My trip was planned with a little less than two months to go, and I wasn’t really intending to get into travelogues about Hamburg. I started by casually reading up on the travelogues I’d read for Copenhagen which had various mentions of the city, often the first port of call for travellers coming by boat from England. Just doing that sparked my curiosity, though, and I ended up going a bit deeper than I’d intended with my reading!
Another trip — this time a solo trip with young kids in Hamburg and Lübeck? Yes, please. After our last-minute trip to Hanover in February, I knew I wanted to go back to Germany with my kids again soon. It was such a nice, dare I say easy, time away with the kids. So I booked another solo trip the day after my son finishes school to head to Hamburg on the train. Frustratingly, there’s no direct train from Amsterdam, but I did manage to book the private kids compartment for both legs — it will take about 5.5 hours.
I wanted to use this post as an experiment in trip-planning, and then compare how it actually went afterwards. A big part of my hobby of traveling is the anticipation of it! The excitement and planning is integral. It certainly adds to the enjoyment – unless you fall into the trap of over-expecting and then being underwhelmed and disappointed if an experience or a hotel under-delivers. I’m notorious for this when I go to very nice luxury hotels – it’s easy to expect a lot from them because you’re paying so much or have heard so many good things.
Hanover was a last minute trip that I took when my friend invited me (like me, she was traveling alone with her children). I decided to go as part of my new experiment of just saying yes when I get asked on a trip. Crazily enough that happens more often than I thought it would and it’s only March!
Have you heard of the concept of a travel rule, or is it something I’ve just made up? My trip planning has had to get a bit more rigid lately. My son is now old enough that he’s required to stay in school full-time. Combine this with my obsession with Ramit Sethi’s Money for Couples podcast (he suggests you set ‘money rules’ for yourself), and I decided to try out a new rule (experiment?): if someone invites me on a trip – just go!