The NSA guy asked. “No, I just have a tablet.” I said. “Do you have two tablets?” He replied. Elizabeth’s IPad was in my bag, my tablet was in Copenhagen somewhere, but I told him, “No.” And I opened my bag to show him. “I have a bluetooth keyboard.” (which isn’t a tablet or a laptop) I said, then showed him. “OK, let’s put it through again.”

He took the bag, then put it back on the conveyor belt, and through the X-ray machine. “Is there a glass in your bag?” I opened it and pulled out the beer glass that I got in Hamburg. “I can’t take this on the plane?” I questioned. “There’s something else.” He said, with the tone of a complete jerk. I pulled everything out of my bag and then started naming things off. “Oktoberfest dress, a box of markers, a sketchbook, a pair of socks. Oh… my nutella? I can’t take this?” “No,” he said.

I didn’t know that I even still had the nutella in my bag, but now that I knew, I was pissed to have to throw away almost a full jar, of the most delicious stuff in the world. In Germany, you don’t have to take off your belt or shoes to go through security, but you’d better believe, that they won’t let you get away with bringing nutella on a plane! That’s for damn sure.

I was a little pissed off about all that just took place. Between getting the tickets from the clerks and the bullshit in the security line, I was now in a mood.

There was an announcement over of the inner-com and I could’ve sworn that I heard my name. I started going to the different gates, looking to see if there was person at the desk, but I couldn’t find anyone; so I thought that I must’ve imagined it. I walked back over to Elizabeth, “Did you hear my name over the speaker?” I asked. “No,” she said. “Hmm, well, it sounded like they called me.” I sat back down next to her, and we waited quietly.

I walked over to the Duty Free shop across from our gate, and bought us some drinks. Then, I apologized again, for snapping at her, and we sort of drifted back to normal for the most part. Since, I had internet on the iphone, I took some screenshots of my tablet and the emails that I got from the Copenhagen police; so that when we got to the lost and found office, I could identify my item for them. I mapped out the directions from the airport to the lost and found and basically prepared to get off the plane and immediately, go to retrieve my tablet.

The plane was about to board in a few minutes and I saw people over at the desk. I walked over to check to see if they had called for me and just as I arrived, a man called for me on the loudspeaker. “I’m here.” I said. “I’m sorry, sir, but your flight doesn’t leave to go to Copenhagen until tomorrow.” He said. Confused, I said, “No, tomorrow, I am flying out to California.” He said, “No, today is September 29th, your flight to Copenhagen is on September 30th.” “What?” I said. Somehow, with my hangover from Oktoberfest, my napping on the drive, and just all of the traveling in such a short time, I had completely forgotten what day it was. “We worked everything out for you. We put your bags on the plane, and here are your new tickets. I hope that it’s ok that you aren’t sitting together.” He explained. I was in shock. How could I have skipped a day in my head? I had been so good at getting to where I needed to be on time. “The flight is boarding, sir. Right this way.” He said.

Completely disoriented, I handed over my ticket to get scanned, then I was filtered down a flight a stairs, and down to a bus that would take us to the plane. I was still in disbelief about what had happened and I also thought it was strange that I was walking on a runway and up the steps of a plane. I even made Elizabeth take some photos, like I was one of the Beatles or something, because it is odd for me to not be boarding a plane using the jet-way.

We boarded the plane and I ended up being stuck in a middle seat, mine and everyone else’s, least favorite seat. Fortunately, I was in the exit row, so it was like I got to sit in first class for our 2 hour long flight. If there is a middle seat that I can live with, it’s in the exit row. Of course, I can handle the procedures in the case of a crash. I am perfectly willing to open the door, slide down the slide, and then help everyone else. I had my ipod setup, listened to some music with my eyes closed, and within minutes we were in Copenhagen. Where it all started.

When we left the gate and went down to get our bags, we were back to the place where I sat down the tablet. I made sure that I didn’t set anything down in baggage claim, this time. Out into the world, we went to retrieve the missing tablet. We got on the Metro line to Norreport, then from there we voyaged to the far reaches of Copenhagen.

