Driver's Guide To The Universe

After a huge amount of work, stress and general meetings it is done. i am finally here, in the pretty city of Copenhagen. Well, the amount of near misses that I had is pretty scary, but what trip does not have something go absolutely wonky? Let's start with the story then.

At first they did not want to let us through, some bright-eyed induhvidual spotted that we are flying on a one way ticket. No amount of convincing and document waiving, that we had work permits for the intending country would do, until he had to go and check with the manager. Yep, after 10 minutes of waiting we finally were allowed to continue with the check in. Then came the next obstacle, the extra luggage, I was fortunate to have complied. My colleague had to fork out a whooping 1.7 thousand rand(âpproxim. 120 British pounds) for the measly 6 kg over. As I later found out, I, the only woman in the party of 5 (no pun intended:) did not have to pay in for extra luggage. After some initial misunderstandings over the external hard drive that was encased in an aluminium casing, which caused the guys at baggage control some worry, we were soon on a plane.

Unfortunately, we were booked to fly SAA (South African airlines) of which I have no fond memories. I was extremely impressed by the new upgraded facilities which allowed an great amount of in-flight entertainment including TV and games options. The attendants were attentive and friendly and the light above did not hurt the eyes. As soon as we were exposed to the evening meal however - yep, the food still sucked despite the beautifully printed menu and a shopping onboard magazine. Sleeping in the SAA economy chairs felt like someone was subjecting me to an S&M session without the orgasm bits thrown in. My neighbour, a pleasant middle-aged German lady was thankfully very polite and quiet, a fact for which I am eternally grateful, despite her tendency to fall asleep with the headphones set on an ungodly volume.

Fortunately, were landed on time at the Frankfurt airport and were finally allowed to stand in line to the passport control. Just for the record, I'd love to marry an EU national and get the EU passport. You get treated far better then those of us with plain old South African pasports, well, at least the blonde 'polizei'  was very cute (I can ocasionally function normally on 2.5 hours of sleep). Later we were subjected to yet another baggage control check where my poor aluminium encased hard drive sparked another speculation that yours truly may not be as sweet and innocent as she looks. Then I experienced that comic moment they have in the movies, where a short, chubby German female customs official, she of the bad perm and nicotine-stained teeth thoroughly frisked me, suspecting perhaps that I'm wearing more then my own clothes. Sorry lady, no nitroglycerine here! It was very hot and stuffy, with almost no fresh air and heavy smells of promotional perfumes permeating the grey-beige decor, with bright yellow Lufthansa banners like small oasis spot in the tile desert. Finally, we were out of the humid enviroment of the Frankfurt airport and on the plane to Copenhagen.

The flight was mercifully short and I even managed to get a short cat nap. The Copenhagen airport looks very unassuming from the outside, inside I was pleasantly surprised at the cleanness and pretty shops. After a short wait for our luggage we exchanged our money for good old Danish crona and caught a taxi to our hotel.

This Scandic is very picturesque and the good weather outside and a shop to satisfy our hunger we were very relieved to have found some rest . Hotel food is very expensive so we settled for McDonalds, which in Europe tastes like real food and is reasonably cheap, although a big Mac for 50 Krona? For the South Africans reading this it may come as a small shock, as we get it in SA for 15 rand. The food fortunately, as I stated is very tasty.

So here I am, ready to start work tomorrow (we have a cab booked to take us to the project office) in the pretty city of Copenhagen for the next 7 months. So far, so good.

Perhaps my account is not nearly as adventurous and entertaining as bishopza's retellings, but I believe we have to travel to Istanbul for the real excitment:)

Pictures forthcoming as soon as I figure out if I've taken my camera's PC cable with me. Sigh, there is always something.

Regards,
Windrider

P.S. I think my experiences pales with this lady's:

_{1) Just after the August 10th restrictions were
imposed, British Airways refused to allow disabled New Zealand runner
Kate Horan (on her way to the paralympic world championships in the
Netherlands) to carry on her prosthetic leg, as she had long been
allowed to do. Her checked-baggage leg was then lost in the chaos at
Heathrow airport, and the prosthetic's manufacturer scrambled to make
Horan a new one.  ^{(Courtesy: News of the Weird)}}