Danish Delight?
My trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm - Day One
Just four days after my extreme day trip to Malta, I was back in the air to cooler climates. Country number 4 of the year was Denmark, with the capital Copenhagen.
As has become traditional with my solo trips, it started with the 3 mile walk to Manchester Airport, this time not early in the morning.
Walking it with a 10kg suitcase as well as a bag was slightly more challenging but the wheels and handle did their job.
I was tempted to jump on a bus or tram, especially when there was a sudden patch of rain and light hale, but I figured I was half way there already so kept walking.
It was another Ryanair flight, which meant departure from terminal 3. Ryanair are the only airline left that use the dated terminal. The facilities are nowhere near as good as the renovated terminal 2.
Terminal 3 and terminal 1 are essentially the same building but there are lots of corridors blocked off. Ryanair refused to move because of the higher fees and they have the market share to force their influence.
Security had improved from March, being a Thursday afternoon, it was very quiet and I was through within minutes. No need to take out liquids or electronics anymore, even in T3.
I believe there are upgrade plans for T1/T3, hopefully the facilities will improve. The terminal felt cramped and other than a small KFC, Costa and a couple of WH Smiths stores offering eye watering prices, nearly £5 for a disappointing bag of Haribo anyone? there’s not a lot there.
There were a couple of bars, but they weren’t big and didn’t offer food. I was genuinely considering paying £25 for an hour in the escape lounge, at least there would be some spare seats, but in the end I discovered the Sports bar on the second floor that many people missed, so it wasn’t quite as rammed.
I did manage to get a good seat by the window, overlooking the runway. You could order food from the comfort of your table and the service was quite quick. I ordered some small plates, mediocre chicken wings, a couple of small tacos that were actually quite nice and garlic bread, which was very bold on the cheese and had pesto inside it too. It was not bad, although you’d hope so for £24.
Anyway, after a couple of hours watching the planes take off, I headed to the gate.
The last trip I took with Ryanair, which was Albania in March, I still needed a seatbelt extender on the plane.
For the trip to Malta, outbound on easyJet and back on jet2, I didn’t need it but the newer A320 and A321 neo airbus planes have been configured slightly better for bigger passengers. It was a massive confidence boost to not need the belts and to be able to put the tray table down and I’m pleased to say it was the same this time on Ryanair so I have made progress even though it doesn’t feel like a big difference to me in the last couple of months.
It’s a good job too, as I’ve had someone sat next to me in every flight. In the past I always used to have to book 2 seats unless flying with someone I knew that was understanding.
The flight to Copenhagen was just under 2 hours and very smooth, no complaints at all. I bought a rucksack and 10kg case combo designed for ryanair’s baggage rules and it wasn’t even checked!
Starting the trip with an evening flight, landing around 10pm wasn’t ideal. The Scandinavian countries are expensive, I remember that from Norway. Landing at night essentially means paying for an extra nights accommodation, which wasn’t cheap, but if I will insist on these little adventures, ticking off another country each time in my quest to visit the whole of Europe, that’s how it’s going to be. I’m not a package holiday resort kind of guy.
Copenhagen Airport is undergoing some improvements and the current layout for arrivals is very strange. You have to go past all the departure gates before you get to passport control, it’s quite a distance and would be easy to get lost.
The new EES system was causing big delays. It took me an hour to get through, which made me very nervous as the car rental office closes at midnight and I still wasn’t through by 2315.
A GB Gymnastic squad were in front of me, listening to their confidence about beating the Danes was at least some entertainment. I tried to ring the desk for the car hire to explain the situation. There was an automated system in Danish but it did tell you to press 0 for English, which then gave you another message in Danish before looping back. I was a bit worried by this point.
When I eventually found the way out of the airport and followed the path to the shuttle bus to car hire, I was quite anxious. It was 2345, the hire place shuts at 0000 and I didn’t know when the last bus was, how long it took etc. My only comfort was there were other people waiting for the bus too. It came, I got on it and it was only a few minutes to the car rental building.
I could see from the bus that all the shutters were down in the building. It wasn’t looking hopeful, but there was one guy in a green t-shirt there, Europa car, the company I booked with. I was very relieved. Maybe they waited because they new I was booked on a late flight.
The guy was lovely and very helpful. I explained that I needed cross border travel as I was visiting Stockholm. He purchased the tickets for the bridge for me and he upsold me from a Toyota Yaris Cross to a Rav4. For £40 extra, it was worth the upgrade.
I’ve driven abroad in lots of different countries and I always find the first drive stressful. You’re trying to get used to the car, navigate to a place unfamiliar and adjust to the differences with roads, signs and speed limits. After a few hours, it becomes second nature but I took my time to familiarise myself with the car. It was only a 10 minute drive to the hotel and by this point, I felt tired. Also a little lonely. I have done solo trips before, but not a road trip. It just felt a little bit wrong being sat in a big car on my own with no one to talk to.
I parked under the hotel, it took me a while to work out how to pay for parking in the basement, I went to the reception and they couldn’t find my reservation, so I pulled up the booking.com app and it showed my Stockholm booking but not the Copenhagen one, which confused me as I checked it the day before.
I looked in my emails and there was an email saying I hadn’t showed up. Clearly, I was there. I had to sit and wait for a manager to investigate, not knowing whether I’d get my room or not.
The manager was really nice though. He said they had me down as arriving from 6pm. Now, it could have been my mistake, maybe I missed a box when I booked, but I was still in Manchester at that time, anyway, he managed to override the system and booked me in, much to my relief.
The room is the smallest hotel room I’ve ever stayed it, it feels like student accommodation. It cost £187 for 2 nights even for this tiny room and I think the one in Stockholm is even smaller, without a window. It doesn’t matter though, I’m not going to be in here much. The queen bed is comfortable and I appreciated the fan in the room, even though it’s very noisy.
Tomorrow, I will be exploring Copenhagen on foot and by public transport. I haven’t really seen anything of the city yet.