End to Scandinavia, tips for travelling with friends

No one likes to end their travels, or at least I don't. As much as I love my family and friends my heart is abroad, in the adventures to come, sights to see, and culture to live. My brief taste of what is Scandinavia has definitely left me wanting more. I know more trips will be in my future but for the present moment, I am waiting for the next opportunity!

Me & Lauriane in St. Tropez, France

Me &Julie at an Oxygen Bar in Las Vegas

Me & Andrei at the Calgary Stampede

This trip has also taught me far more about myself and relationships than anything else I have ever encountered in life. I have performed 2 exchanges to France over the years and I either travelled on my own, with my host family, or with friends I made while I was studying there.With the exception of my 2 exchanges/trips to France, I have always travelled with family (short distances like from Toronto -Quebec City or long distances such as Toronto - Las Vegas) or with friends (short distances such as Fort McMurray to Calgary). This trip would be the first trip I ever did with my bestfriend, Amanda, not including minor trips for us to visit each other during school from our university towns to the other. Travelling with friends is a real test of friendship and this is still uncertain at the present moment.

Me & Amanda at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland

As much as we thought we had planned things out, there are always going to be bumps in the road and people have to be willing to sway their plans a bit to accommodate everyone but at the same time each person should be capable of fulfilling their own wishes. Me and Amanda had researched places to visit, things to see, restaurants to visit, and expenses we may incur. We had all our accommodations booked that worked into our budget. I am willing to admit there were museums I had an interest in originally but when the money situation came fully into view, I could not afford to fit everything in to my budget. My wishes were my priorities when it came to my budget.



Tips for traveling with friends
After experiencing this I have some tips to offer regarding travelling with friends (not all of them were problems for me on this trip but I figured they would be good general advice to give):

• Discuss each person's budget
• This can be a very hot topic and a MAJOR issue for friends traveling. Not everyone comes from the same background and financial situations can put a major strain on travelling ideas. Both parties need to discuss what they can afford in terms of accommodation and transportation. Food is generally only bought for yourself so you will never have to share food. Also, it is probably not the best idea in the world to flaunt around how much money one party has if the other is flat broke to the point of walking far distances to avoid taxi and bus fees. When it comes to activities, you should only pay for things you really want to do and that will fit in your budget. For this matter you need to discuss the event in which you will split off from each other (see below).

• Be comfortable being on your own
• There are going to be activities that you may not both want to see or cannot afford to put into your budget and for this reason it is inevitable that there are going to be times when you are going to separate. For this reason you need to make sure you are aware of your surroundings, bring a watch (or cell/iPod, something that has the time), and that you know how to use a map... which all seem simple but making sure of these things makes a world of a difference. Set a meeting point and time and rejoin once you have accomplished your own must-see things.

• Discuss trip ideas
• Do some pre-research on ideas both parties have so that places can be chosen to best accommodate every one's interests. If both are into museums and history buffs then both activities will probably gel well together but if some people are a mixture of history, culture, adventure, then certain activities probably will need to be cut or chosen to do on their own. In either case it is probably a good idea to get a sense of what is out there so that you know you are making the most out of your trip.
  
• Be assertive
• Deal with problems when they arise and not after they've kept boiling up. This only leads to huge arguments over seemingly small things. It's best to confront each other or talk with one another if something upset you or hurt you. Things will only get worse and you will not enjoy your trip if you continue to allow yourself to get upset. You have no reason to be upset for the rest of your trip if you never took the initiative to resolve it yourself.
  
• Be yourself
• Your friend decided to go on a trip with you because they like you for who you are, not a different person they've never met before. It is understandable to be shy around new people but personalities should not change when away. Don't feel like you need to act a certain way because you are on your own and in new situations. At the same time be considerate of how traveling is a different situation and that being comfortable all the time is not a luxury everyone feels when on the road.

Denmark

So today we were heading to our next destination...Copenhagen, Denmark. We had slept over the night before in Stockholm as our train was departing from Copenhagen around 10am.

Day 18, Monday
Surprisingly after sleeping on a boat in a bay of the Baltic Sea I did not feel sick. I woke up bright and early to pack my bags and head to the train station. It had rained a bit the night before but thankfully it had stopped so I didn't have to make the trek in the rain! I check out from the hostel and started on my way. It was actually really pretty walking along Gamla Stan in the morning when everything was still relatively quiet. The only downside to this walk was that it made me quite hungry and as mentioned before, I ran out of money :( Love these student budgets.
I met up with Amanda at the train station since she bussed there and we caught our train to Copenhagen. We had windows seats with a huge table and we would eventually catch up on some sleep while on the 5 hour train to Copenhagen. I remained awake for the majority of this trip but was definitely awake crossing the Oresund Bridge from Sweden over to Denmark. I even met a friend on the train, Fernando, as he helped me get my luggage down without impaling anyone.

