There must have been quite the tailwind pushing us north as we departed Mauritius – our scheduled 12 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany only took 11 hours. The hour saving really only translated into a longer layover in Frankfurt, though, as we still had the connection to Hamburg ahead of us. What was particularly notable, however, was the fact that after 12 hours in the air in total, we had absolutely no jet lag the next morning, a fact we put down to the route being pretty much north-south and us only moving three hours in time zones ( being a daylight flight helped, no doubt !).

Rather than pick up our van early the next day ( tempting as it was ! ), the gorgeous Spring day screamed out for a little sightseeing around Hamburg first. With our downtown hotel close to all the sights a walking tour made sense – Hamburg has a rich maritime history, is Germany’s major port, and it was really interesting to wander the canals, the warehouse district and the city’s thriving downtown. So nice to be back in Europe.

The RoRo port terminal is close to downtown and the next day, with much anticipation, we headed to the port to collect our vehicle. For those interested in all the details of that process, I’ve added a segment at the end of this blog (but for those not interested it’s a skip).

Our plans for the first few days in Europe had been simple. See a bit of Hamburg, collect the van, then repack and reorganize everything and finally head towards Czechia. Repacking was quite the job since literally everything we carried in the van was moved into the garage area (so as to secure it ) just before we left Baltimore. This all had to be pulled out and placed back in its usual area in the living space of the van. A ton of cardboard boxes to recycle as well ! In any case, given that the van was picked up this time in perfect condition with nothing at all stolen, it was really a labour of love on this occasion. Fortunately, we identified a great place to pull up not too far south of Hamburg in the quaint town of Hildesheim. It offered a municipally provided area for campers to park, right by a pretty lake, on flat ground with the basic amenities nearby. Not only a great spot to get ourselves reestablished in the van, but we met up with a couple of fellow travellers in campervans who gave us some excellent tips on the ins and outs of free camping in Germany. Seems that may be a little easier than we had feared, which was nice to know.

Many years ago, I remember meeting a German fellow who told me if we ever got back to Germany and were in the area of Hanover, to be sure to visit Celle. To be quite honest I had forgotten about that advice until we were getting close to Hildesheim ( which is just outside Hanover ) and I saw “Celle” on a road sign – recognizing it as significant, a quick Google search brought up all the details and I then remembered why he said it was very much worth seeing. If you always wanted to get that classic picture of a traditional German village, you would look very hard to find a better a place to get it than Celle…! It contains one of Germany’s best preserved “old towns” (or Altstadt) many of the houses within it date from the 1500’s, almost all in excellent condition. As the town was not a military target nor a large population centre, it was more or less undamaged during the heavy bombing raids of World War II. Thus, much of its historic architecture is very well preserved. 
We loved the town and wandered around it for hours – a great place to sit, relax, soak in the atmosphere and engage in that most European of past-times, people watching !

Next week we’ll explore a bit more of historic Germany – both recent and not so recent, before heading south to Czechia ( Czech Republic ).

Till then……

Shipping- Collection:

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Anke from Sea-Bridge assured us the port was very organized and that things generally went smoothly with most customers on their way in less than 2 hours. A few days earlier she had emailed me a “port release”, a document that gives me permission to pick up my vehicle from the port, lists me as the owner and identifies the vehicle. All digital, I was not even required to have a paper copy. Sea-Bridge is recognized as one of THE preferred shipping agencies in the overland community, and they certainly know how to make things easy. They think of everything, provide super detailed guides re the process, and are super responsive via email at all times. Highly recommended !

We actually had our vehicle, had all our documents reviewed and had cleared customs in just less than two hours so we were naturally thrilled – wonderful to be reunited with the rig after a full month apart and to see it undamaged with everything exactly as it was when we left it in Boston. Phew !

In Hamburg, one arrives at the port, takes a ticket, waits to be called, shows ID and vehicle documents to the port staff, and then gets chauffeured to your waiting car inside the port. No paid escort required here but you are accompanied at all times. A quick perusal of the vehicle revealed all was well at which point we had to drive to customs to have the van inspected. This was fast, a voluntary declaration only, no physical inspection in our case and no special bio- regulations to deal with, thank god ! The Germans, to no-ones surprise,  are extremely well organized and anticipate your every need. Could not have been easier – they even waived what should have been over €200 in storage fees since the vehicle had been in the port beyond the first free week. Happy to escape that, our first week off to a great start.

As I mentioned in the Baltimore “shipping” blog, there were no additional, separate, port charges in Europe since Sea-Bridge had built them into the original quote and I paid it when I paid Sea-Bridge for the freight. Incidentally this was done just after the ship left Baltimore once confirmation had been provided that we’d been successfully loaded. Wired the funds to Sea-Bridge direct, easy peasy. Once we got my licence back we were free to go – Europe awaits !