Our flight into Copenhagen was quite eventful. We thankfully booked our tickets early before the recent surge in oil prices caused both higher airfares and fewer flights worldwide. Our research showed that many attractions and stores were closed on Mondays in the city, so we decided to use them as travel days and flew both to and from Copenhagen on a Monday. As an added bonus, it was also less crowded on the trains. When we took a day trip to Malmo, Sweden on a Saturday, our train, which passed through the Copenhagen airport, was packed with people clogging the aisles and overhead racks with their huge suitcases.
We chose
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) since it offered the best prices relative to the other airlines. Unfortunately, our selected “red-eye” flight was scheduled to leave at 5:10pm EST and landed at 7:05am Denmark time. This meant in Toronto’s time zone, we were flying “overnight” from 5:10pm to 1am, making it almost impossible to sleep. When we landed 30 minutes early, few stores or cafés were open yet, the reception at our accommodations did not open until 9am to drop off our bags, and check-in was not until 3pm. This meant many hours of stumbling around Copenhagen with little to no sleep.
The cost of the same flights fluctuated weekly if not daily. Using Google Flights Tracking alerts, we snagged two Premium Economy tickets for over $400 less that the highest price offered around that time. These days we always splurge and fly Premium Economy if it is available, since we are of the age where we want to be more comfortable on long flights. But more importantly, this type of ticket allows us to board the plane before the people with economy tickets, almost guaranteeing us overhead space for our carry-on luggage. For the past few years, it seems like on every flight we take, there is an issue with enough cabin storage. We have not checked a bag on a flight since 2013 when Air Canada lost our luggage, never to be found again. One additional perk that SAS offers its Premium Economy customers is the ability to bring on a second carry-on bag per person, in addition to the personal item. This came extremely handy when we bought a few souvenirs that would not have fit in our first carry-on bags. It is too bad that SAS only flies direct out of Toronto to either Copenhagen or Stockholm or else I would always fly this airline, just for the perk of having a second carry-on bag!
The weird timing of our flight had some advantages. When we arrived at the Toronto Pearson airport lounge, which we had free passes for with our credit card, we found that our standard lounge was closed mid-day. Instead, we were allowed into the premium lounge, which was roomier and had better food choices. We had a nice snack of Asian dumplings, meatballs, pasta, and salad while we waited for our flight. Because it was so comfortable in the lounge, we cut it a bit close to return to our gate, which was at the other end of the terminal. But we still started back there with enough time to arrive just before boarding began.
Leaving out of Terminal 3, our gate was “B26” which involved going down an escalator (that wasn’t working) where we had to hop on a shuttle bus that drove for what felt like a long way before reaching our destination. We found out later that this was the “Infield Concourse”, a separate satellite building located beyond the main T3 terminal that is used for overflow of certain flights that the main B-gates can’t handle. What made the experience feel extra weird was that we were the only people on the bus! We were either really early or really late. Debarking from the bus and scurrying up the escalator of the new building, we found our real gate and a lounge full of people. While we were not late since boarding still had not started yet, the rest of them were really early!
We got there just in time to hear our names called because we were amongst the people who did a
web check-in, which meant our passports had not yet been inspected or scanned by a live attendant. We were the first people in line to have our passports checked and during this process, we received an unexpected and wonderful surprise. Out of the blue, the boarding agent told us that we had been upgraded to
business class and issued us new boarding passes.
The level of luxury and pampering that we received on this flight is something we will not soon forget. We were the first people to board the plane and arrived to find big, comfortable seats with so much leg room that I had to unbuckle my seatbelt to reach my personal belongings bag in front of my seat. We learned later what all of that extra room was actually for! On top of the usual around the waist seatbelt, we also had an over-the-shoulder belt like in a car. Before we were even settled, we were offered a pre-takeoff drink of champagne (or cranberry juice in my case). Built into each seat was a compartment with a bottle of water, complimentary toiletry bag containing overnight essentials, and big, plush over-the-ears headphones to use with the entertainment system. I was so impressed with the movie choices including several movies that I had been wanting to watch but were yet not available on any of my streaming services. Since I couldn’t sleep anyways, I ended up watching several movies during the 7-hour flight including “This is Not an Accident”, part of “Marty Supreme” (which I found annoying and quit), and half of “No Other Choice”, which I finished watching on the flight home, along with “Is This Thing On” and “The Family McMullen”.
