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We paid seven dollars for a cup of coffee this week. It was a very small cup, at least to our American-sized brains. We sat there waiting for someone to bring the rest of it.
Nobody did.
Everyone told us we would love Copenhagen. Friends said it, strangers said it, and one commenter said it with three exclamation points. We believed them, so we showed up ready to fall for the place. We've spent our days walking the city between training runs, and it is clean and friendly and easy on the eyes. We just haven't found our rhythm here.
When a place doesn't land, most of us reach for one of two exits. We decide the place is overrated, or we decide something must be wrong with us.
We're trying a third option: asking why.
Part of the answer is money. Denmark taxes nearly everything at 25 percent, and the people pouring our coffee earn a good wage. We can respect that and still wince at the receipt. Not long ago, we stood in a grocery store in Sweden behind a long line of Danes, each with a pile of candy, about to hop the border back to Denmark. We thought it was funny at the time. We get it now.
Part of the answer might be us. We showed up with tired legs from marathon training and a careful eye on every price tag, and that changes how a city feels. We can't tell yet how much of this is Copenhagen and how much is us.
You don't have to love every place you visit. Some places will just be fine, and fine is allowed. But we've watched people leave a city, a project, or a hard season the moment it turned uncomfortable, or pricey, or different from the story they were sold. They never learned the why.
Leaving is easy. Staying long enough to understand takes some grit.
So we're staying. Copenhagen may win us over, or it may not, and we'd like to know either way.
P.S. Is there a place everyone said you'd love that never quite landed? Hit reply and tell us where, and whether you ever figured out why.
🚴 RAGBRAI 2027: 6 of 25 spots are already taken
A week ago we told you we're riding across Iowa in 2027 and bringing anyone who wants to come along. Six people have already said yes.
We also have news. Not only is Litespeed loaning out bikes to those who don’t have one, Matador is now an official partner, so everyone who signs up gets a Matador bag filled with other goodies and freebies from even more partners that will be announced soon!
We'll walk you through the whole thing, from registering with RAGBRAI to camping together each night. If you've been on the fence, there are 19 spots left.
Sara takes her Trtl everywhere. It's her all-time favorite travel pillow, and she doesn't leave without it. It looks like a soft scarf, but there's a support built inside that keeps your head from flopping over when you doze off.
Trtl just turned 13, and they're celebrating with 20% off their pillows and accessories and 30% off bundles. The sale ends October 6, so you have about a week.
Lufthansa Gets Sassy With Customer On Social Media, Divides The Internet A Lufthansa customer said he'd waited months for a payout the airline had already approved, so he complained on X. Lufthansa's reply told him repeating himself wouldn't change anything. Millions of people saw it, and the airline apologized the next day. Moral of the story: sleep on it before you hit send.
Fat Bear Week 2026 You clicked this one more than any other link last week, so here's the finish. There are 16 bears this year instead of 12, and the champion is crowned Tuesday
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Want flight deals worth booking and travel updates that don't sound like marketing?
Join 10,000+ readers getting Field Notes. We're full-time travelers finding deals we'd actually book, bookmarking things worth your time, and writing honest updates from the road. You get the deals, the links, and the real stories—weekly.