The train ride from the center, to the part of town where the lost and found supposedly was located, took about 30 minutes. We got off the train and we started walking based on the directions, that I copied down previously at the airport. We stopped into a convenience store to buy a small snack, from an aimless clerk, who had no idea where our destination was. We found that we were on the right street, so with our heavy packs on our backs, we voyaged on, until we found the address. About a quarter mile down the road, there was a sign, “Hittegods Lost and Found” and I knew we had arrived.

I walked into the driveway of what looked like an industrial building. There wasn’t any sign that this was a police station or even police related. I continued to the back, then walked through the door, where I saw a man standing behind a counter.

I was so nervous that I was going to say the wrong thing, then never retrieve my tablet, so I went through my screenshots and emails, then told the clerk that I was told to come there. “What is your reference number?” He said. “I don’t know, but the email said to come here.” I replied. “What exactly is it that you are looking for?” He said straight out. “I left my tablet that at the airport back at the beginning of September.” I said. “Follow me.” He said motioning. I followed him behind the desk and into a warehouse filled with lost baggage. There were suitcases, of all shapes and sizes. Jackets. Boxes with phones. He picked up a box that contained every different kind of tablet. Ipads, Galaxy, Nooks, Fires…no Nvidia Shield. “None of these are mine.” He picked up a second box, and immediately I saw my brown portfolio case. “This one!” I shouted in excitement.

He put the box down, then brought me to a different counter; where a little old lady got up from her computer and walked to a window. It looked, sort of, like the beginning of Blues Brothers, where Frank Oz is handing John Belushi his personal effects. There was even a yellow line that I was hesitant to cross, in order to sign the form. I signed and I was instantly ecstatic. I couldn’t stop thanking the little old lady and asking her questions. How many people come to retrieve their goods? How many people never see their stuff again?

Elizabeth pulled me away, before I got too much information, but it was great that after such a shitty morning, I finally had my tablet back. So, instead of losing my $300 tablet, then possibly having to buy an new one. I was now going to be spending my $300 on an extra day of dining and lodging in Copenhagen. The city that is really expensive, but you don’t know how much you are spending, because the conversion to Crowns is borderline impossible to do quickly in your head. After not eating breakfast, both of us were starving. We remembered Riz Raz: Steak and Veggies from our previous time in Copenhagen. We took the train back to Norreport, then walked a few blocks over to the restaurant. Once again, Elizabeth ordered the buffet (which was mostly vegetarian) and I ordered a steak sandwich (which looks cheap on the menu, if you don’t know what a crown converts to, but is really close to $25). It was a delicious steak sandwich, even after I found out that it cost more money than I have ever paid for a sandwich.

The choice to go back to Rizz Razz was a positive one, and even though their WiFi wasn’t working, we were still able to get our bellies full for a while. Our next step was to find a place to stay for the night. We had booked a hostel for the next night, because we were supposed to be in Berlin an extra night, but we jumped on a plane a day early. We started to look on the iphone for wifi hotspots as we walked, then we spotted an Apple store. It wasn’t an officially affiliated Apple store, even though it reeked of prestige and egomania, but we knew that we could try out one of their computers with WiFi. Elizabeth walked in and started using one of their computers, while I stood out front with the bags trying not to look lost or helpless.

She was able to get the location of the hostel, that we were staying at the next night. We had hoped that there would be a possibility that there would be an extra bed for us to stay in for the night. The hostel was near the train station and Tivoli Gardens. We remembered the bus 5A, which we had taken a few times on our previous journey to Copenhagen. We knew that we could take the bus from the Norreport Station to the Kobenhaven H.

We boarded the bus with our huge packs, and squeezed in with the locals. There was no room for sitting, so I stood in an open area, while an oversized baby carriage kept rolling into me. The mother apologized, then said that there was something wrong with the brakes on the carriage. Hopefully, that isn’t something that sticks, because it would be a shame, if that woman stood by a hill and a gust of wind came, and pushed the carriage just right down the hill at reckless speeds, and the baby ended up flying out like Superman.

