Here I am in Copenhagen struggling with a European keyboard that doesn't let me left+shift but it does let me øøøøøh and åååååh very easily. I still need to find an adapter for my laptop tomorrow.
On Monday night in Cleveland, people really surprised me by showing up at Nano Brew. I expected to sit by myself mostly just reviewing some Danish phrases on my phone in between gaps. It was really nice to talk with people in my life that always seem to be on wheels. It was so nice to sit and talk about travel and international experiences. I really learned a lot about people that I see everyday, but rarely get a chance to have a nice discussion. It was a little hard to leave people.
As I was landing in Copenhagen with the sun rising about 6 hours before my circadian alarm sounds, I questioned what I was doing. Impulsivity isn't always a good character trait, and I had made some quick decisions in the last month about leaving my teaching job and then coming to Europe to do this bike tour.
Enough with the exposition. The Cleveland part of the trip went smoothly. Joy Machines boxed up my bike, and it was ready for me to pick up on the way to the airport. Easy. A cab picked me up at home and then we swung by the shop for the bike. Once I was at the airport, someone carried the bike box straight to the United Airlines counter. I had called Scandinavian Airlines about bringing a bicycle before the trip, and they told me that it would qualify as luggage and would not be an extra cost if it fit into their size requirements. At Cleveland Hopkins, the rep said that it was sporting equipment, not luggage, and that there was a $200 charge. I complained and paid it.
At the airport, my carry-on bag was one of my Ortlieb panniers. The other Ortlieb pannier was packed with bag thankfully. I really tested the TSA agents since my bag was partially filled with bike tools. They showed me the scan after they identified the CO2 cartridges for my tires that they made me discard. They pointed at shadows, and I had to dig it out of my bag and explain. This included my heavy duty lock and my solar panel. I got patted on the head because of a barrette too, almost just a sign of affection from TSA, maybe I'll do that again. I'm glad that they were understanding and didn't keep me for too long.
Well, I was happy to see my bike in its box in Copenhagen shortly after luggage from the flight had been put on the carousel. They held up their part of the deal by getting my bike there on time. Honestly, though, I think I would have the bike shipped directly to a local bike shop if I were to do this again. It was really cumbersome to shoulder my heavy Ortlieb bag, purse, and huge bike-in-a-box that obstructed my view when I found a very helpful luggage cart. I braced it through the airport, in the metro ticket line, on the metro, and then in the neighborhood. My cell had been shut off that morning, and I didn't have a good map. Don't be like me.
As I was schlepping, dragging, switching arms, I felt like my hip flexor was being pulled. It was 9:00 in the morning in Denmark, but 3:00 on my internal clock that was synced up with Cleveland. I got to a bike parking lot, and decided I'd try my luck at assembling the bike. I had no patience or focus, and it was broken down more than I anticipated. I asked a few people if they knew of a shop, but they didn't. I ripped the box open that was already coming apart because of a bad retaping job by TSA with their TSA tape. Parts of my bike had also broken through the cardboard--maybe this was also TSA too. I looked at the pieces, then decided to lock my bike pieces up to a tree so that I could wander and look for a shop. There's this myth that there's a bike shop every 200 meters in this town--so far I think it's true.
As I was slipping my panniers on my shoulder to find a shop, Danish Henry, who I had asked for directions to a bike shop before, said that he had a 5 minute appointment and then found out there was a bike shop about 2 blocks from where I had had my stuff strewn like a homeless person. He offered to bring my bike pieces over to the shop in his cargo bike. He was an awesome help when I felt like a was deteriorating into a mess. He fit my bike in his bike plus my panniers. The bike shop is going to assemble my bike by tomorrow afternoon. Good thing because all of this bicycle gazing is making me jones for a bike.
I decided to do a seasonal hold on my cell service to avoid major international charges and went the route of trying a European SIMS card combined with wifi. I bought a card that didn't fit, and then I bought another that did fit and gave me error messages in Danish when I tried to text. I'm still figuring this out. In the middle of messing with my phone, the bike shop called the hostel looking for me. I thought maybe they were missing a part. Instead, they informed me that the police had called the shop about a cardboard box that had been left in a bike parking lot. Ugh, I littered. Most likely they were causing to give a shop a heads-up about a possible bike theft, but Peter at the shop told them it was most likely mine because of the TSA tape on it. He offered to have his apprentice pick it up, but I walked back and picked it up and brought it to the shop for them to discard. So far, all that I have received is a private shaming as a dumb American. I hope that's all. It's really impressive that their politi is so proactive and on top of things in a timely manner.
The rest of the day has just been spent trying to stay awake to get adjusted to this time zone while doing errands like making sure I have access to money here. I had some trouble at the airport at the ATM and with my credit card, which was cleared later this afternoon. Talk about stressful. I walked around the Nørrebro neighborhood mostly--saw the grave of Hans Christian Andersen and never found the grave of Søren Kierkegaard. Tried to get adapters for my electronics and was only half successful.
It was really amazing just to watch Danish cyclists commuting around the city riding their practical bicycles. I'll have to write up my observations later, but this town seems like a very livable and beautiful albeit expensive city. Soda from 7-11 (the only recognizable chain I've seen here) is about 5 American dollars. I walked around taking photographs of bicycles parked and in motion. It's wonderful when you can spot an adult in the large bucket of a cargo bike, just hanging out, proof that the Danes actually have some fun on their overly practical rides.
Hopefully I'll see more sights tomorrow and will get to try out the bike lanes.
