Road from Stockholm to Edinburgh

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Normally I wouldn't mention this, but things didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked them to have done.

After Stockholm I decided to head back to Scotland for just under 2 weeks before then flying homeward to Canada. I did a lot of searching for cheap flights, and could have flown from an airport near Stockholm called Skavsta for about 50 euro, but that airport was 70Km south of the city, and I wanted cheaper. With one day to spare on my Eurail pass and did some more looking at cities with airports and are inside one day of travel. Turns out I could fly from Hamburg to Glasgow for 15 euro, good deal, best I could get. I grabbed it.

With my flight booked for 10:30am takeoff on the 15th, I left Stockholm on the 14th by train. It took me about 14 hours to get to Hamburg from Stockholm, and several trains. Stockholm to Malmo, Malmo to Copenhagen, and Copenhagen to Hamburg. Malmo to Copenhagen is a short trip from Sweden to Denmark over the Oresund bridge, a remarkable feat of engineering. Before this bridge you could only make this trip via ferry, so needless to say this bridge has made accessing Sweden much simpler, and it has opened up trade a lot as well.

Some info some people might find interesting on the bridge:
- The height of the highest bridge pillar is 204 metres.
- The total length of the bridge is just shy of 8Km (7,845m), approximately half the actual distance between Sweden and Denmark's land.
- The weight of the bridge is 82 million kilograms.
- The remaining distance between Sweden and Denmark is spanned by an artificial island they created, called "Pepper island" (Peberholm) which covers about 4Km. This is followed by a tunnel of about 3.5Km on the Danish side.
- The cost of this bridge? A cool 4 BILLION euros.


The last train was the most interesting train of all though, for unfortunate reasons. We were just over the border between Denmark and Germany (I would estimate), when a thump sounded and the train screeched to a halt. They never said what happened and left us in silence for about 30 minutes while all the staff were running around like maniacs. I assumed that something had blown in the engine since I smelt an off burning smell, and the train stopped so fast. These things do use deisel engines after all, so they must break sometimes..

I was wrong though, someone nearby overheard a couple of staff members talking, and it turns out the train had run some guy over. Some poor fool had decided to end his life by laying down on the tracks on a bend, it worked for him, very effectively. Shame he had to mentally scar the poor train driver for life in the process. We all got to watch a police helicopter fly in, some German police officers walk around the train (right outside my carriage) taking pictures of what I can only assume were the remains of the body, and the train was delayed for 2 hours. It was a very weird experience....

I eventually made it to Hamburg around 22:30 that night and found a cheap hotel to sleep in. The next morning I was supposed to be on a bus shuttle to the airport which takes passengers to Lubeck airport, about 70km away. It left at 07:55 and needless to say I was not on it. I was waiting at the wrong stop and didn't realise that until too late, and subsequently missed my bloody flight to Scotland. I had to buy another ticket from RyanAir for the next day, the 16th, and it cost me 60 euro, ugh. So I took the train to the town of Lubeck and stayed in a really cheap hostel there for 12 euro. Boring boring place though. It was very pretty, but I just wasn't interested in the place, no mood for it at all.

I got my flight the next day though, and found out just how much weight I have been carrying around with me on this trip. It was surprising..... 33 Kg. RyanAir is supposed to charge you for anything over 25 Kg, since they allow only 15Kg for checked baggage, and 10 Kg for carry-on baggage. I was lucky though, and the guy let me off and told me not to tell anyone. Sorry guy.... hope your boss isn't reading this. He saved me about 60 euro, god bless him.

Once I arrived in Glasgow, all was smooth though, so that is that. Now I just have to enjoy myself a little back in Scotland and then fly home. Trip is almost over. It is nice to be in an English speaking country again though, I missed being able to walk into anywhere and know that everyone could understand me. Granted that in Sweden and Holland everyone could understand me anyway though, since everyone in those two countries speaks excellent English, but it isn't the same since you are forcing other people to speak your language for you.

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Comments

[Matt Krull]

HEY RYAN
hey buddy i need you to check your email or call me so i can arrange to have you picked up at the airport in Toronto, if anyone else that reads this and can contact ryan please pass this message on to him cheers matt

[RyanT]

Done
And done. Cheers Matty!