I have always loved to travel. Part of the appeal of academia was all the travelling. We have the word “flygskäm” in Swedish, but before the word went viral, I had a colleague who questioned my argument that I was just being rational by flying. How was I supposed to resist a €50 ticket to Scotland? How can I ever share my findings in Brussels and still get back to teach? After going on the train with my colleague to Brussels, I realised how fun it is to really plan, travel and go with my colleagues.

That was three years ago. Since then I have increasingly been travelling on the ground for work (but full transparency – still flying to visit family in the U.S. every other year, but have been researching other ways to get there). Flying less has been fun and simplified my decisions. It has influenced my husband, also an avid traveller, to take advantage of the wonderful fact we live in Europe now! It takes longer and I pass up some opportunities, but others open by being true to what I work with and taking the slower way around.