A brief lament about the less pleasant moments of a trip
Travelling is not a holiday. If only it were! Then we wouldn’t have to deal with all the hassle. It wouldn’t be as exhausting – or rather – as predictable as it can be at home. However, problems arise when they want to, and sometimes we wish we had the problems at home, because then they wouldn’t be problems at all.
Replacing a simple screw
That would be quick and easy at home: just pop to the DIY store or order it online if it’s something special. And hey, ready to replace it. You don’t have to drive around for days until you find a larger town. No traipsing around shops for hours. And then somehow the part isn’t available – or only in inches. Useless for us.
Or the endless search for a keder rail. A common van part in Europe. No one in Latin America knows what that is! At least we now know all the aluminium profiles from Ecuador to Costa Rica that are on offer, but we haven’t found a system similar to the keder rail.
And how about placing an order? One might think that’s the solution. Yes, if the delivery times weren’t so long – the goods usually come from the USA – and if we had an address where they would arrive safely. It’s possible, we’ve done it before, but it takes a lot more planning. The best thing is when friends come to visit.
They are happy to see us, but they don’t know that this usually means they get to play pack mule. Especially those who fly with checked baggage. The list is always long: diesel filters, V-belts, a mobile phone (it’s hard to believe, but they are better quality and much cheaper in Switzerland than here), new credit cards, travel documents, letters that urgently need a signature but are not accepted when scanned, gummy bears, chocolate!,…
…and an ozone generator
The humidity of the last few months has left its mark: mould. You clean everything, think you’re finally done, and the next day you discover a new spot. But didn’t I just clean that?
Mould spores are insidious and definitely unhealthy. The most sustainable solution would be to replace everything: remove the furniture, replace the roof tent fabric, and wash everything in the washing machine. However, this is not an option at present – neither financially nor in terms of time. We don’t want to do that anyway, because everything else works fine. Especially now, after two weeks of using Michael’s sister’s sewing machine, everything has been repaired.
We even have a nicer and better rain cover on the tent than the original. We used a window frame as a replacement for the keder rail, a cable instead of a cord and a sewing machine (the tailor didn’t understand our idea) to sew it ourselves. So everything is just the way we want it.
Back to the mould
Don’t worry, it won’t just disappear.
Cleaning vinegar (and normal white vinegar) has become our great ally (there are no specific mould removers available). We also use cleaning alcohol for things that don’t tolerate acid. The rest goes in the washing machine.
What sounds so simple means ‘a lot’ of work. The washing machines here are not fully automatic. You have to fill them with water, drain them, fill them again, drain them again, and so on until they are clean (not sure about their cleaning standards here), and then you have to centrifugate all the clothes. Only then comes the great luxury in this household: the dryer. We throw almost everything in there and it is definitely cleaner afterwards.
But all the cleaning (today for the third time the lower edge), airing and constant drying are still not enough. That’s why we bought an ozone machine. It’s not a cure-all, but if it works even 70% as described, we should be almost mould-free by the end of the trip. No, just kidding, the air should at least have fewer spores.
Only the mildew stains will still be a problem, but we can deal with that after we return. We don’t want to get bored, after all.