The long drive back to Copenhagen
My trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm - Day Six
There were a few different things on my mind for the way back. I’ve done lots of these long distance driving trips before and I tend to plot routes in advanced.
On the way from Copenhagen to Stockholm, I wanted to visit Malmo and the Goteborg on the west side of Sweden but I like to come back a different way to make it circular. For me, the driving is part of the fun, it’s a challenge. It’s not just about getting from A to B, it’s the views on the way. You never know what you’re going to find.
I normally start and end a trip from the same location and that’s because it can be very expensive to drop off a hire car at a different destination. Technically, I could have flow to Copenhagen then returned from Stockholm, but the extra fees wouldn’t be worth it.
I also could have spend an extra day and got back to Copenhagen, flying the next day. That would be more expensive but potentially less stressful as if anything went wrong, at least I wouldn’t be in a rush. That’s just not how I operate these trips though. I grew up watching shows like Top Gear, and when you have a deadline to get back for a flight, it feels like an adventure.
So, for this trip, my plan was to drive from Stockholm to Copenhagen, starting at 0400 in the morning and instead of heading back by the west coast, I was going to follow the east coast, visiting Kalmar castle on the way.
My flight was at 1700 from Copenhagen. Normally I would get to the airport two hours before the flight departure, but the EU has introduced a new biometric entry/exit system and it’s causing delays. It caused problems when I landed in the country. So the target was to get back to the airport for 2pm.
I also needed to allow myself time to stop, to eat and drink and refuel. Many people like to stop every couple of hours if they’re doing a long drive but I find I only need one of two breaks. When I’m in the mode, I’m in the mode. You also have to factor in traffic. I use google maps to check my routes, but sometimes unexpected things happen. Accidents, sudden road closures.
Without stopping, the route is 731km (454 miles) and just under 9 hours so I decided to leave at 2am instead of 4am. In reality, it took me a while to set up my cameras, I was filming a hyper lapse with two separate cameras, one on the windscreen and one on a side window. It was difficult setting up the side window without a second suction cup mount. I managed to get something working using the seatbelt and hat clip, but it wasn’t straight so we’ll see how the footage comes out.
I drank a cold coffee, went to the toilet and then checked out of the hotel and so the journey began.
At that time, there was very little traffic on the roads, not even many HGVs. For an equivalent journey in the UK, there would be HGVs everywhere but the Swedish roads were quieter.
The motorways are two lanes almost everywhere, the speed limit is typically 110 kmph, with some sections at 120 and some at 100. I did hit a few sections of road works but these tended to be much shorter than they would be in the UK, rather than closing lanes for entire junctions, they just close the small section they’re working on and it’s back to normal speed as soon as you’re through.
I have to admit, I find motorway driving very boring, and it was no different in Sweden. The roads were very flat, few big turns, surrounded by trees most of the time, not a lot to see. I prefer my rural routes and I had hoped I’d have some coastal views heading down the E22, but sadly not.
By 0900, I reached Kalmar and had a walk around the castle. The internal part and the shop only opened at 1000 and I didn’t have time to wait, but I got some photos and sent the drone up for a bit of aerial footage, mindful not to spook the sea birds occupying a little island next to the castle. Sea birds can take quite an interest in a drone so you have to be careful where you fly.
I stopped for fuel at the last exit in Sweden near Malmo before crossing the Oresund bridge back into Denmark. Fuel is cheaper in Sweden than Denmark. The Oresund bridge is a spectacular feed of engineering, build in the late 1990s. The bridge disappears into a tunnel in an artificial island in the middle of the sea before reappearing in Denmark. It’s not cheap, but it was worth the view.
Copenhagen airport is just after the bridge, in fact, I watched a plane landing whilst on the bridge. I got a little bit confused about where to drop the hire car off, it was a little further away from the airport than I remembered. I was a little tense by this time as it was 1430, and I planned to be in the airport by then.
I had to catch a free shuttle bus to the main terminal, headed straight to security, which was very fast and smooth then discovered my flight was delayed half an hour. That gave me more time to use the toilet, do some last minute shopping and grab something to eat.
Ryanair use the cheap gates at the far end of the airport. It’s a bit of a strange setup and you don’t go through border control until you’re at the gates, but you can’t go to the gates until you know which ones you’ll be using. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be an issue.
I was tracking the flight using flight radar 24. I knew the flight would be later than anticipated as the plane was at least an hour late heading from Manchester to Copenhagen before our return leg. It was one of the older air Malta operated services using a 737-800 (not the max variety). The seat pitch is slightly narrower and the seatbelt only just fastened. There was nobody in the middle seat next to me this time, which was unusual.
I made a cheeky request to the cabin crew to see if the captain was willing to put my camera in the cockpit to film part of the flight, she said she’d ask but it never happened. I did get to say hello to the captain, but it has got me thinking about being a bit more persistent and trying again. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
The flight was less than two hours and very smooth. Curiously, most of my flights home have been late flights so I rarely get to see anything interesting during landing but this time I could see Stockport County’s stadium and also recognised Dovestone reservoir on the way. It was very strange being able to recognise a place I know very well from the ground, from the sky.
After a long trip, I was tired. I got the tram home then walked the 20 minutes route from the tram stop home, just as the rain began to fall.
As soon as I got home, the fatigue of all that driving set in and I fell asleep.
I really enjoyed my time in Denmark and Sweden, it was a great trip. It’s such a massive privilege to be able to travel and see other countries and cultures. I look forward to my next adventure, which may well be to Vancouver next April.
The last 6 months have been unusual for me in terms of the amount of travelling I’ve done. The weight loss has given me a new impetus to do things that would have been much more difficult in the past, whether that’s booking a single seat on a plane, walking 10 miles plus, sitting in a regular seat at a restaurant without worrying that it will break or I’ll get stuck or just riding a rollercoaster.