From the train station, the hostel was across the street on the back side of the station. We walked from the front side to the back side, then saw the sign, Backpacker’s Hostel. After we were buzzed in, we walked through the tall door and into the courtyard, which was full of bikes, then continued forward through to the next door, where the sign was posted again. We climbed up the stairs, then around a corner, and we were in. We went up to the front desk and since Elizabeth made the first reservation, she did the talking.

The clerk said that they were completely full for the night, but we were still on for the next night. They explained that only accepted cash and the check in time was 3pm. Feeling like we were out of luck, we headed outside and started walking, in hopes of finding a place to stay the night. A few blocks away, there was a pub that had a wifi sticker in their window, so we stopped in, if only for a quick pint.

The lighting was dark inside and trim of the bar and walls were that classic stained wood. Including the female bartender, there were only two other older gentlemen among the clientel, and the three of them were playing Yahtzee. I figured that this was as good of a time as any to use a free toilet, so I went upstairs to use the bathroom.

I was a little frustrated that the hostel didn’t have any beds and pretty much every person that I had contacted about renting their apartment for the night, had declined our stay. Elizabeth started looking for places on her ipad and I looked the iphone. Together, we compared our findings. I would find a place on airbnb, that was pretty low in price, then she would find a hotel, that was stupid expensive, and we would go back and forth.

We found a room in an apartment that instant booked for only about $50, so we clicked on it. It was only about a mile away, so we were happy that we wouldn’t have to walk far. Just before we left the pub to go to the apartment location, we got a message back from the renter. He said that his listing was a mistake, and we couldn’t stay there. Bummer. What was even more vexing is that with an online instant book, the company charges your account, right away. So, even though we weren’t able to stay at the listing, we were still going to get screwed out of our money. Or so we thought.

We ended up looking up some other places, then we found a hotel called the Annex, which was close by. The cost was $80 a night, which was cheap for Copenhagen, and it was only about a mile away. We booked it on the ipad, and then walked the block over to check-in in person. When we arrived, there was an old neon sign, which looked like it was from the 50’s. On the front door, it said to go one door over, to the hotel next door. We walked over to the hotel, then into the lobby. It was a really, fancy looking lobby compared to some of the places that we had stayed. There was nice, non-Ikea, furniture, and a bar. There was also one of those old red telephone booths from London, that stood out against the otherwise black and white decor.

We went up to the front desk, and after some looking from the desk clerk, she found us in her system. She offered us a half price breakfast for tomorrow, that was included with the online listing. However, at the time, we weren’t really thinking about tomorrow’s breakfast, just yet, so we held off. The clerk gave us the key, then we went up to drop off our bags, before possibly going back out.

The place that we were staying, the Annex, was an old hostel that looked like it had been bought by the fancier hotel next door. It looked like it had been upgraded, so that it would be more habitable, and then they jacked up the price. While we had booked a private room, it was a shared bath situation. We couldn’t really complain, because it was actually cheaper than our rooms in Amsterdam and Venice.

We exited the elevator, then continued down a hallway with white walls, then all of a sudden, there was a shift in the hallway and the walls were painted black. That’s how I knew, that we were in the dark side of the building. We opened the door of our room and a burst of orange blinded us from the walls. The room appeared to be was decorated by trendy artist types. It had 3 walls that were orange and an accent wall that was white. There was a light in the ceiling that looked sort of like a gigantic light bulb from the bottom, paired a strange looking coat rack.

We were exhausted from our trip, so we plugged in our devices and laid on the bed. We had our own tv in the room, for the first time on our trip, so Elizabeth flipped through the channels to see what was being broadcast. I wanted to go out one last time on our trip, but we didn’t have much money. I looked to see if there were any cheap events happening on the Copenhagen events website. I couldn’t really find anything that was free and nearby, so we ended up watching one of the only things on tv that was in English.

We eventually, ended up falling asleep. When we woke up, the television was playing an ominous program about Hitler’s rise to power. The person was speaking English, but it was over dubbing people speaking Russian. All of the text on the screen was in Russian as well, but we knew enough about Hitler to follow the story. The rest of the evening we just sort of took it easy. I finished the rest of my steak sandwich, then we went down to the corner store for some snacks and drinks.

