Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by tgsovlerkhgsel 849 days ago
Germany has no wilderness. "Nature kills you" is a concept that basically doesn't exist in Germany. As a healthy adult, "getting lost" is a minor annoyance, not genuine danger.

See for yourself: Open Google Maps, zoom in on a random spot, pick a random direction, and tell me how far you have to walk until you'll find a pub or a road that will lead you to one. Repeat as often as you want.

The first spot I got was 60 meters from the nearest forest path, the longest you could walk in a straight line without finding a forest path was 400 meters, and the nearest pub was 500 meters as the crow flies.

The second was much worse: 80 meters, 800 meters, 1.6 km for the same three metrics. Third: 10m, 230m, 1.2km. 4th: 140m, 800m, 600m 5th: 55m, 380m, 2.2km unless you count the Kebap place 1.8km away. You will be hearing the Autobahn the whole time.

The weather is also much less extreme. 41° C (106° F) seems to be the current heat record (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extreme_temperatures_i...), but this is extreme, newsworthy heat, not common. Most of the time in most of Germany you can expect -10 to +35° C (from nighttime in Winter to daytime in Summer).

In summer, basically, t-shirt, shorts with 10 EUR in cash for the beer in a pocket, and sandals with socks will probably be all you need to survive. Everything else (water bottle, a way to navigate) are optional comfort items.

1 comments

Somewhat related, it's hard to find things like Gatorade powder. "Rehydrating" on a serious mountain hike, the kind with 10,000ft peaks means stopping by at the nearest alpine hut, and drinking a liter or so of beer. I grew up (to age 13) in Germany but on adult visits, felt like a fish out of water, with my sandwiches and water bottles.