Mozzies ahoi – how not to abandon your ship

The worst thing that can happen is to be waken up in the middle of the night with the buzzing of zzzzzzzzzz in your ear. I hate those creatures. I would never understand why mozzies always pick the ear when they could have the whole limb and leg. Yes, sometimes I sacrifice my limbs just for the sake of no more zzzzzzz s. But no, the ear seems to be the best. And I end up always slapping myself in the face. Mozzies (mosquitoes). Man’s best fiend.

Sunsets with a price

Or in Sardinia. The wild camp grounds in Masua had the best sunsets in town. We got everything ready. Beds were built, our mozzie net up, the chairs were all ready and waiting for the sunset. An awesome moment. The magic was over when we crawled into our beds – only to find hundreds of tiny flies that got through the mozzie net! What a feast to find our sleeping bags that smelt of us. I swore never again to leave the car doors open while the sun sets. It is the time when the mozzies and flies gets most aggressive/hyperactive and attracted to the cars and slips inside in swarms.

Sleeping serious

When it comes to sleeping, I’m dead serious. Don’t fool with me.  I am a car sleeper for as long as I can remember. Its far more comfortable and sound proofed than a tent. After sleepless nights next to party groups and love couples wanting everybody in the camp ground to know what they are doing, I’m happy to be able to close all doors and say good night to everyone. The tent instead doubles up as our living room where the kitchen and dining room is rounded off as one. The only chamber which we do build up is filled up with our bags and food. It is also the changing room. Why so complicated? It’s not. If we are anywhere based on a longer period, than this tent shields us from wind, cold and the rain, and it’s far more comfortable than cooking in the winds. Winds? Yeah, come to France and experience the Mistral. No thanks. Had enough of windy, blasty evenings. And so mosquitoes, flies, moths, creepy crawlies and spiders its time to say adieu.

The net saviour

The mosquito net from Brettschneider was one of the best things that came into my life after all these experiences. Its a rectangle shaped fine mesh net that fits in any combi or campervan big enough for two thermarest matresses side by side. They are actually not built to fit a car. Instead they are intended for your travels in any exotic country in asia. But we got them in the car and tailored it to fit with the help of clothes pegs. There are little ribbons on each corner to hang so if there are some corners where you could place a S hook in the car, this helps to quicken up things. The fine mesh keeps the Culex, Anopheles (Malaria) und Aedes (Denguefieber, Gelbfieber, Chicungunya) mosquitoes as well as sand flies from the  Phlebotomidae famile (Leishmaniosen) und Gnitzen (Filariosen) out from your beds. (Source: Brettschneider) And if I had known that there were differences in the net size, I would’ve gotten this in the very first place. The net is stuffed in a small bag which you can carry around with at ease. It weighs 320 g. And we don’t build it up just at the camp grounds. It goes everywhere, and is especially great offroads.

I have been using the net for the last 2 seasons now, and I am happy to have chosen the tropical version to keep those pesty sandflies out in southern europe. My nights are much more at ease and I sleep like a baby without having fear to have to slap my self awake. Thanks to Brettschneider for saving my nights!