When we came back up to the room, we saw that we could get netflix on my tablet. We started scrolling through and ended up finding Fraggle Rock. When we clicked it and tried to watch, it was all in Danish. Who would have thought that movies on my Netflix account would be in the language of the country that I was staying in? While it seemed like it would be funny to watch one of our childhood favorites in a different language, we opted to keep looking until we found something in English.

It’s always strange, however, to watch a show or movie with characters you recognize, but then have their voices be completely different. Somewhere else on our trip, we watched the movie, Hancock, with Will Smith, for a few minutes. The voice we heard while Will Smith’s mouth was moving wasn’t the Will Smith voice that we know. I started to wonder, if you were an avid Will Smith fan in a non-English speaking country and loved all his movies and then heard him speaking in an interview with his actual voice, what would you think? I suppose that the interview might probably dubbed over as well, but if you saw the English version, would you think, “That’s not Will Smith.”

We ended up finding, Saving Mr. Banks. Who doesn’t love Tom Hanks? I didn’t really understand why Disney made a movie about how they bastardize classic works of fiction. I have a whole love hate thing going on with Disney, but you have to admit that the songs were great. Jason Schwartzman and BJ Novak were great as well. So that’s how we spent the rest of our evening.

Day 29: Last Day in Copenhagen

In the morning, we opted out of the half price breakfast and slept in. I was able to communicate with the host of the apartment that we were supposed to stay in that previous night, and he agreed to meet us in the lobby. He was happy to compensate us for the money that was transferred, and apologized for the mix up. In his profile picture, he looked like a model, so we waited in the lobby for the handsomest man in Copenhagen. We were able to check out at the front desk, in the meantime, and the Annex let us keep our bags there while we were out during the day. We put them in the storage closet, which they had set aside, until we could check in at the hostel at 3.

When the man showed up, he looked nothing like his photo, but he had the money, so that was good enough for us. He told us that he owned his own moving company, and that he usually charges close to $200 a night for his room. Airbnb made a mistake in the price and incorrectly listed his room as an instant book, so he called them to clear things up. He ended up giving me cash, which I could now use for the hostel. We agreed to give each other positive reviews, as if we had stayed with him. He was cool enough to bring the money, so why not?

After we received the money, we decided to look for some place to get something for lunch. Deciding on a place to eat, when you don’t have much money, and you are hungry, is not a fun idea. We did have some extra cash that the guy refunded us, but we were going to end up spending most of it at the cash-only hostel, so we needed to think thrift. There were lots of places to stop, but we just kept walking.

In the touristy part of Copenhagen, where the streets are lined with overpriced stores, there was a KFC and TGI Fridays. We finally stopped in a coffee shop, where Elizabeth bought a coffee and I used the free bathroom. We also used their Wifi for a bit, but sincethey didn’t serve food, so we were still really hungry.

We continued walking down the streets and saw some shops carrying Halloween-ish costumes, but due to our low blood sugar, we weren’t very impressed. Finally, we arrived at a place called Wok On!. It was a stir-fry, fast food place, that was “reasonable”  in price, according to Elizabeth, and the food looked decent enough to eat. Basically, you picked rice or noodles, one of 10 different sauces, and then chicken, beef, shrimp, or vegetables. This place didn’t really discriminate as far as the sauce choices, you could get sweet and sour, peanut sauce, curry, etc. It was definitely Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Indian fusion, at it’s best We were so hungry and I was so tired of spending money. However, the food calmed our exhaustion and filled our bellies, enough that we had realized, that we were finally, just about done with this trip. We ended up walking along the canal to Nyhavn for one last look at the postcard shot. We looked at our watches, and it was close to 3 o’clock. We walked back to the Annex to get our bags and then headed over to the hostel to check in.

With the minimal cash that we had left after paying for our bunk bed, we went down to the grocery store, down the road. We bought some bread, cheese, and meat for dinner, and didn’t plan to leave the hostel for the rest of the night. We sat at the picnic tables, located in the common area, of the hostel, and surfed the internet. I updated my journal, and we plugged in our devices.

