Copenhagen Day 1

In Denmark, Food & Beverages, Hotel May 20, 2016

I always get nervous and confused when booking flights to Europe because even though everything tells you it takes just over 8 hours to fly there, you leave on a particular day, have a layover, and arrive the next. For this trip, I left my house near Chicago on Thursday at 2pm and arrived Friday at 8:30am which in adjusted Copenhagen time was 3:30pm. That’s a long time to be without a shower, but direct flights can be over $400 more in price. Coming back, you leave and arrive on the same day, so even though the travel hours are about the same, you don’t lose a calendar day.

I refuse to take sleeping aids or any pills so I follow a strict routine when I travel. The night before I leave, I adjust my timing to match wherever I am going to be. I make sure I arrive in the day and stay awake which means I force myself to sleep the entire time on the plane. I can sleep standing up on a bus if I have to, can get by on very little sleep, or wake up at any time so I’ve never had a real tough time adjusting or get tired when I travel. If I need a nap, I never let myself sleep more than 20 minutes, no matter what.

Getting around

For years, I’ve seen friends create google maps but could never figure out how to make it work on my phone. I finally figured it out. In the past I used Yelp, simply to bookmark my hotel, restaurants, groceries, markets, historic landmarks, museums, so wherever I am, I can always see what is close to me without having to look up addresses which burns my data. The google map is nice because you can share it and others can add or change things but the yelp bookmarks map is easier to build and use.

My regular taxi company sent a car from their sister company for the same price. Hooray for free waters!

The TSA lines at ORD have been making national headlines the week of my trip. Due to staff shortages, they have been recommending to arrive 3 hours before your flight. Over 400 people missed their flight the day before, so of course I panicked, showed up early, have pre-approved TSA, and there was no line. Better safe than sorry.

My traditional airport meal is either a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin or something at Tortas Frontera. Today, I opted for the open-faced molletes sandwich with smoked pork loin, Jack cheese, chipotle-fig spread, Cotija cheese and cilantro.

On my flights, I always go for the pasta. It always comes with a salad, a cold hard roll and an icy butter pat. It’s 14 minutes of flavorless chewing but at least there was frozen high fructose sugar ice at the end of my meal.

I’m not sure how fast this is in miles, but I like that it’s different.

Stylish and fitted is the way it should be.

Wake Up Copenhagen Borgerade

I love luxury and boutique hotels but one thing I recently learned, is I am never in my room. My friend told me about this simple, modern hotel and I loved it! It was in an excellent location and the rooms were very clean, quiet and sound. I paid half of what some of my friends paid except my A/C worked!

Borgergade 9, 1300 Copenhagen K, Denmark

The lobby at Wake Up Hotel Borgergade was bright and spacious, had lots of seating areas and little nooks. It was also lively at times, which I like. They had water and food items for purchase at any time, as well as a restaurant.

Atelier September

I had a few hours before my dinner so I headed over to Altelier September for a snack. This post shows a few visits combined into one post, so I did not eat everything pictured right before dinner. Click on the blue headline above to see the most photogenic cafe in the world.

Things I Saw Along the Way

Various sights and random photos on Day 1.

I cannot get over how many bikes there are.

Noma

I read that the restaurant Noma would be closing this year then relocating so I chalked it up as never being able to go to the original location. This trip was so special to me because that meant I was going to go before they moved! I was so excited and I just knew the food was going to be so much better than what I had earlier on the plane. Click on the headline to see what I ate.