As I walk onto the trains now, I find myself wondering, “Who will I meet today?”.
On my overnite train from Stockholm, I meet two students from Mexico who chose to travel in Scandinavia because they figured its climate was most unlike their own. Then there is Alex, 15, who has been traveling for one day from the very north of Sweden to the very south to begin his summer of military training. “It´s been a long time since Sweden has been in a war,” he says to assure me, though I think it has more to do with assuring himself.
On the connection from Hassleholm to Copenhagen, I meet Andreas, a Swedish accountant commuting to work in Denmark at 7am. The Euro is a favorite topic of his, not mine at the moment given the exchange rate. As quickly as he notes how great the Euro is now, he also knows that currencies can be volatile. “What happens if the Euro were to slide considerably, like the American dollar is doing now? Would member countries want out as quickly as they got in? In America, you have always had one currency. The oil men in Texas didn´t ask for their own currency as the car manufacturers in Michigan lost business. But if Spain´s economy were to sink, for example, would Germany find that acceptable?” The Euro comes with strings attached.
As my next train from Copenhagen to Hamburg makes it´s way onto a ferry boat (yes, the whole train drives onto a ferry for a 45 minute crossing), I meet an Australian couple traveling for one month. As soon as they learn I am American, they tell me how their newspaper in Australia, The Advertiser, publishes “Bush-isms.” “I just can´t believe some of the things he has said,” the woman laughs. “´Is our children learning?´ Can you believe he said that?” she laughs uproariously with her husband. Funny, yes, I grimace, but this comedy show has gone on for too long.
Train Tip: Mid-Summer is around June 24th, and it starts the summer vacation season in Scandinavia. This is when trains there will become crowded. Seek out alternate connections that will save you time, as trains are more likely to be slightly delayed during this period. I found one that, if I changed my train in Hassleholm rather than the traditional connecting point of Malmo, Sweden, I arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes earlier. It may not seem like a big difference, but those 20 minutes allowed me to walk, rather than run, to my next train connection.
Benjamin Thomas
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Great blog, subscribed to your rss feed. Thanks.
Can you purchase these seat reservations online rather than having to wait in line at the station? Thank you! Love to hear about your travels!
My experience has been that I buy these seat reservations at the stations. I tried buying a seat reservation at an automated Paris ticket machine, and was told that only ticket counters could sell seat reservations.