Flight #1- Kona, HI to San Francisco, CA
Flight #2- San Francisco, CA to Seattle, WA
At the airport in Seattle, we met up with an unexpected 'stowaway' passenger who joined us on our travels! ;-) Joey managed to pull off another great surprise by nabbing a last minute ticket and a rushed new passport so he could join us in both countries. He couldn't get on our flight, however, so he departed 45 min after us two gates away via Lufthanasa (we flew Delta, which was surprisingly pleasant). And he generously (and charitably) sat in the terminal with the rest of the peasants despite having access to a First Class lounge.
A few people have asked if my parents may have secretly suspected all along he would come, but they did not. He just surprised them last year by popping up in Tokyo while we were there (and that was a first). Prior to that- he'd only ever come along with us on two other trips (Iceland and Spain/Morocco) over the last decade...so it's actually quite rare that he joins us. My parents were satisfied thinking we'd see him on the way home, as we'd booked a night in Seattle on our way back. So it was another great surprise, and we were thrilled he pulled it off.
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| Surprise!!! It's Joey!!! (My mom's mouth is wide open in shock.) |
Although Rich, Joey and I had spent some time in Amsterdam about 15 years ago while en route to Egypt, my parents and Ryan had never set foot there. And since we only had 90 minutes in Holland for a quick airport transfer, that meant I had plenty of time to provide them with a complete, in-depth and authentic 'Tour de Amsterdam.' (Because if there's one thing Japanese people can do...it's to whip through an entire country in a day...and STILL manage to take 3792 photos.)
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| Vibrant fresh tulips? Check! |
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| Dutch wooden clogs (klompen)? Check! (Perfect size too...room to grow.) |
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Danish windmill? This one was harder, but we improvised...so check! Mission completed! (Just kidding. I will definitely take Ryan there one day- Anne Frank's attic and legacy is not to be missed, and I have my heart set on renting a houseboat on a canal someday).
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After two straight days of flying and little to no sleep, we all staggered onto the metro for the short ride to our station, Korgens Nytorv. Although our metro ride couldn't have been more than 12 minutes, it still cost us each $4.50 for the ride (Scandinavian prices trump places like Manhattan and Tokyo, in my opinion).
Our metro station was very centrally located in the heart of Copenhagen, minutes from Nyhavn. Because we are lucky enough to split the rental cost with my parents, we were able to splurge on a convenient location. From the metro station, we walked in the cold, drizzling rain (this was to be an accurate foreshadowing of the daily weather during our stay) along meandering cobblestone streets for about ten minutes. We easily found our charming, historic 2-story apartment, which was right next to a boutique and a bar (so we definitely heard our share of rabble-rousing each night...but understandable given the condition of everyone's feet).
Thankfully, the charm of the home made up for the drunken brawls and police sirens...
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My parents and Joey each had a room downstairs on the main level...while Rich, Ry and I nabbed this upstairs, attic-like bedroom...which had four twin beds and a sitting area. It also required the successful navigation of some very winding and steep, treacherous stairs. But the hike was worth the privacy and space!  |
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| Ryan found his warm and cozy nook soon after we arrived. He's enjoying a very traditional Danish experience called, "Quickly logging onto the wifi and cackling at juvenile YouTube videos." So very proud of my intrepid, inquisitive traveler! |
We learned three fun lessons in Scandinavia about older homes that I'd love to share:
1. Each home had about a half dozen doorways between each room. And each doorway had a raised, door jam of 2-3 inches that blended perfectly with the flooring. This meant that each of us had the opportunity to stub our toes into them roughly 9.7 times per hour if you walked around a bit. I'm not sure what Scandinavian genius okayed this building concept, but as someone with very, very limited short term memory and freakishly long toes, I suffered tremendously.
2. Another special fun learning experience was that because all of the older floors were made of creaking, sagging old wood, they were also very splintered...which meant if you already were shuffling around in pain from your badly stubbed, hobbit toes...you could easily sustain about 3.7 splinters per week.
I think it's fair to say that a great deal of Scandinavians are all shuffling around with fairly bruised, stubby toes (filled with wood splinters)...which then explains why they name their IKEA furniture stuff like "Snorgrulfartsumtorvgen" and "Bladdadolltorskrassaapprokronaosjobakenbjorkabba." No time for thought, deliberation or niceties when you're in pain...it all makes sense now.
3. No one ever drops the soap while bathing in Scandi. I know this, because both our showers in Denmark & Sweden were roughly 2 x 2 in circumference, possibly smaller. This meant that any adult weighing over 70 lbs. found themselves bathing in what felt like a standing coffin. If you dropped your soap, and I'm sad to report that I did (mostly because you really couldn't raise your arms)...you had to turn off the water, exit the shower and THEN bend over to grab the slippery bar while outside the stall. So not only were our poor feet bruised and splintered, they were also very unclean, as bending over to scrub them is impossible unless you're an anorexic contortionist.
I'm not sure why these facts were not mentioned in our Lonely Planet guidebook, nevertheless, I am pleased to generously provide the information free of charge for you all, right here, right now. ;-)
That is all for tonight, but tomorrow I promise great many more fun Danish pictures and adventures! Farvel for now!
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