Cristina's Birthday

I woke up at 6am, a more normal time, and an hour before the grocery store opened. Bella had wanted to go with me, but I didn't want to wake her up, so I turned on my phone and checked my Facebook and rested beside my sleeping wife. I fell asleep again, and this time when I woke it was 9 and Marion was already back from the grocery store. Oops!

Marion gave Cristina a carved wooden bowl that she got in Skagen yesterday

Marion bought fresh brötchen and made coffee, which makes a perfect breakfast. Afterwards, we headed to the local flea market (known in Denmark as a loppe market). It started raining, so we went under a big tent and listened to a musician play guitar and sing songs in English. The rain slowed enough for us to have a look around. The flea market reminded me of flea markets when I was a kid; the kind where people bring random stuff to sell. So often today in the States, the stalls at flea markets are more like mini-stores that specialize in one particular type of product that they obtain cheaply somewhere else. Like this guy sells knives, and that guy sells movies. But this Danish flea market was old school.

I had only used our credit card so far on this trip, so I still had no Danish currency. These flea market vendors don't take credit cards, which was good for our budget. It was much easier to avoid purchasing an intriguing trinket because, well, we had no cash. We still did not get out of there without buying something, but even I will admit that it was a good deal. There are these stainless steel containers called tiffins, which are British Indian lunchboxes for carrying the tiffin, a slang term for a second breakfast or lunch. They stack nicely and hold the different parts of the lunch separate. Cristina found one with four compartments tagged for 40 kroner (about $7). In the States, she had seen similar ones for about $20. Marion offered to front us the cash until we could go to an ATM. Before Cristina went back to the guy selling the tiffin, I reminded her to bargain. "And don't let him know how bad you want it," I said. "He already knows how bad I want it," she said. So Marion offered to do the haggling and try to get the tiffin for 30. She headed towards the stall and we pretended to browse other tables. Cristina noticed that Marion was no longer talking to the guy, but she had the tiffin under her arm. When we rendezvoused, Marion proudly announced that she got it for 20 kroner! That's about $3.60! She said the man spoke German and she struck up a friendly conversation with him. Man, she's a pro.

The $3.60 tiffin!

From there, the kids went back to the cabin with Marion. Harry, Cristina, and I went to the ATM, then Aldi (a grocery store). We bought things for Cristina's birthday dinner (fruit salad and a green tossed salad) as well as items for our picnic tomorrow during our car ride to Vordingborg. While we were shopping, Marion and the kids made a cake (from scratch!) for Cristina. They improvised a glaze with water, sugar, and a little chocolate.

Glazing it up

Singing Happy Birthday

Bella said she wanted this kind of cake for her next birthday

We ate a simple lunch of bread and cheese with vegetables, and the birthday cake, which was delicious.

It's just not a party till someone plays with their food

We went for one last walk to the beach. Cristina and Sofia took a ton of great pictures, so I encourage you to check out their Facebook pages to see those! I came back early with Bella and Sören because Bella was feeling done. We had some down time until the others came back, then we started making dinner. Harry helped the kids make a fire.

To add to our fruit and tossed salad, Marion made potato pancakes, which were delectable. And so simple too. Why have I not made these myself on a regular basis? Even Alex, who doesn't care for potatoes, ate several. I must add them to my repertoire.

Danish remoulade (the condiment on the potato pancakes) is kinda growing on all of us...I think we'll be taking some home in August

During the Germany-Ghana game, Cristina remembered that we had bought ice cream for her birthday, so after Germany scored a goal, I dished up the ice cream. Unfortunately, Ghana scored one before I could even serve it. Bella asked if this meant we didn't get any ice cream! We all ate yummy triple chocolate ice cream while watching Germany tie Ghana 2-2. Harry and Marion were disappointed with the end result, but it was a great game.

While the kids got ready for bed, I started vacuuming some of our space bags in preparation for our departure to Vordingborg. I hope Trine is ready for the invasion!

