iPod Hunt in Denmark

During my flight to Denmark a few weeks ago I accidentally left my iPod in the seat pocket in front of me. Of course, this was the only time I didn't check the pocket before leaving the plane. I had loaded thousands of songs on that thing not to mention photographs, a few television shows, and a movie (Spinal Tap by the way).

I didn't even realize it was gone until I got to my booking agent's house and then I couldn't even get back to the airport because I would be leaving the next morning, early, for a week spent in Norway.

While in Norway, I emailed all the proper authorities in an attempt to hunt down the iPod. I got form letters back saying that my letter had been received and that they'd let me know if anything was found. It usually took two weeks.

When I flew back into Copenhagen I thought, "Great, I'll just go to the lost and found desk and search through a bin full of iPods until I find mine." Yeah right. When I got to the SAS service desk I was told that SAS doesn't actually keep the lost items at the airport. After 48 hours said items are transferred to the Politi (police) lost goods office in Copenhagen. Thanks for not telling me that sooner.

I was busy that week in Copenhagen with shows and a bit more traveling, so after more time passed I figured I might as well accept the fact that I'd have to buy another iPod when I got back to the states. The bad part is that I also brought a mini-DVD player to watch other movies during the flight back, but couldn't now because the headphones were wrapped around the iPod. I had brought the thing for nothing.

When I finally had a day off in Copenhagen I called the lost goods office, got directions and borrowed my buddy's bicycle. I rode about 5 miles only to find that the office was this little run-down warehouse tucked away off the street. You almost needed another lost and found office to find this one.

trying to take a picture while riding my bike.

I parked my bicycle outside and walked in. Behind the service desk were shelves and shelves full of lost goods sent over from the airport. There were short bins on the counter filled with car keys all tagged with dates and flight numbers. It was overwhelming and I figured that there was no way that I'd see my iPod again.

Outside the "lost goods" office.

The man at the counter, Michael, asked me what date I had lost the iPod. I had written down the date, the flight number, the city from which I flew, I had my passport, driver's license, and had written down the first few artists' names that would appear on the iPod in case someone turned it on and needed me to prove it was mine.

Michael and my runaway iPod.

Michael turned and opened up a metal storage cabinet and began hunting through a plastic bin. After about 5 minutes he turned back around and held up a plastic bag that looked like those evidence bags you see on court TV shows like Matlock. He asked, "Is this your iPod?" I couldn't believe it. There in that little zip-lock was a white iPod with black head phones wrapped around it.

Enjoying my iPod waiting for the train.

I told him it looked like mine and if he turned it on would find the Abyssinian Baptist Choir and AC/DC at the top of the list. We turned it on and sure enough there was High Voltage. I thank him profusely and after signing a release I practically skipped out the door like a little kid. When I got back out to the street I noticed a rail station about a block away so instead of riding my bike back another 5 miles I hopped onto the train and enjoyed my iPod all the way home.

Back Home

Well, I'm back in the good ol' US of A. I came from enjoying Denmark's 75 degree, blue-skyed days to North Carolina's hot, humid summer. At least everything here is green and the lightnin' bugs are out. Being from California, those little insects will forever fascinate me. For most Californian's the only time they'll see lightnin' bugs is during the beginning of the Pirates of Carribean ride at Disneyland.

The evening I got home, my wife had fixed chicken and dumplings for dinner with peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream for dessert. She's a good woman.

It's good to be back at work here (RFYL) and I'm excited about running the King Tiger 5k this Saturday. I did my best to stay in shape while I was gone, but I didn't account for the heat and the humidity here so my times for the next couple of weeks will be a little slower than when I left, I think.

I'm in the process of posting all the photos from the trip on my website--www.benhernandezmusic.com. So if you go to the "photos" section you can check out all the places I visited and a few of the people I met along the way. Hopefully, I'll be including a few little stories about of couple of them in coming days.

Thanks for reading The Californian.

Ben