Goodbye Denmark

Our first flights that we had booked back in February were cancelled at the beginning of June. No refund, but we have a credit with the airline that we can use in the next 24 months. They didn't have any flights scheduled until the end of July so I purchased tickets from a different airline. We had already given notice to our landlord so we didn't have any long term accomodations. Shortly
after, those flights were cancelled too. No immediate refund, but details on obtaining a refund will be released in the future. They didn't have flights until August. I called the Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen to get some advice on how to get back to Canada.
They recommended flying out of Amsterdam or from a major city in Germany. And not flying through the UK. So far, the latest tickets I purchased have not been cancelled and we are currently on a train in Germany, wearing facemasks.

Yesterday, we did the final move out inspection of our rental. Marianne came to help me in case there was something I didn't understand and because she was there for the initial inspection before we arrived in Denmark. The owner was impressed with the cleanliness and we agreed on a full damage deposit return, minus the amount for repainting the entire unit. This is a standard in Denmark. Rental units are freshly painted white between each tenant. Renters also have to pay an extra two weeks rent for the landlord to get the rental ready for the new tenants. The damage deposit is extremely high. We had to pay first and last months rent plus the equivalent of five months rent. The landlord is free to use that money to fix the place up. We heard from many people that we would never see that money again. But thankfully, we only have to pay 12,000 kroner for repainting, which is the equivalent of 1.5 months rent for us.
I felt relief after the damage deposit decision had been made, but that feeling quickly disappeared when I received a message last night from our Airbnb host that he had to cancel our booking in Berlin. We were leaving for Berlin this morning so I stayed up late, until about 1:30 with Airbnb, trying to find another host at the last minute. We found a much nicer place and Airbnb paid the difference.

I feel like I am just keeping it all together through some kind of survival instinct. Sometimes I can conciously feel my emotions starting to get near the surface and then they just disappear again. I didn't even cry when I had to say goodbye to Marianne and her boys. Or when I had to say goodbye to our dear friends Jeff and Rachel and their kids. I have never experienced this suppression of feelings so tangibly before. I'm sure I will have a complete meltdown when I make it to Berlin. Or maybe I will stay in Super Woman survival mode until I am back in Lethbridge, in my own house, in my own bed.

Goodbye Gorm, Thorbjørn and my sweet cousin Marianne. I am pretty grateful to have had family like them here to support me. And it was fun getting to know my cousin again as an adult!

Freya and Dean with Jeff and Rachel and their kids Melody and Eli. We were so lucky to have met this awesome family and we had lots of fun staying with them. They are the kind of people that you just love even more the more you get to know them.