Teapot Selfies

Skagen

This morning we drove to Skagen (57 miles, or 92 km, north). Skagen is the northernmost tip of Denmark, and continental Europe for that matter.

We stopped for coffee (and literally stopped and took the time to smell the roses). At Skagen, we walked the beach, looked at WWII bunkers, counted vessels in the sea, got sunburned faces, and picnicked by a vintage lighthouse.

At this point the North Sea and the East Sea converge, creating some interesting, confused waves and currents.

We walked around the shopping district of Skagen. The kids played hide-and-seek along the way. Finally, Bella couldn't stand seeing so many people eating ice cream anymore, so we headed home.

We got home at halftime during the first game of the day. Costa Rica beat Italy. So that was nice.

Bella and I drove into town to get some groceries, but we got to the stores at 8:05, and every grocery store closed at 8.

Hals

I just can't be as detailed as I would like. Not enough time in the day, not enough energy in the body. My goal is to blog every day, and at least cover the basics. It may not always be philosophical or insightful. Hell, it may sometimes be barely observational, but I'll try to get something. I'm already behind, but I'll blame it on the jet lag. Time to get caught up.

So we woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon. All of us. Even Bella. I know. Weird.

We finally could see the cabin in the full daylight, which was lovely. The crisp northern Denmark weather was light jacket weather to us Floridians, but that's not a complaint at all. Frankly, I would have been disappointed if it hadn't been cool enough for a jacket.

Marion made a delicious breakfast of breads, cheeses, meats, coffee, and Ostfriesen tea. The kids ate everything with gusto, even though it was different than their usual breakfast fare. A good sign.

Marion and Harry's son, Sören, warmed to us pretty fast

Brötchen

The kids played outside while the adults chatted and Cristina and I got a little more settled in. I snapped some good pics of the kids outside. At one point I lay on the grass on my belly to take a photo and it felt so good. The grass was so soft and warm and pleasant.

We drove into the town of Hals, walked the harbor, talked to a Swiss man who lives on a catamaran with his wife. He toured the Hals library, and Sofia even got a library card.

We ended up at a grocery store, where Marion and Harry got some things for a barbecue, and the kids used their own money for some bulk gummy candies. Cristina and Sofia picked out a few postcards.

We drove to a little beach and played. Harry and Alex did a little fishing. Harry caught a crab in a net and Bella held the crab in her bare hands and showed everyone else.

Back at the cabin, Harry and I got the charcoal going while the World Cup played on TV. The kids helped make the kebobs, and dinner was lovely. We ate outside.

Our first normal day ended fairly normally, with the kids in bed before 11 and Cristina and I down by midnight. Cristina was asleep almost immediately. I, on the other hand, had trouble falling asleep. I woke up at 4 am. It was so light out and I felt refreshed enough that I thought surely it was close to 7 or 8 am. Nope. I finally fell back asleep and woke up again at 6. Whatever.

The Long Fuzzy Blur of Arrival

I woke up to a quiet house. The chilly air was fresh. I could hear birds. For a moment, I didn't know where I was or what time it was, or even what day. Then I realized. I'm in Denmark.

The previous 48 hours were a blur of flights and fatigue, but finally we were settled. Here's a quick overview.

The flight from Orlando to JFK was uneventful, but the two-hour flight only had snack service, and all the entertainment was pay-only. With little sleep the night before, Cristina and I were content to just rest, but for the kids, it was enticing to have a TV screen on the seatback in front of them, but all the movies and shows listed were only available for a charge, which we were not willing to pay. We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so the peanuts and pretzels and cup of soda were not very filling.

When we first booked our flight in February, we had a 3 hour layover at JFK, but Delta changed the schedule a few times over the next few months, and now our layover was only an hour. We made it to our connecting gate easily, but no time to eat anything. Plus, we knew there would be a meal on the long flight to Amsterdam. On the way to our gate, Bella told me, "I'm tired of planes already." Considering we had 7 more flights in the next two months, that was slightly discouraging.

