Searching the web for experiences for other travellers provides you with long list of what to take care of before you only considering heading for the world. As I mentioned we are not pretty  good in planing a head so we simply made sure, that we were vaccinated for all you can be vaccinated, we quit our jobs and apartment and stored our stuff in the basement of Tom’s mum. But there is one thing that I am pretty concerned about and this is insurance. I am german and I awfully correctly need to make sure that I am ensured for every possibility that you can imagine and I don’t feel well bending the rules.

My first attempt was to sign an travel insurance in Germany. There I know the system and we anyway want to settle there. However, the pure commitment to settle in Germany is not a proper background for any insurance company, meaning without any residence no insurance.

I thought fair enough, them my money will go to a danish company. so I started searching the web for a “rejseforsikring”, but the only thing that popped up was insurances that cover the annual summer holidays for up to 30 days. That’s not really what I need. Despite better knowledge I started to doubt that danish people travel for longer periods.

The trick was to look at the danish version of “the lonely planet”. The recommended a travel insurance. So I checked out “Gouda.dk” and yes this insurance would fit but it required that you own the danish health insurance card also called “yellow card”. I owned this card, but I was aware of, that I have to give it back, when I leave Denmark. So I called them.

S: Hi, I would like to sign a health insurance, but I read that this requires that I own the yellow card. I am german and have to give it back, when I leave Denmark.

G: But you do have the card now?

S: Yes.

G: That’ s no problem, as long as you have the card when you sign the insurance.

Than the day came, when Tom got suspicious and checked out the insurance coverage and stumbled over the statement: “furthermore the transport back to Denmark is covered”. Well, that’s probably nice for all with a permanent residence in Denmark, but we are germans. So we went to the international “borgerservice”.

B: You are leaving Denmark? Sure then you have deregister and hand in your yellow card.

S: OK, but how does it work, in case we are transported back to Denmark.

B: I don’t know. I would call the health insurance company an ask them. You don’t have to hand in your card today.

So I called the health insurance company:

G: Hmm, so yes you are covered without the yellow card, but we can only transport you back to Denmark. However, that shouldn’t be a problem. You only have to register yourself again.

S: I guess you don’t know, whether I simply can register again?

G: No, but I would recommend to call “borgerservice”, they should know.

So I called “borgerservice”.

B: This is a simple case. You are leaving Denmark so you have to deregister yourself. In case you are coming back you have to go to “statsforvaltning” and they will check, whether your residence permit is still valid. In case it is still valid you can register again.

So I went researching regarding residence permit rules. This resulted in the following answer:

“You will lose your right of residence in case you give up your residence and leave  Denmark, if you deregister yourself, or in case you reside more than 12 months outside of Denmark.

????? For the first I won’t pay rent in Copenhagen, if I don’t be in Copenhagen and I have to deregister myself if I am outside of Denmark for more than six months. Might be just me, but I don’t get how these rules work. So I called the “borgerservice” again:

B: No you can’t register at a friends place and anyway YOU HAVE TO DEREGISTER if you stay outside of Denmark for more than 6 months. Also danes have to do this.

S: But how do the rights for health insurance work, if I am not registered in Denmark?

B: Your are german. So I guess you will be insured in Germany.

S: No I can only be insured, if I have a residence in Germany.

B: But are you not registered in Germany.

S: No I can only register in Germany, if I have a residence in Germany, but I won’t have this because I am going to travel.

B: But you must be registered somewhere.

S: No obviously I don’t have to.

B: Yes, but if you are not registered you will according to the EU law only have the right for acute treatment in Denmark. I would recommend that you call your health insurance again.

This somehow was slowly turning into a never-ending loop. Friends recommend simply not to get that sick, that you have to be transported home, but you know out of principe there must be i rule for cases like that (a bit german ?). I called the health insurance again:

S: Might it be possible that you can transport us back to Germany? There we could get a insurance the day we come back.

G: No sorry, we can only transport you back to Denmark, but I can see that this is a problem. Let me talk to a college.

1 min

2 min

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G: So I think we found out how it is working. In case you are transported to Denmark you will have according to the EU law the right for acute treatment. We will only transport you back in such cases. So if you need an operation, you will get this. The only thing is, that Denmark might keep you Denmark in the following three months.

Why they would like to keep me in Denmark, who knows, but I am pretty sure I would find a sofa to sleep on. Knowing all the rules I very hopeful that we won’t get so ill that we will need them anyway.

To get an international drivers licence when you have a german drivers licence and no german residence was definitely even as funny, but that is another story and shall be told another time.