A lot on the move and almost never at home
a report by
PETRA WALHEIM ROLAND MUSCHEL
Some people live permanently in a mobile home or in a hotel

Living without an apartment: A couple of pensioners roam through the campers World and doesn´t even miss the home at home. A consultant, on the other hand, lives in a hotel during the week - and longs to be at home.

Like snails, Marlis and Heinrich Orfgen from Alfter near Bonn always have their house with them. Since 1996, the retired couple (she is 69 and he is 70 years old) have preferred to drive east in their motorhomes for most of the year - through Siberia, Russia, China, India, Nepal and up and down the Silk Road. They recently stopped at the Bertsch family´s motorhome port in Bad D rrheim in the Schwarzwald-Baar district. In their luggage they still had fresh impressions from China. They were in Beijing for the Olympics.

The love of wanderlust and the curiosity for everything new has haunted the couple for many years. ´But as long as we were working and the children were still at home, we couldn´t travel much - also for financial reasons,´ says Marlis. During this time, they saved up in order to be able to fulfill their dream later. When both were retired, nothing held them anymore. They sold their house and invested the money in a mobile home and a small apartment in Alfter. It stands empty for months. As long as they are away, the neighbors take care of the mail, the children take care of the apartment and financial matters. For the Orfgens, the mobile home is their main residence.


´It is very pleasant Living in a mobile home, ´says Marlis.´ I only need to keep two square meters of apartment clean. ´The most important thing is to be well organized and to use the little available space effectively. Marlis has her´ own room ´in the vehicle, as she says. This consists of the 90 centimeter wide and 2.2 meter long bed in the rear of the Car. ´This space, all of my own, was a condition for me to ride,´ says Marlis. She openly admits: ´Living together in such a small space is not easy. ´For months they are together for better or for worse.

´ These journeys are already grueling, ´says Heinrich. On the Silk Road, for example, temperatures of over 40 degrees prevailed.´ This heat everybody gets on the biscuit, and then there is stress every now and then. ´Sometimes there is a break in broadcast for days, there is no talk at all. But so far every argument has settled itself again. The groups in which the two are on the road most of the time give them support and security in such difficult moments. In many cases In other countries like China or Iran, it is not allowed to travel alone with the motorhome. That is only possible in a group and often only with companions from the respective country. ´This also has advantages because we always have a contact person. ´

The couple maintains contact with at home mainly by email. If they are traveling in lonely areas, they have no network for their mobile phones.´ Our children have got used to us are gone, ´say Marlis and Heinrich. The two sons had resigned themselves to the fact that ´the parents were squandering their inheritance,´ says the woman and laughs. When they are at home, there is a lot of work waiting for them: clear out the motorhome and clean it thoroughly, look through the mail, go shopping. But the couple can´t stay in the apartment for long anyway. As long as their health can, they want to keep going on tour. ´We haven´t seen that much yet.´

Ruwen Walter from Heilbronn is also on the road a lot - on business. It is therefore ´at home to a certain extent in hotels´. The independent consultant has been working in different cities for years, each for the duration of a project. Sometimes six months here, then another year and a half there. He is currently working in Frankfurt am Main. The 36-year-old therefore spends the week at the hotel. It´s part of his job, and it benefits from it. Far from home in Heilbronn, he can fully concentrate on his work. This also means that the ´normal beautiful things in life´ are not possible during this time. Enjoy a glass of wine with your wife at home on the sofa in the evening - that´s only possible on weekends. “Spontaneity is lost.â€� Everything he wants to do during the week has to be planned in advance. Ruwen Walter cannot imagine this life ´in the long run´. For that he has spent too much ´dead time´ in hotel rooms over the years.

He always tries out the options for his temporary home beforehand. When he has a project in a new town In the first few weeks, he tests as many hotels as possible in the price range covered by the budget. In the end, he settles on three or four favorites. The fact that there is no such thing as a favorite is mainly due to the changing prices. Depending on the trade fair or other major events, the costs for the same hotel room in a city like Frankfurt vary considerably and can easily exceed the budget. He doesn´t even try to make himself comfortable in the changing sleeping quarters. He makes sure that besides a laptop and some reading, he has as little luggage as possible with him.

When choosing a hotel, the cleanliness, the condition of the room and the house in general are important to him. ´Amenities´ like a fitness area are of course welcome, but not so important. On working days, which start at 7.30 a.m. and often only end at 9 p.m., he can only use such extras sporadically anyway. ´Actually, the hotel room is just a place to sleep for me.´
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sonnenscheinchen, 2008-10-30