Thankfully, the flight to Amsterdam restored Bella's faith in air travel. It was helpful that she had the shorter flight first, because that created some context. The big plane to Amsterdam felt so roomy. It had three seats in the middle of the plane, and two seats on each side, so Bella got to sit in the middle between her parents (Sofia and Alex were just across the aisle). They delivered hot moist towels for washing our hands before serving a meal of chicken or pasta. All the movies and TV shows were complementary. The movie selection was impressive. Imagine combining Redbox with Netflix, and not just the instant Netflix, but the DVD Netflix as well. It was mind-blowing how many movies were available. I watched Inside Llewyn Davis, which was very good. After dinner, we all took a melatonin and tried to settle down to sleep.

Hard to tell by their faces who hadn't slept for 36 hours

Sleep was uneven for Cristina and me, but we dozed off and on before they served a light breakfast of yogurt, bread, and cheese. We landed in Amsterdam on time.

We had a couple of hours to kill in the Schiphol airport. Security went fine, although I had to abandon the yogurt I had saved from breakfast. It was 110 ml, and 100 ml was the limit. Silly. Sofia was the only one to get a pat down, for some reason. Cristina was bringing some carved salt stones to our friend Marion, who is a massage therapist, and I guess they looked strange on the x-ray, so her bag got hand-checked in Orlando and Amsterdam. We thought about getting something to eat (Bella was hungry, but Cristina wasn't, and I just felt weird from no sleep...empty stomach but not hungry). We munched on some granola bars Bella had packed in her carry-on instead of buying a pre-packaged sandwich for 5 Euros.

Our plane to Copenhagen was small and we boarded it on the tarmac. They served drinks and a snack (your choice of sweet or savory).

Copenhagen airport. Finally. Now reality set in. The world inside an airport is artificial. You're free of your luggage. You have choices for eating. It's climate controlled. It's not even like being in a country; it's more like a weird kind of limbo. But once you get your luggage and leave the airport, you rejoin real life.

Moment of Truth

Even though we did pretty well about packing light, my biggest concern so far, the nagging worry in the back of my brain throughout all the flights, had been how well will the luggage fit in the rental car? It was tight to fit it all in the Odyssey, and I had booked intermediate-size cars. Upgrading the cars really wasn't an option. We just don't have the budget for it. So in my mind, the worst-case scenario was luggage on the kids laps.

Picking up the key for the car was fast and easy. The lady mentioned that they gave me a small upgrade. I just heard the word small, and asked for clarification. It turned out they upgraded the quality of the car: a BMW 316. Okay. I'll take that. As long as the trunk isn't smaller!

What?! No Skoda?!

When we got to the car in the parking garage, the first thing I did was pop the trunk. Ahh! It looked big! Yes! In fact, we got all five of our bags in it, plus one of our carry-on backpacks. We connected Cristina's brother's European GPS (from his days driving for the Army in Germany). It couldn't find the satellites inside the parking garage, so we drove out of the garage (and dang, that BMW drove smoothly). We had some problems with the cable connecting the GPS, so we had to use it without the cable, and the battery quickly died. So we were on the road in Copenhagen with no GPS and no paper maps. The main highway had two choices. One way was Malmo, which I knew was Sweden, so we went the other way. Cristina used Google maps on her phone and we figured out that we were on the right road. The next step was to find some food, as we were all starving by this point. Other than the dinner on the overnight flight, we hadn't eaten a meal in 24 hours.

I learned that one of the differences in Danish highways and US highways is the lack of exits with restaurants (at least ones visible from the road). I really didn't want out first meal in Denmark to be McDonald's, and so far the only restaurants I'd seen from the highway were McDonald's and Burger King. We had essentially skirted Copenhagen by taking the highway south of the city, and the highway was kind of desolate. Indistrial park kind of things would appear now and then, but no restaurants. Finally, determined to take the whatever looked like food, I pulled off on what turned out to be a truck stop/service plaza. A quick peek inside, and I saw that they served food. So our first Danish meal was at Hos Morfar (With Grandpa). Fish and chips for Sofia and Bella, chicken and fries for Alex, a big hot dog for me, and "Plate 59" for Cristina, which was kind of a weak Smørrebrød (open-faced sandwich) kind of thing. We had no water, so we bought five bottles of water. Total cost: 397 DKK, or about $72. Our Danish friend Trine had warned us that everything in Denmark was expensive, and restaurants especially so. But it had to be done.