We asked the girl behind the registration desk at the hostel, if she would heat our flat bread with cheese like a pizza, and that was our cheap dinner for the night. Hours went on, and we eventually crawled into bed to watch Bill Murray in the film, The Man Who Knew Too Little. A classic comedy from the late 90’s, where he thinks that he is in an interactive theater production, but then ends up bullshitting his way into becoming an international spy. It’s definitely a must watch for people that like comedies, especially starring Bill Murray. After the movie, I climbed up to my bunk, and Elizabeth stayed below and we slowly started to crash out.  

Let me tell you about 6-person, bunk bed style, hostels. If you are spending $30 for a bed, in a room with your wife and 4 other strangers, you are rolling the dice when it comes to sleeping comfortably. There are people coming in at all hours of the night, everyone is waking up at different times, and you never know, if someone is going to be snoring.

My old roommate Smalls and I lived together for 6 years. We were the best of friends and sometimes, we ended up sleeping at places other than our apartment. When that happened, and we both slept on the floor, or on a couch, a futon or any other combination, that wasn’t in separate rooms with a wall between us, his snoring was so loud, that I couldn’t sleep through the night. If he passed out drunk over New Year’s, my alcohol induced slumber was always compromised, by his snoring. However, when we lived in the same apartment, and his snoring was just a buzzing through our thick walls, all was well with the world.

Now, when this stranger, who was booked in the 6-person room with us went to bed, I was in deep slumber. Then around 1:30 am, the snoring began. The most incredible snoring that anyone has ever snored. The fact that other people weren’t awakened by the snoring was beyond belief. The way that the beds were arranged perpendicularly along the walls, his head was only about a foot away from my head. So, his snores amplified in my brain like a chainsaw. I ended up getting up and going to the bathroom, then coming back and going through my bag as loud as I could, just to try to wake him or someone else up. Maybe someone else could tell him to stop, but it was no use.

Just when I thought that sleeping was a lost cause, I remembered that I had my earplugs in my bag, which I bought for the airplane. I had them in a bag with my game boy, and I remembered seeing them every time that I took it out of my back pack. I fit them in, no matter how much they hurt my ears, and finally I was able to fall asleep. In what seemed like minutes, people started waking up. They were rattling around and making a ruckus. Even though our flight wasn’t supposed to leave until 10, we knew that we should be able to sleep in until around 8, but our roommates had other plans.

My watch alarm ended up going off around 7:30; we woke up soon after. We packed up our stuff, and checked out at the front desk around 8. The train station was right across the street and the entrance was around the corner. We didn’t have to walk for more than a mile before we could relax for a few minutes. There wasn’t much in the way of quick food, on the street that we were staying at, and we weren’t about to pay $10 for hostel breakfast (toast, cereal, and juice).

From our previous few days spent in Copenhagen, we knew that there were a few places in the train station to grab a bite, before we headed over to the airport. Money was still tight, so we were going to share a pastry, then buy a few snacks from 7-11. We went into the bakery, but it was packed with travelers. I guess that we forgot about the number ticket system, because we didn’t grab a number when we came in, but eventually we came to our senses.

We had just about enough to afford a croissant to split between us. When our number was called, the girl behind the counter was all the way on the other side of the store. Meanwhile, we were standing in front of the croissant. We waved her over, then she came by to help. Along with our chocolate croissant, Elizabeth also ordered a coffee. I went over to 7-11 to purchase my signature Monster drink and some M&M’s.

We took the city subway to the metro, then the metro to the airport. The metro was awesome. We sat all the way in the back car, and looked out the window. It looked like we were going through a portal. A group of kids boarded the train, and they too were amazed by the trip. It was almost like just riding on the train and looking out the window, might be the coolest thing on their field trip.

