On the hunt for that big thing

Is it possible to find the best place to live in the world? Don’t ask me; I just started to look.

Between flights in Frankfurt.

So I guess it finally happened. After years of talking about it, I am now sitting at the airport in Frankfurt.

I may have bad skin, a ‘triangle of sadness’-wrinkle that would impress Ruben Östlund, and a one-way ticket to Palma de Mallorca. But I also have the naïve belief that there is one place in the world that could technically suit me better than all the others.

My only task — here and now — is to find it.

Recently, I quit my job, sold my apartment and stowed everything I own in three small bags. Now I plan to travel the world until I find that one place.
I understand that it can take some time — maybe even years — but that doesn’t matter. As when it comes to love, some things are simply worth looking for.

A short while ago, my old electricity company called and wanted me back.

– I hope it works out, the seller replied when I explained that I no longer have a home.

I am leaving Sweden with an enormous high aim:

In the coming months, I want to discover what I have yet not found in 41 years.

I want to find a place so good that I don’t want to leave once I can.

I want to find a place where warmth and compassion trump pragmatism and selfishness.

I want to find a place where I can get wildly inspired by the people I share my time with.

Then, it wouldn’t be wrong if the location’s weather also turned out to be pleasant.

I will address my task in the following way: apart from the first two locations, I will spend one month per place.

While visiting, I will try the people, the culture, and the way of life in that particular place and imagine how it would be to live there permanently.

I don’t expect to hit the jackpot immediately, and even if I do, I will continue for a while until the urge to get back gets too big.

You are very welcome to come along. I gladly accept both cheering words and advice along the way.

Maybe you know Palma de Mallorca as the back of your hand?

Or what I should shout if I am being robbed on my mobile phone on Avenida Paulista?

Few know everything, but everyone knows something.

In return, I can promise posts on my ongoing hunt. I am planning to write one story per weekend. I sincerely hope this will help me and simultaneously inspire others to change their lives.

I expect the coming months to be both enjoyable and exhausting. I will likely face loneliness and confusion, doubt and love. But I will also be in the middle of discovering myself and my future life.

I realize that the stakes are high, and I am leaving with a quest that makes the risks steep.

But so is, of course, the potential reward.

In situations like this, insurance companies tend to opt out. Significant, uncontrollable forces are undoubtedly at play. And when the shit hits the fan, they usually bring forward their specific term for this particular occasion:

Force Majeure.