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Tag: ICE

Early Start, Late Trains

Early Start, Late Trains

Published on 19 June 2026 
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Taking trains through Germany is always a bit of a gamble nowadays. To improve my chances of getting home the same day, I planned quite an early start. But not as early as it eventually started… 

The train I originally booked was supposed to leave from Copenhagen at 8h22, which was already quite early for my doing. But some weeks ago I received a message: my booked train would leave even earlier, at 7h39, so bye bye breakfast plans! I knew the DSB Lounge København wouldn’t have any food, so breakfast on the train it would be then! I even had to get one myself before departure, since there was no restaurant or cafe car on the DSB train to Hamburg. 

While I planned sufficient time for my transfer, as soon as my obligation to only use booked trains—Zugbindung—was lifted, I also booked a seat on an earlier train, just in case… I would have missed that train, if it wouldn’t have been delayed even more than the train I came in on! 

There wás a restaurant car on my ICE to Köln Hbf, but no-one ever came by to take orders, and when I headed to the restaurant get something myself, the queue was so long I couldn’t even see the end of it! 

Funny story—but not really—during a long, unplanned stop in Osnabrück Hbf, the later ICE I was supposed to be on, pulled up at the platform right next to us… My train still arrived in Köln quite a bit earlier, though!

They eventually did come around to take food orders, so a little after five o’clock, I finally had some Bratwurst for lunch! 

While arrival and departure times in Köln kept playing leapfrog for a while, in the end there was a comfortably gap between arrival of the train from Hamburg, and departure of my trusty ICE 10 to Brussels Midi. We left 33 minutes late, but at least I was on it, for the last stretch home! 

And that marks the end of another trip!

Heading North!

Heading North!

Published on 9 June 2026

All packed again, and back on the rails, all the way up north to Scandinavia this time! To get there would take me two Deutsche Bahn ICE trains—what could possibly go wrong?—and for the very first time: an SJ EuroNight sleeper train. 

As often before, the ICE 15 from Brussels-Midi to Köln Hbf was already waiting at the platform by the time I arrived in the station. While the DB app warned me about border checks, in the end there weren’t any, or at least not in my carriage. 

Nevertheless, we still arrived in Köln ten minutes late.  However, my connection left twenty minutes late, so I had plenty of time to take a moment to sit down at the Heberer bakery in the station, for my classic Schnitzelbrötchen lunch with an Apfelschorle. 

The second ICE couldn’t quite make up for the lost time, so I arrived in Hamburg Hbf a bit behind schedule. Luckily I had planned for such eventualities and left leave plenty of time before my sleeper train departure. So after dropping off my bag at a Nannybag location—the station lockers would be closed by the time I’d come back—I had dinner at Im Sprinkenhof: a Hamburger Schnitzel mit Bratkartoffeln, one specialty from Hamburg I hadn’t had yet. 

Then it was about time to retrieve my bag and head back to the station, for the SJ EuroNight 344 to Göteborg. That was actually not my final destination for this leg of the trip, but more about that tomorrow. Meanwhile, time to enjoy my private, first class sleeping compartment, read a bit, and go to bed, to hopefully wake up in Sweden… Goodnight!

A Day of Deutsche Bahn…

A Day of Deutsche Bahn…

Published on 30 October 2025 
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Time to go home! Just two high-speed ICE trains, with an easy, 51 minute transfer in Frankfurt am Main. Well, that was the plan, but when travelling with Deutsche Bahn, things hardly ever go as planned…

Since it would be quite a challenge to pack my bag—with more beer, pálinka, clothes, and goodies than I originally left Brussels with—I had my breakfast in the hotel. I even got around to trying the waffle iron this time! Once everything was squeezed in my bag, I checked out for the last time in a while, and went across the street to the station.

In Wien Hbf my ICE to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf was already waiting for at the platform twenty minutes in advance. Well, at least half of it was, so people with seats in the missing carriages were slightly panicking… The other half was attached a bit later, and the then complete train left on time, and stayed on time until we arrived at the first station in Germany… There, due to some ‘technical issues’, we stayed at the station way longer than scheduled… For a while, it still seemed feasible to catch my connection, but the closer we got, the more unlikely it became. Luckily it wasn’t my first time travelling with DB, so I had made sure not to be dependent on catching the last train to Brussels in Frankfurt.

