Hanover; Friday, 18 September, 2020

When I originally booked this trip back last December I had an afternoon flight from Gatwick to Geneva and then a train along the lake to Lausanne. Then 2020 came along and as the summer progressed the numbers in Switzerland climbed to the point that, eventually, Switzerland went back onto the quarantine list in the UK, so the trip was cancelled.

Instead I reverted to what now appears to be the standard mantra, if in doubt – Germany. I’d booked flights over to Hannover instead, but the timing meant that the half day’s annual leave I had booked was a bit wasted – not needing to set to the airport until gone 3.

I had a smooth journey over to and through Heathrow and once again an early push back and very quick journey straight onto the runway and takeoff. It also meant we were 20 minutes early landing into Hannover.

On the downside, it meant that where as before I’d had about 10 minutes spare – based on the original arrival time – to make the half-hourly S-Bahn service into the city centre, I now made it to the station just as the previous train was departing so had a near 30 minute wait to get into town.

From Hannover Hauptbahnhof it was a short walk out the back entrance and over to my hotel where I checked in, headed up to my room and turned in for the night.