Saket Vora

This was a day of traveling. We woke up promptly at 6:00am and got ready on schedule. We did some last-minute re-arranging but figured we could always make changes once we got to London. We checked out of the hostel and walked to the Hauptbahnhof. I had saw on the weather report the night before that it would be snowing/raining all day in Munich and in London, but thankfully we had none of that. The snow on the ground was getting quite slippery though. We stopped by the nice bakery Müller, and the friendly baker recognized us. We ordered coffee and pastries (not the healthiest breakfast, but we enjoyed it!) and ate our fill. At one point some guys came in asking for directions, and the friendly baker helped them out a bit, and it thought it was cool cause I could follow it. My sisters and I don’t look like we would know German, so some people are surprised to hear us speak it. We directly entered the train station (after quickly stopping to buy a baguette for lunch, cause Munich would certainly be cheaper than London) and bought our S-bahn tickets. The S-bahn came and this was one where we had to be sure we got in the last compartment cause the train actually separates to go in different directions. Once at the airport, it was relatively straightforward to find the EasyJet check-in desk, though it was quite a ways from where the train left us. A line had already formed, and they were x-raying all of our checked bagged too. I saw one family that was having a lot of difficult that morning – the wife apparently got hurt while skiing so special arrangements had to be made regarding wheelchairs and stuff. Despite the line, we got priority ‘A’ seating. EasyJet has open seating based on priority. The earlier you check-in at the desk, the higher the priority and the earlier you board the plane to find a seat. Some things always amaze me when it comes to airports. Maybe it’s just because I’ve had experience with them or maybe it’s just because I’m always scanning for information (I often don’t slow down or stop when trying to find a desk, gate, or baggage claim…I always tend to spot the info mid-stride). At pretty much any airport, you are always asked to remove your jacket when going through the security clearance. There are signs telling you this as you wait in line. You can see everyone doing it in front of you. Yet this college aged girl is at the scanner and acts in surprise when the security officer tells her to remove her coat. As you wait in line, they have these plastic bins telling you to put sharp objects into. They are clear plastic and you can see Swiss Army Knifes, can openers, knives, etc. I’m gathering my coat and backpack when I overhear a lady arguing with one of the security people about a Swiss Army Knife they found in her purse. I mean, come on.  In Munich they also had us remove our shoes, something I hadn’t seen since our trip to Hawaii. We had about 1.5 hours to kill at the gate so I did some window shopping at a watch store and a Munich souvenir store, mulling over a FC Bayern Munich shirt or not. Finally the time to board came and we took these buses to the airplane. I helped an elderly couple with their bag (the husband had heart surgery), and Sachi and Sapana were good enough to save me an aisle seat on the plane. It was my first time flying easyJet, their second. Overall, I was very pleased. Comfortable seats and the most enjoyable airline crew I’ve had. They have a much more laid-back feel than the major airlines. The British accent and tongue helped immeasurably too. They introduce the names of the pilot and the flight crew, and the head of the crew was particularly friendly and amusing. We were 10 minutes early to London, and once again had to take a train to get to the main terminal. The passport and customs control went easily, and we quickly got our luggage. I gave my camera to Sapana and said goodbye to Sachi and Sapana. I’ll be seeing Sachi again in less than a week, but Sapana not until June. She’ll be fine. There was the Tube strike going on, but they were able to take a coach or train into Victoria station and from there hopefully to their hotel. I walked over and camped out by the row of EasyJet check-in desks. I bought a Herald Tribune and did some more window shopping after having my baguette sandwich. I noticed that they had opened the Copenhagen flight check-in nearly 40 minutes in advance so I went over and was probably the first to check-in. Best of all this meant I was free of my large bag. It was still nearly 2.5 hours before the flight, so I just waited in the lounge, read the Herald Tribune cover-to-cover. The Starbucks there in the terminal was run entirely by Indians and when I asked for a coffee of the day the guy (college aged) asked if it wasn’t too strong for me, and let me try a bit. I said it would be fine with some milk or cream and got a grande coffee and a big chocolate cookie (eating healthy….heh). It was great coffee and a good cookie. It’s funny how much you can miss a good filter coffee. The Europeans base all their coffee on the espresso, but I really prefer filter coffee. Soon after I finally went over to the gate (had to take a quick train cause the EasyJet terminal is rather far away) and made my way to the gate area. Several Indians on this flight and lots of babies or small children. Fun. When they called for priority boarding (small children, elderly, babies) half the group got up and waited close to the boarding entry. The easyJet clerk tried to get people to sit back down but had no effect. When they called for ‘priority A’ passengers to boarders, all those standing shuffled forward. I had my pass clearly displayed, and as I looked around me I saw other ‘A’s, ‘B’s, and even a D. A couple with priority ‘D’ came to the front but the clerk stopped them, announcing again that only priority ‘A’ passengers could board at this time. Knowing that they were being serious this time, 70% of the people standing stepped backward. It’s good that there was finally some order there. It’s not hard to follow directions people.

The flight out of London was uneventful. The couple next to me seemed to spending a few days there, and had guide books about the city. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that they should have gone to Stockholm. I was rather bored this flight (having already read my Herald Tribune) so I mostly listened to music and thumbed absently through the in-flight magazine (the same one which was on the earlier flight). We landed in Copenhagen 20 minutes ahead of schedule with a lot of snow on the ground. This time they also had an extendable passageway so we didn’t have to walk across the tarmac. The whole airport was really empty, being only about 4 hours till the New Year. I made my way quickly to the baggage claim, but alas my bag didn’t come until much later. With my bag I went over to the trains. Buying a ticket proved difficult, with the machines once again refusing to take my credit card or my Nordea card. I tried three different ones and others were having the same trouble. I finally tried my Wachovia debit card and it worked. I informed any others in line that if they were going to Sweden they could use the other machine (which was not in the same area as the other ticket machines). I walked a guy through the process and later on the train (I went to the wrong platform like three times) I met up with him again and we chatted a bit on the way to Malmö. He had a Swedish girlfriend and was spending New Years with her. In Malmö, I saw the next train to Lund wouldn’t be for another 30 minutes, so I had to kill some time there. Rather boring, but my mp3 player helped. I saw a lot of other college students going to Copenhagen. Some, who were on the train to Lund with me, were carrying alcohol and fireworks. In Lund, I stopped at the 7-Eleven to break a 100 note, in case my train ticket wasn’t good for the buses. Lund, to my surprise, had a heavy dose of snow, and it was everywhere. I dragged/pulled my bag to the main road so I could catch the #4 bus to Delphi. Unfortunately, the buses were running on a limited schedule, so 20 minutes and 6 other (wrong) buses later, #4 finally came and I made it back to Delphi. As I was waiting at the bus stop, some Swedes were in the middle of the university campus (with multi-story buildings at the Lund Cathedral around them) and were sending off large firecracks into the sky. A bit of snow and ice would fall from the trees above me everytime a shell exploded.

I changed my clothes and checked my email and such, then finally went into the kitchen where Lishuang was waiting. We greeted each other and talked about our trips a bit. I was feeling hungry so I had a frozen pizza and before we knew it, it was already 12:00am. A very large and well put together firework show started to go off in what looked like a field right next to Delphi. They were so close to us. This show went on for about 15 minutes before dying out. Feeling tired, we called it a night and I went to bed.