Road trip to Malmö, I drove all night, September 2nd to 3rd 2011

After saying goodbye to our kind hosts, the four of us piled up in Pixies Renault Twingo and off we were to Sweden! It was my turn to drive, and I really had to get used to Pixies car. For one, I couldn’t for the life of me get it started. Yes, you read that right, I couldn’t even start it. When I finally managed due to Pixies loving, ever patient instructions, I found I couldn’t get it in reverse.  Yes, again I admit to my lack of skills.  Long story short, it took us some time to get going, and it took me more time to get my eyes semi-adjusted to the dark. As Germany has actual hills –opposed to the flatlands of Holland I know and love- the poor Twingo sighed under our weight and had a hard time getting uphill and getting into gear. Admitted, I had to discover what she liked best when it came to gear shifting and pushing down the gas pedal, but the poor thing had a hard time, as had my fellow travellers who had to sit through various interesting speed levels in which I tried to enter the big world of German highway speeding.

At some point it all clicked, and I happily drove from coffee stop to sausage bar, slowly but surely coming closer to Sweden.

Ha!

Trying to stay awake for the trip, we soon found ourselves sharing stories, from the hilarious to the embarrassing, from the touching to the scary. If anything, we got to know each other much better, and being the romantic I am, I do believe friendships for life have been made during that car ride.

A little over an hour before we got to Puttgarden harbor where we would take a boat to Denmark, Pixie took over the wheel, and everyone could bask in the silence that followed, as I immediately dozed off. Ah the joy of a silent Asa…

By the time we entered the boat we were all crazy from sleep deprivation, resulting in us cracking up over the silliest of things, and much to the annoyance of other people on deck, constantly trying our fake Swedish accents. Yup, we were tired alright.

At 10.15 we arrived at Baltiska Hallen in Malmö, where Pixie and Furrr had just missed the beginning of the Ref and NSO meeting. Bambi and I, not knowing where to go, decided to follow them to the last bit of the meeting, figuring anyplace where we could sit and not think for a little was paradise. But as it turned out, this was just the silence before the storm.