Four weeks…

I don’t quite realise it yet… For years now, I’ve been dreaming about it.
In four weeks, I am leaving Montreal to visit Denmark…

Twenty one days of walking around, meeting people, visiting places, living with and like the locals. Twenty one days of trying to master the basics of Danish. I am not naïve, I know I won’t be fluent when I come back, but I hope to be able to improve the vocabulary and grammar I’ve been working on for about two years now.

And before that, twenty eight days to get prepared.

It seems like a long period of time, but D day will come fast. And there is a lot to do. I decided to travel light, very light, carrying only a backpack, and using Couchsurfing as much as possible. For economic reasons, obviously, but also for the experience.

Today, it was time for me to have my passport renewed. It was still good until August 24th. But Denmark asks that foreigners visiting the country have a passport valid 3 months after the planned date of departure to come back home. And in my case, that meant it had to be valid until August 25th. One day! I had to renew my passport for one day! But that’s ok, it will be good for 10 years now!

I was planning on trying my brand new walking shoes. Yeah, last Monday, I treated myself with a pair of Merrell half walking half trekking shoes. But it seems winter isn’t done with us, because we were expecting a snow storm in the late afternoon. So much for my new-shoes tryout! Instead, I put on my winter boots and headed to the pharmacy to have my picture taken.

Passport pictures are quite a deal here. The number of rules for a valid picture is numbing. No make up, no jewelry, no glasses, no smiling… Sometimes, I wonder how custom agents recognize travelers. At least, the person who took care of my passport mugshot was competent, and after a short wait, I was on my way to the passport bureau.

There again, things were smooth and fast. A quick check of my form and pictures, and the payment for the 10 years good passport, and I was out of the building. Now I just have to wait for it to be dropped in my mailbox.

On my way back home, I stopped in a souvenir store. Being downtown, those stores are many, and I bought some patches I’ll sew on my backpack. I got two Canadian flags, and two fleur-de-lis to represent Quebec.

I plan on buying similar patches along my trip. I just hope there will be some city patches, otherwise, I would only have Danish flags to sew… I guess I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed.

I also got myself a micro SD card adapter to be able to transfer easily pictures taken during the day on my tablet in the evening. This way, I’ll be able to post pictures here, every now and then.

So that’s it for today… I know things are not exciting for the moment. But I like the thought of having a log of my preparation as well as the trip itself.

28 days left… soon only 27!