When we returned to Germany on 26.04.2022 and landed in Munich shortly before 7 o'clock in the morning, we wanted to get straight back on the Thai plane and return to the warmth. Germany was cold and grey and did not seem very inviting to us. At least this time, the immigration had worked without any special incidents.
Different from when we returned in March 2020, when I was initially refused entry to Germany due to the my Third World Passport from the Alpine Republic of Austria and Alexandra had only managed to get me into the country of my tax obligations by presenting a marriage certificate and registration certificate. So this time I marched through and we picked up a car key at Sixt. A Japanese station wagon with plenty of space awaited us. Get in and drive off. Or so we thought.
The car wouldn't start. That's what you really don't need at the end of a long-haul flight. A broken car. It just beeped funny. We couldn't quite imagine Sixt giving out a broken car and looked perplexed at the many colourful ads. For me, it was my first experience with an Asian-made car. In Asia, we were only on scooters. Maybe that's why it seemed so colourful to me.
We have driven many different cars in our lives but have never failed with the starting process. At some point, my great wife suggested that we just press the accelerator. Completely unexpectedly, we made a big, but completely silent leap out of the parking space and were lucky to be alone on the parking deck. A hybrid! We could have thought of it earlier.
After a moment of embarrassment at our cluelessness, we laughed ourselves silly and made our way towards Erlangen. Since a rental car must be returned with a full tank, we went to a gas station. There we experienced the next moment of frightening ignorance. How do you open the fuel filler flap? Where did the Japanese hide the release for it? In the end, Google helped us. It was hard to believe.
The first days in Germany were, as always, marked by administrative matters, general doctor's visits and, above all, meeting family and friends. We were in Asia for more than six months and had a lot to tell and catch up on.
The summer in Europe became an emotional rollercoaster for us in every respect. In the past six months we had spent a lot of time thinking about our living situation. We had realised that we wanted to live differently. We wanted to be free. Our conclusion-finding process of living a nomadic life in the future was already exciting.
It took us a while to really realise that in the future we would be living without a flat, without a permanent home with our own furniture, wardrobes filled with our clothes, with our familiar bed, kitchen and shelves filled with pictures of family and cherished books and all sorts of bits and pieces.
What we wanted was maximum freedom and the flexibility to move out and live anywhere in the world at any time. In this respect, a fixed residence only hinders. The thought of dissolving the flat, selling or giving away all the furniture and putting only the most important things in a few boxes in a rented storage unit was alienating and liberating at the same time. It felt tremendously exciting.
But there was another aspect. We were not living alone, after all. We still had a child with us. Even though Ben has been grown up for long and our many and long journeys meant that we passed for part-time parents at best, the conversations with him were not entirely easy for us. Not that he made it difficult for us. On the contrary, he was very supportive.
We still felt bad and saw ourselves as parents who didn't just want to push the child out of the nest, but directly tipped the entire nest off the tree. And sometimes we imagined Ben sitting lonely on a bare branch and looking around sadly because there was no longer a home there. Many conversations and energetic support for the planned move-out gradually eased our tension. Once that was settled, we got down to closing up everything and gave notice to terminate our rental agreement by the end of October.
Since we had unusually great landlords in Gabi and Stefan Schulz, it was really hard for us to talk to these two wonderful people. In fact, we all regretted our decision a little and were all a bit sad when we handed over the flat. Practically at the same time, Ben and we left this picture-perfect flat in October after almost five years. Again, we had to let go of a child. Although it was the second time, it was hard for me again.
I enjoyed the time with the children very much and loved living with them for a long time. And letting them go made me sad every time. But at the same time I was happy for them and also for us. It meant more freedom for everyone. Thank God Ben feels very comfortable in his new apartment and has now created his own home there.
We, on the other hand, took advantage of the now very popular temporary living models and moved into a furnished apartment from Book-It. on the recommendation of our landlord Stefan. A great model supported by very committed employees of Sebastian Gietl and under the team leadership of Kerstin Fröde. It's a perfect fit for us and we will continue to use it in the future. We stayed there very comfortably and absolutely satisfied until our departure for Asia in November.