Here I am in Copenhagen struggling with a European keyboard that doesn't let me left+shift but it does let me øøøøøh and åååååh very easily. I still need to find an adapter for my laptop tomorrow.
On Monday night in Cleveland, people really surprised me by showing up at Nano Brew. I expected to sit by myself mostly just reviewing some Danish phrases on my phone in between gaps. It was really nice to talk with people in my life that always seem to be on wheels. It was so nice to sit and talk about travel and international experiences. I really learned a lot about people that I see everyday, but rarely get a chance to have a nice discussion. It was a little hard to leave people.
As I was landing in Copenhagen with the sun rising about 6 hours before my circadian alarm sounds, I questioned what I was doing. Impulsivity isn't always a good character trait, and I had made some quick decisions in the last month about leaving my teaching job and then coming to Europe to do this bike tour.
Enough with the exposition. The Cleveland part of the trip went smoothly. Joy Machines boxed up my bike, and it was ready for me to pick up on the way to the airport. Easy. A cab picked me up at home and then we swung by the shop for the bike. Once I was at the airport, someone carried the bike box straight to the United Airlines counter. I had called Scandinavian Airlines about bringing a bicycle before the trip, and they told me that it would qualify as luggage and would not be an extra cost if it fit into their size requirements. At Cleveland Hopkins, the rep said that it was sporting equipment, not luggage, and that there was a $200 charge. I complained and paid it.
At the airport, my carry-on bag was one of my Ortlieb panniers. The other Ortlieb pannier was packed with bag thankfully. I really tested the TSA agents since my bag was partially filled with bike tools. They showed me the scan after they identified the CO2 cartridges for my tires that they made me discard. They pointed at shadows, and I had to dig it out of my bag and explain. This included my heavy duty lock and my solar panel. I got patted on the head because of a barrette too, almost just a sign of affection from TSA, maybe I'll do that again. I'm glad that they were understanding and didn't keep me for too long.
Well, I was happy to see my bike in its box in Copenhagen shortly after luggage from the flight had been put on the carousel. They held up their part of the deal by getting my bike there on time. Honestly, though, I think I would have the bike shipped directly to a local bike shop if I were to do this again. It was really cumbersome to shoulder my heavy Ortlieb bag, purse, and huge bike-in-a-box that obstructed my view when I found a very helpful luggage cart. I braced it through the airport, in the metro ticket line, on the metro, and then in the neighborhood. My cell had been shut off that morning, and I didn't have a good map. Don't be like me.
As I was schlepping, dragging, switching arms, I felt like my hip flexor was being pulled. It was 9:00 in the morning in Denmark, but 3:00 on my internal clock that was synced up with Cleveland. I got to a bike parking lot, and decided I'd try my luck at assembling the bike. I had no patience or focus, and it was broken down more than I anticipated. I asked a few people if they knew of a shop, but they didn't. I ripped the box open that was already coming apart because of a bad retaping job by TSA with their TSA tape. Parts of my bike had also broken through the cardboard--maybe this was also TSA too. I looked at the pieces, then decided to lock my bike pieces up to a tree so that I could wander and look for a shop. There's this myth that there's a bike shop every 200 meters in this town--so far I think it's true.
As I was slipping my panniers on my shoulder to find a shop, Danish Henry, who I had asked for directions to a bike shop before, said that he had a 5 minute appointment and then found out there was a bike shop about 2 blocks from where I had had my stuff strewn like a homeless person. He offered to bring my bike pieces over to the shop in his cargo bike. He was an awesome help when I felt like a was deteriorating into a mess. He fit my bike in his bike plus my panniers. The bike shop is going to assemble my bike by tomorrow afternoon. Good thing because all of this bicycle gazing is making me jones for a bike.
I decided to do a seasonal hold on my cell service to avoid major international charges and went the route of trying a European SIMS card combined with wifi. I bought a card that didn't fit, and then I bought another that did fit and gave me error messages in Danish when I tried to text. I'm still figuring this out. In the middle of messing with my phone, the bike shop called the hostel looking for me. I thought maybe they were missing a part. Instead, they informed me that the police had called the shop about a cardboard box that had been left in a bike parking lot. Ugh, I littered. Most likely they were causing to give a shop a heads-up about a possible bike theft, but Peter at the shop told them it was most likely mine because of the TSA tape on it. He offered to have his apprentice pick it up, but I walked back and picked it up and brought it to the shop for them to discard. So far, all that I have received is a private shaming as a dumb American. I hope that's all. It's really impressive that their politi is so proactive and on top of things in a timely manner.
The rest of the day has just been spent trying to stay awake to get adjusted to this time zone while doing errands like making sure I have access to money here. I had some trouble at the airport at the ATM and with my credit card, which was cleared later this afternoon. Talk about stressful. I walked around the Nørrebro neighborhood mostly--saw the grave of Hans Christian Andersen and never found the grave of Søren Kierkegaard. Tried to get adapters for my electronics and was only half successful.
It was really amazing just to watch Danish cyclists commuting around the city riding their practical bicycles. I'll have to write up my observations later, but this town seems like a very livable and beautiful albeit expensive city. Soda from 7-11 (the only recognizable chain I've seen here) is about 5 American dollars. I walked around taking photographs of bicycles parked and in motion. It's wonderful when you can spot an adult in the large bucket of a cargo bike, just hanging out, proof that the Danes actually have some fun on their overly practical rides.
Hopefully I'll see more sights tomorrow and will get to try out the bike lanes.
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