I slept in this morning until a whopping 6:55. It was too bright in my tent to sleep any longer. I had done what I could do to prepare for my flight last night (considering I still had to ride to the airport). I finished off my food (I'll restock in Aberdeen). Last night, I gave a young German couple the fuel canister. They were traveling in a VW Camper van with their 10 month old daughter, Amelie. They were very nice and spoke very good English.
The ride to the airport was very easy. Once I got to the main road, their was a Bikeway the entire way to the airport.
There's the airport.
The bike path looks relatively new.
It was 3.5 miles from Olberg to the airport. I arrived at 8:50. My flight is not until 2:15, so I had plenty of time to carefully diaper up Betsy. I stopped outside where there were some luggage carts (free--yay!), and began the packing process. First was Betsy. I removed the pedals and put them in the repair kit bag. I dumped out the small amount of water that had accumulated in the seat tube (this is something I think Bike Friday should find a way to eliminate). I folded, and bungy corded Betsy together. I must have left the plug that goes into the steering mast hole in the suitcase, because I couldn't find it. I just stuffed a diaper in the hole (hopefully, it won't get bent). I wrapped the sharp things and those parts that needed protection with the diapers. If Betsy survives the flight with the diaper protection, I would highly recommend diapers as a great packing material. They are sturdy and come with their own "tape" (Velcro tabs)! I only used a small amount of tape on the diapers I used for the big chainring. The rest I was able to use the Velcro on the diapers.
No tape required!
A small pack of 23 Newborn size diapers was plenty. I think it could even pack up two bikes. Of course, there is a downside. When I get to Aberdeen, I will just throw them away. If I was packing Betsy in the bag to fly home from Frankfurt (instead of the suitcase), I think I would try to carry them with me. I'm sure they would be reusable. However, if I was using bubble wrap, I would do the same thing, throw it away. Could I have used my towel and clothes? I suppose I could, but Betsy is very dirty. Better to soil a diaper than my clothes--HA HA!
After getting Betsy taken care of, I turned to packing everything else into the Chinese Shopping Bag. That was no problem (even with all the snow globes and other souvenirs I've collected, it still only weighed 19kg--well under the 23 allowed). I even remembered to take my pocket knife out of my handlebar bag and put it in the repair kit!
I loaded everything onto a luggage cart and wheeled into the airport. I went to a kiosk to print my boarding pass. I put in the confirmation number. My reservation couldn't be found. I tried a couple of other things with no luck. I went to the SAS info desk and told the lady. She tried looking it up. She found the reservation, but said no ticket was issued. This was a mystery as I had paid for the ticket (supposedly). Christian had made the reservation through some German travel website. Since it was all in German, I have no idea what happened, why no ticket was issued. Anyway, I ended up booking another ticket (I'll double check when I get home to make sure I wasn't charged for the other ticket). Of course, it was more expensive, but I didn't really have a choice. Lesson learned is not to let someone else book your ticket through an unknown website in a language you can't read.
Ticket in hand, I went to bag drop. I knew I had to pay for the second bag. I took care of that, and sent Betsy and the CSB on their way. I had 200Kr left, so I got some lunch.
Now, I will head through Security and go wait at the gate. Sadly, although it appears the airport has wifi, it won't upload my posts, and I can't check my email. I had sent an email to a Warmshowers host in Aberdeen, but I don't know if they've responded. I will probably end up at a campground. Here's a parting shot appropriate for the day so far.
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