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Tag: First Class

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!

Sunny Sweden, Rained Out Run

Sunny Sweden, Rained Out Run

Published on 10 June 2026

A new country, a new city, and a newfound appreciation for beer! First impressions of Sweden were great, and as expected, the hashers in Stockholm very welcoming. 

A hot shower to start the day in sunny Sweden. Well, it was sunny for about five minutes after I opened the window blinds of my compartment… It was just enough though to enjoy my boxed breakfast in the sun. In the end, the train was even fifteen minutes ahead on schedule, allowing me some extra time—and snacks—in the SJ Lounge at Göteborg Central. Any other week I would not have needed to stop at Göteborg, but track works—although announced well in advance—made a transfer there unavoidable. 

After queuing for a bit to get on the SJ X 2000, I found my extremely roomy seat, and I was on my way to Stockholm, the original destination of my sleeper. Within minutes a train attendant came to confirm my lunch order, and then later served it at my seat, at exactly the requested time. 

After arrival, and a short metro ride, I could already check-in to my hotel: Citybox Stockholm.  No people involved at all, or even in sight, but I was able to sort it out with just the consoles. It even seemed the machines had upgraded me to a very roomy, accessible room on the ground floor! Considering it was a room without windows—so no street noise anyway—that was just perfect!

Then it was time for my first proper coffee since Monday, at Drop Coffee, with some pastry from Svedjan Bageri. 

But then it was time for a big moment: my first alcoholic beer in a month! In case you missed it: after my birthday brewery crawl, I had given alcohol a rest for exactly thirty-one days. So my first proper, alcoholic beer after that time was in Stockholm, in Akkurat, to be accurate. And boy, did it taste good!

I also had some homemade köttbullar there, served with cream sauce, pickled cucumber, lingonberries & mashed potatoes. 

A new city usually also means a new hash, so I went back to the hotel to change, and was off to Fruängen—with the underground—for Stockholm Underground H3 Run 1656 – The Hot Dog Run. A sudden downpour just before the run was about to start, meant not all markings were as legible as intended… We found the drink stop, though!

After circle I headed back to the centre, for the Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri tap takeover at The Mad Hatter. 

To finish the night, I went to Omnipollos Hatt, for some IPAs, and of course a slushie…

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!

Leaving Lille

Leaving Lille

Published on 19 December 2025 
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

The last day in Lille was going to be a very short one. Basically I’d just have breakfast and bail. But considering how easy and quick it is to get there, I might just return for a day trip another time!

Since my train would leave quite early, I had my breakfast in the hotel. Then it was time to say goodbye to ibis Lille Centre Gares, and make my way to the station. I first went to the ‘wrong’ station Lille Flandres, to see if I could get access to the lounge, but apparently my very cheap first class tickets didn’t qualify.

So I spent some more time in the very modern Lille Europe train station, where I discovered some huge wall paintings in the metro station part. But eventually it was time to board my TGV INOUI and head home again…

A Day of Deutsche Bahn…

A Day of Deutsche Bahn…

Published on 30 October 2025 
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

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!