Took the subway to Penn station, then caught the NJ Transit train to EWR (Newark Airport). Got into a very short Business Class line-up, but when I got to the front, the First Class counter checked me in.
Headed thru security, a breeze, no notice of my giant bottle of suntan lotion, or full tube of Crest dropped in my main bag. Walked into the SAS Business Class lounge, and it was almost empty. Very nice, very Scandinavian, clean lines, large, beautiful buffet and self-service bar stocked with the best of everything. Noticed the chairs were all covered with slip covers, very Ikea! Realized this was a great idea, because unlike some other lounges the furniture looked fresh and new, and was very clean.
Made myself a nice salad, then got into the buns, cold meats, cheeses, and spreads - yummy.
We were a bit late boarding the Lufthansa 747-400. I was put in the first row, right at the nose of the plane. The seats, called Private Beds, are very nice, state of the art, with every convenience and control you could ever want, including a pod for your glasses while you slept.
Had a glass of Germain sparkling wine (don't you dare call it Champagne in Europe) and we were off. Beautiful food and service from impecable staff. Hit the flat bed button, and I was off to sleep under my nice puffy blanket and pillow.
Awoke over Europe to a breakfast of fresh fruit, hot pastries, and fresh coffee. Frankfurt customs was a joke, he just looked at my passport, stamped it, and did not ask a single question. I am now in borderless Europe.
As I had quite a few hours to wait for my SAS flight to Copenhagen, decided to look for the expertise of Lufthansa ticketing to do all the changes needed on my ATW ticket. Got a very helpful agent who spent over an hour changing my dates into Johannesburg, changing my flight into India from Mumbai to Delhi, where I was really headed. He also changed all the "fake dates" on the later flights on my ticket to real ones.
While doing all this, I heard a familiar voice 2 counters down. I looked to see a familiar looking lady and also noticed her equally familiar looking husband waiting outside the ticketing area. As she joined her husband, I pointed at her and said "don't I know you from Egypt?", thinking it was this nice couple Robert and I met in Egypt a few years ago. She said "no, we were on that show The Amazing Race". I said that yes, now I recognized them, but foolishly did not get their pictures. It was the "Oh, we have a bad elephant" couple, I think their names were Meredith and Gretchen. Very cool and what a small world.
It was on to Copenhagen, and the magical little kingdom of Denmark
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