Logbucheintrag 03 (english)

Slow down. When Lukas & Jenny announced that FRIDAY rented a VW T3 Westfalia camping edition, which was built in 1985 & – and that we, the FRIDAY team, can use it for short trips, instant excitement kicked in.

My girlfriend and I always wanted to go for a camping trip like this.Last summer we even thought about quitting our jobs and tour around Europe for a while. This was just around the time when I was hired as a Backend Engineer, me and my girlfriend relocated to Berlin and our plan of traveling around Europe was postponed (for now anyway). Since that moment eleven months have passed and it has been a very exciting ride so far.Not as slow as with the Bulli, but at least as enjoyable.

We were the lucky ones who were able to reserve a weekend slot. The plan was to pick up the car on Saturday afternoon, spend two nights on a campsite and return on Monday just before the first meeting was about to start.

We were looking for something within a 100 km radius around Berlin. We quickly decided to visit the Wurlsee - one of the many lakes in the nature reservoir Uckermärkische Seen. A campsite was quickly found too.  

I've already heard from Steffen, that it is not possible to drive faster than 90 km/h, which seemed weird at first, but totally made sense in reality. As this was the oldest car either my girlfriend or I ever drove, we approached the car with a lot of respect. But just after a few minutes, we already felt very comfortable and as the flurry has passed, we started to enjoy it. 

Driving on the motorway felt rather strange from the get-go. As soon as we hit 70 km/h we were hesitant to go any faster. So we quickly excluded the motorways and left to continue our journey on a calmer road. This was probably beneficial for all drivers in cars, who wanted to go at a higher speed than 70 km/h - so, everybody. 

And what a great decision this was!We enjoyed going at a slower pace. No need to rush any faster and we had plenty of time to enjoy the countryside. While strolling through tree alleys and passing through small villages and fields, we used the precious time to talk and joke around – quality time which we often do not find in the evenings or even on weekends.

Without any hurry, we were able to get of the track and stop at a small lake in the forest for our first swim on this trip.

After a cosy night in the van, we woke up from bright sunlight and chirping. What a lovely start into a new day. No plans, nothing to worry about, the things which usually distract us from actually relaxing were nowhere to be found. On Monday, we went back to reality, richly blessed with new memories.