Tag Archives: Copenhagen

Views on my Return

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Before moving to Denmark, we lived in London. By the time we came to move, we were ready to leave the big city for somewhere new. However, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing I miss! Having returned for a short holiday a few weeks ago, these are the things that I miss the most:

London Transport

Now, I think you will struggle to find a British person who extols the virtues of London transport. It is crowded, possibly confusing and, incorporating the oldest underground railway system in the world, often has breakdowns or big maintenance projects. However, when I compared my experience there with the experience I had in Copenhagen less than a week before my London trip, this is what I miss:

1. People wait for you to get off public transport before getting on

Copenhagen transport seems to be a free for all, with the idea of a ‘functioning queue’ far from most people’s in built concepts. It was a pleasure being able to get off the train without struggling against a flood of people, or being shoved by people from behind if you refuse to push in on getting on.

2. Stand to the right, walk on the left on escalators

Another concept that doesn’t seem to have reached Copenhagener’s inbuilt concepts. If you see a person on London transport that is standing on the left of the escalator, you can be pretty sure that that is a tourist. Otherwise people beautifully line themselves on the right if they don’t want to climb the escalators, or walk up on the left. If you’re not in a hurry you can let the escalator do the work, but for you who needs to get things done, you can power up at the same time.

Shops & Shop Keepers

I could always moan about prices. After all, I never thought that I would live somewhere more expensive than Denmark. But, actually, that is not my main gripe about Danish shops. It is actually the shopkeepers!

3. Do you need any help?

I have learnt that in Denmark you can go to school to learn how to become a shopkeeper. It seems that the one thing that all of them have learnt (besides how to wrap gifts beautifully!) is that ‘as soon as a client comes in go right up and ask if they need anything’. In the UK, they let you browse around, and then after a few minutes, after you have had some time to look around and think about what you need, come over and ask if you need some help.  Unfortunately, by this time, the Danish shopkeepers typically have disappeared to somewhere where I can never find them. Much more useful for me!

Getting Clean

We have been looking at houses recently in Sønderborg. Unfortunately, it seems, whenever a bathroom gets remodelled here, the bath is one of the first things to go. Our apartment is similar: no bath, just a shower. Being in London, this is what I realised that I have missed:

4. Getting properly clean in a bath

I struggle to believe that I can get completely clean by washing myself with a point source on top of my head. Unfortunately, unless we buy a house and remodel the bathroom, I don’t think I will get this here. The estate agents I have seen have looked at me as though I am completely bonkers for wanting a bath. And then remember a house with an ugly 60s-80s bathroom that is in desperate need of remodelling to offer us. It was utter bliss to be able to relax and feel completely clean for once!

What about you? What do you miss when you return to Denmark that you never thought you would?

Alsie Express Sønderborg – Copenhagen flights

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A new airline is starting to fly from the airport in Sønderborg to Copenhagen.

After the collapse of Cimber Airline a company called DAT has been flying – but only during weekdays. Now Danfoss and Air Alsie have teamed up to give DAT some competition on the route.

Their joint project was first slated to be named “Mojn Express” but I guess that didn’t fly. So instead they named it Alsie Express. The name might not be edgy but the colour scheme is sure to make people do a double take.

Alsie Express

This week we were on a boat as one of the new planes were doing take-offs and landings and the comment from the skipper was: “That is a military aircraft – no commercial company would paint their planes like that”. Well Alsie Express did – and I like it! It looks a bit like a secret stealth aircraft. I’m hoping they don’t keep it a secret and keep it flying.

The new airlines starts June 17th 2013. Ticket sales start today.

Schedule

SØNDERBORG-Copenhagen Copenhagen-SØNDERBORG
Monday to Friday Monday to Friday
07.15 – 08.00 08.30 – 09.15
10.00 – 10.45 11.20 – 12.00
13.30 – 14.20 15.15 – 16.00
16.30 – 17.15 17.45 – 18.30
20.00 – 20.45 21.45 – 22.30
Saturday Saturday
07.45 – 08.30 09.00 – 09.45
09.00 – 09.45 17.15 – 18.00
Sundays Sundays
09.30 – 10.15 19.45 – 11.30
16.00 – 16.45 19.30 – 20.15

Ticket prices

Tickets start at 495 one-way.

