Last week I read about Boom Technology’s plans to bring supersonic passenger travel back to the masses. The company’s design for a 40-seat plane that can fly 1,451 mph means the seven-hour New York-to-Heathrow flight would take around three and a half hours. The news struck me as incredible – as I was reading it from my hotel room in Copenhagen – just hours after landing from a JKF to LHR to CPH trek.
We undoubtedly live in a fast-paced, globalized world. Our boutique firm has worked with clients based in England and Switzerland. Over social media, I recently discovered that one of my UK-based Facebook friends had used our client’s acrylic material for his band’s VIP passes. The discovery lead to social media posts for our client and an interesting use case. If it hadn’t been for Facebook, this individual and I wouldn’t be “friends” and we never would have known about the passes.
These are remarkable times. The speed at which news travels and information is shared can make your head spin. While in Copenhagen, I was caught off guard by how many Danes wanted to discuss the US presidential election. After detecting the American accent and asking in which state I reside, without fail, the conversation turned to the 2016 race for the White House. From bikers and artists to photographers and comedians, each person I spoke with enthusiastically wanted to talk politics.
One gentleman told me that Danes are, in a way, culturally raised totally opposite of Americans. They are institutionally encouraged through the school system and the very regulated “ad-free” national TV media to be open and actively discuss politics, society and religion.
It seems the Danes are following our presidential election with an astonishing fervor in part because of Bernie Sanders. The Democrat has pointed to Denmark as a model for his vision of an ideal American future. I was only in the country for a
week, but the people are happy and fit, cities are spotless, babies are left in strollers on the sidewalk while parents dine in cafés and I only heard a police or ambulance siren three times. They are clearly doing something right in Denmark.
“If you visit here another time maybe consider letting people know you are also ‘feeling the Bern’ because anything else in this 85 percent socialist Copenhagen at the moment makes people a bit uncomfortable around Americans I notice these days … better go with the flow,” read an email I received this week from one of the people I met in Denmark. He also pointed me to Placeavote, a US-based site that lets you read, debate and vote on every bill before the United States Congress.
I value traveling outside of the United States to gain perspectives such as these. We’re all part of a global community and the amount of information available to almost anyone around the world empowers us all.
What insights have you gained from others living in a foreign country?