Fernando ended up coming with us to our hostel (after the dilemma with Amanda at the train station) which was nice since I would have someone to sight-see with. Amanda was to hang out with her friend (unaware of this before), so I had some company for most of my Denmark stay. Our hostel legitimately looked like a hotel, it is huge with tons of floors and is a skyscraper compared to the rest
of Copenhagen.

After getting settled at the hostel we met up with Fernando and eventually Amanda's friend was there as well. We all headed out together and went to meet up with some more friends. We ended up getting pizza for a ridiculously low price that was the best tasting pizza I have ever had (okay I lied, pizza in Montpellier, France is still better but this came pretty close). From there we decided to go to a bar. I didn't drink anything at the bar but beforehand I had a tallboy of Carlsberg, just because it's from Denmark haha. I didn't stay at the bar too late because Fernando and I were planning on getting up really early to start off our sightseeing day so I left by myself and found my way back to the hostel.

Day 19, Tuesday
So today was to be the main sight-seeing day for Copenhagen. Me and Fernando met up at around 7:45 so that we could start the day at 8. We first headed to the train station for breakfast and for him to reserve his train for the following day. It was here that I had wienerbrød... aka a danish. Yes, a danish in Denmark.

Amalienborg Palace

From the train station we packed our remaining buns and headed towards some of the nearby palaces (Christiansborg, Amalienborg, etc.). There are so many in Copenhagen! We even got pictures with the guards at Amalienborg Palace(who were rude to others but let us take a picture and chat with them)! We headed towards Vor Frelser's Kirke which has a giant spire at the top which you can climb...on the outside! When we first arrived it was closed so instead we decided to head to Christiania in the Christianshavn part of town. Christiania is a very hippy part of town that considers itself a free community (or anarchist) with about 1000 residents from what we heard. There are no laws, only rules.. and the number 1 rule: no photography or they will get rid of the camera. The reason for this, the main street used to be called pusher street... where there were all kinds of drugs in the open air as well as prostitutes and other kinds of illegal stuff. Nowadays Copenhagen has been more strict on them so there is no longer hard drugs but soft drugs can be bought and I'm sure if you wanted other stuff, they could find someone for you. It was the sketchiest place I have ever been to haha. Tons of bonfires, stray dogs, and people pretending to do something so that they can yell at every tourist with a camera.

View from Vor Frelser's Kirke

After leaving Christiania, in which there is a sign welcoming you back into the EU, we headed back to Vor Frelser's Kirke. The interior of this church was really beautiful. There was a gorgeous organ as well as cherubs by the alter. Even though Fernando is not a huge fan of heights I convinced him to take the climb with me as there was a promise of the greatest view of the city... and it did not let us down! You could even see the Oresund Bridge that takes you back to Sweden... the same one I took to come from Stockholm and the one I met Fernando on!

Nyhavn

Gefion Fountain

After seeing the amazing view from Vor Frelser's Kirke, we headed towards the water, where we would eventually follow it to the world famous Little Mermaid. We first visited Nyhavn which is a colourful harbour. The houses that border it are painted bright colours and it reminded me of Bergen in Norway. The people were very pleasant and the borders of the harbour were lined with restaurants and ice cream shops. From Nyhavn we continued along the water and along the way we stumbled upon the famous Gefion Fountain. This fountain tells the tale of Denmark's legend of how Zealand (the area where Copenhagen is) was created. Apparently the Gods Granted Gefjun all the territory that she could plow in one night, and so turned her sons into Oxen and plowed all that is now Copenhagen. Like the Trevi fountain in Italy, the Gefion fountain is considered a wishing well, so I made a wish and tossed a coin in the fountain. I hope my wish comes true (edit* it did)!

From the Gefion fountain we were able to easily find the statue of the Little Mermaid. Even though I love the Little Mermaid and pretty much anything relating to Disney and Hans Christian Anderson, the statue gave me the same impression as the Mona Lisa did when I first saw it. It was a definite must-see but SPOILER ALERT: It's super small and not a huge thrill. Apparently it just got back from a trip to China so anyone who had previously visited this within the last year saw a fake statue of it.

