Runaway in Denmark: do what you can’t
Journeys for many of us are magical transformation. Every time you board a plane, you are not sure what awaits you. It doesn’t matter whether it is an adventure, job offer, a challenge of a business trip, gastronomic discoveries, an old friend you haven’t seen for a long time – everything on a journey has a special aura which is difficult to explain. You just have to feel it.
The same is with people. Oftentimes journeys are people between flights. I usually notice them when I travel alone and I always start conversation with some of them. As I once again fly to visit my friends in Denmark, I can see that one woman keeps turning and looking at me – she obviously needs support and wants to confide in someone…
Journeys also raise questions about our habits. As soon as I start to routinely jog and do yoga, suddenly I must go on a journey again… I already found a way how to force myself to go to a gym while I live in a hotel. But how to find inner motivation when the only thing I want to do is to chat cozily with my friends?
This time while going to Billund (“Wizzair” once again offered cheap flights for 30 EUR both ways) I did not contemplate, should we visit Legoland, or go to my favorite ancient Danish town Ribe – I was only thinking how to continue my jogging season.
The next morning after arrival I shocked my friends – it was 7 o’clock in the morning when I put on my head a searchlight and disappeared in total darkness. I saw only so far as it lit up – actually no further than two steps in front of myself. And as I was in Roding – the land of farmers – I did not know what could I bump into around the corner – it could be some unexpected road sign, some cozy pit or a friendly cow.
Sometimes you do not understand right away why you need doing what you do. Still, while jogging I felt unity with myself, integrity – at last my habits do not control me, it is me who controls them.
But do not worry – romance ended soon because in total darkness I did not notice a turning indicated by my friend and started to feel that my planned circle could continue till the time unknown.
As half an hour passed I started to worry that I could lose all the strength – I am not such a good athlete after all. A couple of times I accidentally jogged into courtyards of some houses and only the last moment I managed to avoid a manure pit. So I decided to turn back. And then I realized that the road identification signs that I had memorized in daylight, at night disappeared or were transformed and I felt like melting in a limitless space.
At last I saw a house that would save me. It was only eight a.m. and I was in an area in Denmark which was absolutely calm. I knocked on the door – all muffled; only my eyes could be seen. A woman opened the door and I saw fear in her eyes. Most people in Denmark are fluent in English but she stuttered while answering my questions.
And as it turned out later, I was standing on the road which I was looking for. I noticed that my phone had discharged so I remembered that in journeys one had to trust one’s intuition. Because journeys are also about experiments. I concentrated and turned to the road which I thought was the right one.
Finally, as I saw the familiar yard, I felt that I overcame myself. One must believe in oneself. My friend told me that they wanted to report that I was missing or perhaps they were just teasing me? Did they really plan to leave me without a trip to Orhus where I wanted to visit ethnographic open-air museum Den Gamle By with more than 70 historical houses? Or without a visit to ARoS museum of art?
But such experiments are possible only when you have no desperation to visit more places and see more things. Usually when I know that I will come back to a place later, I feel the freedom just to be.
And the woman I met in the airport… She was going to the LEGO city I already mentioned to live with her boyfriend from Turkey. The woman told me that because of this decision she sacrificed all her life. She also told me that she did that because she couldn’t to otherwise. I never found out if her sacrifice was justified. Because journeys are also about the things that you will never know.
And what do you think – did I run the next morning to seek new adventures?