Gear and Gadgets

Nov 13, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Thoughts

Behind this picture there are many walks to authorities, waiting times, long drives or fees…

The list is getting harder and harder to read with all the crossed out points. With any other appointment done the head is a little more relieved. Relieved for thinking about the reasons why the points had to be done in the first place…

We can get philosophical another time. Now here are some tangible words on gear and gadgets:

In terms of baggage I stay true to myself, a Deuter fan. As carry-on I chose a Deuter Gigant, which serves as ‘laptop bag’ as well. The main bag is the Deuter Helion 80 (trolley-backpack-duffel-hybrid). But on that more in the future, when it arrives…

Because I want to be there for you abroad and don’t want to misuse my mobile for emails, Skype, Blogger and all that I got myself a laptop. It is an Ultrabook of superior quality… Should be good for some years, right?

In order not to suffer from uncomfortabilty when traveling, the clever one orders himself a traveling pillow. My one is fluffy of course AND it has some velcro to fixate in a way on your neck, that your head doesn’t always fall down sleeping. And now don’t tell me to be afraid of the long flight… ;D

With the credit cards I made use of a highly advertised tipp. That means: A VISA card for free withdrawals and a MasterCard for free payments abroad. 🙂

Since lately I am now insured, declared unemloyed and x-rayed as well. I spent a nice afternoon in Bremen and for the last point, the x-ray, I visited a radiologist there. But I didn’t get the greater part of the health check not on that day as it has to be carried out by another doctor. Because I don’t want to go through the streets of Bremen Downtown, I decided to let the check to be done overseas. I need it only when going for the Working Holiday Visa, anyway.

Documents like the passport and international drivers licence aren’t complicated to acquire. At least it you inform yourself what to bring beforehand…

Maybe this post can be useful to other Au Pairs/ Work-and-Travelers in preparation (even if it isn’t necessarily complete).

Driver Safety Training Review

May 8, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Trips

So on Tuesday I had my second driver safety training.

It was the intensity training of the ADAC. First I had to drive all the way to Hannover, where the training took place. After we all got to know each other, we already went to the training grounds.
We were really lucky that day! We had some perfect weather (cloudy without rain), an awesome instructor, as well as a wonderful group (only 8 out of 12 possible participants, 4 women/ 4 men, aged 19-75, 6 cars with ABS and 2 without) plus the advantages of the intensity training.

My good old Audi 90 was one of those tech-free cars, that’s how the instructor called it…
Communication was via walkie-talkies. I connected mine with an AUX cable to my car’s radio and had the best sound quality all the time. :))
We drove from module to module and there are lots of them (like circle tracks, smooth surfaces, offroad terrain, a hydraulic plate, etc.) which all could be used side by side. Because of the small group there always was enough time to have a talk and for the ‘theory segments’.
Lunch was designed as a buffet and it was delicious! 🙂

The grey area is the above named hydraulic plate that accurately pulls the back of the car to the side. I had lots of fun… 🙂

My Audi well had to suffer… Hard breaking non-stop, sliding and slithering all over the place and some 360 degree turns.
The tech-free cars had a special position throughout the training as we had a much longer stopping way, had no support systems and all such things. Most people don’t know that. I didn’t know that either, until I had my first training back then. My next car will have much more ‘tech’ onboard for sure… 😀

The tenor of all the exercises was to get to know your car’s limits and so to recognize hazards and to prevent/ handle them. We practiced on smooth surfaces especially, because there lies the most danger. Over and over you learn how much mere 5 kph can do…

I totally recommend to everybody to take that kind of training. Especially for beginners. It is so well worth the money!