From here we walked along one of the main streets till we found Rosenborg Castle. It was really pretty on the outside and had a residence beside it that was huge, not to mention the MASSIVE garden (Kongen's have) in front of it. Although the BEST part about Rosenborg Castle is the fact that it actually has a moat around it! How cool is that (see photo at right)?!

After 10 hours of sight-seeing we decided to head back to the hostel. On our way back we went to the same pizza place again, and got lost for a bit but were able to figure it out eventually haha. We did some shopping (and by we I mean me), but it worked in our favour as we missed a flash downpour.

When we got back to the hostel we decided to nap for a couple hours and then meet up again. We were supposed to meet up with Amanda and her boy (or so we thought) but they never showed. We waited for 6 hours from the time we thought we were meeting up and by 11pm we decided we were going to go out clubbing on our own. I then decided I was going to be pulling an all-nighter as the next day I was going to fly out early to see Amsterdam. Our night was very eventful and we met some pretty cool  Copenhagen teens who showed us a good time. Definitely plan on meeting up with them again someday!


Day 20, Wednesday
Today I took a quick detour by plane to the Netherlands. For my detailed bog entry for that day see my Netherlands post!

Day 21, Thursday
Late Wednesday night I arrived back in Copenhagen after my brief visit to Amsterdam. This morning I allowed myself to sleep in haha. After doing 10 hours of sight-seeing on Tuesday, pulling an all-nighter, and doing even more sight-seeing in another country yesterday, I decided I would give my body a rest. Amanda was m.i.a. so I was by myself which actually worked out perfectly. Fernando and I gelled really easily in our interests but being free to do my own thing actually worked out in my favour.

I went out and bought another wienerbrød for breakfast. They are so delicious! From here I decided to go back and do some of the places I loved and some places that I had missed on Tuesday. My top priority was going to see Frederik's Church or the Marble Church. It is absolutely stunning inside with an amazing altar and domed ceiling with paintings. From here I decided to go back and visit Nyhavn. It was a very picturesque place and I loved mingling with the locals. I was recommended to try some homemade ice cream and to remember to ask for "guff" on it. Best advice any local ever gave me on a food recommendation. It is a pink marshmellow mixture that tastes like heaven, on top of the delicious homemade icecream!


After coming back to the hostel I met a new roommate, Danny, who I eventually would walk around with at night. While I was packing up all my stuff for my flights home the next day, Amanda had popped in (hadn't seen her since Tuesday morning). She only came in quick to pack her stuff and check out early as there was apparently some confusion with flights and having to stay at the airport...Regardless me and Danny had a great night roaming the streets and trying to find food haha.

 Day 22, Friday
Today was the end of my Nordic European trek :( Amanda was already out of the picture at this point as she apparently spent the night at the airport the previous night. I packed up all my stuff and headed to the train station. My new friend Danny, from the hostel, came with so that I could show him the amazing deal they had at the convenience store for food (hooray for student budgets that go far!). From here I left Danny and the city of Copenhagen. I will FOR SURE come back to this city as it was by far one of my favourites from this trip!

The train ride to the airport was quick and I was able to take a quick 15 minute power nap. This airport was much better than the Helsinki one and I even got through without any problems (including my cheese from the Netherlands). I was going to be flying back to Reykjavik, Iceland in order to make a transfer to fly into Toronto. I slept the entire flight, and woke up just as we were about to touch down which was a first (although it was a short flight). Flying in to Iceland definitely was as exciting, and scary, as the first time 3 weeks ago. It is very weird descending very close to the water and then landing in a barren land covered with black and brown, and MAYBE the odd lichen or moss.

 The wait in Iceland was not supposed to take long but we ended up being delayed by 1.5 hours due to a late flight from the UK or the Netherlands coming in. During this delay I was able to buy some last minute gifts for my family such as Icelandic Schnapps made from Lichen as my Mother's Day gift to my mom. I figured schnapps with really lichen in the bottom would be something different.When we finally started boarding the plane to go to Toronto I noticed there was a private jet with very bright and colourful decals on it with people getting on and off. This private jet belonged to Iron Maiden for the current tour they were on. People were pretty excited at the sight of it, even I'll admit it was pretty neat.

