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Day trip to the island Norderney (EDWY) - Guests not welcome

eddsPeter wrote:

Sorry to say, but this is the ugly face of Germany.

But you have heard of that thing called pandemic everybody is talking about?

Germany

Emir wrote:

Not in Croatia. Although people are bit more sensitive in those closed and relatively older communities and they have reasons to be more careful, nobody will tell you that you’re not welcome.
Good to know! Maybe the Croatian culture/mentality also play a role on that.

Germans can be very welcoming though. When you visit places on mainland (I didn’t visit any island since march 2020), especially outside the touristic hotspots, I’ve always been treated very nicely during the pandemic and also the last few months. Not to speak about Switzerland, where every tourist is a welcoming guest at the moment and there is a lot of national tourism. When I was in Lugano and Lausanne last week, it was actually quite busy, like if there was no Covid at all. People where just enjoying life. In ski resorts the same thing. Even though public restaurants, swimming pools etc. are closed, you might use them as hotel guests. Even saunas are opened. I guess the Swiss do maybe one of the best jobs in Europe on keeping their country “as far as normal” during the pandemic.
Last Edited by Frans at 01 Apr 09:05
Switzerland

The islands belong to all Germans. No one has the right to demonize a visit. Visitors enjoy the scenery and go to the beach, there you can not get infected.
It’s best to bring food and drink, so you don’t have to bother the businessmen who have too much money.
Juist is much nicer for me than Norderney, there no ugly high-rise buildings disturb the picture. Yesterday I saw more than thirty airplanes on the webcam of Juist.
I`m waiting for the next sunny day to fly there.

Berlin, Germany

Peter: haters are gonna hate, just ignore.

MikeWhiskey wrote:

Day tourism is currently not prohibited by official regulations. However, we ask you not to come to Norderney for day tourism purposes.

So make it illegal for God’s sake. If it’s legal to go there, don’t whine about people actually doing it.

EDDW, Germany

Malibuflyer wrote:

But you have heard of that thing called pandemic everybody is talking about?

Yeah, it’s really ignorant to complain about the East Frisian islands not being welcoming to tourists right now. One needs to consider these places have zero proper health care infrastructure (Norderney has some “Reha” clinics but no primary care hospital AFAIK. Borkum has a “hospital” with 8 (!) beds which is basically a largish doctors practice). So they really don’t want to get infected there.

In normal times, the islands are quite welcoming and their economy reflects that. Not going there “ever again” is a bad call imho.

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

@loco

I am not Peter, but also use them for three months now, like here.
Peter may want to add his experiences with the Kwiggle, but for the moment, I would say:

  • they are cleverly (German) engineered and of good quality
  • they are not regular folding bikes, since they have a “free swivelling” seat. A bit special (very upright torso position, too), but yes, fun and comfortable
    *the stock seat cushion is NOT comfortable. I now use a much more comfortable aftermarket seat cushion
    *the wheels are small AND the wheelbase is narrowl. Therefore, there is quite a limited “centre of gravity envelope”, if you will. Easy to move too far forward (braking, obstacles) or aft (accelerating) and it is thus easy to crash. Gotta always pay attention a bit
  • concerning gearshift, there are three versions (one, three and seven speeds). I have the three-speed one, and it is insufficient for climbing hills. Thinking of it, many GA airfields are located on top of hills, so to get anywhere from there, or rather to get back, is hard. Might want to consider the seven-speed one, which is obviously the most expensive
  • I like the very small format when folded
  • it’s good for the typical 5km distances between airfields and towns/cities/landmarks, but I would not want to do more than 10km with it
Last Edited by boscomantico at 01 Apr 13:32
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

If health care is so limited on an tourism based island, and population small, a reasonable plan would be to preferentially vaccinate all the residents who request it, versus encouraging self-serving vigilantism by the residents. Then they’d have nothing to worry about in relation to limited health care options and might stop harassing legal visitors.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 01 Apr 13:37

Well, I am with eddsPeter on this.

This is why:

I did a number of trips last year, like this one, to little islands, and other places. Friendly ones, in UK, Italy, France and Croatia. In fact I was flying whenever flying abroad, or to UK islands, was allowed, which was May-October basically. And I have been flying the whole time anyway, because it wasn’t actually ever banned by law, doing great trips like this.

