Taken by Lars

So, my parents always taught me not to take rides from strangers, but what if it was going to save me an hour of waiting and an hour of travel time....

Yep, last night, I totally hitched a ride from a complete stranger against by best judgement. I began my journey home to Aarhus from Oslo around 5pm Thursday, right around the time Mom's flight was landing in Aarhus. I took the shuttle to Oslo Gardermoen Airport and worked on my People Crossword Puzzler for an hour or so. Then, hopped on my plane to Billund Airport which is about a 2 hour bus ride away from Aarhus. I was planning on waiting an hour for the shuttle, taking it, then sprinting across the city to catch the last bus from Aarhus train station back to Skjoldhøj. It would have put me home close to 1:00am. Possibly later, if I didn't make the last bus out and had to order a taxi.

Well, then I met Lars, a nice, friendly man around my parent's age who seemed to enjoy my company. Apparently, Lars was from southern Denmark, but had spent the past 22 yrs. working in Germany. He moved to Aarhus, a year ago, and drove to Billund. When he found out I was planning on taking the bus back, he insisted that he would drive me to the station since, it was on his way. So I took the remainder of the plane ride to feel him out. Flashbacks from the movie Taken were playing out in my mind. They pretty much continued during the entire car ride.

As soon as we got to Billund, I called Katie to see if Mom made it to Aarhus ok. Of course not! They lost her luggage. So, of course I wanted to get home to see Mom asap. Taking a ride from Lars seemed alright to me, he hadn't raised any red flags yet. I knew he had a 19 yr. old daughter, 17 yr. old son, and 2 ex wives. So, I work into the convo with Katie that a nice man on the flight was giving me a ride, and that I'd be there soon. I wanted someone to know to come looking for me if I didn't show up within a couple hours.

Red Flag #1: He traveled with NO LUGGAGE.

The only time I've heard of people doing that is when Barney did it to pick up girls in a How I Met Your Mother episode.

Red Flag #2: He drove a Chrysler Pacifica, but the backseat had been taken out and replaced with a divider like a cop car would have.
Explanation= In Denmark you get a tax reduction for driving 2 seaters. Ok I can believe that. The Danish government likes to make it really inconvenient for people to eat chocolate, drink, or drive.

Red Flag #3: I watch his GPS change directions, and he doesn't follow them. Fortunately, I do begin to recognize city names, and I know he is going in the right direction. Maybe he was taking a shortcut. I did watch him type in the correct address, so I still felt ok.

I began to feel uneasy at this point and definitely a bit paranoid. Then, as I work into our small talk about how surprised I still am by all the children running around by themselves here, he starts telling me about how safe Denmark is, and how he can't even have a knife or gun in his car without getting in serious trouble by the police. I let out such a sigh of relief and said, "Well, that makes me feel so much better." I guess I forgot my filter, and he realized I probably was freaking out a bit by taking a ride from a stranger. He laughed and assured me he was taking me where he said and not planning on kidnapping me or anything lol.

Red Flag #4: He says, "I'm just really parched. Do you mind if I stop here at this gas station for a bit?"

I take this as another opportunity to call Katie and let her know I'm 15 min outside of Aarhus at a gas station and to come find me if I didn't call/text back in 20 min.

Lars was so nice. He came back with a diet coke for me! Then, he tried finding Skjoldhøj Kollegiet in the GPS. Turns out it was closer than the train station, so he might as well drop me off at home.

I arrived safe at Skjoldhøj by 11pm. Lars was so nice to me and all I could really do was promise to pay it forward someday. I enjoyed his company despite my paranoia and pretty much ran to my flat as soon as he drove away. I wanted to see my mom!

Turns out we both had interesting flights! She saved a man from a heart attack and was asked to make the call on whether to land the plane or not.... wait to go Mom. Her luggage arrived on the plane after hers, and after a few phone calls, the airline arranged a taxi service to bring her suitcase straight to my door. She also met a nice girl from Milan that gave her tons of information(places to eat, go, not go,) as well as the address to her lake house!!

We are now safe, and super exhausted in our hotel room in Milan. I fell in love with Italy today, but I'll fill you in on everything here a bit later. A blog about Italy without pictures/videos seemed just wrong.