We arrived in Frankfurt am Main Hbf about ten minutes after my scheduled connection left. Fine, I already made a seat reservation on the next—and last—train to Brussels, about an hour and a half later. So I left the station to get something to eat and kill the time. My first choice was a trendy hamburger restaurant, but there was a queue outside, so I went to a fast-food place instead. As it turned out, that queue probably saved my return journey…

Back in Frankfurt am Main Hbf, I went to the platform where my train would leave from. Just after I got comfortable for the wait, I noticed something on the departure board: my train would skip Frankfurt am Main Hbf, and depart from Frankfurt am Main Flughafen Fernbf instead! So I jumped on the first train heading in that direction, which dropped me off at the regional train station at the other side of the airport, and made my way over a dozen escalators and through long corridors to the right platform, which I got to in time.

And just when you think it’s over: another train in front of us broke down, so our ICE had to make a detour. Eventually, at ten minutes after midnight, I alighted in Brussels Midi station… Next time I’ll just take the ÖBB NightJet again!

A Short Trail and a Long Trip

A Short Trail and a Long Trip

Published on 28 July 2024 
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The last day of a hash event is usually a short one, to give participants enough time for the voyage home. On the programme: the Hangover Trail!

The Hangover Trail was as usual quite short—just 4,5 km sightseeing through Hamburg today—and followed by a circle to close off the whole weekend.

While the trail only lasted an hour, the voyage home, which should only take 6,5 hours including transfers, would take me 9 hours in the end! Just as well I didn’t book the latest trains, since I would then probably have had to spend the night in Köln! The extended transfer times of 45 minutes in Hannover and of 1,5 hours in Köln did mean I could take my time for a coffee—although just not enough time to go to a specialty coffee place—and a proper meal in Köln: Leberkäse mit Spiegelei, Bratkartoffeln, Krautsalat und süßem Senf (meat loaf with fried egg, fried potatoes, coleslaw, and sweet mustard) at Gaffel am Dom. And I had some Kölsch… I didn’t plan to, but when their first question is “Ein Kölsch?”, it’s hard to say no!

Then, again in true Deutsche Bahn style, the departure of my last train was about 35 minutes delayed… It did do the job of taking me home though, so this is where my story ends!

Hamburg Ho!

Hamburg Ho!

Published on 24 July 2024

My first and only visit to Hamburg already dates back almost four years, and it was just four hours long… It was however enough for me to decide I had to come back for longer someday, and today is that day! It won’t be merely a city trip, however, since the last couple of days will be spent with runs and other hashing shenanigans.

Three trains it took to get to Hamburg from Brussels! For the train geeks: the first one was a ICE3 neo! In true Deutsche Bahn style, the second arrived 25 minutes late in Hannover, so I missed the booked ICE… In the end, I arrived in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg well over an hour later than planned.

From the station I went straight to my ibis budget in the St Pauli quarter to quickly check in, and head off for my daily coffee. Train coffees don’t quite cut it for me, so I skipped those, but the hour delay meant Playground Coffee was already closed by the time I got there.

The terrace at the brewery ÜberQuell was still sunny, and the beers better than I expected! But with only breakfast and a Laugenstange in my stomach, I quickly felt the two beers, and knew it was time to move on…

Without any caffeine and some pastry, I didn’t really feel like going to one of the few museums still open I planned to visit—the U-Boot Museum—so I decided to get a head start on the evening programme instead.

Last time in Hamburg, the only taste of the local cuisine I had, was a Fischbrötchen. This time I therefore decided to try something more substantial: Labskaus, a dish with salted meat, potatoes, and onion, and beetroot, pickled gherkin, and herring on the side. The version served at Eier Carl had some good reviews, and it was conveniently close to the brewery I just was, so that’s where I went. The dish certainly reminded me of corned beef, but more liquid. While I was there, I had of course try the Eierlikör as well!

It had been quite a long day after a couple of very short nights, and I didn’t want to stray too far for tonight’s beers. So I stayed rather close to the hotel, and my next destination was just a short bus ride away: Malto!

From there another bus took me to Bar Oorlam, which kind of is the taproom of Buddelship Brauerei.

After that, it was time to finally catch up on some sleep…