And it isn’t rocket science to work out how to not infect people, and how to not get infected yourself.

The procedures are really basic. One has to be thick, stupid, ignorant, etc (or some mixture of these) to not understand how to do it. So everybody who flies a plane knows how to do it.

And on a trip like this it is easy to keep away from people. Eat outdoors, for a start. In Aosta, Oct 2020, I was sitting outdoors in zero temperatures having my dinner, while everybody else was indoors, nicely spreading whatever virus was going.

The hotels all brought breakfast to the room. All other food you eat outdoors.

But that is largely what one does on holiday anyway – in our sort of age group We don’t get p1ssed in a packed bar and then vomit all over the pavement at 3am, Zakyntos-style.

Also, if I thought I was high-risk, I would not have flown to say Mali Losinj, where the hospital is probably like Medewok describes. But I am not high-risk, and it is easy to not be high-risk. At home and at work, we don’t mix and we ozone-sterilise every package, and then the contents afterwards. Etc.

If the locals don’t get it, that’s fair enough, but that is their problem. They will pay the economic cost, which will be heavy into 2021 especially with the AZ-farce already discussed more than enough in the CV19 thread. Personally, however, I would go where one is made to feel welcome.

100% agree with Silvaire. The locals should just get vaccinated! Or stay at home and never come out, which is the only other “endgame” option anywhere else.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

@loco @Sebastian_H Nothing much to add to what boscomantico said about the Kwiggles.

As you can see we are using them nearly every week now while flying around and we are getting more and more familiar with them.

concerning gearshift, there are three versions (one, three and seven speeds). I have the three-speed one, and it is insufficient for climbing hills.

That is nearly true. But we opted for the 6 speed version and then it is possible to climb hills. But you need a good technique to be fast enough in the lower parts of the hills and then you will be able to maintain enough speed to stay balanced and have enough power to climb the hill to the top. Last week we have been at Neustadt a. d. Aisch and the field is located on the top of a hill. No problem to go up and down.

it’s good for the typical 5km distances between airfields and towns/cities/landmarks, but I would not want to do more than 10km with it

This trip to Norderney we used them for 18 kilometers, last week it was 17 km and we also did 20 km. More is not possible, but not because of the bicycle, because of the dog. She is now 12 years old and 20 kilometers or 18 kilometers like yesterday in the sun is really a good performance.

EDDS , Germany

Peter wrote:

And it isn’t rocket science to work out how to not infect people, and how to not get infected yourself.

Cool – so all people who got infected are just too stupid. Why do we care about vaccinations or treatment at all – if it’s so simple to just not get infected why would we care so much about the people who got it?

Sorry: The people in Norderney (who are btw. extremely nice – it’s my favorite destination for day/weekend-trips) are amongst the ones hit most by this pandemic. They basically lost their entire income for a year and have extremely limited medical services.
Telling them now: “This Island belongs to everybody therefore I’m free to bring the virus to you – and if you do not want to get infected you should lock yourself up in your home” is beyond cynic! Even more cynic is the statement: “And you can easily plan do that trip in a way that they not even generate income with you but just get the infection risk”

Alpha_Floor wrote:

If it’s legal to go there, don’t whine about people actually doing it.

It’s sometimes hard to stand the intrinsic hypocrisy in this forum when it comes to rules. Whenever there is a rule that is perceived as restriction, the majority starts crying “why do we need rules at all – we are rational people and do what is right even without so many rules”. But whenever we want to do something stupid we say “there is no law that bans that (or we will find a way around) so we go for it”.

Let’s just state the obvious: The only way to fight a pandemic is to avoid transmission. As long as there is no “technical” way to do that (i.e. vaccination) that means “stay the f… at home”. We know that each and everyone of us is more clever than the rest of the world and therefore it would never happen to us that we infect ourselves unnoticed and spread the disease – the reality just shows: Yes it does.
Just a small example:
Peter wrote:

And on a trip like this it is easy to keep away from people.
Might be for you – but obviously it was not possible for the OP as he wrote:

eddsPeter wrote:

We were told son in person,

So obviously he did not manage to keep away from the local population. He therefore consciously risked to infect them!

P.S.: Edited some statements to make them more fact based and avoid insulting people

Last Edited by Malibuflyer at 01 Apr 15:25
Germany
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