A week ago, we returned from our summer vacation: This year, just like four years ago, when there weren’t many other options due to COVID, we went for 1.5 weeks to my grandmother’s vacation apartment in Lübeck-Travemünde.

Unlike the last few summer vacations where we always took the train, this year we borrowed a Hyundai i20 Hybrid (whatever difference Hybrid makes in that car, we didn’t notice it, not even in fuel consumption). First, we went to Bad Segeberg to pick up the keys from my grandmother, then we continued to Travemünde.

The weather was quite variable, but unlike many parts of Germany, it wasn’t too hot. The rain showers usually didn’t last long.

This vacation was especially relaxing for my girlfriend after her exam paper, and for me too, as work had been exhausting. Relaxing, along with some easy-going trips and activities, did us both good.

We were lucky with our timing. It was the last week before the school holidays in Schleswig-Holstein started, and also a week before Travemünder Woche, one of the world’s largest sailing events. So it wasn’t too crowded.

We took walks on the Priwall peninsula, went on a boat ride across the Pötenitzer Wiek, visited the Grenzhus in Schlagsdorf (since the former inner-German border wasn’t far away), and went to Lübeck, Eutin, and Plön. We also revisited the sand sculpture exhibition that we had enjoyed last time.

On the way back, we stayed with my grandmother from Friday to Sunday and attended an afternoon performance of the Karl May Festival on Saturday. The sun was blazing, but it was nice to see the staging of Winnetou II again after not being there for several years.

Back home, I unfortunately caught a cold the next day. But what cheers me up is that this time it happened after the vacation and not like last time, when we had to cut the vacation short and go home sick!

P.S.: In 2020, I wrote about the poor mobile reception in the vacation apartment. This year, it was very different. Whether it was because the holidays hadn’t started yet or the network had just improved, I don’t know, but with a mobile router, the data connection wasn’t noticeably slower than at home.