4 Days in the US - Day 1 From Chicago to Fitchburg⁩

Another Long Man mission. Fly to Chicago and deliver some parts – have a few free days to explore – fly back. I like those kinds of missions. Got a car for 4 days and booked a few nice hotels. Spring was late this year, so it was not as green as I hoped for. But it was a free trip so why complain?? First stop, ‎⁨Fitchburg⁩, ⁨Wisconsin⁩ via Frankfurt and Chicago.

Stuttgart Airport – even a decent time of the day. Usually, when I do this kind of trip I am on the first plane out of Frankfurt to Chicago which leaves at 07:25. That means getting up at 03:00 – driving to Heilbronn – picking up the goods, and racing to Frankfurt Airport to get the flight.

Nobody looks really happy today

Not a lot of leg room

Loook! An Air Berlin plane!

Off we go – the Albtrauf in the back

It is blue over the clouds. I love it on a rainy day. You have a gray day and go in a plane – it takes off and gets over the clouds – voilà! Sunshine!!!

Look – LEGROOM!!

But it is only the shuttle bus in Frankfurt

Usually, I do not like it when they ferry you with the bus to the plane. But this time it was different. The plane is somewhere out there – we do a sightseeing tour of FRA :-)

Quite interesting to see the planes from this site

The back turbine

A United plane

Finally, in my United plane – a bit better than Lufthans on the way to Frankfurt

I want to be able to do that! Board a plane and fall asleep – how nice would it be. No waiting for the food, no looking for the next movie – only a cruise in dreamland.

Stupid Premium Economy – the exit row in front of me was empty, but of course, you have to pay for it. And so was most of the Premium Economy part of the plane as well.

Vegetarian lunch

The wine was not drinkable – the beer was! I had two young Germans in my row. They were on the way to Vegas. And they had a few 1000 to blow. But no clue about beer. Lucky for me, they wanted German beer – Warsteiner – one of our TV Beers – so more birds for me :-)
The flight attendant was German and looked at me like I had a funny hat on – why would you drink American beer? Well, she accepted my explanation with the TV beer and handed me a Goose. I told her later that this is a really good beer – much better than Warsteienr if you ask me. Turns out she does not drink beer in the first place.

But they only had a few of the birds so I had one of them as well

Watched a few movies

Snack before touchdown in Chicago

Close to Chicago

Closer to Chicago

Chicago

Immigration at O’Hare International Airport – the longest I had to stand in line was OVER 3 hours!! That was with the morning flight when a lot of planes came in. Now they have a different system with a lot of machines. Scan the passport, do this, do that – do not smile for the picture and whatever. Since I brought some samples, I marked the custom form for the goods. After that, it was waiting and waiting but this time, not 3 hours, more like 45 minutes. Finally, it was my turn and I had to explain two times what I brought and after that, I had my stamp and was off to customs. They X-Ray the bag and Adios! Good! Germany booked a car for me – at Hertz. So you go out and wait for the shuttle bus to bring you to the rental office.

Enterprise 11 times
Avis 10 times
Thrifty 10 times
Alamo 10 times
National 9 times
Budget 8 times
Dollar 8 times
Hertz 0 times

WTF??? Somehow I should bring stuff to Fitchburg⁩ in ⁨Wisconsin and not look at the shuttle buses from other rental companies! I see one upstairs – hmm since I waited now more than 30 minutes why not try upstairs at departure? – upstairs I go. Same same – but different! Now more National and Alamo and fewer Avis buses. I see one coming upon arrival again. Running down as a rabbit runs from the fox, I got in – let’s go and get the car!
Only 4 more customers on the bus – looks like I do not have to wait today. Ha Ha Hertz had a dirty trick up their sleeve! I dunno how they did it, but there were about 25 customers in front of me. Hmmm they might send only one shuttle every 40 minutes or so – this way the line will not be out of their office. Another hour and some minutes pass, and finally, I get the keys.
The nice thing about renting in the US is that you can choose your car in the parking lot. You rent a class and go and see what parks are there. If you have time, you even wait a bit if something better comes in. Let’s see – I need a nice color and something I fit into. USB etc. they all have so no need to check that. In the end, I opted for a KIA with 349 miles on the clock. Who does not like the smell of a new car?

Finally in the rental car

My ride for the next few days – a KIA whatever. Lots of plastic, but it drives well. I was a bit confused about the toll system here. The last time, I paid cash, but some of the toll stations do not have the option to pay cash. And I had next to no coins as well, so I stopped at a gas station to get something to drink and coins. Just in case. Next, I put my coins, a man who worked there told me the car had an I-PASS thing on the windshield. You can open and close it and decide if you want to pay with it or with your credit card or cash. Ok – good to know….
There was not too much traffic and I got into ‎⁨Fitchburg a bit after 18:00.

Fitchburg⁩

Had to bring the samples to two technicians waiting for them in the
Wyndham Garden Madison in Fitchburg. They were happy and I was tired. Of course, there were no rooms booked for me, but I was too lazy to find something else, so I checked in the Wyndham. Nice place next to a small mall. So no need to take the car to get some food. Too tired to go to a restaurant that has some vegetarian options anyhow.