When we arrived at the Copenhagen Airport, we were “airport early” as we came to call it. We went to the international terminal and entered into a long line for SAS airlines. When we arrived at the beginning of the turnstiles, the attendant asked us where our tickets were. “We are waiting in line to get them.” I said. “No, you have to go to one of the automated machines, first.” She replied. “But, we need to check our bags.” I said. “You still have to go to the machine.” She said.

So we stepped out of line and walked over to the machine. We put our passports on the sensor, “Cannot process. See self check-in desk”, it read on the screen. So we went to the machine like the lady asked, and then the machine, sends us to talk to another person. We went to another line that we hoped would be helpful, which said “SAS” above the desk. We walked through the maze of ropes and ended up talking to a person, again. I told the gentleman that we went to the machine and the machine sent us here. He said, that it was fine, then printed out the tickets for our two flights. We asked if we could still request a vegetarian meal, but they declined. Saying that you have to request it 72 hours, in advance. At first, I thought that he said 2 hours, and so I said, “It’s 2 hours and 20 minutes, in advance.” But then he corrected me and said “Seventy-TWO!”

We still had to wait in the long baggage line again, to see that stuck up lady, but we would at least have our tickets, so she wouldn’t be able to brush us aside. We waited patiently through the other long line, until we reached the check in counter. We have our packs on with a bunch of straps and adjustments, so we ask if can have a plastic bag to put them in. “It will be $6.” He said. (He really told me the price in Crowns, but it was equivalent to about $6). For a large garbage bag? A large, clear, plastic garbage bag? We paid almost $2000 for our plane tickets and we can’t get something that is essentially going to be trash tomorrow for free?

I protested with the effeminate clerk for a bit, but paid the $6 anyway. The clerk started talking to us about how our bags weren’t going directly to San Diego from San Francisco. We would have to wait to get our bags at baggage claim and then check them in again before our second flight. It was a whole frustrating conversation, that left me feeling like the Copenhagen Airport staff was a bit elitist and condescending to the people coming through. After my experience with having to go to the police station to get my tablet, a month later, when it was still in the airport the day that I left it, it didn’t make me feel any more comfortable that this guy was being a jerk.

We made it through security and the passport line, where I received my second stamp. I guess that they only give you stamps when you are arriving and leaving Denmark, any more. Elizabeth bought a salad to eat on the plane at one of the kiosks, because she didn’t get to pre-order the veggie meal. We went through another security checkpoint to get to our gate, then walked down the long terminal to where our flight was boarding.

We were really early, but when we found out that our flight was being delayed for an hour, we saw that we were REALLY early. We ended up going back to the concourse, where there were a few more food places. I gave in to my sweet tooth by buying some bulk candy and a cookie for the flight, but we waited so long, that I ended up eating it all before we got on the plane. When the time arrived for our actual boarding time at 11:30am, we walked over to the gate. Just as we arrived, they made a formal announcement to the line of people, that the flight had technical issues and that we weren’t going to be taking off until 2:00pm.

A 2 and a half hour delay wasn’t going to kill us, but considering, we were only given a three hour layover in San Francisco to transfer to our flight to San Diego, we were going to be cutting it close. We went back to the food court area for a bit and sat on some futuristic looking chairs, then I went to the counter to get a “pizza sandwich”. How to you make a pizza sandwich, you ask? You make a pizza, you cook it in the oven, you pull it out, then you cut it in half, and stack the halves on top of one another. Pizza sandwich.

I took a second, to check my phone, to see if there was a chance that we would need to get on a later flight from San Francisco to San Diego and there was. Time was getting closer to take off, so we walked back to the gate. We waited in line again, then when we got to the ticket scanning desk, the attendant said that we were being delayed because of technical difficulties. Questioning the technical difficulties, I said, “Uhmm, do you think that we should take a different plane?” She said that we WERE supposed to take a different plane, but that plane was late and this second plane was having technical issues that were being resolved. She must not have liked my comment, because she said that I was chosen for a random security search.

I stood alongside a few other innocent looking people and started thinking of all the things that authorities would do to you in this situation. See, this wasn’t just a pat down or the opening of a bag, they were taking me into a separate room with an unmarked door. They had already gotten my nutella in Berlin, I don’t know what else they expected to find. I was already nervous about the flight, so going into a secret room in a foreign country was not calming me down any.

