16 Jul 2025 8 min read

Moin Hamburg!

Our first destination in Europe was about a week at home in Hamburg, northern Germany. We enjoyed some R&R, reconnecting with family and Laura’s first taste of Europe.

Mit Familie

Unfortunately our original flight from Mexico City to Hamburg was cancelled, so instead of arriving at 5pm on Friday and spending the weekend with family we arrived at midnight on Saturday. We were a bit sad about this, but such is the reality of travel.

We touched down late in the evening, collected our bags and rode the S-Bahn for over an hour across town to Klein Flottbek - Dad’s original family home where my uncle, aunt and cousins now live. I have stayed in this home many times, it feels just like home. We arrived through the door about 1am and shared a beer with Sönke (uncle) before bed letting him get to bed.

Our timing in Hamburg was superb as my younger cousin Lilli who studies in south Germany near Switzerland (Freiburg) was visiting. Also, my other cousin Marie had just returned from studying abroad in Spain for a year. I hadn’t seen either of them in 10+ years.

Although ironically, my timing with Louis (brother) was poor. Louis moved to Germany in March this year and has been living with Sönke and Monika and playing hockey at a professional level in Hamburg. But, he was away in Bali for the one week I was there… classic. At least it worked out well that I could have his bed, room and use his clothes.

On Sunday we had a classic German family breakfast with all the bread, cheese and meat you can imagine - just like home!

Classic German breakfast - just like back home.

Hamburg City Tour mit dem Fahrrad

Sunday afternoon we unpacked our bikes that Louis had so very kindly brought with him to Germany and stored at Sönke and Monika’s for this time and went for a quick cruise through the Botanical Gardens and along the Elbe River. It was delightful to be back on our bikes and moving again; not suck on buses.

Teufelsbrück on the shore of the Elbe river in Hamburg. Every time one of our family visits Hamburg we get a photo with the Devil. We have photos going back years to when Dad was a child posing here.

Cruising. No legal requirement to wear a helmet in Germany.

The next day I planned out a superb city tour for Laura. We were going to see all the sights of Hamburg by bike. We rode along the Elbe River past the old Harbour Master‘s houses, past the harbour and airbus factory into town. We rode around the Alster Lake, through town central, past the opera house and through the shipping docks to the other side of the harbour.

However, despite checking that morning before we left that the tunnel was open and seeing people going through the day before, we discovered on our arrival on the opposite side of the harbour that it was in fact closed…. Bugger. Within sight of home, we had to turn back and make the 20km trek all the way back around and harbour - DOH. Just as we started riding back the sky opened and we got soaked in torrential rain the entire way home….

Absolutely superb European cyclist infrastructure. Hamburg is so well setup for cycling.

Bikes, bikes, bikes! long the shores of Lake Alster in central Hamburg.

We had promised to cook dinner for Sönke, Monika and Marie that night, but ended up home 2-hours later than planned which Sönke found nothing but hilarious.

The following day Laura wanted to catch up on some sleep and admin so I set off on my bike to explore wider Hamburg. I ventured north travelling 100km along the Alster Lake, up the river and into the countryside. I rode past the Arnemburg Castle and into some small townships before returning back via the harbour. I simply could not believe how incredible the European cycling infrastructure was. The ENTIRE journey was on trails or bike paths.

More bike path passing by one of the small townships on the outskirts of Hamburg.

Buildings older than the entire existence of New Zealand.

German countryside, riding along the purpose-built bike path.

Hamburg is really setup for cycling with bike paths everywhere.

I also got to practice my German speaking to a little old lady at the bakery in one of the small towns I rode through. We talked for 30min with her not speaking a world of english, so I’m very proud that my German is better than I thought! My family also commented on my German proficiency, saying they were very impressed. I guess I hadn't forgotten all of my German after-all.

Franzbrötchen and Fritz Kola - iconic Hamburg combo.

We spent the afternoon exploring the lovely district of Altona walking about the shops, cafes and restaurants. I insisted that Laura try some German sausage so we shared a curry wurst for lunch and I again took the opportunity to strike up conversation with an elderly couple. This short stint in Germany has given me the motivation to get back into learning German again.

Mit fruenden

On our last day we met up with what we call our “second family” on the other side of Hamburg. Despite arriving an hour late (bit of a saga, see below) we did finally arrive to the BBQ. Gina and Ralph are some of Dad’s closest friends from university and so they shared all kinds of stories about Dad’s sleep patterns and crazy walking/ running endeavours.

Simon, Laura, myself, Gina, Ralph, Leah, Laura (David's partner) and David (L-R).

Gina’s children, who each lived with us in Christchurch for a year at at time in NZ; David, Leah and Simon were also there. It was the best evening and so nice to see everyone again. We wish we could have stayed longer.

Geht’s los mit unsere Rad!

In addition of course to visiting friends and family, Hamburg was a strategic transition point for us to switch from backpacking to bike packing.

We made the trek from Sönke and Monika’s in Klein Flottbek on the far west of Hamburg all the way across town to Gina’s place in Poppenbüttel on the S-Bahn and bus. A long but very simple journey owing to Germany’s superb public transport system. However, made significantly more complicated with 2 bikes in tow.

The mega transition from Hamburg all the way to Toulouse in the south of France. Step 1; Klein Flottbek in Hamburg's west.

Our journey started with a 1.5km walk/ juggle to the train station where we then packed our bikes down into the bike boxes. We then rode the train it’s entire length to the end of the line and then caught a bus 5 stops to Gina’s.

After a delicious BBQ and catch-up with our second German family we jumped back on the bus and rode the S-Bahn back into town and then out to the airport arriving about midnight.

Our whole trip including the train to Altona and back for lunch, the train across the city from one end of the line to the other and to the airport, with bikes, cost us only €8. Superb.

Made it! Hamburg airport about midnight. Check-in for our flight opens at 3am.

Given our flight was at 6am and we had to check-in at 3am with our bikes, we opted for an airport sleep. Honestly, really not that bad and better than some of the shocking hotels we’ve stayed at in South America.

Have had worse night's accomodation. Laura banking her ability to sleep anywhere.

A simply devine week spent at home recuperating and reconnecting with family in Hamburg. Exactly what we needed.

Up next; our bike packing trip across Europe begins! First stop; Toulouse and then into Pyrenees including my lifelong dream of watching the Tour de France!! FIZZING.

Bis später!