A TOUR OF HAPPINESS    

July 26, 2010

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Happiness is viral. Or it is at least temporarily contagious, as I learned during a recent trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
 The Nordic peoples aren't widely thought of as fun-loving -- they're generally considered to be dark and dour, and also lacking an ear for music. But a recent Gallup poll on happiness, published on Forbes.com, debunks most of that popular myth.
 A survey of 155 nations reveals that Denmark has the highest percentage of people who feel satisfied with their lives (82 percent), followed by Finland (75 percent), Norway (69 percent), and Sweden (68 percent). Among the North and South American countries, Costa Rica is in the first place (63 percent), with Canada in second (62 percent) and Panama in third (58 percent). The United States came in fifth (57 percent), with Mexico close behind (52 percent).
 Happiness, as measured by Gallup, does not necessarily involve laughing and dancing. It's based on how satisfied people are with their lives, taking into account such factors as family, friends, employment, health care, schools, crime, stability of government, corruption and the general perception of well-being.
 Citizens of the Scandinavian countries do pay high taxes and young people there have problems finding good jobs. But my weeklong tour left me with a deeply favorable impression of the overall lifestyle.
 Only a few hours after I'd landed, on vacation after the past few months of reporting on the ongoing attempts to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and American efforts to find sources of renewable energy, I was riding a bicycle over the perfectly signalized and safe roads in Copenhagen. I wasn't alone. Half a million Danish people travel around the capital by bicycle -- a full third of the population.
 I live in Miami, which has a population almost equal to Copenhagen's, and there are no paths only for cyclists. If you try to bicycle to work in Miami, you put your life on the line.
 So I was surprised when I saw that every area of Copenhagen is open to bicycles, from the Tivoli Gardens to a commune known as Christiana. My only disappointment came when I biked to Kastellet to admire the world-famous sculpture of the Little Mermaid, only to find it was on loan to China. (Can you imagine loaning the sculpture of David, or even the Mexican Diana, to the Chinese? That's what I call a souvenir.)
 The great news is that Copenhagen's example can be reproduced -- to learn more, I recommend www.copenhagenize.com. The charming, peerless city of Stockholm, Sweden, can also be visited by bicycle. You can easily ride between the islands, wending your way over bridges and along well-designed roads that are rendering obsolete what must be the most expensive taxi cabs on the planet. It was exciting visiting on two wheels the city that is the setting for Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy.
 Of course, even paradise has its flaws. My bicycle, rented in Stockholm, was stolen because I didn't chain it properly when I left it in front of the Vasa museum (next to an imposing Viking ship). But the thief was a decent sort. After the robbery, he anonymously returned the bicycle a few hours later and, kindly, didn't charge me for it.
 Many European cities have a vast system that allows the visitor to hire a bicycle in one part of town and return it in another. It's a relatively cheap method of transportation and works quite well -- unless, of course, your bike is stolen.
 In Oslo, where the art of silence is being perfected, bicycles are an antidote to the noise and pollution of private cars. The ride from the house of playwright Henrik Ibsen to the Nobel Museum in the port, and then from there to the royal palace, takes only a few minutes: all you need is a little bit of kick in your legs.
 My fascination with the Scandinavian countries goes beyond two wheels, a well-oiled chain and a handlebar with a bell. Everywhere in the region you can see the efforts to switch to renewable energy; recycling is no longer a pillar of the environmental movement, but a ordinary part of life; organic food is quickly replacing fast food (even the meals served on airplanes); and technology seems to have only one purpose: to make the cities more livable, easier to walk around, and also more bicycle-friendly.
 As if all this wasn't enough, the Scandinavian summer offered me the gift of endless evenings, with natural light till midnight. Because of my work, I am rarely able to enjoy the hours after sunset, but on this vacation I had some of the longest and most pleasant evenings of my life.
 It's true -- my experiences in Denmark, Sweden and Norway would be very different in the dark and frozen winter. For now, however, I am absolutely convinced that if you visit the happiest countries of the world, some might rub off on you, and then you can bring it home and share it with friends and family.

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