Here is the start of my travelogue for my Scandi and Russia tour. I will try to sprinkle in some posts about other stuff since this was a 33 day trip.
Day 1: Depart the Europe. This evening I depart from JFK airport at 8:30pm on a British Airways flight bound for London, England.
Day 1: Depart the Europe. This evening I depart from JFK airport at 8:30pm on a British Airways flight bound for London, England.
I did some last minute packing today (well most of my packing), found out I had too much stuff and had to dump some of it, who needs jeans anyway?
I got to the airport early, and everything ran smoothly, so I ended up sitting around for a while waiting for the flight. On the flight I end up sitting next to a little bit of a strange guy... at one point I hit the button on the screen, and he opened my tray table for me. I still don't get it, but he must of thought I didn't know how to open the tray table. He also seemed to have missed the airplane etiquette lesson, he was leaning onto me to look out the window when we were landing. Otherwise the flight was fine. I watched Casanova and some of Walk the Line, got about 3 hours of sleep and got to eat my dinner and breakfast, which were pretty good.
Day 2: Arrive Copenhagen: After checking into your youth hotel, the remainder of the day is at leisure. Join your Tour Manager and fellow travelers for an important meeting at 6pm followed by an included dinner. (Dinner included)
Hotel: Belaegningen Youth Hostel
The plane landed in London around 8:25am (local time) and then I walked for what felt like forever to my connecting flight to Copenhagen at 9:55am. This flight had no entertainment and the lunch they served wasn't very good, so I only ate the fruit. I managed to doze off for most of this flight, which was good since there wasn't anything else to do and I needed sleep if I was going to make it through the day. When I got off the plane I got my passport stamped (yea!) and was on my way. I followed the directions I had, which were NOT to the hostel. I had to ask a random person on the street how to get where I was supposed to be. Fortunately, English is widely spoken in Copenhagen and I was sent to a bus that would take me to Central Station, naturally it started raining once I realized I was lost. I wanted to sit on my suitcase and cry at my predicament, but realized that wasn't going to get my anywhere. At Central Station I decided I had had enough with finding my way around on mass transit and took a cab. I finally got to the hostel at 3:45 and was the first one to check into my room. The hostel seemed nice enough, with 2 bunk beds, but only 2 showers for the girls in the building, the mornings would be interesting.
After settling in I headed over to the TV room and found a bunch of people from the tour. I introduced myself and was promptly asked how old I was, and was asked if I was from America, it was a little bit of a strange introduction to the group. I grabbed a chair, had a seat and everyone else introduced themselves. At the time I don't think I really retained anyone's names, but I now know I met Chris, Jacqui, Ben, Lis, Jilly, Nancy, Renae, Ted, and a couple of other people. Most people were from Australia, a couple from Canada, one from South Africa and they thought there was another American. I would have preferred more Americans, but you can't have it all.
After a little while I headed back to my room to get myself together for our 6:00 meeting and dinner. At my room I met my roomies, Kellie, Wendy and Stephanie. At the meeting Che introduced himself, Andy (the driver) and Dion (our Super Cook), and took us over to dinner - Tacos. After dinner we had a pre-tour meeting. Che told us that it was different up here (Scandinavia), and the function of the tour manager was more organizational. He also told us that it would get colder, that there was usually hot water, and after we visit the cities we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, he didn't really paint the nicest picture, but it wasn't anything I wasn't expecting. Then he collected our information and sent us on our way. Some of us hung out for a bit getting to know each other, then I sent a quick email home and was in bed a little after 10.
After settling in I headed over to the TV room and found a bunch of people from the tour. I introduced myself and was promptly asked how old I was, and was asked if I was from America, it was a little bit of a strange introduction to the group. I grabbed a chair, had a seat and everyone else introduced themselves. At the time I don't think I really retained anyone's names, but I now know I met Chris, Jacqui, Ben, Lis, Jilly, Nancy, Renae, Ted, and a couple of other people. Most people were from Australia, a couple from Canada, one from South Africa and they thought there was another American. I would have preferred more Americans, but you can't have it all.
After a little while I headed back to my room to get myself together for our 6:00 meeting and dinner. At my room I met my roomies, Kellie, Wendy and Stephanie. At the meeting Che introduced himself, Andy (the driver) and Dion (our Super Cook), and took us over to dinner - Tacos. After dinner we had a pre-tour meeting. Che told us that it was different up here (Scandinavia), and the function of the tour manager was more organizational. He also told us that it would get colder, that there was usually hot water, and after we visit the cities we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, he didn't really paint the nicest picture, but it wasn't anything I wasn't expecting. Then he collected our information and sent us on our way. Some of us hung out for a bit getting to know each other, then I sent a quick email home and was in bed a little after 10.
