LJ Idol s6 t3
Last summer I went on a road trip through Norway, Sweden and Denmark with a couple of my friends, Amy and Sue. It was hot and humid, we had a great time stopping at the small nooks and crannies, discovering their Lilliputian beaches tucked away from the hordes of other tourists.
Amy had brought her checkered fold-out picnic suitcase, complete with dishes, so we enjoyed outdoor picnics by the ocean the whole way. There's nothing quite like getting out of the car after a long drive, stretching your legs and doing some cartwheels in the grass before munching on home-made pasta salad and fresh fruit(ok, so there may have been snacks involved).
It was a great trip. I can tell by flipping through my album; we’re beaming in every single shot. Well, all of them except for one. It's a picture of Amy lying on her hotel bed, hands folded across her stomach. There's a very nervous and dismayed look on her face; she's clearly not happy about something.
That certain "something" took place at breakfast, a little while before the picture was taken. Of all things, Amy was only taking a bite out of a soft biscuit, but suddenly she yelped. Sue and I both stopped stuffing our bags with ill begotten goods from the buffet table and looked over. She was cupping her chin and her eyes were like round saucers.
“Are you okay?” we both asked in unison.
“I dink I chipped a toosh” she replied, fishing around in her mouth with her finger.
It turned out she didn’t only chip her tooth, it actually split right down the middle. We rushed straight over to the reception to hear about finding a dentist. To our surprise there was an emergency dentist nearby, and they could squeeze us in that very same day. We only had to wait a couple of hours.
Of course I’m saying “only” because I wasn’t the one with a mild dental phobia, waiting for some stranger to do god only knows what to my mouth and charge me handsomely for it. When the time came we almost had to drag her out the door, and we sat down in the waiting room with her, making sure she couldn’t bolt. Amy had this wild look in her eyes and kept rambling about how we didn’t have to do this during the holiday, what it would do to her budget and why the pain would ruin everything.
They finally called her name, and once the door closed behind her, Sue and I walked back to the hotel to wait. Plastic chairs aren’t the most comfortable place to spend a few hours, and the chances of Amy clawing her way out to escape were slim at best.
The real surprise came when Amy returned earlier than we thought, looking the exact opposite of what we were expecting. There was no tell-tale drooling, her face wasn’t swollen at all, and boy was she in a good mood. She told us that this was by far the best dentist she’s ever been to, and not only did they manage to fix her tooth with only minor discomforts, they even decided to fix a pair of other small holes “since she was already there”. To top it all off, what she paid wouldn’t have gotten us more than an x-ray or two in Norway.
The rest of the holiday went by without a hitch. We had blue skies, beautiful scenery and great shopping the whole way.
Every now and then we still joke about taking another drive to Sweden, spend our money on something that’s actually fun and recovering the travel expenses through dental care. Norwegian dentists may get the job done, but the bill sure as hell doesn’t give you anything to smile about.
Amy had brought her checkered fold-out picnic suitcase, complete with dishes, so we enjoyed outdoor picnics by the ocean the whole way. There's nothing quite like getting out of the car after a long drive, stretching your legs and doing some cartwheels in the grass before munching on home-made pasta salad and fresh fruit(ok, so there may have been snacks involved).
It was a great trip. I can tell by flipping through my album; we’re beaming in every single shot. Well, all of them except for one. It's a picture of Amy lying on her hotel bed, hands folded across her stomach. There's a very nervous and dismayed look on her face; she's clearly not happy about something.
That certain "something" took place at breakfast, a little while before the picture was taken. Of all things, Amy was only taking a bite out of a soft biscuit, but suddenly she yelped. Sue and I both stopped stuffing our bags with ill begotten goods from the buffet table and looked over. She was cupping her chin and her eyes were like round saucers.
“Are you okay?” we both asked in unison.
“I dink I chipped a toosh” she replied, fishing around in her mouth with her finger.
It turned out she didn’t only chip her tooth, it actually split right down the middle. We rushed straight over to the reception to hear about finding a dentist. To our surprise there was an emergency dentist nearby, and they could squeeze us in that very same day. We only had to wait a couple of hours.
Of course I’m saying “only” because I wasn’t the one with a mild dental phobia, waiting for some stranger to do god only knows what to my mouth and charge me handsomely for it. When the time came we almost had to drag her out the door, and we sat down in the waiting room with her, making sure she couldn’t bolt. Amy had this wild look in her eyes and kept rambling about how we didn’t have to do this during the holiday, what it would do to her budget and why the pain would ruin everything.
They finally called her name, and once the door closed behind her, Sue and I walked back to the hotel to wait. Plastic chairs aren’t the most comfortable place to spend a few hours, and the chances of Amy clawing her way out to escape were slim at best.
The real surprise came when Amy returned earlier than we thought, looking the exact opposite of what we were expecting. There was no tell-tale drooling, her face wasn’t swollen at all, and boy was she in a good mood. She told us that this was by far the best dentist she’s ever been to, and not only did they manage to fix her tooth with only minor discomforts, they even decided to fix a pair of other small holes “since she was already there”. To top it all off, what she paid wouldn’t have gotten us more than an x-ray or two in Norway.
The rest of the holiday went by without a hitch. We had blue skies, beautiful scenery and great shopping the whole way.
Every now and then we still joke about taking another drive to Sweden, spend our money on something that’s actually fun and recovering the travel expenses through dental care. Norwegian dentists may get the job done, but the bill sure as hell doesn’t give you anything to smile about.