The best part of the entire trip back was when our plane was flying over Greenland. I was actually able to see Greenland in the daytime as well as features of it's landscape. The photos I took over Kulusuk, Greenland are amazing and only makes me want to visit Greenland even more! On one of my next trips I definitely will visit! When our plane was over Canada I decided to catch a quick sleep as I was to go back to Ottawa after arriving and did not want to be jet lagged. This was the end to an amazing trip, and the introductory taste to going back and visiting some beautiful places!

Netherlands

Unfortunately time and money could only afford me a quick day trip to the Netherlands. It was originally to spend the day with and re-meet my cousin and her daughter but as complications came along I ended up touring Amsterdam by myself. In all honesty, I loved being able to explore on my own, with my own schedule and destinations and meeting the many generous and welcoming people who helped me in any way.

Day 20, Wednesday

One word: Adrenaline. That is what I was running on as I had not gone to bed from the previous night... clubbing with Fernando at a bar in Copenhagen up until I took a train to Copenhagen airport to catch my flight to Amsterdam. The flight was very quick but during the descent I finally got to see some of the features that my parents had constantly talked about in their many trips to this country/city. First off, when descending you get a glimpse of it's below sea-level status with the many waterways as well as the dense population along its edges.

As soon as I arrived at Kastrup Airport, I had trouble finding my way to the express train that would take me to downtown. This mall is very confusing. It has a mall in it. Talk about airport shopping. I eventually did some airport shopping before I left include some stroopwaffels and cheese for the parents.

In the canal beside the famous Anne Frank Huis (right)

The first thing I decided to do upon arriving in downtown Amsterdam was a canal cruise. As I've been told by so many people, there is no better way to experience this city than doing at least one of these cruises. The boat tour showed us all of the main sights along the canal. I thankfully got a seat in the back so I had a nice breeze as well. I took so many photos along the cruise it was hard to remember what each picture was of. It was a great first thing to do in order to get my bearings of the city and to choose what I wanted to see more of.

After somewhat knowing my way around the city I decided to go off on foot. I headed in the direction of a famous pannekoeken place that I had been told about. The walk to this place was actually quite beautiful (see right photo). Pannekoeken was a must as it is a staple of my Dutch family and I wanted to see if my family's recipe (in particular my Oma's recipe) could compare to the ones in the capital of this country. The journey to this restaurant crossed many canals which offered gorgeous views of the houses, the bikes, the boats and of course the canal itself. Needless to say the pannekoeken was amazing, even though I only ordered the plain jam one. At this restaurant I also tried Poffertjes as I had heard my parents talk about them before and they were delicious (picture on the right).

From the Pancake Bakery, I continued along the Singel Canal to make my way to the Bloemen market. The Blomenmarket ended up being really amazing. This is the place where all the deals were as well as tons of flowers, cheese and other goods. I even bought myself a Netherlands soccer zip up haha. Just to feel a little bit more Dutch lol.

After the Bloemenmarkt I had a  croquet at Van Dobben, famous locally and abroad for their croquets. It tasted amazing, like everything else I had tried here. Van Dobben was located very near to the national monument and Dam Square. This is a central part of Amsterdam as the Royal Palace is located here as well as the famous Amstel River.

Red Light District

From Dam Square I headed toward the ever-famous, Red Light District. This place is not as sketchy during the day time and I was flying back to Denmark in the evening so I decided that light or day, I had to visit. When walking in to the Red Light District from the area by the train station you actually find some restaurants advertising the Green Light District and special coffeehouses for smoking pot. There were a lot of people smoking pot that I think I may have gotten second hand high, which gave me a headache. Yes, there were alleyways with half naked, or pretty much naked woman trying to lure you in to the buildings, and yes, there were sketchy people here but it was fine. I found it ironic that some of the borders of the Red Light District are different churches.


After leaving the Red Light District I headed back to the train station as I had learned shortly before that, that my "second-cousin" Diana, or something like that, was going to meet me at the airport to see me off. I had not seen Diana since she came with her family over to Canada to visit us back when I was 5ish. Now she has a daughter, Jasmine, and she is pregnant with another! It was weird at first since I don't have any huge memories with her but it was definitely interesting and fun to re-meet her and her daughter. She is the one who convinced me to smuggle cheese through 3 countries (Denmark, Iceland, and Canada) to eventually get back to my parents. I hope I will get to see her again in either Amsterdam or go visit her in Egypt!


1 day in Amsterdam was definitely just a taste for the city and I know for sure that I will be coming back here in the near future!