Alsie Express looking cool

Sleep the way to your destination

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We have already written about travelling to and from Sonderborg, either within Denmark or abroad previously in this blog. However, one way of travelling that we hadn’t mentioned was travelling with sleeper trains.

We ‘discovered’ the night trains by accident while looking for saver tickets on the Deutsche Bahn website. The service, known as City Night Line, connects a number of European cities during the night: you go to sleep in one country, and arrive refreshed the next morning ready to discover your destination.

From Padborg or Flensburg you can get on a train straight to Prague, Basel or Amsterdam (with stops in other places including Berlin, Frankfurt, or Cologne). Having discovered this possibility we couldn’t pass it by, so we hopped on the train to Prague for an Easter break, leaving Padborg at around 22:00, and arriving in Prague the next day at around 9:30.

On the train there are a couple of sleeping options, from 4-6 person couchette compartments, to deluxe 2-person cabins. On this trip we tried the 4-person couchette compartment going there and an economy double cabin coming back. As would be expected, the double cabin was more comfortable than the shared couchette. However, since the other two people in the couchette compartment got off in Berlin, we had the cabin to ourselves for most of the trip.

So how was the experience?

This was my first time in a sleeper train. I wasn’t sure how much sleep I would actually get. However, although there is quite a lot of bumping around at certain stations as the trains are reconfigured (the train leaves Copenhagen with cars meant for Prague, Amsterdam and Basel), having around 11 hours on the train means that you can get ample sleep. Both of us are pretty heavy sleepers and both got decent sleep but people who sleep lighter might have trouble falling asleep. We would consider these trains another time if we are heading in one of the directions of City Night Line. Waking up to the views of the train running along the river Elbe was worth it just on its own!

How to get to Sonderborg

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We are on our way to Sonderborg as we write this. We were looking into how to get there from London and these are some of the ways we considered.

Travelling by Train

Sonderborg is well connected by train within Denmark. It is located at the end of a main line to Copenhagen with trains every 2 hours during the day. From Copenhagen, trains further afield to Sweden and beyond may also be taken. For trains further north in Denmark you need to change in Fredericia or Middelfart. Towards Germany you often need to change twice in Padborg and Flensburg.

To organize a train journey inside Denmark use Journey Planner and for Germany use Bahn.

Travelling by Bus

Bus line 10 goes to Flensburg every two hours during weekdays. Xbus 900 goes to Vejle almost every hour and Xbus 915 goes to Esbjerg four times a day.

Travelling by Air

Sonderborg is graced by its own airport, which is around a 15 minute drive from the centre. The airport is, however, not very well connected: the only commercial flights available are to and from Copenhagen with Cimber Sterling. Therefore it is also convenient to investigate flights to nearby airports.

Airports in Jutland

Billund Airport is the closest international airport in Jutland. It is decently well connected internationally. As it is a Ryanair airport destination, cheap flights are also available. Not being on a train line, it is not well connected domestically. Regular buses are available to a number of destinations on the Jutland peninsula and beyond, though none directly to Sonderborg. One option is to take the bus to Kolding and train from there.

Another airport on Jutland with similar issues is Aarhus airport. In this case a bus connects the airport to Aarhus from where a train to Sonderborg is then possible (with a change in Middelfart).

Airports Further Afield

Of course, the first obvious airport is Copenhagen Airport. Due to the very good connection between Sonderborg and Copenhagen Central trains station and then onwards to Copenhagen airport, this should be quite practical.

Another option is to go south to Germany. Hamburg airport is within reach and the train connections are easy enough. It should be possible to book a German taxi from Sonderborg to the airport for Euro 165 according to this site.