Once the plane took off, the offers of drinks and then food seemed to be non-stop and came with a four-page menu of choices. We were given hot towels to clean our hands (both before and after the meal) and our fold-away trays were covered with tablecloths. First, we were provided with a snack of roasted cashew nuts in a heated bowl accompanied by a choice of cocktail. I chose a “Hugo Zero” mocktail of elderflower, mint and sparkling soda while Rich selected a “Polar Pioneer” consisting of vodka, blue Curaçao, Umeshu, Champagne and apple juice.
This was followed by a three-course meal. The appetizer options included seared scallops with smoked tomato vinaigrette, corn salad and truffle oil, which we both selected. The other option was Thai beef with cucumber salad, fried vermicelli and roasted shallots. There were three choices of main including oven-baked pasta with spinach, pomodoro sauce, broccolini, roasted peppers and grilled lemon, or Ponzu-marinated chicken thigh with herbed butter, garlic gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and jasmine rice, or beef top blade steak with onion demi-glace, sun-blushed tomatoes and crushed potatoes. I chose the beef and Rich had the chicken. Both came with salad and bread. Of course, wine was served with dinner. Finally, dessert was a choice of fruit salad, a cheese plate with Grey Owl and blue cheese, or a frangipane tart with mixed berry compote. At this point, I was regretting all the food I ate in the airport lounge! I chose the fruit which seemed like the lightest option while Rich had the cheese. As post meal aperitifs, I had a Baileys on ice and Rich had a cognac. It was so nice to have real plates, glasses and cutlery for our meals, with no plastic foil or lids to remove from the food.
Once dinner was over, it was time to turn our attention to all the
fancy buttons on our seats. In addition to the standard tilt in a regular seat, there is a button that triggers an
ottoman to raise your legs and a
massage function that gently strobed up and down your back. But most intriguing was the tilt functions that caused the chair to recline within a self-contained unit so that the person behind you is not affected. At full horizontal incline, the unit turned into a bed where your legs and feet slid into that deep cavern that I originally thought was storage space for my personal items. We were also given a plump pillow, a plush blanket and the toiletry bag contained socks, ear plugs, sleep mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, skin cream and lip balm. If this had been a true red-eye flight, the sleep environment would have been ideal. But given that the lights went out around 9pm, it was hard to fall asleep even in these conditions. Just before landing in the “morning”, which was about 11:30pm in our original time zone, it was time for breakfast. When the plane landed at 6:40am Denmark time, our adventure in business class was sadly over. Having been so royally spoiled, it was difficult to go back to flying economy, or even premium economy.
It was actually interesting to compare our experience flying out in business class with our flight home in premium economy. There was no pre-takeoff champagne, hot towels or tablecloth. Our drinks came in plastic cups instead of glassware and while we did still get cashews, they were not heated in a bowl and we had to rip open the packaging to get at them (the horrors! 😊). After being served each course on individual plates in business class, we were back to the standard airplane meal that came in a single tray with peel-away plastic wrap over the food. At least there was real cutlery and the premium economy people received an extra meal choice (chicken or pasta) while the economy travellers were only offered chicken. Our section consisted of wider seats than economy with just two seats on each side of the centre aisle but there was no longer the extra over-the-shoulder seatbelt. Our seats were the first row of the Premium Economy section so we still had plenty of legroom although we had to store our personal items in the overhead bin since there was no seat in front of us. From our seats, we peered longingly into the business class section just in front of us, before a curtain was closed to separate us. We were provided with the usual crappy earphones that you stick inside your ears but which never actually fit well, so we used our own noise cancelation Bose headphones instead to watch the same great selection of movies. While we were descending into Toronto, I spotted the ultra tall tower that is being constructed across from our condo. It was a lovely experience flying Scandinavian Airline’s Premium Economy and we would have appreciated it all the more had we not been so decadently spoiled on our flight out.
