From Hamburg to a Beetle.

It’s been an action packed few days for me, since I’ve just finished my first international launch, for the new MINI Countryman.

Hamburg's harbour

I’m remaining tight-lipped on my thoughts about the car, (you’ll be able to read them soon enough through one of my usual outlets!) but I thought I would blog anyway!

Leaving home at an eye-watering 2:45am, I headed off to Heathrow, booked on Lufthansa’s business class, with little idea of what to expect. I’m not ashamed to admit I was somewhat apprehensive. Luckily, I was in the company of a good bunch of fellow journos, and once in Germany, I was buddied up with the hugely experienced Brett Fraser, and we were soon putting the big MINI through its paces.

Hamburg is one of Germany’s most famous cities, a huge port, and former home to The Beatles. The hotel itself was nestled in the St. Pauli district of the city, home to the legendary football club, and the infamous Reeperbahn. With a bit of time on my hands, I took the chance to get a few bottles of Astra beer to bring home, and found myself a St. Pauli scarf (it was 29 degrees centigrade, but winter will be here soon enough!). The hotel was great, with one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in, normally when I’m away I do it cheap and cheerful, so this was quite step-up from my usual Travelodge!

After a cocktail reception for the invited journos from Britain, Ireland, Germany, Canada and the US, our hosts were kind enough to lead us on a tour through the Reeperbahn, offering to show us the ‘sights’ and boy, did we see ‘em! I’ve also learnt that you haven’t seen Back to the Future III until you’ve see it ‘auf Deutsch’; (‘Was ist das, Marty?!?). The actual press conference was good fun, and everyone from MINI did there utmost to make sure everyone was kept happy. It was also a good chance to get to know some of the guys I was there with, and actually allowed me to relax!

The following morning we were back out in the cars, only for a combination of road closures and sub-par sat-nav putting an end to any chance of us following the carefully planned out route on offer. Back at the airport I got my brownie points in check with a perfume for Mrs S and a Hamburg teddy bear for little Miss S before getting back on the 737 to come home.

Although I could have stayed in bed all day today, I had already booked myself a gig, finishing up a photo shoot on an immaculate collection of VW’s owned by a local chap. The sun was shining up on Dartmoor and we were able to get some great shots of his mint GTi Cabriolet and perfect ’56 Beetle. He’s got four VW’s in total, and I’d already shot one, so I was glad the threatened rain never appeared, and we were able to finish it off-there’s nothing worse than ringing someone to cancel.

The Bus earns its keep-out on a shoot.

His cars are all perfect, and the Beetle in particular, is special, since its been in family since new. It’ll be coming up soon in an issue of VW Golf+, I’ll let you know when! The only downside with spending time with people who have a collection of cars is that it just makes me want to add a few to the Sloman fleet!

So a full-on weekend, and I’m set to do it all again this week, with SEAT whisking me off for a couple of days in Barcelona.

I feel tired just thinking about it…