How a broken printer changed my mind.

Sitting in the train station, I had to decided where I was going to go next. So, I sat. I paced. I really didn't know where I wanted to go next. I felt like maybe I needed to get out of Denmark for a bit and do some exploring. While I sat and/or paced, I started thinking about going south to Spain, but it would be a little silly to go directly there. Alright then, I will take the train down to Paris, see the city and the memorials on the beaches to the north. Then I would make my way down to Barcelona. Perfect, I had a plan and had made a decision. Thank you Dr. G for the Lonely Planet.

I bravely stepped up to the ticket counter and asked how much it would cost to get to Paris. Nope, she wouldn't tell me. A broken printer prevented her from selling those tickets. She advised I take the train to the next town and I would be able to book what ever I wanted from there. Let's do it then! I bought my ticket to Fredericia and I was happy in my decision. For about 4.7 minutes. By the time I had gotten on the train, I realized from Fredercia I could take the ferry to Oslo. That was an interesting thought, there were people in Oslo I wanted to see. I guess when I got to Fredericia, I would have a decision to make, south to Paris or north to Norway.

When I pulled out my map to see how far I had to go, I realized I had mixed up the towns. Frederica did not have any ferries, the town I was thinking of was Frederikshavn, all the way to the north. I guess that settled that then... Except I really wanted to go to Oslo now. That meant back tracking and...

At the next stop I was off the train and on the next one heading back to the north. I hadn't had my ticket checked yet, so when the ticket guy came, I could play the dumb tourist. All I had to do was get back where I came from, get a refund, then buy the right ticket. I hadn't gotten nearly far enough by the time the guy came to check the tickets, so I ignored him. Once you show your ticket the first time, they don't ask to see it again and there is often a different person checking. Unless he asked, I wasn't going to present my ticket. I will play the tourist card every chance I get. He looked at me, but kept going. Sweet. I win. I stayed on the train past my stop right until the end of the line at Ålborg. I figured if I had gotten as far as I had, I would just enjoy the free ride.

Once I was in Ålborg, I though it would be a good idea to make sure I had a place to stay in Frederikshavn before I got on the train. It had been raining a lot and I didn't want to get wet while I was sleeping. I was in luck, there was a bed at the hostel. Onward to the next city.

I was that much closer to Norway. This was July 8, once month since I had left Canada.