Big ole dog, teeny little half bun (which cost 73 cents extra)

First Danish meal! (Bella didn't like the fish)

We trekked over the bridge (Storebæltsbroen) that connects the islands of Zealand and Funen. I knew it was a pricy toll (235 DKK), so I was ready. I drove nice and slow to get our money's worth.

Our $43 Bridge

Everyone fell asleep in the car, and even I got super-drowsy, so we stopped for coffee.We finally got to the Svennum's in Arhus. The Svennum family lived in Gainesville for about six months, and we hosted their daughter, Ida, for a month after the rest of the family went back to Denmark. Ida also joined us last summer on part of our cross-country road trip. Our ultimate destination was a vacation cabin in Hals where our German friends Marion and Harry invited us to join them. But we had a gift for Ida's mom, Mette, which was fragile, so we wanted to drop it off instead of traveling all over Europe with it. We really needed to get the Marion's and get some sleep, so we said we'd only stay at the Svennums for 30 minutes. They welcomed us to Denmark, we gave our gifts, they served coffee and fresh strawberries and cream, and an hour and half later, we were on the road again.

Svennum Time

Strawberries in the garden

We finally got to the cabin in Hals after midnight. Harry met us down the road and guided us to the cabin, which was decorated with a handmade welcome sign and candles burning. So sweet!

A quick unload, a couple of showers, and the kids were in bed. Cristina and I finally got to bed about 2 am.

Needless to say, we slept well and woke at 12:30 pm the next day.

The Journey Begins

This year, the GHS yearbook theme was "The Journey." Journey of life. School as road trip. Not super original, but it worked. You might think that our summer plans influenced the yearbook theme (I'm the yearbook advisor for those who may not know) but it was just a coincidence. Even though we've thought about this European trip for a few years, it wasn't a rock solid commitment before we chose The Journey for our yearbook. But this summer's trip, which is kicking off today, is definitely a fitting end to the journey that was 2013-2014. The end of Sofia's high school career and the beginning of new adventures.

Cristina's dad drove us to the airport. Thanks Wito!

I'm sitting at gate 78 in the Orlando airport, or MCO to the airport code-knowers (i.e. those who search for airfare online with Kayak, Expedia, etc.). Little factoid: even though the name of this airport is Orlando International Airport, the code is MCO because it used to be McCoy Air Force Base. 13th busiest airport in the country, and my personal favorite. I don't love Orlando, but I love MCO.

Bella wants so badly to ride on a train. Does the airport shuttle count? Yes!

Blogging at MCO

So we had about a week after Sofia's graduation to pack for this trip. And I'm glad we had that much time, because we needed it. So much of packing (for us) is culling clothes, washing and drying, mending as needed, coordinating colors and layers for changes in temperature. It's oversimplifying to think that packing just means picking a few outfits and tossing them in a bag. Not in this family! I married a Girl Scout, and Girl Scouts don't pick, toss, and run.

5 total bags to check, and the 5th one is "small." Not bad for us. The basketball stayed home.

We could have gotten a normal night's sleep last night if we had prepared our thank you gifts earlier in the week. I don't want to give away what we made, since some of our hosts might read this blog, but let's just say it's a handmade crafty thing that took, well, all night. I finally went to bed at 2 and Bella woke me up at 6:30 with the announcement that "Mami stayed up all night." And my alarm was set for 7. Thanks, Bella. I guess I didn't need that last 30 minutes.

Cristina's mom helped with the packing too, and the mending and cleaning up, and probably a dozen other things I don't know. She's washing all our sheets for us while we're gone, which is really sweet. Thanks, Wita!

