Wandering Sweden

      We left Little Rock at 4:30 A.M. August 10, 2011, youngest grandson Carson's fifth birthday.

The flight to London was long, seven hours, and we arrived late. The London violence was not all over yet, and as the long subway ride was not recommended at that time of night, we looked for a hotel near the airport. We already knew London was not like many cities of the world we had flown into, who usually have at least one inexpensive hotel near the airport, and we knew we would be stuck royally, and we were, of course. But folks our age can't start out on such a trip staying awake all night. Nearly $400, and half the night was already gone. They didn't see that as an angle to consider, however.

      We took the subway to the city the next morning. I learned what the “Mind the Gap” sign meant, as I stumbled off the subway. I asked Barbara where we were, and she thought that was funny. “Just look up.” Big Ben stared down at me. We spent most of the day walking around, seeing the sights of London, and a large police presence, keeping a sharp eye out for the now dwindling homegrown terrorists.

     The flight to Copenhagen was shorter, only 1 ½ hours. We still managed to arrive late at night. We did find the office that held our little hire car. They asked for $1,200 to cover the insurance for 34 days. How she did it, I'll never know, but Barbara instantly pulled up our mileage account number from her head. We knew our credit card had provided us free hire car insurance in Ireland. Maybe they would here too. We couldn't call them from here, but we knew Mickey, our son-in-law, could from Little Rock. We called him, He called them and called us right back. “Don't pay them a dime, we'll cover any damage you might do,” they instructed. Had they known me, they would have said, “likely to do.” See why I bring Barbara along, have Mickey waiting in the wings? Left to my own devices, I would have just been begging them to accept my IOU for those big bucks. Fat chance. Nice to be highly thought of by Citibank, even when we never paid them a dime except the $50 yearly fee. We have never in our lives paid them interest, and we have ridden that card all over the world on our bonus miles. I keep expecting them to drop us, but they just keep raising our allowable limit. Maybe that's their game. Give us enough rope, and the temptation will eventually make us hang ourselves. Could that be?

      The tall hotel on the edge of town wanted over $200 for a piece of a night too, and I asked Barbara if she still had the number in her head for that Pore' House in Ireland, because if this kept up, we would probably be headed there, as my dad liked to say. I had still not found reverse on that cute little VW Polo. It just wasn't like anything I had driven before. How could I be expected to know one must push the stick shift down while moving it sideways? Turned out, that cute little VW  wound up being our salvation, because the gas gauge just kept sticking on “full” for three days at a time.

      The long bridge into Sweden cost $30, of course. And when we stopped at the Sweden visitor's center, there was just no way to open the trunk. A stranger came over and turned that little VW insignia, and it popped right open. Wouldn't you just know it.

      We found the right young man at the Visitor's Center, though. Tall, slim, blonde, good looking – weren't they all? He had lived in Chicago for four months, and spent a lot of time with us getting us lined out on southern Sweden. I learned a new trick when we entered Malmo, a big city. Just get on that road that says City Centre, don't vary, and one winds up there. We tried to park the car, but the parking meter wouldn't take our credit card, and we had no Swedish money yet. But, a nice couple just stepped up and filled the meter for us. Just the first hint of what was to come with these wonderful people.

      A banker girl, tall, thin, blonde, and beautiful, swapped our US money for Swedish, and pointed us toward the grocery store. Nothing there was in English, but by now you know Barbara – before long half the customers and most of the employees were gathering up the right food for us. We toured about that highly populated part of Sweden that day, learning the ropes and the road. The late afternoon was frustrating, as we searched for lodging. The first place wanted $210. Good grief! Our allowed daily budget was $200, including the $40 we had already paid for the car. Finally, we found an old hotel for $117. No commode or shower in the room. Dorothy, you're not in Kansas any more!

      We awoke the next morning to very loud music coming in our window. It seemed to be an Antique Car Show, with loud music being the emphasis. Our free breakfast had good coffee, so things were looking up.