I’m also going on vacation again this year between Edgenow and Edgewitz
The reader may think that my life revolves around mobile network coverage, mobile phone charging options and card payments. That’s true, well – at least only partially. Anyway, I’m on vacation.
I see the advantage of a holiday in a tent that I have to manage the battery charge of the mobile phone carefully. Electrons (at least those on the right side of the voltage gradient) remain valuable this year, and since I need them to check the weather or the way, for example, I am much less tempted to just check e-mails.
But first things first: The Spreewald is beautiful, the weather is only rainy for the first two days, and since the daily weather forecast on the cell phone promises at least no thunderstorms and the sky will soon clear up, the puddles on the meadow in front of the tent hardly spoil the good mood . The rivers in the Spreewald are numerous, we have a map (with sides coated against the water) with us. The mobile phone is hardly needed for orientation with the canoe on the water and can usually remain in the paddle bag, since thankfully there are often signs with the names of the river.
On the day when a son paddles ahead in the evening and then – as actually agreed and expected – is not at the bivouac when we get there, I get a little nervous because I notice that he has his mobile phone in my paddling bag – he is therefore without a map, without a mobile phone, without warm clothing and without food. I try not to imagine how one can get lost in the Spree’s flows without a map and other aids; but don’t think of a pink elephant. In any case, there are a few thrillers that are based around this motif, and I’m accordingly happy when he finds himself a little later at the – meanwhile set up – tent; so he just paddled an extra lap because he still had energy. We agree that the next time he takes his cell phone with him on a tour like this to spare my nerves.
We usually get electricity from sockets somewhere on a campsite, sometimes in common rooms:
Photo: A mobile phone is charged in a communal kitchen on a campsite
Sometimes on a terrace:
Photo: A power bank is charged at a socket on a terrace of a bivouac site
We are not the only ones who like to use these possibilities for cell phones or power banks.
Photo: Another two cell phones plugged into a socket in a communal kitchen on a campsite
The temptation to look at e-mails is diminished this year by the lack of mobile phone internet, as well as by the lack of battery charge. That surprises me, in my subjective perception mobile phone internet has improved significantly in recent years, even in remote locations. But up to here, after Brandenburg, word has obviously not gotten around.
I also downloaded a few reading samples onto my Kindle at home. For one, I would like to read the whole book after the reading sample, but due to the lack of mobile internet I can’t download the whole e-book via the cell phone hotspot.
Screenshot: Amazon tells me that this doesn’t work without the internet
Calling up the weather report on your cell phone every day also involves a bit of waiting and usually several attempts.
Screenshot: The weather app is also reluctant to make its forecasts without internet
And paying at the campsite, well, this year it’s often only possible with cash.
Photo: Cash only
Which surprises me, since the prices for overnight stays in campgrounds aren’t even that low and as a result we’re on the paddle boats with several hundred euros in cash – an unfamiliar feeling for me.
(Molinarius)