Today, November 1, 2020, I arrived in Berlin, Germany.
After a six-month delay due to covid-19 travel restrictions, I walked off one of the last planes to arrive at Berlin’s Tegel airport, which is due to permanently close one week from today.
The last time I was in the city was January 2020. I was invited to an intimate dinner party for New Year’s Eve where I met some wonderful new people, had quality conversation over drinks, ate a delicious home cooked meal, and watched the fireworks exploding all over the city. I only spent a week in the city during that trip, but that night was one of the highlights and I left Berlin having made an important decision: I am going to make this city my new home and I am going to do so this year.
That was the whole point of my last visit, which I scheduled immediately after “officially” ending a long-term relationship in October 2019. I had been to Berlin many times over the past 16 years, but this time I wanted to visit while considering the question, can I actually live here? Given the option to live wherever I want, is Berlin where I really want to be? Sure, I’ve always loved Berlin. Whenever people discover how much I’ve traveled, they usually ask, “what’s your favorite city?”. The answer has always been Berlin, without hesitation. But since loving to visit a city is different from loving the same city while living there, I approached my last trip from a different perspective. And I still liked what I saw.
I returned home in January and immediately went to work on the move. I talked to immigration and tax lawyers, relocation experts, close friends and family. I hired a relocation agent to assist me with all the complicated details of moving to and getting settled in a new country. Then I made all the necessary preparations with the original plan to depart San Diego on April 29, which was subsequently postponed to August 1, which was again postponed until today. Of course, covid-19 upended life as we all know it, and 2020 has been the year of delayed plans and flexible timelines. So while the move was delayed and the global pandemic is still as much a concern here as it was back in the US, it was time for me to move on with my plans and my life.
So here I am. In Berlin. My new home.
