A Quick Guide to a Successful Summer Holiday

By: Susanne Krenz

You don’t need a lot of money to have the perfect summer holiday. Very little, actually. Not a ton of time either but make it at least a week. (Any less than that and you’ll be mad at the world when it’s time to go back home.) Also, on the ‘non-essential’ list: WiFi, bathing suit, a mirror. In the absence of your own reflection and other people’s highlight reels, you’ll take root in your skin like an oak tree in fertile soil. A bikini would only take away from that.

Here’s what you do need: a tiny car with enough gas to get you to Mecklenburg, a glamping tent, a barbecue, mosquito repellent, and some fruit punch. (Actually, scratch that—you can make the punch on location. It’ll be infused with morning dew and the smell of freshly cut grass and taste infinitely better.) Maybe bring a raincoat, just in case. It might be summer but we’re still in Germany, so you better be prepared. 

Then—and this is optional but recommended—you might want to find yourself some good company. Someone with whom you can sit on the porch of your tent, reading books, and watching as the sun sets over the corn fields. Someone to swim naked with you in the nearby lake. Who’ll caress your goosebumpy skin and make love to you on the lakeshore. Someone who’ll clean up after you’re done cooking dinner and remember to bring a tablet so you can watch movies in the tent at night, cuddled up under the covers. 

Many summers later, you will still talk about that holiday and reminisce. It will be immortalised in your mind as absolute, simple perfection. More expensive holidays in faraway places will pale in comparison. Because the thing is: when you’re unhappy in an infinity pool, you’re really fucking miserable. But the honest bliss you feel eating homemade pasta salad in a field, sun on your face, heart filled with love—you can’t put a price on that.