Day 01-03

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Day 1: Tulla-Dublin

Between us Helen and I have two extra-long legs and two with maintenance issues, so long-haul flights (in this case, fourteen hours to Abu Dhabi and eight to Dublin) are a particular trial. I’d already booked seat numbers online to ensure an aisle seat (all the exit and bulkhead seats were gone). But at Tullamarine, we hit the jackpot. An employee of the year at Etihad check-in noted my height and said, “I think we can put you in two exit-row seats”, and so he did. I suspect they withhold some of the good seats from the on-line bookings to dole out to worthy causes such as ourselves. Then for the second leg the plane was only three-quarters full, and unaccountably two bulkhead seats were left unoccupied when we settled into the flight, so on request we were able to move to those.

Abu Dhabi airport is HUGE, at least in area. Land isn’t an issue, I suppose.

The food on the flight, with the exception of mediocre bread, was as good as we’d had in our limited experience. There were a couple of crying babies, but not too close to us, and our neighbours were congenial, including an Irish teacher for Helen to talk shop with. All in all, an auspicious start.

We stayed overnight at the Premier Inn Airport hotel in Dublin pending our journey next day to Malmö. At 6 p.m. the two of us entered the lift to go downstairs to dinner in the hotel restaurant At the ground floor, the lift refused to open. I tried without success to prise the doors apart from the inside. We had just travelled 26 hours from Melbourne in the claustrophobia of economy class, and now we were trapped in a small, seemingly unventilated lift. There was no “Are you all right? Is there anyone I can call?” empathy from reception staff (who incidentally, from their accents, were clearly not Irish) outside the lift. We were first told through the doors to wait while the lift engineering company was contacted, then told that they would send someone in no more than 45 minutes (!) I had another shot at clawing open the doors from the inside and eventually, after we had spent around 20 minutes in the close conditions, succeeded.

When we eventually stumbled out into the lobby, the only enquiries about our welfare came from kindly bystanders. No apology at all was forthcoming until after we were out and we pointed out the absence of one. Once we had made our feelings known to the reception supervisor (Helen was good at this), who seemed more intent on scribbling an Out Of Order sign for the lift, we would have appreciated (at the very least) the offer of a drink at the bar to settle our nerves. Nope, nothing. All ended well, however. I penned an email overnight to the Premier Inn chain, but had to amend it when the next morning we were approached by an Irish supervisor who had clearly been briefed on events and treated us in exactly the professional and empathetic manner that was missing the previous evening, finishing by refunding the bill.


Day 2: Dublin-Malmö

Our flight to Copenhagen was uneventful. On arrival we were struck by the efficiency of the airport and the superb layout of the railway/bus exchange – we were onto a train to Malmö probably less than half an hour after entering the airport. And that train is a silent 160 km/hr marvel. Siobhan, Jerker and the children were all at the station to pick us up, Siobhan driving us and the kids to their apartment while Jerker (as is his practice) cycled home. Bicycle travel is commonplace around the town – it’s very flat terrain, which would help, but in the centre there are lots of cobbled streets, which wouldn’t.

We spent a pleasant dinner that evening with the family. Freya and Carl are absolutely delightful and very well-behaved children. Freya at five is bilingual; Carl doesn’t know all that much Swedish yet, let alone English. Siobhan and Jerker gave us a wealth of tourist info for both their town and Stockholm, starting with a walking itinerary for our one day in Malmö the next day. Their unit is in a block that has a shared guest-room, bookable by any of the residents – great arrangement, which we were able to take advantage of that night and the next. We had a great time catching up with them and look forward to seeing them in Australia next year. They are so very kind and made us feel right at home, with heaps of helpful hints and some basic Swedish for our travels.


Day 3: Malmö

The city is about double the size of Geelong, beautiful and well-spread, with extensive parks. We are just a bit early for the joys of spring in those – the trees are still bare, but buds are all over them if you look closely. There seems to be a spring mood among the people, though. People are lunching outdoors in the squares because even though it’s only eight degrees, the sun is out. We get lost a couple of times and receive friendly help – nearly everyone speaks English well enough to converse with us. The beachfront is pleasant enough, if a little austere. Forty kroner ($7) gets you into a superb technology/maritime museum that includes an in-submarine experience (not underwater!) and the medieval castle that also serves as a major gallery and concert space.

The Swedes tend to eat their main meal at lunchtime and then a light supper, a habit that we are happy to adopt when ravenous by midday. Most eateries offer an affordable daily special, a hot meal with a light beer, for around $12-$15. Unlike Lachlan in Chile, I actually blend in here. Six-foot-plus males are commonplace, and I wonder if my Scots ancestors were of Viking stock. At least once I seem to surprise someone by turning out not to be a local when I open my mouth. We walk a long, long way. Helen’s knee passes the test with flying colours – she could not possibly have done this last year. I think I’m more leg-weary than she is at day’s end.

Back at the Claessens’, we share another agreeable meal with the family, have lots of family news to catch up, on watch the ice hockey final (Jerker’s team wins) and prepare for the journey north to Stockholm.

- Andrew

(More photos - scroll right to bottom)

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Comments

[Alice]

First days of the trip
All sounds amazing Mum and Dad, I like the photos too! Sounds like a very good start to the holiday (P.S GO CATS!)