***Hollapino Definition: Holland and Filipino (credit goes to Russel Peters :D)
Our journey began at 7am on the 3rd of June 2017…
Thanks Bill from Asian Tigers for sponsoring some of our trip..means a lot to us 🙂
It was a chilly morning, but the sun was out and it looked like a perfect day for riding.
We hooked our boxes on, strapped on our waterproof bags full of camping gear and we were ready to go.
Carmelo, Stefan’s uncle came by with his Ducati to drive with us for the 50 kilometers, which was fun. It’s always more fun when you ride with other bikers 🙂
That’s something that’s universal. Big Bikers will pretty much always acknowledge each other on the road. We all consider ourselves as part of a special club and a nod, or a smile, or a quick upraised hand (that doesn’t quite translate into a wave) communicates that we are brothers and sisters on the road. If you ride a Big Bike (no matter what brand you drive) you will know what I mean.
Leaving the Netherlands on the way to Denmark
Driving a motorbike in Holland is rather uneventful, especially when one compares it to driving in Bangkok, Thailand (which was our previous experience) and it almost is boring.
This is not a criticism, rather it is a realization that we were so used to being ultra-alert on Bangkok roads that we almost felt lulled to sleep by the Dutch safe and by-the-rules driving. They drive so well in Holland that it was almost hard to believe that any accidents could happen. No one over took us from the right, no one cut us off unnecessarily, no one changed lanes on a solid line, everyone merged politely and zippered when needed. It was so relaxing, we had a hard time staying alert. I guess this is something we have to get used to.
Passing through Germany
Unlimited speed on our powerful GSA1200 is awesome! I think we clocked our fastest speed of 180km and it felt like we were cruising…
Don’t worry, we remembered that we are no longer in Thailand and we stayed true to the speed limits and the flow of the traffic…speeding fines in the EU are NOT a joke!
It also started raining a bit and we were able to test how our new gear would fare against the wet and the cold.
Dry and enjoying a German sausage in Hamburg despite the rain in our Rev It rain suits
We will make a post detailing what we learned about our motorbike gear. But happily, we made pretty much the correct choices and we were warm & dry most of the time.
Arriving in Denmark (our first stop)
Denmark is GREEN during the summer!
Denmark is beautiful!!!
It was surprisingly green at this time of year. The wind was cold, but the sun was out and the drive was invigorating despite us arriving around 8pm that evening. ***The sun sets around 10-11pm at this time of year…
Crossing the Dane border means taking a 40min ferry from Fehmarn, Germany. This ferry was the biggest ferry I have been on and it felt like I was on a floating airport. They had duty free shopping, a cafeteria with a buffet and could load massive trucks and buses on it. They called it a Hybrid Ferry.
Danish efficiency was impressive, considering how massive this ferry was, we were all loaded and leaving the pier in 5mins. I was also impressed with how we had to strap our own bike on for safety—fortunately another Big Biker was behind us so we just followed what he did to strap his bike on 🙂
40mins later, we were docked in Denmark and 5mins later we driving down the highway towards our friends (Mr. Bo Grabowski) summer house. Thanks so much Bo, for letting us stay at your cozy summer house, it is truly beautiful and we loved spending time with your family!
Note: There is a random border check and we were recommended to have our passports ready, but us bikers weren’t picked so we just breezed on by.
Interesting fact: The border patrol seem to be manned by teenagers, are they really super young? Or do they just look super young? Anyone else notice this?
Dinner with Bo & Family
Sorry for the terrible photo, I guess after 12 hours of riding taking the nominal photo is challenging
Cold enough to make a cozy fire…of course Stefan volunteered 😛
Bo’s Beer Can Chicken BBQ…it was delicious!
1st Day in MØn, Denmark
Denmark is similar to Holland in that you can easily experience all the seasons within one day. It started off cold and rainy and we thought our plans to visit MØn’s Klint was over, but around 2pm the sun started to come out and the rain dissipated.
Bo was our very knowledgeable tour guide and we had the pleasure of his daughter, Mia, and her friend, Anastasia, for company. We climbed into their car (as the chance of rain was still around 80%) and we headed off to MØn’s Klint which is a massive chalk and flint cliff where dinosaurs and other pre-historic fossils were discovered.
Watching a 3D movie about dinosaurs
It was really educational and a beautiful hike despite it being quite a cardio workout to climb up stairs. The climb down was deceivingly easy, but the climb up was our 1st mini-workout for our stay in Denmark (994 steps down to the cliffs and of course you have to climb back up!)
Mon’s Klint on the way down (994 steps) to the chalk and flint cliffs
About 6km of beautiful white cliffs
After that hike we had built up an appetite and were quite warmed up, so it was unanimously decided that we should have the famous MØn’s Is (MØn’s Icecream) at the dairy farm and it was DELICIOUS!! It is seriously THE BEST ice cream I have ever had; the flavors (I got 1 scoop of Baileys and 1 of Chocolate) were to-die-for!
Stefan’s Selfie Fail 😛
Trying to get the “Danish” cows in the background…
After all the excitement of the day which began at 2pm it was time to head over the grocery shop to get stuff for dinner. Most shops is Denmark (esp. in the countryside close at 5-6pm but we fortunately we found one (Fakta) that stays open till 9pm. But today we will try the much recommended SuperBrugsen instead…
This concludes our 1st day in Denmark. Do keep visiting and we will write about our other adventures as frequently as we can …