BikerThomas.com

Wednesday 6th of August 2008

I didn’t see any thieves last night, and the weather was great! Time to visit the little mermaid! The little mermaid is a statue very popular with tourists. I didn’t bother with paying for parking this time, I just parked at a random place close to the statue, I mean c’mon the bike takes about half the space of a baby carriage!

It was time to start on my long journey back home to Norway. I rode to Odden and waited for a ferry to Århus. The ferry company was Mols Linien and the ferry was named Mie Mols, a nice fast ferry that did the trip in 65 minutes.

I remember that my mobile phone stopped working (I punched the wrong PIN three times – and being out of cash – not a good situation to be in! Thank God for Visa :) Always bring a debit/credit card when travelling!

When disembarking the boat in Århus the straps that I had to put on my bike to keep it from falling over and sliding all over the place didn’t want to come off – once again the knife I brought was really helpful! I figured the ferry company didn’t mind losing a strap as it’s a hell of a lot more expensive to burn an extra 5 minutes of fuel waiting for me to get off (I used to work for a ferry company and fuel is darn expensive!).

Århus to Hirtshals is only 187 KM. From here I took the same boat home as I did on the first day of my trip. Color Line’s SuperSpeed does the stretch in 3,5 hours.

I’m home and a whole lot wiser and my head full of experiences and stories. Riding through Europe is awesome! I’m already planning my next trip and fantasizing about where to go and what to experience. Maybe I should ride over the Alps to Italy, then to Spain and France or maybe all the way to Athens in Greece? I’ve heard Scotland is awesome! What about you, where are you going? The world is full of opportunities – have a good journey! :)

Copenhagen (left), The little mermaid (right)

 
On ,my way to Odden (left), Mie Mols fast ferry (right)

  
A crap attempt at a panorama picture, oh well, it’ll be better next time!

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Tuesday 5th of August 2008

Riding offroad! – well not really but the forest surrounding the camping was awesome!

It’s overcast, there are scattered showers and my tent stood hold in extreme winds this morning. I decided to pack my stuff and find myself a new place to camp. By now I’m getting used to pitching my tent and taking it apart almost everyday… I got breakfast at Bilka – a huge shopping mall – it was cheap and fast…

I got to Nærum camping just north of Copenhagen. I like this camping site, it’s clean and the nature around the camp is awesome!

I pitched my tent for the last time on this trip and headed for Copenhagen city. Now, you can’t just park anywhere in the city so I had to leave my bike in a parking house smack bang in the middle of the central business district. The prices for parking in Copenhagen is outrageous, I’m talking US $20 for three hours. You can probably find cheaper places if you’re a bit more patient than me.

I had no idea what to do once in Copenhagen. Randomly I visited the Guinness World Records Museum which was allright – did you know that the smallest woman that we know of was only 61cm tall? Me neither… but she was tiny next to my helmet! There was also a replica of a French man named Michel Lotito which apparently has eaten 7 televisions, 6 chandeliers, a computer, 15 shopping trolleys, 18 bicycles, a coffin, 2 beds and a Cessna airplane engine – in total over 8 tons of metal. Some diet eh? Entrance is 85 Danish Crowns (US $17).

I got to bed early as I had a loooong ride back home to Norway the next day.

At the camping site, the guy at the counter warned me about thieves from Eastern European countries raiding the camping sites around Copenhagen – Now that didn’t feel very safe – oh well, time to find that knife I had brought with me and keep it ready for any intruders! Sweet dreams…

 
Nærum camping

More off-road… (left), Outrageous parking prices! (right)

The world’s tallest man (left), The world’s smallest woman and the world’s coolest helmet… (right)

Mr. Eat-it-all (left), World’s fattest man (right)

Make sure you bookmark www.BikerThomas.com so that you can come back and read about the rest of the trip. Day 11 of the trip will be out real soon!

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Monday 4th of August 2008

I wake up in Hamburg once again. There is the usual bad weather… I decide to ride to Copenhagen in Denmark.

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When leaving Germany I decided to take a ferry to Rødby on the Island of Lolland in Denmark. The ferry is run by Scandlines and is named FS Deutchland. The ferry took 45 minutes to get to Rødby. This was a good opportunity for me to recharge the battery on my laptop and I found an electric outlet that I think is supposed to be used with vacuum cleaners – funny how you really get to appreciate the little things when you’re out camping. The sea was a bit rough, the waves were quite big and I was a little bit worried about my motorcycle. It turned out not to be a problem though as I had strapped it to the deck quite well.

When riding onboard ferries motorcycles often get on first and also disembark first – which is great! After riding for a while I got to a really long queue and it started to really pour down and the wind was trying to push everyone off the road… *note to myself: buy waterproof gloves!* I soooo wanted to just split lanes and ride past everyone but there was a police car right in front of me and I wasn’t sure if splitting lanes is legal in Denmark. Do you know if this is legal? Please do comment at the end of this article if you know.

I arrived at my destination, camp Hundinge Strand just south of Copenhagen City. The camp wasn’t something you write home about but it was alright and I was only going to stay there for one night. The price per night was 110 Danish crowns which is about US $22. Now, this must sound ridiculously expensive if you’re American, but the dollar about halved its’ value towards Scandinavian currencies during the Bush administration so in Northern Europe these prices are normal.

Sorry boys and girls – I didn’t take any pictures this day, but I did the next day so come back and read the next part of my journey in a couple of days ;)

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