Holiday in Hamburg

A few weeks ago, I went to Hamburg with my now-boyfriend over the easter weekend. And it has become somewhat a habit of mine to write about my trips to the cities and countries I have been to since not only does it preserve memories but it also content. Two birds with one stone.

A month before the whole trip, we sat down together and unanimously decided to take a trip together. Not only did we both want a break from reality, but we just wanted to go to a place where nobody knows us and where we can just relax.

After deciding that we are in dire need of a vacation after the university stress, we sat down in front of the computer and just started planning. As it turns out planning a vacation is much harder than at first anticipated.

At first, we wanted to go someplace further away but then realized that not only was it somewhat expensive but it was also not worth it. The Easter weekend was four days long at most and spending only two days in another country feels like a waste.

My mother always has this lovely travel rule of hers which states that you need to be able to spend at least three days in the city exploring and experiencing the country, if you can´t do that don´t go. A simple but effective rule in my opinion.

From experience, I knew that flying to another country was draining. Don’t get me wrong, I love flying but the whole airport experience can be a bit draining and if you should fly, you would spend the rest of the day in a hotel no matter how early your flight is.

Which is why, we decided to stay in Germany. Therefore, we took a look at the map and I just asked him where he never has been. Somehow, after a lot of spitballing for some time, we decided to go to Hamburg since it was reasonably far away and has a lot to offer.

Then everything else was easy. Finding transportation, a hotel and looking for activities. I thought the hard part would be agreeing on details but much to my surprise we pretty easily agreed on a hotel and the activities we could do there.

We decided on a hotel just outside of Hamburg since we wanted a bit of peace and quiet. We also decided that we would take the car since it was funnily enough the cheapest option available to us (and trust me, we calculated the differences).

I oh so desperately wanted to go by car because not only did I like driving (sometimes) but I also liked the privacy and the flexibility. Moreover, I always wanted to do a road trip with friends. A road trip just sounds fun.

For activities we just made a list of places we could go since we didn´t want to plan a holiday down to the second and walking through the city sightseeing is not the worst. Since we are somewhat children at heart, we only chose somewhat interactive museums.

After that, we just left that for a bit. A few weeks later we booked the hotel. Seemingly, just like that, the day came, and we were prepared to take a trip to Hamburg for the first time together and hopefully not the last.

On that day, we just got into the car and drove. It was a three-hour drive but what we didn’t quite anticipate was the traffic that day. It was a long easter weekend and it somewhat passed me that others would want to go out as well.

At the end of the day, the three-hour drive turned into a five-hour drive. I also found out why my parents didn’t like driving during the holiday seasons as much. As a child, traffic jams were boring but as a driving adult, traffic jams are boring and complex. There were so many precautions.

Another aspect of driving I somewhat despised was the drivers around me. If I can say so myself, I am a rather careful driver but with crazy superiority complexes even the most careful of drivers are safe and that is what frustrates me.

Normally, I tend to not judge people based on very little information but with some drivers, you know exactly who they are and what character they have. And even some of the simplest of rules are not followed which is just frustrating. Following the rules makes the trip faster but most don´t understand and think they can do better which is so annoying.

Besides the traffic jams, the drive to Hamburg was actually pretty fun. There was good music and great company. Even when we didn´t talk, it was still comforting knowing that he was there beside me while I was driving.

Of course, we made some pit stops along the way since on that morning I accidentally drank too much tea and after three hours I got really hungry. After long traffic jams consisting mainly of stop-and-go, one would desperately need a break.

After what felt like forever on the road, we finally made it to the hotel. To be fair, I was expecting a huge disappointment, but the hotel was not half bad. It was not the best hotel I have been to but for the price, I would say that it was definitely worth it.

When we checked in and took our bags up to our room, I somewhat immediately collapsed onto the bed because I was so exhausted from all the driving. I didn’t expect that the driving would drain me as much as it did but with the stresses on the road my body couldn’t help.

So, on that evening, we didn´t do much of anything. We just switched on a movie, slipped into our pyjamas, and made ourselves comfortable. Not much to anyone´s surprise, I fell asleep during the first part of the movie and didn´t catch the ending. I always fall asleep during movies when I am with him but that is a different story.

