I would love to share my experiences and excitement to travel again and visit places in Germany and France. I started my journey flying with British Airways via London to Hamburg where I spent the first couple of days. It was easy to connect flights at London Heathrow as there were no special checks at the airport, especially since I stayed in the secure area for my transfer flight. Being vaccinated twice and having the correct documents is an essential part of travel nowadays. At the time I left Canada, I needed a negative COVID antigen test 48 hours prior and this is all that was required for my travel to Germany. (Currently, this is no longer a requirement, if fully vaccinated, unless a traveller has been in China within 10 days of arrival).  

Our trip this time was with a rental car which gave us flexibility and freedom to adjust our route as we wished.  We began our journey in Northern Germany. We were so impressed with the history of Lübeck, Rostock, Berlin and Leipzig which have a history of over 800 years. Just to see the architecture alone is worth a visit to these places. Huge parts of these cities were destroyed during the wars, but for the most part have now been rebuilt to their original glory. Famous artists, composers and writers have called these cities their home and as a tourist you will be reminded of this while walking on the ancient cobblestones.

Of a very different nature was a visit to the island of Usedom, located on the Baltic Sea close to the Polish border. In and around Heringsdorf where we stayed for 5 days, enjoying our walks on endless beautiful long beaches. 

Travel in Germany is fairly easy and it is still important to remain careful with all the required regulations. This includes wearing a mask at most times, disinfecting and washings our hands and staying away from crowded areas. Most restaurants want to see our vaccination certificate, while some only require that we write down our home address and some do not want to see any I.D.  

Next month’s report will include the final part of our journey, as we are planning to visit Strasbourg and travel the legendary wine route in Alsace, running roughly 170km through France, parallel to the Rhine River.

My return flight to Vancouver is booked for December 2nd.