Monday, May 4, 2015

Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark - Oh My.

Today was a travel day. We woke at 6 to catch a taxi to the airport. From 6:30 to 7:05am we were in the taxi on a ride that made Kate and I cry (with laughter...maybe to hide the fear). We were in a minivan taxi. Our driver was not going to screw around to stretch out the trip and make more money off us. He was on a mission. He was probably on several including phone calls and texting. The road leading from the hotel is winding and narrow with cars parked on one side and a wall on the other...oh, and also has cars coming at us. At no point do I remember slowing down. Our wheels screeched around corners, we flew on the freeway (150kph). At times, he would drive in two lanes at once while tailgating two different cars. At one point, we were in the fast lane and the driver in front of us was clearly fixing his hair in the rear view mirror, his car sliding to the right, "Sharing" the lane with the car ALREADY THERE! All the while, our driver is texting or answering phones at a billion miles an hour. Now, at first, I was like, "I like this guy. We'll save money." And then, "Um, is he really not going to slow down for that car coming straight at us". It was so ridiculous that Kate and I started laughing (quietly) at each near miss. By the time we got to the airport (and were very nearly literally bumper to bumper with the van in front of us) going 70kph in the departures lane, Kate and I were crying with fits. The van stops, we pay and the driver walks to the front of the car, pops the hood and CHECKS THE ENGINE! Kate and I were in hysterics.

Having survived the trip TO the airport, we enjoyed a breakfast/coffee and went to our respective terminals. Kate going back to San Francisco and I to Copenhagen (with a layover in Amsterdam).

The Amsterdam airport was great. Big shops, great choices for food (I had a chicken salad, strawberry and orange juice and and almond cookie) and plenty of places to charge one's devices...oh and free unlimited wi-fi. I updated the blog about Roma vs Genoa there.

The whole reason I came to Copenhagen was because friends of mine from high school (and their two awesome kids) have been living here for over a year. They were nice enough to invite me over and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up in a really interesting place. Today was mostly settling in and catching up. I don't know what it is about old friends, but it's always so easy to settle back into an easy, happy place. In no time, we were laughing and reminiscing. I also learned about an app that lets you download really detailed maps of a city to use while you're offline. So, tomorrow, I'll test that out and see if I can't get myself around. It may rain (is scheduled to rain all day) so I might take a bus to the National Museum and hide from the weather. In all honesty, it doesn't matter to me if I see anything of Copenhagen. I'm very happy to see my friends.