Nothing Like a Dane: A real-life search for hygge in Denmark

The Danish concept of hygge is a wonderful thing. Even if most fail miserably when they try to pronounce or explain its true essence. Unless you’re a Viking of course.

As Keri stood in the departure lounge of Auckland International Airport with her four-month-old baby, searching for her flight on the board, hygge wasn’t on her radar. In hindsight she agrees it probably should have been.

But she’d never imagined a chance encounter with a Dane in a crowded bar in her home city of Wellington would lead her here, a mother, about to circle the globe, with no knowledge of when she'd return home.

Eighteen thousand kilometres away a new life awaited her in Denmark. A country where babies sleep outside, the word for bread is seemingly impossible to pronounce and a country in which immigration challenges abound.

A witty observer of cultural nuances, Keri reveals the day-to-day realities of a New Zealander living her best life in Denmark. From integration interrogations to rye bread misdemeanors, Nothing Like a Dane provides a humorous and heartfelt insight into creating a new life in a faraway land.

And what did she learn? That it’s not all hygge and pastries. Even in Denmark.