Monday 
28.07.2014 
427km 
92km
I originally wrote this as a Ride Report on the ADVrider forum and there I named it "Doing it in style".
The reason for that was a Scottish biker named Paul that we met on the ferry over to Iceland.
He intended to spend the whole trip riding the gnarliest F-roads while camping and had brought most of the food he was going to eat with him.
All this was an impressive high rise building on the pillion seat of his BMW 800GS.
Upon hearing that we intended to spend most of, if not all of the trip sharing rooms in hotels or guesthouses he exclaimed (with that awesome Scottish accent that made the Romans so nervous they built a wall): Ahh, you're doing it in style!
I've never really seen it that way since sharing a room we tend to come out of it pretty cheap but I can see how a warm bed and a hot shower can add some flair compared to going full out Bear Grylls.
I do think my mechanic really doubts my sense of style though, he has now called me twice with updates asking what have you done to this motorcycle?
Well more on that later. This is my story and I'm sticking to it:
Me and my travel companion Bear (name poorly disguised to protect the guilty) set off from the truck stop where we had agreed to meet at about ten o clock .
With all the gear we were bringing it felt like we were almost as heavily laden as the big rigs at the truck stop.
We had plenty of time to get to the ferry crossing over to Denmark which inevitably led to us mucking about, drinking coffee (just me, but I do drink enough for the both of us) and just generally taking it too slow.
All in all I think we caught last check-in for the ferry with about 60 seconds to spare.
Once across Kattegatt we went straight for the Hotel in Hirtshals.
I had booked it through the Agoda booking site and had no idea how late the reception was open so off we went.
Now, walking into a hotel reception in bike gear probably a bit worse for wear after a long day in the saddle you sometimes don't really get the treatment you deserve (or maybe I'm just a complete asshole and DO get what I deserve, I'll just leave that open to interpretation).
This was one of those places, Hotel Strandlyst obviously thought themselves far to posh to cater to some bearded bikers.
I don't know if it's because of the 90's biker wars or what the problem is but of all the places I've ridden the overall worst treatment I've gotten in hotels is in Denmark.
The clown in the reception claimed no rooms where available, no booking had been made and the booking site which happens to be one of the biggest in the world was completely unknown to him.
We weren't going anywhere with our "discussion" and had no plan B so I called Agoda and asked them to sort it out.
They on the other hand called booking.com which on behalf of Agoda had made the actual reservation.
Apparently THE largest booking site in the world was known even in the great state of Denmark because in fifteen minutes time (at 9.30PM) someone had mysteriously checked out and voila, a room had mysteriously appeared.
I do think we would have heard a thud or seen some sheets tied together and flung out a window had this really happened since there were no rooms in street level and absolutely no one passed us while we sat in the reception the whole time.
As we hauled our luggage to our room I really felt we were off to a bad start but as most times, a warm shower, a cold beer and a hot meal was all it took to cool my blood from boiling point and change my perspective.
In all fairness even though the hotel sucked the restaurant was great.
The food was good, the beer was cold and the waitress was cute.
It will never be this clean again.
Do yourself a favour and stay clear of this place.
