International migration and the dependency on flying

This story is a part of theFLYWELL project. Read more of our stories here. 

 

I guess my motivation was twofold – I knew there were places where you could earn a lot better for the same type of work, and I wanted to experience adventure; I was always fascinated by exploring new places.

During my sociological studies at the University of Gdańsk, deciding where to move became increasingly relevant. For rather unexplainable reasons, I have always had unique, positive feelings about Scandinavia. To confront these feelings with facts, I became a “free listener” at Scandinavian studies at my university. I chose subjects related to society and culture, and I was amazed by what I learned about: egalitarian, inclusive Scandinavian societies passionate about the outdoors.

Choice of Norway was purely intuitive. When the choice was made, my partner Michal and I began learning Norwegian, and a year later, we drove to Norway to volunteer on a farm and learn the language in practice. The plan was that, after the season, I would move back to Gdańsk to complete my studies, and Michal would find a permanent job in Norway. However, he was not lucky in getting such a job and instead moved to Germany, where he was offered a satisfying position.

The decision which generated hundreds of flights

For two years, while Michal lived in Germany and I lived in Gdańsk, I visited him every 2–4 weeks. Even though I was unaware of the harmfulness of these flights to the environment, even today, now knowing, I think it would be difficult to give up any of them. Then, when I finished my master’s degree, I got the wonderful opportunity to pursue my doctoral project at Nord University in Bodø. After a few months, Michal also moved here from Germany.

My job generated more flights – I conducted interviews in Oslo and Bergen; attended conferences in Barcelona, Warsaw, and Lisbon; and took a course in Paris. Would I resign from any of these flights? In the first place, I could resign from the flights to the conferences. The conferences could easily be organised online. I can see the added value of personal participation only in the interviews I conducted; I think this was particularly important for both me and the people I interviewed.

Further, my and my partner’s international migration generated not only our own numerous flights but also dozens of flights among our families and friends who visited us. In the era of cheap, direct Wizz Air flights between Bodø and Gdańsk, we were visited at least once a month. Now, with there no longer being direct flights between Bodø and Gdańsk and the cost of travel being much higher, the number of visits has decreased to about five a year. Flight prices are an important factor that can be used to change flight frequency.

Today, being much more aware of the negative effects of flights on the environment, I feel that it is not appropriate to fly so often. But at the same time, I feel helpless in this matter. I can't imagine giving up the relationships we maintain thanks to meetings with family and friends. Or refusing our acquaintances willing to visit us by saying, “No, don’t come, because you will leave too big a carbon footprint”. We are grateful for all the visits from family, friends and acquaintances. However, we try to minimize the number of flights we take, and I hope that we can make up for this one day in our future small, ecological, sustainable dream farm. Nevertheless, in the meantime, our social life is heavily dependent on flights.