Summer Survival Guide: Summer Cabins (Part 2)

Disclaimer: This post is mainly from a Finnish perspective or summer cabins in Finland. Summer cabins may vary depending on countries of the world. Apologies in advance for the Finnish perspective. Well, I could become the Finnish J.J McCullough 😀

A picture of a Finnish summer cabin

Hello, and welcome to another part of summer survival guide. We have covered the festivals and concerts in our last part, but in this part, we will focus on summer cabins at the countryside.

Ah, the summer cabins. They are the places where you can be free from those noises and stress city living gives you. When you are at countryside, it’s almost like living in the middle of nowhere, since all the services are usually many kilometers away from you, and you basically can’t live without a car. In some scenarios, there is little or not internet access in the countryside, so you can have a dopamine detox in the summer cabins in the countryside, and have a little break on social media. You can basically live like in the Moominvalley when you are almost isolated from the outside world, if you don’t have a tv nor a radio to keep contact with the rest of the world. Summer cabins and countryside have that cozy feeling when you are next to nature, and usually the cabins are made out of wood. When you are in countryside, it has that feeling that you have travelled backwards in time, since sometimes old-school technology is pretty common.

However, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it can rain for a week, the neighbours can be annoying, and there are all kinds of vicious bugs that want to suck your blood. We will talk about surviving in the summer cabins in countryside, and aiming to have as much fun in the summer cabin as possible.

Let’s talk about the pricing of summer cabins. Sometimes you can purchase them, if you have enough money. However, they tend to cost a fortune, so if you want to decrease the cost, rent a cabin. If the cabin is next to a lake or a river, it’s even better! Nothing beats a swim in the chilly water after going to a hot sauna. If you have some relatives who own a cabin, you may ask them if you could go to their cabin. If they say yes, then you don’t have to worry about the costs. However, be sure that you don’t burn the cabin down. If may cause you grave consequences. You may destroy your relationship with a relative you borrowed the cabin for the rest of your life, if you burn it down. If you want to mitigate the carbon emissions to the smallest amount, you should rent or buy a cabin as near your hometown as possible.

Before you are on your way to that cabin, let’s talk about the equipment, or what will you need to bring with you to the cabin. You need to bring some backup clothing with you. If the cabin does have a washing machine, then you may get some washing detergent. (Washing detergents and all the everyday stuff can be bought from a town near the summer cabin, so you don’t need to bring the washing detergent from your house.) You also need some sunscreen, to protect you from the sun. You may bring a retro gaming console with you, since it gives some old-school spice. I suggest you to get a SEGA Genesis mini, or Super Nintendo mini, and modify it. Also a portable gaming console would be pretty good, like Nintendo Switch. There are a lot of mosquitos there, so you need some mosquito repellant with you. You also need your keys and your phone before you get to the cabin.

Best way to get to a summer cabin is by a car. The cost of fuel is not cheap, but you can use an EV (electric vehicle) to get to a summer cabin. Sure, electric vehicles are a pretty environmentally friendly option compared to regular gasoline cars, but there is a problem. EV charging stations aren’t pretty common in the rural areas. The range isn’t that good either, if you want to go pretty far. However, carbon emissions aren’t completely avoidable. If you want to live a truly emissionless life, then you should live like a luddite, without the modern industrial age technology. I do not suggest living like this, since people tended to live shorter in the However, it’s still possible to have the modern technology while defeating climate change, but that’s a topic for another article. I’m getting out of track. Anyways, a good old road trip to a summer cabin is pretty nice. You may get to a summer cabin with a train, but use it if you are going to your relative’s or your friend’s cabin, and your friend can pick you up from the station. If you don’t have a car, and you don’t have a friend or a relative who owns a summer cabin, then you should do something else during the summertime.

Congratulations, you are now in the summer cabin! Unpack all your goods, and enjoy your stay. You may want to heat up the sauna. Sauna is a very important part of Finnish summer cabin life. If you know how to cook(Hopefully, since everyone should know how to cook), you may want to grill. Grilling with a ball grill is the best way for beginners to grill. You don’t necessarily need to buy a large grilling unit, that usually costs a few hundred bucks. In my opinion, the best way to grill sausages is by a campfire. But grilling by a campfire is mainly for hiking and camping. It’s a subject for another article. You need some charcoal and some lighting liquid and some matches or a lighter to start the fire on a ball grill. Make sure you don’t burn yourself! Don’t worry, vegans, you can also grill some vegetables too! Beside swimming and going to sauna, you can play also some outside games, like playing darts, and playing some Mölkky. You can look up the rules of Mölkky online. You can also sunbathe, but beware of the mosquitos. Make sure to use the mosquito repellant.

When it’s time to get back home, make sure to take all your important goods with you. Your phone, your keys, your clothing, the gaming console, etc. (See the paragraph about equipment) Do not start your journey back home early in the morning! There is a risk of moose that cross the road will hit your car, and maybe kill you, or injure you. When you are back home, you can continue enjoying the summer, and do more plans for the summer if you want.