Day One - Bristol - Copenhagen

It always amazes me flying out from Bristol Airport. Granted, this is only the second time I have
done this, but my route to actually get to the airport takes me through winding country lanes and
eventually on to an A road. The Silver Parking facility at the airport makes leaving the car a tad too
easy for my liking and it did not take me long to get parked up. I am taking this trip with my friend
and ex-work colleague, Bobby. We met when I worked at GOSH and have always said we should
take a trip together so here we are.

Why Copenhagen? When I was around 7 years old, I had to do a project at school on a city and for
whatever reason, I chose Copenhagen. I remember going to the travel agents and getting holiday
brochures to cut out photos (for those youngsters reading this, this is what people did in the days
before a Google image search), to the library to get books about it. I remember painstakingly cutting
out and gluing images and writing in a sugar papered scrap book. Anyway, it must have made a
lasting impression on me as here we are some 55 years later, off to take a look myself.
Part of the holiday deal was to put our cases in the hold. I dumped mine as soon as I could but Bobby
decided he wanted to take his with him (something he later regretted). Obviously, I got pulled going
through security, I always do. No matter how much jewellery I take off, there is always something.
However, this time I got ‘frisked’, but only my legs (both outer and inner) by a rather butch, but
lovely, security guard who then proceeded to tell me how lovely I smelt and what fabric conditioner
was I using. Me being me, chatted away whilst the rest of the travellers were waiting to clear

security.

Meanwhile, box containing my handbag, phone and coat had completed its little security check; but
Bobby’s case had been pulled by security. They wanted to check something that had appeared on
the x-ray. In his case Bobby had packed some tarot cards and this seemed to be the problem as it
was showing as a white mass on the screen. He had also packed his recently awarded black belt for
karate. The security guard who was conducting the search seemed really interested in this and the
two of them were chatting away about things I do not have a clue about. It was lovely as the staff
really do have a difficult job to do, but they were nothing but kind, approachable (in my case I think
a tad too approachable).

Off to the Duty-Free shop to have mooch and to pickup my pre-paid order which entitled me to an
extra 10% off and we went and sat and watched people before they called our flight. We were flying
at 6.30pm which is not ideal but that is the only flight Easy Jet had. Waiting to clear the gate and
then it happened. The Easy Jet representative asked Bobby to put his case in the measuring cradle
they have and ………………… it didn’t fit. Rooky schoolboy error, especially when you have paid
luggage in the hold included. Needless to say, any opportunity to make more money, he had to pay
quite a substantial sum to then put his case in the hold. The good thing about travelling is you learn
by your mistakes, and you learn quickly, especially when it includes having to pay more money on
top of your travel.

On the plane I got speaking (as I do) to the woman sitting next to me who was called Mary. She was
having a panic as she had forgotten to pack a plug to charge her iPhone. We took a look at what was
being sold on the plane and there was a multi-plug to use for all countries around the world with
sockets where you can charge a phone/Mac. So she purchased one of them and then we carried on
chatting. She said this was the first trip she had made on her own and we were the first people she
had spoken to all day since she left home. I told her of my experiences as a solo traveller and that
she will be find as there is always someone to speak with. She was so lovely and we stayed with her
until we cleared Passport Control and then we went our separate ways. This is what I love about
travelling. There are always adventures to have and always people to meet. Wherever you are
Mary, have a good life my friend.

Mary, me and Bobby

We soon navigated Copenhagen’s metro/tube system. Cheap, clean and efficient. Perfect and
found our way to the hotel which was only a five-minute walk from the main train station. We got in
our room and started to unpack and found out our beds had a control that you could use to bring
the back, middle or bottom of the bed up. Me being me, started pressing all the buttons with out
my glasses on and promptly got myself sandwiched in my bed. After the excitement of travel (and
my bed) we spent the rest of the evening (it was around 11.00pm by now) planning what we
intended doing tomorrow.

The problem with only having two full days is you really do have to cram as much in as you can and
when you travel with another, compromise.

As always, with my love x