Today I arrived in Germany after a full day of travel. I left Charlotte at 1:30pm, transferred in Newark, took the long flight to Copenhagen, and last but not least caught a connecting flight to Berlin for a 9:30am arrival. The travel was largely uneventful. My long flight was very comfortable with plenty of entertainment to keep me occupied during the 7 ½ hour flight. However, two things surprised me upon arrival in Copenhagen…
#1 Instead of going through customs in my destination city of Berlin I was required to go through customs when I arrived in Europe at Denmark…not so bad. I already had a Deutschland passport stamp and now I have a stamp from Denmark added to my collection.
#2 After deplaning I was required to go through Danish airport security. Although I had already been through two security checkpoints without problems, for some reason I set off the metal detector in Copenhagen. To my surprise a middle-aged Danish man waves me over and motions for me to stand on a platform and raise my arms to the side. Before I could stop to wonder when they were going to send a woman over to give me the TSA-esque pat down, this mild-mannered gentleman was going to work. All I could think was that maybe I should insist on him buying me dinner before we got so personal. When I thought he was done I stepped off the platform only to hear a Danish version of the phrase “Please turn around”…oh my. As I turned around I saw my travel companion, Michael, standing and staring with a look of shock on his face.
Now I must clarify that the security officer was completely professional. It is just a shock when you come from a country that insists on women and men sticking to their own gender when dealing with security checks, but you know what? This is a part of foreign travel experience. Not every country does things the way we do in America. Complying with other countries’ laws and customs is a requirement when traveling abroad. Moreover, if you’re going to complain about how different everything is in a foreign land and how it’s better in America, you might better stay in America. To me the fun of traveling is seeing new things, eating new foods, experiencing new cultures, and getting a little outside your comfort zone. Today I butchered the German language but I made sure to be polite, ask questions, smile, and always leave people with a friendly “Tschüss!”
Bis Morgen,
Margaret
PS – I have not slept in 32 hours…I love jet lag.
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This post is so raunchy, Margarita! I'm sorry you were violated by a danish man, but at least now you have a danish stampy thing to show for it! I also had a fun time at the airport. My flight got cancelled and then my baggage wasn't where I thought it would be and it was hella lame. I was amazed by how nice the people at the munich airport were, that definitely made my experience a plus. I also enjoyed looking at the snow and buildings from my plane. In Munich the buildings were very rural, but in Berlin they were more old European city-like. Ich finde es sehr gut.
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