Welcoming in winter

It’s been a bit of a while since my last blog, for this I blame the fact that I haven’t been travelling much lately, obviously I need to get back out and about. It’s starting to now get pretty bloody cold here in Denmark now and even the jandals have had to take a back seat in the cupboard. There’s no sign of snow yet but the days are certainly getting shorter and the nights longer, unfortunately you still have to get out of bed and go to work at the same time. I've been on a bit of a spending spree lately too as the cold weather settles in; have picked myself up some waterproof pants for cycling (and they're good enough for mountaineering should I ever need to do that) as well as ordering a new bike to replace the one i'm currently borrowing. Next thing to buy is a big warm winter jacket.

Stepping back in time; at the beginning of this month I had the pleasure of taking a 3 day weekend to Munich, German to catch up with an old University mate Steve who is a skydiving instructor. Me and a friend Lisa left Copenhagen around midday Friday and were on the road to Leutkirch, a small town south of Munich, by mid afternoon (oh the beauty of living in Europe!). It was a race against time to get there as if we didn’t get there with time enough to jump before sundown then we’d have to wait for the Saturday which happened to be fully booked up.

We must have arrived at Skydive Nuggets HQ just before 5pm and looking up at the weather it wasn’t looking promising. There were dark clouds circling all around the jump zone but thankfully right above the jump zone was clear skies. There wasn’t much time to think about that though as as soon as we had arrived we were kitted up and heading to the plane for the very last jump of the day. It must have literally been no more than 10 minutes between getting out of the car to getting into the plane and heading up.

One can’t complain about the view heading up, it was quite breathtaking. The sun was setting behind dark clouds as we headed up into what looked like the eye of a storm to jump out of a plane! Looking south I could see lake Bodensee that borders Germany and Switzerland and then further south again could be seen the beginnings of the Swiss Alps. After about 15 mins flying round and round in circles to reach our desired altitude it then came time to jump. Again there was no mucking around, once the door opened 2 of the local crew just fell out leaving only Lisa and I in the plane. Lisa went next and even though I know she was freaked out there was no showing it as like the rest of them, she just fell out. So me and Steve were the last one’s left, and as per what was becoming the norm, we moved to the exit, learned back and were gone. It was pretty chilly in free fall as the temperature must have been low single digits at that time but that was the last thing you think about when you’re falling towards the earth.

I won’t describe how it feels like to free fall as you should all have a go and feel for yourself, but if I were to describe in I would say that it makes you feel alive in a way that nothing else can. Everyone landed safely and we stayed with Steve and his partner in their trailer that night. One couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to the weekend.

The next morning it was back on the road to Munich, just so happened that there was this big event called Oktoberfest in the city and it was in its last weekend, what are the chances that we just happened to be in the same place! You can imagine how Saturday unfolded; we arrived at Oktoberfest late afternoon and set about trying to get a beer. One would never have thought it but getting a beer proved what seemed to be an impossible task! We couldn’t find any where that sold the stuff and it seemed that the only way we would get some way waiting in line to get into a beer house. A smart man once told me the key to getting into these places is wait for a fight to break out, then just slip under the fence and past security while they’re distracted, and that’s exactly what we did (thanks Jordan). It didn’t take long either and before we knew it we were outside the Hofbräu-Festzelt beer hall, again trying to get a beer. Albeit this time we were surrounded by people with beers which made it even worse.

Tip number one for those heading to Oktoberfest for the first time; you can‘t buy beers unless you’re sitting down at a table. We quickly learned this lesson and somehow managed to find two spots at a random table already rather full with people. It was a the beginning of a great night of 1 litre beers, amazing half chicken roast, giant pretzels and plenty of people all having a great time! It was interesting, everyone was having a great time and the only time we ever saw any trouble was due to the heavy handed approach of the security teams, other than that it was a great time and many, many shouts of prost!

Since Munich it’s been rather uneventful back home in Copenhagen. I have been lucky enough to secure another job (yet to sign) for next year which is great and will mean I remain in Copenhagen for at least another 9 months. After that, who knows but for now I’ll be moving from one project to another one and hopefully some more international travel to come with it.

A couple of things to look forwards to coming up, it’s Super Cup time next weekend which is an indoor football tournament for all Maersk employees followed by a huge party afterwards! I’m not sure how good my teams going to be but I’m at least hoping to make it through the first round and into the knock out stages. After that it’s off to London for the All Blacks and fingers crossed Liverpool vs. Chelsea at Anfield if we’re lucky enough to get tickets! And last but not least I get to pick up my new bike, bought in the UK as Denmark bike prices are horrendous (crazy given that everyone has a bike so you’d think demand would be high and thus lower prices, things like economic theory don’t work like most other places in world here).

Peace out,

Stu