I’ve seen movies where someone will walk into a room and put a parasite in your ear and you walk out like a zombie. Or you walk in and some guy comes up behind you with a syringe, then you have a microchip in your brain controlling your behavior. Maybe they were torturing people in there. I remembered back to a guy that we saw at one of the gates, who was pleading with security to let him get on a plane. He looked middle eastern, so they might have been profiling him, but since he was close to the brink of tears, I doubt he was on some terrorist mission.

One by one the people ahead of me in line walked into the room. A few minutes later they each came out looking normal, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t going to have bad luck, and end up getting water boarded. When it was my turn, I walked in and followed the guard to a table, then opened my bag. I was nervous that they were going to plant something on me, but they just looked at my stuff on the table and told me to put it all back in my bag.

Elizabeth and I waited for the flight to start boarding. I had pretty much finished all of my candy and was going on the plane with just my bag of stuff. The announcer called the sections and we boarded the plane about 90 minutes later than expected. At this point, there wasn’t anything that I could do to speed up the process. However, it didn’t look like they were going to be giving us any benefits for the inconvenience either.

We continued to our seat in the back of the plane. We thought that we were going to be sitting window and aisle, but I guess that when we picked the tickets, those seats weren’t available. Elizabeth ended up sitting in one of the two middle seats of the 4 in a row section and I luckily got to sit on the aisle. The flight was pretty forgettable. We were served a bunch of weird Scandinavian food, which was sort of gross, when I think about it. The good thing about the flight though, was that they had a bunch of movies for you to choose from. I ended up watching Entourage and Jurassic World.

I didn’t see Entourage in the cinema, because I was still a little bitter about my former “entourage” kicking me out. So, I didn’t need to see E, Turtle, Vince, and Drama having fun together. Jurassic World was as exciting as it could be, and both of these movies along with some forgettable movie, was able to occupy me. I didn’t feel sick or claustrophobic during the whole flight. I wrote in my journal and did some drawing , but unfortunately I couldn’t sleep. I was still tired from the guy in the hostel keeping me up, with his snoring all night, but there is just something about airplanes that keeps me from passing out. I guess that they say, that you can go to the doctor, and they will give you something that will cause you to pass out on planes, but I didn’t plan ahead.  

We arrived in San Francisco and we were definitely late, but people weren’t going to make things easy on us. We were in the back of the plane, so we had to wait for every slow asshole, and grandma to take their time getting off the plane. It seemed to be taking forever. We got off the plane and looked for some indicators for where our Virgin America flight was taking off, but it was like we were on a different planet. We had to go through customs and get our passports checked, then walk about a quarter mile to get to baggage claim. The customs people were pretty nice and we didn’t have to wait incredibly long, but considering we still didn’t know what terminal, we were supposed to be heading to, it was a stressful moment, that was going to require some power walking. When we finally retrieved our backpacks from baggage claim, we had to remove the expensive plastic bags that we had bought, in Copenhagen, and stuff them into our backpacks for our next flight.

We were back in race mode, where we knew we had to be at our gate in 20 minutes, and it was going to be a 30 minute walk. We power walked until we saw an escalator going up to the skytram and then climbed the moving steps to that level. It only needed to take us one stop before we arrived at the terminal where our flight was boarding. We arrived at the Virgin Airlines counter and we tried to check in, but they basically, said that we were too late to check our bags. While we might be able to board the plane, our bags weren’t going to make it until 3 hours later. So instead of waiting at the airport in San Diego for our bags, we had to take a flight that departed 2 hours later. So instead of getting on our 5:30 flight and arriving around 7, we were going to be getting on an 8:30 flight and arriving at around 10 pm.

The people behind the desk acted like they were really doing us a favor, even though it wasn’t like we weren’t running from our previous delayed flight with 50 lb bags trying not to knock over kids and old ladies. They said things like, “We won’t charge you the additional fees.” and “These are really good seats.” and “You’ll love our lounge.” I know that these things were meant to make us feel better about the fact that the previous airline fucked us, and now we were going to have to spend another 3 hours in an airport, but spare me the candor.