The
Copenhagen Airport is full of fun art, starting with the first of six Little Mermaid related sculptures that we would see on this trip, including this replica, the actual iconic one in Langelinie, plus other versions created as homages or spoofs of the original. We took our time exploring the airport before going through customs since the reception at our hotel did not open until 9am and we wanted to drop off our bags before roaming around the city as we waited for our 3pm check-in time.
Like most of Europe, Copenhagen has a robust train system that ties into its transit system. The purchase of fares for the train, bus, metro and even ferry boat services are consolidated into the single
Rejsebillet app which allows you to pre-purchase tickets on your cell phone. Copenhagen works on a zone system so it is the same price to ride on any mode of public transportation when traversing between the same number of zones. When buying transit tickets, the minimum purchase is for 2 zones at a cost of 24 Danish Krone (DKK) or $5.2CAD. The trip from the airport to Copenhagen Central Train Station (
København H) crosses 3 zones at a cost of 30DKK and takes only 15 minutes, making it a quick and easy ride into the centre of the city. Confusingly, the corresponding
metro station, which is about a block away from the train station, has the same name. This seems to be true for all hubs in the city where the train and metro both stop at the same location.
We noticed some interesting aspects of the train and metro systems. The trains run quite frequently, often with multiple trains passing through popular locations. There are special cars with toilets and others designated for bicycles where seating has been replaced with bike racks. A few cars are designated as “silent” cars, where no noise, phone calls, or conversation is allowed. On another car, in addition to space for bikes, there were spaces designated for a luggage rack, wheelchairs and baby carriages. We lucked onto this car on our way back to the airport and were able to stow our luggage on the rack. The metro stations have all been outfitted with safety doors that line up perfectly with the subway train doors. Subway trains seem to come every 3 minutes, but the main city routes (M3 and M4) follow the same path for multiple stops. If you are traveling to those locations, a subway train seems to come through København H metro station 1-1.5 minutes that will head to your destination.
Like many of the older train stations in Denmark (and Europe in general),
København H is ornate and majestic. Open in 1911 in the south-east corner of the historic old town, the station is the largest in Denmark and acts as the central hub that disburses trains in all directions. This made it easy to return home from a day trip since all trains seemed to pass through this station. But picking the correct train to leave the station was daunting, especially if our destination was not the last stop since there were so many choices and tracks to choose from. On our four forays out of Copenhagen, we were able to select a departure time and purchase our ticket ahead of time using the Rejsebillet app. The ticket is good for 90 minutes, so if you miss your intended train, you can board the next one 20-30 minutes later. Once we arrived at København H, we had to read all the departure boards to find the right track and be aware of the time that our train left since several trains headed to different locations could pass through the same track just minutes beforehand. Denmark transportation does not use the tap-on/tap-off system of ensuring that a fare is paid. Instead, there are intermittent spot checks by transit inspectors, especially on longer train rides. We were only checked a few times but I wished it had happened more often as that would have made me feel better about the hefty prices we were paying to ride on the transit system.
For our 13-day stay in Copenhagen, we rented a unit in the
Erik Vokel Suites, a chain of apartment hotels that also has locations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid and Hamburg. Lately we have been looking for
apartment hotels which provide us with a complete living space including a full kitchen, couch, and dining area, in addition to a bedroom and bathroom. It also offers a manned reception desk so that we can drop off our bags before check-in time and have someone on site to address any issues.
