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Cooking on camping trips – for some it´s necessary and inevitable, for other it´s the highlight of the day. Anyhow, we all agree we need to eat something and in this new post I´ve put together a list with descriptions of the equipment we use for cooking on camping and overland trips. From pots to stoves and other little things. Maybe some of you get some new ideas.
Cooking on camping trips can be a nightmare for many and many think it is close to impossible to cook something more than a bowl of spaghetti or scrambled eggs on a small gas or electric stove outside in the nature. But I assure you, with a little creativity and imagination, you can cook almost anything, especially if you have a small fridge and the possibility to make a camp fire. We like to cook and even more so we like to eat. So we make sure we prepare good and tasty meals also while camping and on road trips and not just at home. Even if it takes more time and energy. Based on our experiences, I´ve put together this post about what we cook and eat for breakfasts, lunches & dinners and snacks in between. You might get some new ideas for your next camping over overland adventure.
While physically still trapped in out small apartment, our thoughts are with new overland adventures which will hopefully take place at least in the summer if not before. Finally I found the time to write a little bit more about how and what we cook on our road trips and over and travels – here is a post about which food we stock up on before we leave and what we buy along the way.
Moving abroad is a big thing. I don`t mean short-term moves as in student exchanges for a year, job contracts for 2 years on the other side of the world and similar. Those can be quite awesome actually. You have just enough time to emerge yourself into new cultures, embrace the unknown, soak up everything and return home with unforgettable experiences. No, no, here I´m talking about moving abroad – forever. I´ve written these lines based on my own experiences while living in Germany for over 9 years now. Therefore it is very personal and we cannot generalize it, but I´m sure many of others living abroad feel similar sometimes.
Holidays ín the great outdoors are a good counterweight to our everyday busy city life. Also for us. On camping holidays and trips we spend the whole day outside on fresh air, surrounded by nature offering us endless possibilities for different activities. The usage of electronic devices drops to an absolute minimum, you and your kids make a bunch of new friends, you grow closer as a family and learn to enjoy the little, non-material things. This post is for everyone who is going camping for the first time, as well as for experienced campers – maybe you get new ideas. I´ve written about the following topics: how to choose and buy the right tent, camping equipment (sleeping, cooking, free time, personal hygiene & wardrobe and other useful things), camping with kids, wild camping, choosing your destination, packing, choosing the best place to set up your tent, safety & dangers and what to do when you return home.
I´ve published this post a while ago, when Lu was still much younger and have updated it now that we have more travel experiences. At the moment we have a good balance of travelling just us two and travelling with Lu as a family, so the difference is even more present sometimes. But he´s also 8 years old now and a very big boy already so we have no problems what so ever. Honestly we also never had many to start with. I´ve written this post with the intention to make you laugh so please don´t take it too personally. But, there is surely some truth in in it as well and some of you might relate to some situations described below. I suggest you read first the “without the kids” side and then click on the right side for the “with the kids” version.
Slovene coast is, besides my home town Ljubljana and the mountainous area in Kranjska Gora & around, one of my favourite parts of Slovenia. I´ve spend lots of time here during my University times and got to know the coastal places pretty well back then. Surely, things have changed in the last decade, but it is still my happy place and we visit it every time we drive back home from Germany. My absolute favourite spots are Piran and Sečovlje salt pans, but I assure you, there are many more wonderful corners to explore and enjoy – despite the fact the total lenght of the coast is only a bit over 40 kilometres. And no, I did not miss a zero there. There are also lots of beautiful villages and landscapes in the interior of Slovene Istria, but they deserve a separate post (coming up soon). Here I´m presenting the coastal places between Ankaran peninsula (close to the Italian border) and Sečovlje saltpans (close to the border with Croatia).
I can hardly believe it, but I guess we are really stepping into May tomorrow. Weirdly, my days have been longer than long this month but then again, at the same time, April just rushed by. According to our initial plans, we should have been somewhere in the Balkans right now, on our way to Greece or maybe even Turkey. We had planned 2 months time for this, we should have been back to Germany around the beginning of June. Instead, we are of course still in Germany. Mostly at home, sticking to the rules. But to be honest there are more and more moments where it´s all getting a bit too much. Definitely lots of mood swings and ups and downs in our house haha. Anyhow, we´re lucky we are allowed to go out, we are also allowed to drive to other places but not to the coast or other tourist spots. Just because it´s a little bit funny, here´s a line I wrote on Jan 27th: “So far 2020 has been good to us. Still under the influence of the not so positive 2019 events, but there is no other way than forward now and we have to keep moving on and don´t look back.” Hah! No comment.