So I'm running on 4-ish hours of sleep. Cristina dozed for maybe 30 minutes in the car, and she's trying to rest right now, but I see that she's talking on her phone:

So the gate is starting to get that buzz that comes when boarding is imminent, so time to pack up the laptop. Next stop, JFK. Then across the pond to Amsterdam. And one last short flight to Copenhagen.

Then we get to see if our luggage will fit in the rental car.

Stay tuned!

The Challenges of Decision Paralysis

A few years ago, I first encountered the term decision paralysis. Even though I had experienced it plenty of times, I never had a good name for it. As you can infer, decision paralysis is when you have so many choices that you can't decide, so you do nothing.

We've never been minimalists when it comes to packing. The thought of going on an impromptu camping trip and just throwing a tent and some sleeping bags in the back of the van sounds robust and romantic, but we've never done it that way. We make a list. It includes everything we could possibly need to make sleeping in the woods a comfortable experience. And we still wind up forgetting things. I'll admit that it's great to have packed a broom and dustpan for sweeping out the tent before we strike camp, but the price we pay for that kind of preparation is spending a loooong time making that list and checking it twice before setting out for the great outdoors.

We bought a rooftop cargo carrier the first time we drove from Arizona to Florida. Our van is a 1997 Honda Odyssey, when they still made 'em small. It's almost sedan-size. It's only got four cylinders, for Pete's sake. But we love our little van. We've put over 200,000 miles on it, and we have no plans to get rid of it. By this point it's a part of the family. It will be a sad day when it eventually goes to the automotive netherworld. (Maybe that's why so many people have broken down cars gathering rust in their yards...they can't emotionally let go.) The rooftop carrier, henceforth known as "the attic," was the best travel investment we ever made (well, second maybe to our Garmin GPS). The struggles of five traveling within the relatively small confines of our old Odyssey were lessened with the attic, capable of being packed with more stuff than you would think could fit.

And now we're going to Europe.

And we'll be in a rental car. For about 8 weeks.

Car. Not van. And no attic.

We are forced to minimalize. Yes, we could have rented a van, but the cost was about twice as much, and we're already on a shoestring budget. We've road-tripped to North Carolina in our even-smaller-than-the-Odyssey Subaru, and lived to tell the tale (although we also had the attic). We can do it. We have to.

I recently watched a video on Facebook for clean drinking water that had people from third world countries reciting first-world problems, like I hate when my house is so big I have to have two wireless routers. It's a powerful video (you can watch it here) and all the first world "problems" that our culture complains about become glaringly apparent after watching the video. And no doubt, complaining about forced downsizing because our rental car will be smallish is a first world problem. So I will attempt not to complain.

Knowing that we will probably be in cars about the size of our Subaru, we had an ambitious plan. We would pack for Europe during Spring Break (back in March), pack the bags into our Subaru to see how they fit, and adjust as needed. I was the only one who actually packed a bag during Spring Break, and because I didn't want to unpack it and pack again in June, I left the bag packed. So I've been packed for Europe since March. Woo hoo!

Now we're 6 days away from leaving. The packing is fully underway. Not only is space going to be limited in our rental cars, we're also limited by the fact that two inter-European flights on lowfare airline Easyjet required payment for any checked bags. To minimize expenses, we paid for only 4 bags. So our goal is to pack for 5 people in 4 bags for 8 weeks. For some people, that sounds easy. But for most people with kids, traveling to an area where it will occasionally get chilly even in June or July, they recognize the challenge.

The reason we didn't pack during Spring Break is the same reason we typically wait til the last minute to pack for a trip. Decision paralysis. We (thankfully) have so many clothes that it becomes overwhelming to choose what 5 or 6 outfits you want to wear over and over for 8 weeks. Ever hear of the 80/20 rule? The 80/20 rule says that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. So this should make it easier to pack. Nah. Because suddenly, the palette for choosing clothes becomes 100% of the wardrobe. So many choices. And we have six more days. I think I'll check Facebook. Or blog.

All I know for sure is that in six days, we'll be on our way to Europe. And we will have bags with us. The details are yet to be determined.