{"id":7291,"date":"2017-11-29T18:21:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T17:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/?p=7291"},"modified":"2025-12-14T08:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T07:40:37","slug":"4-days-in-the-us-day-1-from-chicago-to-fitchburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/4-days-in-the-us-day-1-from-chicago-to-fitchburg\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Days in the US – Day 1 From Chicago to Fitchburg\u2069"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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, \u200e\u2068Fitchburg\u2069, \u2068Wisconsin\u2069 via Frankfurt and Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stuttgart <\/picture>
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stuttgart <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"Nobody <\/picture>
Nobody looks really happy today<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Not <\/picture>
Not a lot of leg room<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lufthansa <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"Loook! <\/picture>
Loook! An Air Berlin plane!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Off <\/picture>
Off we go – the Albtrauf in the back<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"It <\/picture>
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 – voil\u00e0! Sunshine!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Look <\/picture>
Look – LEGROOM!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"But <\/picture>
But it is only the shuttle bus in Frankfurt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
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 :-)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Quite <\/picture>
Quite interesting to see the planes from this site<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The back turbine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A <\/picture>
A United plane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Finally <\/picture>
Finally, in my United plane – a bit better than Lufthans on the way to Frankfurt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I <\/picture>
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stupid <\/picture>
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vegetarian <\/picture>
Vegetarian lunch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
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 Warsteiner if you ask me. Turns out she does not drink beer in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"But <\/picture>
But they only had a few of the birds, so I had one of them as well<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Watched <\/picture>
Watched a few movies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Snack <\/picture>
Snack before touchdown in Chicago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closer <\/picture>
Close to Chicago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Close <\/picture>
Closer to Chicago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chicago<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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 tur,n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n