You SHOULDN’T charge someone additional fees, especially if their previous flight was delayed, and that was the cause of them missing their flight. Don’t say that you are giving us “really good seats”, unless we are being upgraded to one of the first class seats that turn into beds or we are at least in economy plus. When I noticed that I received a middle seat, I thought, “What a terrible lie to tell someone.” Also, if your lounge/gate area looks the same as everyone else’s gate area, but you have red seats that look spherical, don’t tell me that I am going to “love it”. Unless I am going to be getting a massage or free frozen yogurt, I’m still going to be waiting 3 hours in an airport.

Sigh…finally our bags were checked, new tickets had been printed, and we made it through security with no issues. We walked down the concourse to our gate, and mentally prepared for our 3 hour layover. I still had my watch set on European time, so I started counting how many hours that I had been awake, taking into account that I slept terriblly the night before.

There was a sports bar in our cul-de-sac of gates and it was broadcasting Thursday Night Football. We tried to be seated at a table where we could watch the TV. Unfortunately, they ended up seating us under an air conditioning vent, where we basically froze, until we asked to move to a table nearby that had just opened up. Everything on the menu was stupid expensive, but Elizabeth was really hungry. We ordered a plate of fries that was $8 and a beer that was $8, so with tax and tip, we paid close to $20 for almost nothing. There was also some fee that was added too our bill that we couldn’t figure out. It might have been a fee for asking to switch tables or a fee because we shared a plate of fries. Either way, I couldn’t believe that I was still buying ridiculously expensive food after I just spent so much on the trip.

I guess that I figured, if you are going to go broke, you might as well do it with something sweet. So, I insisted that we go to the Pinkberry next to our gate. We ordered some blood orange yogurt, with chocolate on top, and it was delicious.

The 3 hour delay dragged on. I was so tired that I started laying on the floor to try to sleep while the concourse filled with rich, silicon valley, yuppies. Finally, we started boarding the plane. Even though, the lighting inside the plane was cool, we still got regular seats, not “really good” seats, like we were promised. Elizabeth sat by the window and my seat was the middle seat. We waited to see if anyone was going to sit in the aisle. As they closed the doors, when no one showed up, I slipped into my preferred aisle seat. Before the plane took off, I finally was out. When I woke up again, we were flying over San Diego. After we landed and retrieved our bags, Elizabeth’s mom circled around the airport to pick us up. Her mom asked us a lot of questions, but we were completely exhausted; so I don’t know, if I really answered any of them. So much information had been stuffed into my brain, and I had been tired for so long, that it was difficult to process, even what she was saying. She had said that she was flying out of San Diego in a few hours, and it was hard to believe that she was willing to pick us up, but I’m glad she did.

When we got to our apartment, our dog, Boo was going nuts. She couldn’t believe that we were back. Elizabeth took her out to relieve herself, but I just laid in bed and didn’t wake up until morning.

> Next Chapter

Places We Got Food

Vertshuset Pinden
Reventlowsgade 4, 1651 København V, Denmark
This pub connected to an expensive hotel behind the train station may be your savior, if you need to connect to free Wifi and you need a beer at the same time. This little establishment is complete with Yatzee playing bartenders, schooling the local regulars in dice. The beers are cold and bottled, and you can even get something that isn’t Carlsberg. If you need a drink after a long train ride, this might be the place that you stop. Copenhagen is expansive and amazing, but some places have replaced charm with sterile hipness and this place isn’t one of them.

Wok On
Højbro Pl. 19, 1200 København, Denmark
This Asian food fusion/fast food spot is a little on the pricey side, even for Copenhagen, but they aren’t short on selection. Whether you are in the mood for Thai curry or Japanese teriyaki, with meat, noodles, or vegetables, this place has it all. If you are lost on your way to the palaces or just in the area checking out the canals, Wok On might be just the place to bring your tensions to a halt and bring the love back into your life.

Hostels

Copenhagen Backpackers
Annex Copenhagen