European Road trip

Traveling after March 2020 has almost been impossible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So this trip was not planned and almost didn’t happen at all. As many I have been working from home during this pandemic and during this time been apart of a major project delivery which resulted in very long working weeks, lots of overtime and a fair bit of stress. As we went live with a new product our customer also wanted people working through the summer months so we always had developers ready to handle any issues. This meant that I took a later holiday than normal (August)

The COVID‑19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2). The disease was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.

– Wikipedia

The need to get away, face masks and other stuff

As I been working flat out for months to get my current project delivered, and been “stuck” at home me and my better half really had a feeling of claustrophobia. We love our little house and usually you cant pry us out of it. But as for everybody this year has been special due to the COVID-19 pandemic so when our holidays finally arrived and most countries started opening up their borders we decided to take a road trip through Europe and visit family in France. This still felt as a safe option as we were in control of traveling and did not require us to pack in to airports. An other safety factor is that our family lives in the middle of nowhere in France so it was not like we were going to the middle of Paris.

This is a trip we often do but each time we pick new places to stay which is why we love road trips, we are in total control of our journey. prvious trips has taken us to Celle and Bremen in Germany, Nancy in France and Luxembourg city. This years stops were Freiburg im Breisgau , La Creuse region, Colmar, Koblenz and finally Lübeck.

So as soon all borders opened up we packed the car and sped down to Germany, and lo and behold there wasn’t like a zombie apocalypse when we left our own borders. The only difference was the requirement to wear a face-mask in public places.

Germany

Freiburg

A very pretty little place in the south of Germany only a stone throw from the French border. surrounded with the Black forest. Biggest disappointment was that nowhere served a black forest gateau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest_gateau.

Koblenz

We were hoping for more wine  country as this is where the Moselle (Moselle wine) river meets the Rhein river but Koblenz is quite industrial and not very pretty in my opinion but you can always take a drive down the Moselle river to the wine district.

Lübeck

One of our absolute favourit places in Germany. Right at the top of the country It sits on the Northern shores of the Baltic sea and is the perfect blend between modern and old… and also this is where marsipan is made!

France

La Creuse

During August this in land region can get very hot, like this year, but there are a few lake that can help you keep cool. There are some very pretty little places here and one of our favourtites is Abusson.

Colmar

Right at the French-German border is this little gem of a place. this can easily be one of the prettiest little towns in Europe and it is a very friendly litte place

Summary

As someone who usually love spending time at home, this years situation really made me want to travel to see something different than my own home office. This pandemic has been horrible in every way but I think that if everybody uses common sense you can still travel safely.

Oh yeah and one last thing. if you are required to wear a face-mask then wear it properly. this is not the way to wear it!