The devil is in the details

Travelogue preview

Well, it's actually happening. I am going to Copenhagen next week! The trip became real to me for the first time this morning. I was wondering about travel arrangements for a while way back in July, right before the boss went on vacation. He told me that we would deal with it once he returned two weeks later. I started to get kind of stressed then, because I knew that he was going to return from vacation exactly two weeks before we were leaving and I felt like that was too close. I was getting antsy about whether we were actually going to be going or whether he was going to come back from his vacation and tell me that he decided we shouldn't go. He was finally back last week but we spent the whole week getting information bounced back and forth between us and the company and getting basically nowhere with reservations. Boss was gone again MTW of this week, and he told me to get the reservations done while he was gone. By this point, I was extremely unconfident in our actually going. I was also a little sad, because I was afraid that my tourism plans were ruined. We are going to a meeting on Wednesday of next week, and I had planned to stay in Copenhagen until Labor Day (or spend a little time in Copenhagen and extend my layover somewhere else, possibly Reykjavik, until Labor Day.) I knew that without confirmation it would be silly to make the extra hotel reservations and such.

On Monday I heard back from the company with the information about our hotel reservations for the nights surrounding the meeting and I had to send them information on which flights I wanted to be on. I got much more confident that this might actually happen so I started looking into hotels to stay at while spending a few extra days in Copenhagen being a tourist. This morning I finally got information on my plane reservations!! I'm really going to Copenhagen!!

Important or interesting details:
1. The company got me plane tickets (connecting through Amsterdam) in BUSINESS CLASS! That is quite possibly the coolest thing ever. We are flying overnight Monday night-Tuesday, so the extra room will be way nice for sleeping. And I'm told that business class on a trans-Atlantic flight is like first-class on a domestic flight, which is cool since I've only been in first class all of twice in my life on chance upgrades. WOO HOO!

2. The company is putting me up in a crazy nice hotel. In fact, the hotel is listed in my little Copenhagen guidebook under both hotels and is also #1 on the list of places to see architecturally in Copenhagen. (www.radisson.com/copenhagendk_royal) Later when I am a tourist I will move over to another hotel (www.hotel-danmark.dk) that will also be cool.

3. We will get there Tuesday and have some time to prep for work and then tour around a little. There will be some meetings on Wednesday and then the boss will leave on Thursday, but I will be staying till Sunday, so I'll have three whole days to myself to relax and tour around. I figure three days is long enough to see the things that I ought to see, but not so long that being by myself or not speaking a word of Danish will cause major problems. I will only be accessible by email/internet and I can ignore emails that I don't want to deal with by hiding behind an out of office message. It may be the most vacation-y thing I've done in a long long time. (There will, of course, be a well-updated travelogue)

I'm really psyched about it. I have been to Europe once before (almost 10 years ago) and I have travelled around Canada and the US some, but that's it. I'm trying to figure out how much of the travel advice that I received then will be applicable now that I am an adult-ish person coming from a big city instead of a teenager from a very small town with an over-protective mom and teachers and such. They don't use the Euro, so I need to work out how I'll get some kroner before I leave, and I have to figure out things like a converter for my computer and other such important things. But....I'm so excited!!!

What do you think? Any travel suggestions/advice (either general or Copenhagen-specific?) Anybody want anything? I will be happy to send postcards or whatever if you give me an address. :)

posted by Immunegirl @ 2:46 PM