To be honest, I don´t know exactly what we did this month. The dates and days are all a bit blurred up. Basically not much has changed since the end of March though – schools are closed, we´re still not working, we´re getting fatter every day and we possibly drink too much wine on some days. In the mean time, the nature is wide awake, colouring our neighbourhood into yellow-pinky-green shades, which is quite nice actually. Between all the cooking, eating and blog writing, we´ve surely gone out a little bit too. To our town centre, to the park, to the fields around. Realising it is not all that horrible here, but as I always say – pictures are one thing and living here is another thing. It´s a nice collage thought, isn´t it?
I am more than happy to have this blog, I have to mention it here. I´ve been writing like crazy these past weeks and to be honest it feels very good to do so. I guess it is because this is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of doing something intellectual and feeling useful at the moment. I think I´m also starting to miss a real job routine, since we are not travelling. I never had this feeling the past months, but now that we´re stuck at home it really sucks to do “nothing”. Anyhow, I am very happy so many of you are reading this blog, it gives me the much needed motivation to go on. I have posted 8 NEW POSTS THIS MONTH, 6 of them in English and Slovenian and 2 only on Slovenian as they were collaboration posts. So let´s see which ones I´m talking about, maybe you have missed one or two.
I´m very happy for these 2 special posts which were made with a huge help of sother Slovenian travellers. One is about TRAVELLING IN THE TIMES OF QUARANTINE and the other one about BEST DESTINATIONS FOR WILD CAMPING. As I said, they are only in Slovenian, btu you can still brows the pictures for some inspiration by clicking on the pictures below.
And because we are constanly thinking about food right now and also cooking lots, I made a great food post and called it A CULINARY JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD. Because we love ti eat also on our travels I´ve gathered my favourite dishes from different corners of our globe. By the way, are you already following on Instagram? Lately we´re posting lots of food related things too, since we can´t travel. You can follow @placesandnotes and check out the “cooking” highlight. Click on the picture to read this post.
After 9 years of living in Germany I´ve finally posted a post about BEST HIDDEN GEMS 6 SECRET SPOTS IN GERMANY, including over 15 lesser-known places in the country which will surely impress you. It ´s a good read if you haven´t read it yet. Since I feel my time here is Germany is (hopefully) soon running out, I´ve decided to post a bit more about my current homeland, while I´m still here. In this sense, I wrote about the HARZ NATIONAL PARK which is very close to where we live here in Germany. Read both posts by clicking on the pictures.
And for a good dose of TRAVEL INSPIRATION I wrote a cheerful post about THE BEST SPOTS TO SEE BEAUTIFUL SUNRISES IN THE WORLD. From USA to Australia and much in between. Check it out by clicking on the picture below.
And since nobody still can´t say for sure where and when we will be able to travel in the summer months (I´m relly hoping far away will be an option, but you know, have to have a plan B these days), I´ve put together 2 POSTS ABOUT NEARBY DESTINATIONS. Now, this was meant more for my Slovenian readers obviously, but possibly the rest of Europe can visit these parts soon again too. One is about KRANJSKA GORA & AROUND, a great mountain area in the Julian Alps, and the other one about WHY WE LOVE CROATIA AND WAHT YOU CAN SEE AND DO THERE. Read them by clicking on the pictures.
Kranjska Gora. A famous Slovenian family ski resort and a popular place for day trips and weekend getaways, surrounded by Julian alps and Karavanke mountain range. The place where my parents met. The place where I learned to ski. The place where we bought a family holiday apartment many years ago. The place where I spent all the winter holidays and a big part of the summer ones. The place where, as a student, I studied for my exams on a blanket by the once more peaceful Jasna lake. The place where Lu, my first born, spent most of his kindergarten and school holidays while we were still living in Germany. And the place that has been our home since November 2021, when we moved to Slovenia with Mila. We love it here, in our Kranjska Gora. It gets crowded on weekends, but during the week and early in the mornings we have some places all to ourselves. In this extensive article, I share with you over 20 ideas for a weekend or day trip, interesting locations, hikes, activities and our favorite corners in Kranjska Gora and the surrounding area.
Harz National Park is a wonderful nature reserve stretching over 2 German federal states, Lower Saxony (where we live) and Saxony-Anhalt. Over 90% of this area is covered with lush forests, including bogs, creeks, lakes, rivers, ice age granite rocks. The park is also part of the Natura 2000 network and is well known as the perfect place for hiking, skiing, mountain biking cycling and more. Decades ago, there was a high number of lynx living in the area, now they are trying to increase the numbers with the so-called “Luchsprojekt Harz” programme. It is basically our nature playground, less than an hour away from where we live and in the past 9 years I have visited it many many times. In this mostly flat part of Germany the mountains in Harz NP are practically the first mountains you come across coming from Denmark. But, it is not all just in its natural treasures, there are also lots of charming tows up there and the area is full of historical sites, legends, tales about witches and more. In this post I have gathered most of the best corners of Harz national park and wrote about what you can see and do here. Read more below.
