My first train ride (out of order)

After several days in Copenhagen, on Thursday Aug 23, I took my first train ride of any length to Soro, Denmark to visit my Mom's friend Karin. I had a 21-day ScanRail pass, so the ride wouldn't cost me anything extra.

First, as required, I stopped by the Copenhagen Rail Ticket office and validated the pass; so, it was good from the 23rd of August through the 13th of September. After validating the pass, I found the train to Soro and then called Karin to let her know which train I'd be on. Then, I boarded the train.

The ScanRail pass allows unlimited 2nd-class travel during its period of validity. So, after boarding the train, I looked for indications class. Failing to find anything that clearly indicated 1st or 2nd class to me, I found a cabin with relatively cramped seating and picked a seat far away from any other passengers. There were some digital signs above the seats, but with my lack of knowledge of Danish, I couldn't tell whether they said "Not reserved", "Can be reserved", or something else. However, it was pretty clear from the signs that they weren't already reserved.

I was carrying too much stuff, but I managed to put get my heavier wheeled bag up on the rack above the seat without too much difficulty (although it definitely took both arms to lift it up on the rack comfortably), and then arrange my backpack and few plastic bags of stuff in between my legs and the seat in front of me. I then settled down for the hour ride to Soro.

Not so fast, jackass! About 10-15 minutes later, as the car had filled up, a couple of nice women paused just behind my seat. They made clear to me eventually that they had reserved the seat I was in and I would have to move. Fine, I'd just get up and get my luggage down and move somewhere else.

No problem, except that the train was now very close to departure, and that hurried, impatient Danes were all around me and were tryi ng to get past me and into their seats. I wanted to scream at them, "Hey, this is my first time on your confusing train system, I unknowing got in an occupied seat, and now I've got a heavy bag up there that I need both arms to move safely so that no one gets hit." But one of the women with the reservation, in the meantime had slid into the seat directly beneath my bag -- thus making it harder for me to move my bag safely.

After a few seconds, it became clear that I'd have to move my bag from the rack standing sideways, meaning I could only use one of my arms. As I could sense people getting more pissed off by the millisecond, I started moving my bag with one arm, off-balance and immediately felt something between strain and pain. I snarled loudly as I tried to keep the bag with one arm from falling on the women's heads. This seemed to elict the attention of nearby passengers.

I apologized afterwards and told them that the bag was very heavy. I then lurched my way with too much baggage to the end that car and into the next one and found the first empty seat. The seats were significantly more spatious, so I figured I would have to pay extra, but I didn't want
bother with my bags anymore.