After a couple of nights in our first youth hostel, close to Paddington Station in London, Jordan and I took the train from Liverpool Street station to Stowmarket in Suffolk.

The train was full of commuters heading back to the countryside after a days work in London. My friend, Sallyann, picked us up at the train station, and drove us to her charming, countryside farm house where they raise chickens and grow their own vegetables.

We visited the seaside resort of Southwold, on the Suffolk Heritage coast. Although quite cold in December, with one “gutsy” surfer trying to catch waves in the North Sea, Southwold is booming with tourists in the summer.

After catching up with Sallyann, and a fun evening at a local village pub, we caught the National Express bus from Ipswich to Heathrow airport. It took three hours on a comfortable bus, then we headed to Terminal 2 for our SAS flight to Copenhagen.

Heathrow airport has personality. It’s one of my favorite airports, and as soon as we passed security, we were welcomed by Santa and his elf. I could not resist a photo opportunity with Santa.
Families traveling to Copenhagen for the holidays, or ending their vacation in London, brought a festive atmosphere to the flight.

Jordan and I showed our American passports and received a warm and welcoming smile from the customs agent. The woman before us, dressed in a burka, was told to step aside; she did not have a visa to enter Denmark.

My Danish friend, Lilian, and her husband, met us at the airport and drove us to our second youth hostel in downtown Copenhagen called CPH Downtown.

Today is cold and gray, but we are off to do some sight-seeing. More from Tivoli and Copenhagen, on Thursday’s post.