The next morning, we woke up not so bright and early as we planned and walked toward the nearest bus station to catch the next bus to the train station so we could go to Hamburg since the parking situation in big cities is disastrous and I hate driving in big cities.

Much to both our uninformed football knowledge, we didn’t know that there was a football game happening in Hamburg and every hardcore football fan is rushing to the city to get to the football game happening that day.

In other words, the train was bloody crowded which made me reconsider taking the car into the city. At least in the car, you had space to stand and just general room to breathe. On the train, it felt like being squeezed into a metal tube.

Somehow, we managed to make it to Hamburg in one piece and with our sanity still intact. After getting off the train, we walked through the masses of people travelling to the edges of the country and returning from the edges of the country.

After walking through the masses and getting lost in the masses we eventually found our way into the city. Since we decided to eat breakfast in the city the first thing, we did was to find a café where we can eat breakfast since it is not a great idea to explore the city without any food in your stomach.

I tried exploring a brand-new city on an empty stomach but that is a really bad idea because instead of seeing all the amazing and beautiful sights the city has to offer, I could only see the restaurants with their delicious smelling and good-looking food.

Don’t get me wrong, food tourism is totally a thing that one can do but I, at that time didn’t want to travel to another country exclusively for their food. This is why only being able to see restaurants and thinking of food is not the best.

Hand in hand, we walked down the streets of Hamburg with a cold sea breeze sweeping through our hair every minute. It was a pretty cold day but we checked the weather beforehand and came prepared with our cosy warm jackets so everything was fine.

Eventually, we came across a shopping mall with many cafes and adorable little shops. The shopping mall had a vintage old-fashioned aesthetic which I found really mesmerizing. It was so beautiful in there.

After checking out all the cafes the shopping mall had to offer, we settled on one which we both liked and took a seat. Soon after, a really nice waiter brought us the extensive menu with all their breakfast options, and we started browsing through our options.

It did take some time to decide what to eat since everything on that menu sounded delicious. But in the end, I opted for a healthy breakfast with a fruit salad, some veggies, two slices of bread, avocado spread and homemade jam.

My boyfriend chose the simpler option consisting of two croissants with two homemade jams and some freshly squeezed orange juice. We also picked fresh mint tea since every good breakfast consisted of a breakfast and a beverage whether cold or hot and I just love mint tea, there is no better tea in the world.

When we placed our order, the waiter kindly warned us that breakfast might take a bit longer since there were a lot of people waiting for breakfast. But since didn’t want to rush anything and we had nowhere we needed to be that day, we just sat and waited for our breakfast. From our seats, we could look down onto the first floor and see the many people streaming in and out of the mall which is always a fun thing to do.

After some which didn’t feel all too long, the breakfast finally came and it looked gorgeous. The presentation was just amazing and it looked delicious. Luckily, the looks didn’t stop us from digging in because we were hungry. And can I just say, everything tasted amazing. The homemade jam was especially delicious. I also adore freshly pressed orange juice. There is nothing better than fresh orange juice with bits of pulps.

During breakfast, we discussed what we wanted to do during the day. As much as I hated it, it was Easter break so a lot of places were busy. So instead of planning explicitly what we wanted to do, we decided to spontaneously decide where to go. Since there were plenty of things to do in Hamburg and there was a little bit for everyone so we just started walking. 

From experience, I learnt that a good way to get to know a city is by walking through it. We did a bit of sightseeing on the way to our first destination since I still consider walking the best way to get to know a city. Since it is my first time in Hamburg, I did a little bit of tour guiding. 

A little fun fact about me, I always wanted to have a little bit of everything as a job. As a child, I wanted to do many jobs. One of those many jobs was being a tour guide so being able to talk about a city while leading someone through it was kind of like a dream come true to me. It was fun being a tour guide but I know I can’t do that for a living since I have people-pleasing tendencies so doing that for a living would be a living hell. 

Since there was more to our Hamburg trip than planning, driving and eating. I have decided to make this a two-part article since otherwise this article would be too long or many fun experiences would be shortened significantly. So part two coming soon. Until next time.