Hamburg with disillusionment, or should I say, 'We're plunging into the cold water'

It's August 9, 2019. Traffic jam on the A1 just before Hamburg. We left Bastorf quite comfortably. We still avoid time pressure these days. So we don't get annoyed about traffic jams.

The campsite on the Elbe, our first destination for a place to sleep, doesn't appeal to us at all. We call campsites again and quickly find a third opportunity after we have tried a second place that offered a better doghouse with a view of industry and roads. Another 40-minute route now leads us to KNAUS Campingpark Hamburg. So we're driving intensively past the edge of Hamburg City and also getting into another intensive traffic jam. We take it easy, which is our motto for this trip. However, after about 40 minutes, we no longer don't care. As interesting as the view of the containers and freighters is, these impressive bridges everywhere, cranes... A different view of Hamburg, so to speak, the edge, the landmark somehow. Industrial progress, the pure life, transshipment point, the gateway to other countries... We're happier to have arrived at the campsite after the carnage on the highways, and we find the extremely friendly reception very pleasant.

While setting up the roof tent, our patient children get hungry and need a restroom. We're a well-rehearsed team. So the setup, organizing sleeping bags and toiletry bags, flashlights and stuffed animals, goes quickly and we are settled again within 32 minutes. We inspect the small place, regret the upcoming drizzling rain, and all four of us with growling stomachs make our way to the furniture store right next door. There is a cheap dinner.

Somehow at home here. We are glad to find a solution for food and warmth in this area after a lot of traffic jams. So the reviews online are correct, this furniture store is the insiders' tip for campers. We eat and browse with our smartphones for our next destination because only one night is planned here. Camping in or around Hamburg is not what we had imagined. We plan to visit the city center of Hamburg the next day. The drizzle continues, we feel cold at the thought of going outside and playing cards in the car. A cozy feeling doesn't set in. So we spend the time until closing time in the furniture store. Instead of playing cards tonight, we do something else that's a hit: we sit on every chair, marvel at beautifully furnished sample rooms, and decide to build a house tomorrow with 10 different bathrooms, children's rooms and bedrooms, living rooms and guest rooms, a pool, and.... 'Dear visitors, our store is closing in a few minutes...' We quickly catch up with the walk back to the campsite, in the drizzle, in the dark, four of us in a strange city... And not close enough to Hamburg City, which was originally planned.

I'm restless tonight. I constantly look out the window at our string of lights and wait for it to become light. I hear the noise of cars on the highway, which is very close. Actually, I didn't want to stay at such places. But on the one hand, it cannot be avoided when we travel around with a specific lack of organization, and on the other hand, this campsite is much better than the two we targeted today. Tomorrow morning, we want to have breakfast at the furniture store, that's for sure, we had fun there today.

It's Saturday morning, August 10, 2019. We have packed our things again, it's no longer raining. We want to move on. But first, breakfast still with the goal of determining a new destination. The line at the checkout is long, at least 20 guests ahead of us. It goes quickly and uncomplicated. Like everything always seems to be with this furniture store chain. In contrast to constantly rearranging on constantly new campsites, we very much appreciate this efficiency and simplicity today. We go out onto the terrace, which the employee says will give us a better connection. Breakfast guests are seated everywhere. We can't find a signal. So a few minutes later, we settle down on the garden seats in front of the main entrance of the store. I sit on a couch, above us a pavilion. Wow, more comfortable than a camping chair and the sun is shining on us... I dream again of buying a house, beautiful rooms, a swing in the garden, flowers... I hear the laughter of our children.... 'Hello, can you hear me?' My husband interrupts my daydream. He's on the phone with a campsite, the connection is better now. We want to end our journey in western Germany. Other cities are therefore more convenient than Bremen, where we wanted to go first. But we wanted so much on this trip :-)) Sometimes that's exactly the point, to accept and follow or defy the weather, depending on how you see it. We constantly have the rain, clouds, sun mix behind us. (Well, we had 35 degrees on Lake Constance for the first two weeks. A dream.) So here's a note again: Stay calm, chill your life. The dice have been rolled: Münster, here we come.

But wait, there's something else. Don't you want to hear about Hamburg City? We'll see each other again, here in the next few days.

Hej goodbye°!