Settling Travel Plans

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009--Copenhagen (Continued)

After spending the morning trying to figure out an alternative plan for getting to the U.S. that would allow me to avoid the problem that getting from Venezuela to Aruba was presenting, I settled on going to Barcelona. It's a city that everyone seems to love and that I have not visited yet. And it is located on the normal routes that would allow me to go there without having to go through more airports than my ticket allows. The one problem it created is that the decreased distance would mean that I could finish my travels this year under the minimum needed to maintain my frequent flier elite status (which has privileges that are worthwhile). I solved that problem by choosing a routing from Barcelona to San Antonio through Frankfurt and Los Angeles. It gives me enough mileage to get me just a few hundred miles over the 25,000 mile minimum rather than just under it if I had chosen the routes through Chicago, Washington (DC), Denver, or Charlotte.

I went to the Thai Airways office, since my ticket was issued by that airline. Fortunately, no one was being assisted, so they saw me immediately. I could tell the woman was a bit hesitant when I first explained that I wanted to change the ticket. No one wants to work on these tickets, because it can take about two hours normally to re-ticket a person. She accepted the task, however, because the airline issuing the ticket MUST do so; that's a rule they have implemented since no one WANTS to do so. She mentioned the long period of time needed and told me to leave the information with her and that she would e-mail me when it had been done.

I stopped at the Royal Copenhagen Store and bought Grethe a gift. I looked for something appropriate in Romania, but I just couldn't find anything there that I thought she would appreciate. Here, I got her a crystal glass bowl with a Royal Copenhagen design etched into the sides.

The rest of the day, I prepared for dinner. I bought groceries to make guacamole and burgers. Grethe always asks for those each time I am here.

Hans, Grethe's nephew, came for dinner with us in the evening. I have heard about him for years and have seen photos of him, but this was my first time to meet him. He was such a delight with a smile that just never stops! We had guacamole with corn chips. Then I made our burgers fresh with each of us having two of them. We talked about so many topics:

Hans' work as a policeman and his future hopes to be a body guard with PET (the Danish CIA) now that he has been accepted for training there.

Hans' adoration of Barack Obama. Like Obama, Hans has a white mother (from Denmark) and a black father (from Nigeria). He is so proud of Obama's success and of his skills as an orator.

Hans' experience on the TV Show Robinson about 10 years ago and the resulting celebrity status and what it meant for his life. That's the Danish version of the show called Survivor in the U.S.

He is an impressive young man and such a pleasure to be around. I've known his mother (Grethe's and Morten's sister) for years, and I can see why she is so proud of him.

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009--Copenhagen

Grethe and I went by her bank to get rid of some of my Danish Kroner. I had been withdrawing money here to be changed to dollars, since Venezuela has such strange policies that make exchanging cash give you 3 times as much local money to spend as making a withdrawal from an ATM gives. Now that my travel plans have changed, I needed to get rid of the extra Kroner. Therefore, we stopped at her bank and she had them exchanged for Euros that I can use when I am in Barcelona.

From there, I went to the Thai Airlines office to pick up my new ticket. The woman was much friendlier today, saying that it had gone so smoothly. She kept complimenting me. She even said that she thought that I probably knew the rules for those tickets better than she does. My guess is that it only took her about 15 minutes to key my changes into the computer. The usual 2-hour length it takes involves dealing with the complications that usually develop due to the routing having too many stops, too much distance, etc. Anyway, I paid the fee to change the ticket and the additional taxes and went to explore town.

I really have not spent much time in the city since Arne died. Every time I walk down a major street, through a park, etc., there is a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I still get depressed due to all the memories of the times we spent together in these places. That's one reason this will be my last trip here. But it was a sunny day and I forced myself to take a farewell walk through the center of town.

From there, I walked to see Jens and Robert. They had invited me for a light lunch. We had Danish open-faced sandwiches--one with smoked salmon, one with Danish meatballs, and one with a French pate that had red peppers in it. We chatted and ate. I didn't stay late, because they have afternoon rituals that I didn't want to interrupt.

In the evening, I was invited to have dinner with Ulf and Allan. I walked there going through the park that used to be one of my favorite places in town. Like walking through the city, however, the pleasure of being there is mostly gone due to the memories of the past.

I have known Ulf and Allan for years, but I had not visited them in their apartment in town. I have only been to their summer house before. The apartment is on a grand boulevard in Copenhagen and is huge. It was just the three of us, so it was a nice, casual evening. I got a tour of the apartment. Then we sat in the kitchen and had a glass of wine as the dinner was cooking. To eat, we moved to the dining room where we had roasted duck breast with a crispy, salted skin; boiled new potatoes; steamed carrots; and a nice sauce. Afterwards, we sat in the living room to have coffee and talk. We have discussed the idea of their coming to Texas for years, and it seems that they may finally do so.

Grethe had been to a birthday party for the night, and she had just gotten home when I walked back into the apartment. We visited briefly, but we were both tired and decided to call it a night.