Day 49

Once I’d finished packing last night I realised I was actually taking almost everything I’d brought with me from Australia.  The only things I was leaving behind were my work clothes, two jackets and the various food stuffs I’ve acquired over the past seven weeks.  Suffice to say my suitcase and backpack were pretty full.

Successfully negotiated the bus trip this morning with all my luggage, and made the walk from the station to work with no issues either.  The morning went quickly and before I knew it lunch time had arrived.  Had roast chicken breast with potatoes and gravy which was pretty good. 

Left the office around 1.15pm and headed back to Landskrona station to catch the train to Helsingborg.  Johan rode the train with me – he was going there to have another session done on his back tattoo.  This will be the sixth or seventh one, about 25 hours altogether!

Jens, Marta, Elsa and Axel were waiting for me when the train arrived.  They’d come to see me off and I can’t tell you how nice it was for them to do that.  Changed some money to Euros then we all walked down to where the bus was waiting.  In fact, there were four buses – each one going to a different resort in France.  Found a spare seat on my bus, said goodbye to Jens and family then we were off.

The bus is a double decker, not completely uncomfortable.  I managed to score a double seat to myself, which is awesome.  The best part is that later tonight they’re going to somehow turn the seats into horizontal ‘beds’ for us to sleep in.  I can’t quite figure out how this will work so I’m interested to see what it’s like.

I somehow managed to leave my snuggle pillow packed in my suitcase (which is now packed away under the bus) and my inflatable back pillow has somehow disappeared since landing in Copenhagen all those weeks ago.  Still I have high hopes of getting a reasonable sleep tonight. Fingers crossed.

The ferry crossing from Denmark to Germany is usually when people eat dinner, but there was some kind of strike on the ferry so none of the eateries were open.  Emma, the UCPA representative, just cooked up some hot dogs on the bus which were not bad.  It’s now 7.20PM and I think we’re still somewhere in Germany.  The second Swedish movie is playing on the screens (no English subtitles) so I’m about to start watching The Hurt Locker on my laptop. 

Made friends with a group from Gothenburg - three girls and a guy that are travelling together.  The guy, Matt, has been kind enough to translate the announcements Emma keeps making over the PA system, which has been helpful. 

Only another 20 hours till Tignes!