We chose Erik Vokel for its ideal location, two blocks away from the central train station and right around the corner from a Metro station that feeds the two main subway lines running through the centre of the city. It was also within walking distance to many attractions. The reception desk is only manned daily from 9am-5pm so we took our time getting to the hotel to drop off our bags. Once we got there, we realized that we could have arrived earlier since there are large lockers available outside of the reception area where we could have safely stored our luggage until check-in time. Although there is a self-check-in option for people arriving outside of the staffed hours, we were grateful that someone was available to hand us our keys. One evening during our stay, we encountered guests with their luggage standing helplessly in front of the apartment next to ours with no way to get in since the auto-generated key did not work. At least there was an off-hours emergency phone line that they could use, but that must have been a stressful experience for them.
Our unit had some interesting quirks including an electric black-out blind that rolled down behind the regular blinds, effectively blocking out all light at night and in the early morning. Although our apartment had a washing machine, it did not have a dryer or a clothes rack. I used a glass pane by the window as a pseudo drying rack, letting the sun do its work and then helping out the drying process with a hair dryer. Surprisingly, the apartment also lacked an ice tray in the freezer. I had bruised the top of my right foot just prior to arriving in Copenhagen resulting in a painful swollen bump that was aggravated by the amount of walking we were doing each day. Without ice to help ease the swelling, I resorted to an old trick. I went to the local grocery store and bought the least expensive bag of frozen vegetables that I could find, which turned out to be a bag of okra. After several nights of applying the okra on my foot along with taking Motrin to ease the inflammation and Tylenol to dull the pain, I was able to walk without issue for the rest of the trip.
Denmark has extremely
strict rules on recycling, with households being required to sort their refuse into up to 10 different categories. At Erik Vokel Suites, we found 8 small recycling bins under the kitchen sink that matched to corresponding communal bins down in the basement. We were required to sort between paper, cardboard, plastic/food containers (washed), organic, metal, glass, hazardous waste(?) and non-recyclable garbage. We were warned when we checked in about fines of up to 3000 DKK for violations, although it was not clear if that was a fine against us as the guests or against the hotel.
This recycling initiative is paired with a deposit-return program for bottles and cans where you pay up to an extra 3DKK for a bottle, which you can get back when you return the empty, washed container back to any grocery store. Our 13-day stay at Erik Vokel Suites came with maid service every 5 days. Because Danish currency was not available for purchase outside of Denmark, we had decided to go cashless and rely solely on our credit cards since we heard that Denmark was basically a cashless society. But this meant we had no way to tip the maids. So, we washed out all of our bottles of milk, juice, and pop and left them for the maids to claim the deposits. It wasn’t much but better than nothing.
Not having Danish currency should not have been an issue under normal circumstances as Denmark is mostly a
cashless society. But we were unlucky enough to encounter two region-wide WIFI outages that rendered credit card machines inoperable. This inconvenienced us when we were unable to purchase pastries at a bakery, coffee at a castle or drinks on a ferry boat between Helsingor, Denmark and Helsingborg Sweden. We almost couldn’t travel to Helsingborg at all because we could not pay for the ferry ticket, but the attendant let us on for free. The only other time when we wished we had cash was when we wanted to buy a souvenir from a yard sale. But luckily, the vendor accepted PayPal so we were able to make the purchase.
In general, everything felt really expensive when converting from DKK to CAD. A cup of coffee was almost $9 CAD and a simple meal for two easily came to over $100CAD. The equivalent of $5.20 CAD per subway ride in Copehagen makes Toronto’s fare of $3.30 with 2-hour hop-on-hop-off privileges suddenly seem like a bargain. But after 9-10 days of walking until it felt like our legs would fall off, there was no price too high to pay to take transit if it saved us from walking the same route back to the hotel again. After a while, we decided not to do the conversion and just enjoy our trip.
It was unusually cold for 11 of the 13 days that we were in Copenhagen and surrounding areas but at least we did not get that much rain. We constantly juggled our planned schedule to try to be indoors in museums and castles during rainy days and outside in parks, cemeteries, and canal walks during the sunny ones. Copenhagen is a beautiful city and we loved all the time that we spent here, exploring the popular attractions as well as finding gems off the beaten path.
