Leaving…

Leaving the country that I had been living in for 7 years. The country which – after a long rocky path  – I finally call my home. It wasn’t  only the place where I lived and worked anymore – it was my home.

Lets put it this way..My life in Sweden was very convenient. I had a well paid job, a beautiful designed apartment, the sea on my doorstep and meanwhile some really good friends.  Yet after 7 years I felt it is time… time to break out of the bubble, the everyday wheel..time to do something new.

So…here I was..now it was time to say good-bye without knowing if I will ever come back to Sweden for good. This was bigger than swapping jobs. This was leaving behind my wonderful sea-view flat, the unique swedish culture that took so much time to get used to, an exceptional lifestyle, all those peaceful places, my favorite restaurants and most important the people around me and of course yes the sea…will I ever live by the sea again…on an island even??

Leaving something behind is a very important part before starting something new. Too often we start in a rush without really closing old chapters because we can’t wait to move on. Not this time I thought. So I decided to really take my time. I cancelled my long-awaited trip to Brazil and was going to use that time to visit all my favorite places, do things I love and visit my friends. Yeah..well that was the plan at least…

However for some reason I miserably failed in estimating the time needed to prepare my move. My flat – which I was not ready to sell yet was going to be rented furnished. So hey…how hard can it be …I am just gonna pack my stuff and go. The truth is I ended up packing 24/7 which left me sleepless for days… Seven years obviously has brought a lot of things into my flat. It seemed all those drawers just filled up again and again magically over night. This time I didn’t hire a moving company. I had made all transport arrangements myself with the help of friends – coordinating that was a challenge in itself not just because the Swedish transport company forgot to pick up my stuff. So no, it was not a calm closure of this chapter.

Well before I start getting too sentimental..once my stuff was on its way to its destination I had a great final night-out with my best friends in Malmö to mark the end of this chapter. Three days later I was scheduled to hit the road for good. Mr Cooper was my trusted partner to take me to Hamburg where I was boarding the car-train to Vienna.

Well another slight failure in estimation that consumed some extra time:….I am not sure what I was thinking when I estimated the storage space of Mr. Cooper…lol….

After I finally managed to get all my remaining things into Mr. Cooper I really had to rush and hit the road. No time to say farewell to my neighbors especially my 92-year-old next door neighbor …The strangest feeling however was to leave all my door keys behind and shot the door to my flat. Now I was sort of feeling homeless.

The weather this summer has shown its best side in ages making it even harder to let go. Coincidently on the day I left it was pouring it all down just like the day  when I came to Sweden 7 years ago.

Well I leave you with some snapshots of Sweden there won’t be coming more for a while…a very long while…

Hejdå Sverige – Grüss Gott Wien – Jambo Nairobi