It’s been a minute, fam. May was a very busy month offline. Although I haven’t been publishing, I have started a lot of musings; they just need some refinement, but watch this space.

For my tenth blog post (yay!!!!!), I thought, “Why not switch it up a little bit?” Why not, indeed? I have brought you, dear reader, random musings, book reviews, a music review, and one ‘sermon’. Why not…A TRAVEL REVIEW?

I recently had the privilege of travelling to Copenhagen (for a work-related reason). It was my first time actually walking on those European streets (aside from airports and connecting flights and such). Aaaand walk around, we did. Before you lambast me for daring to see the outside of my hotel room during a congress, you should know that there was a lot of sunlight to spare after the academic programme. Not a surprise when the sun rises at around 04h30, and sets 17 hours later. I wish I was exaggerating.

I won’t bore you with the usual rundown of tourist attractions, although like all tourists, I HAD to go spend time with the Little Mermaid, and have a heart-to-heart. And tell her to cut her father some slack (you’ll have to see why, in my previous post on Disney’s The Little Mermaid). You can read more on the background of the country, and on some of its top attractions, on Wikipedia.

Instead, I want to focus on happiness.  Apparently Denmark is the 3^rd happiest country in the world. It is also home to The Happiness Research Institute. And millions of happy pigs (more on that later).

So I got to thinking why it would be that the Danes are so happy. I had to make a list, of course:

1. Because it’s summer

I reckon the biggest reason for the happy festival vibe I witnessed was the summertime. And the lots and lots of sun. It only really got dark at around 23h00.

2. The lack of traffic

This is due to Danes taking to the streets on the 2-series (walking), on bicycles (there are a lot of bikes, fam), and utilising the convenient public transport system. This also has the happy side effect of more active citizens (see what I did there? Happy side effect?).

3. The free Wi-Fi

We had Wi-Fi everywhere: in the hotel, the conference centre, restaurants we went to. Even on the tour buses! I have finally found the place where data has fallen!!!

4. The Carlsberg

Oh yeah, Denmark is also the home of Carlsberg (the Pilsener). The Danes are quite happy to share this national keypoint with any visitors: within 15 minutes, my friendly neighbourhood concierge was pointing me in the direction of the nearby Carlsberg festival. And, shame, the Danes and tourists were quite happy to partake in these hops, at the ‘longest bar in the world’, Nyhavn. Inebriated folk in Nyhavn were still friendly and happy (would we expect any less?). One happy, if slightly sozzled gent, Thomas, tried to get my Facebook deets. ‘Cause he likes brown skin.  (Let that melanin glow, sis!)

5. The 3-ply

Because, 2-ply for what?

Ok, even though I did say I wouldn’t write about touristy things, if you ever find yourself in those parts, make sure to check out the following:

• Tivoli Gardens—the 175 year old wonderland that served as the inspiration for Disneyland.
• Belgian waffles—trust me on this one. The place is called Vaffelbageren. You’re welcome.

• Any pork dish—the trust issue comes up again. Be it the frankfurters, the famous pork sandwich, or a mondo platter of pork ribs, you won’t be sorry to sample the happy pig.

• The Llama Restaurant—Mexican cuisine in the heart of Copenhagen. Décor (including decorated skulls) on point, food even more so.

And the happy pigs? The meat industry takes pig and cow welfare seriously, so the animals are left to roam open fields as much as possible, with the odd stable thrown in here and there. There’s actually an entire website on this, if you’re interested.

That’s my random take on the Danes. A deeper socio-political discussion still needs to be had on how a country takes close to 50% tax from its citizens, has free higher education for those (5.5 million or so) citizens, and remains one of the top 3 happiest countries in the world (they must have vats and vats of gold. Or oil). But since I’m still on vacay, I’m not going to wade into that mess.

How about you? To which city/province/country did you last travel, and what did you learn from its citizens? Let a sister know!

P.S. Girl, them Danish brothers…Swoon alert plus plus😍!

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