“Travelling and working without a permanent residence with a 13-year-old child? That’s possible. We’ve been travelling for almost two years now. In the summer, we travelled to the Zillertal in Austria – to a simple mountain hut with little electricity and WIFI. A workation adventure.“
Nina Winkler
After our stays in Thailand, South Africa and Portugal, we’re now back home in Central Europe. We want to cut back a litt- le and live more simply. That’s why Jamie and I are spending seven weeks in a remote mountain hut in the Zillertal. The exciting thing is that the simple life is not a hollow phrase here, but an unavoidable programme. The greatest luxury: electricity. Unfulfillable wishes: running water, toilet and a bathroom.
To get started, I write down long packing lists of everything from food to work, school and technology. Because each piece of butter would mean a 45-minute winding car journey down into the valley. We check the mobile router several times and charge all the devices. With a car packed to the breaking point, it takes around three hours from Munich to the Zillertal, up to an unpaved, daringly steep hiking road at 1,500 metres. Neighbours? Only foxes, deer and hares.
Goodbye, luxurious lottery life
Instead of the breakfast buffet, the old kitchen oven now needs to be heated up in the morning. Nothing works without it, because it also keeps the house warm when it goes below 10 degrees at night. And what makes me feel great is the coffee that finally steaming in front of me after an hour’s work!
We transport drinking water up to the house every morning: in 5-litre canisters and water from the well in front of the hut for household and personal hygiene.
Natural workout, here we come!
After breakfast, chopping wood is the plan for Jamie. After a few days, he can do it without instructions, even with the big axe. As a mum, my heart is still in my stomach, because the only way to deal with an emergency here would be by helicopter. So we are generally careful: even the wrong footwear on the mountain can easily lead to broken bones.
After a few days, we’ve had enough of washing in the small wash tub: we want a proper shower! We don’t like the “ice shower at the nearby waterfall” option, so we head to the local outdoor pool in some beautiful summer weather. Here we can buy groceries and visit friends!
The weeks run very relaxed …
We do all the household chores in the morning and then school and texts in the afternoon. Of course, I use the best days for my hobby trail running: there are too many beautiful routes here that I’ve known and loved since I was a child. At the weekends, we explore the mountains: just half an hour’s hike away is the Fichtenschloss adventure playground and a recreational mountain lake, which is perfect for swimming and sunbathing. As both places can also be reached by many cable car guests, we decide to walk to the lake late in the afternoon for a little more peace and quiet. Great thing: there is a barbecue at the playground, which is permanently lit and supervised. If you like, you can bring your own food and have it barbecued – or you can buy locally produced sausages eg from the barbecue vending machine. What a cool idea! The weather is also consistently good to us, it only rains twice during our stay.
Kaum elektronische Ablenkung
Our excursions are often characterised by experiences with animals: We meet goats, cows, horses, chickens as well as loudly whistling marmots, shy foxes and weasels. We also get inventive when it comes to entertainment at the hut: as the internet connection is unfortunately too weak for Netflix-style data volume, we set up a badminton net and play on a slope. Not an easy exercise, but great fun! Playing cards in the evening also becomes the highlight of the day and we really enjoy having hardly any electronic distractions. Occasionally we have visitors, because in the evening after the lift closes, the acoustic backdrop is limited to the chirping of birds and the nearby waterfall, which is a constant background noise. We occasionally feel a little alone, but never lonely.
School and texting work great, but only on the first floor: reception is simply better here. Only when transmitting video, sending photos and larger files is it a little jerky, and we are unanimous in our opinion that Thailand is way ahead in this respect. In addition, data in Austria is not cheap, and without a residential address you won’t get the good offers anyway. The German card gives you 2 GB when you’re abroad, but that’s quickly used up with online school and the like.
At the end of August, my mum comes to visit us – with kilos of preserving sugar, small buckets and blueberry combs. There are blueberry fields around the hut that we are allowed to harvest. And soon we spend almost five days collecting around 20 kilograms of blueberries plus several kilograms of cranberry scoops. Grandma Helga processes everything into jam on the spot. Also on the menu: Chanterelles and porcini mushrooms! We can easily get enough of them for several days.
Then the mushroom and berry limit is slowly reached and seven beautiful, long weeks come to an end. We are looking forward to shedding our goat and heather status and returning to civilisation. It’s no exaggeration to say that we’ve pressed the reset button when it comes to luxury: The thing I’m most looking forward to now is a bathtub.
Nina Winkler …
… as a world traveller, was impressed by how simple and challenging life can be in the Alps. Her next stops include Namibia and South America.
INFO DESTINATION / BLEISURE TIPPS:
The Zillertal is a summer and winter wonderland in equal measure.
It currently offers everything from hiking and biking to golfing.
LOCATION: in Austria in the federal state of Tyrol as a southern side valley of the Inn Valley about 40 km east of Innsbruck
ARRIVAL: by car or train to Innsbruck and by bus and taxi to the hut
BLEISURE TIPS: Pure nature on countless hiking and trail running tours. In the valley, the outdoor pool, show gold mine, flying fox, etc.
Photos: © Nina Winkler
