Travel tips: Travelling to the clinic

I flew from London Heathrow to Hamburg with British Airways.  The flight is around 1 hour 40 minutes on the way out and Hamburg is the closest airport.  I chose BA so I could ensure my husband and I got seats together, and we didn't have to queue to board our return flight.

At the airport there is a U-bahn station (local trains), or a taxi rank outside.  Both very well signed and easy to find.  We grabbed a taxi as our hotel wasn't far and we had decided to take some time to enjoy our trip to Germany.  If you were going straight out to Lübeck I would suggest asking the clinic to pre-book you a taxi to collect you as it is a 1.5 hour drive away so could be expensive in a random airport cab.   The trains are faster at 45 minutes and our train cost around 14 euro each, 2nd class.  

After enjoying some time in Hamburg, on the day we went to Lübeck we walked to the central train station (Hauptbahnhof) and caught the train to Lübeck.  The trains have first and second class seats in all carriages (first class upstairs).  We got a second class ticket and then found the train was very full of people so we had to stand.  People told me this was unusual.  There are two routes from Hamburg to Lübeck, no need to change on either so the journey is very simple.  The trains were throughout the day, so we just went over when we felt like it... but did end up with a wait as we missed our train!

We missed our train as in the station the platforms are not only "platform 6" but "platform 6 A-C" (and D-F or whatever).  This means there can be two trains on the same platform so you need to go to the right section and get on the right train.  I just assumed it was a long train and got on where I got onto the platform, then I checked with people on the train, realised, but mine had left.  There are lots of cafes in the station so we just waited for the next train.  The trains seemed to stick to the same place (the next one was at 6 C too) so it was easy once we understood.