First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 1: August 16th, 2009 Munich — Pittsburgh

Also this year I am flying again with Lufthansa. But it seems they have changed the schedule for all transatlantic flights. Now my plain departs not before 3:40pm. Finally I am able to have a good night’s rest before my departure.

So I even have time to disable the polling of my GMX account from my server, which I have forgotten again yesterday. Around noon my parents arrive and pick me up. We discuss everything before we are on our way to the airport around half past twelve, well in time. Thus, it will be a comfortable ride without stress and hectic.

At the airport we immediately find a parking spot. Only for the check–in I must search around. Unfortunately I was not able to check in online due to my connecting flight within the US. After searching around for a while we find the counter and my parents keep my carry–on. So checking in is way more relaxed!

Unfortunately, I am not able to receive a window seat for the connecting flight. I still remember that even my travel agency was surprised that they were not able to make a seat reservation for this flight. Well, at least I have my window seat for the long transatlantic flight!

Next stop is the security. There I say good–bye to my parents. Getting all my bags (video camera, photo, tripod, backpack) on the conveyor belt takes a while. Then I must put my jacket and all the little stuff in a container, get my laptop out of the bag and walk through the scanner. Only my bag with the video camera receives a more thorough inspection. The rest is okay.

Then I continue to the passport check and finally to my gate H48. As already suspected, it is the one on the very far end of the terminal. But before I must pass the special US–Checkpoint — but where is the second security checkpoint?

It isn’t there anymore! It seems they eventually realized that it doesn’t make sense to have the same security checks two times in a row. And for what reason they should check less on a local flight than on a domestic one in the US?!

Around half past one I am at the gate. Boarding should start around 3pm. So I use this plenty of time to start writing on my diary. Then I get my book about Jedediah Smith and spend the time with reading and the mental adjustment to the years of 1820 — 1830…

The flight departs almost on time with only a bit more than 15 minutes delay. From England on the clouds have closed up and there is nothing to see anymore. But at least this time my flight monitor in the front seat works. So I watch three movies on the flight: First is Duplicity with Julia Roberts, then Star Trek (was this number nine?) and finally “Fast and Furious — New Model”.

My fruit platter is a full success. For my Mom it was not enough on her flight. But for me the food is really perfect. For the first time I don’t feel sick after the flight. Otherwise, I always have a light feeling of nausea. It doesn’t feel like throwing up immediately, but a very unpleasant feeling. This time, everything is fine!

Beside this, the flight has no issues. And usually we should have also arrived on time. But there have been thunderstorms in Chicago and so we have a little “traffic jam” in the air, which must be worked through. So we just fly a “small” loop over Madison, Wisconsin, before we prepare for landing in Chicago.

With a little delay we arrive just past half past six. Until I am eventually out of the plane it is just before seven. But then the shock at the immigration: There is an endless waiting line. Lucky me, my connecting flight departs not before half past nine. But then things are moving on way faster than expected and around half past seven I made it — this time with significantly more questions than usual. But then I assume he has seen that I am here every year and I am released from the interrogation.

In the meantime it is so late that they have even stopped the luggage conveyor belt. So I must walk around and look for my suitcase and trolley. For the latter I already suspected that it got lost. But then I see that someone has put my trolley to the side. I am just wondering, why the hell…

Now I must pass customs. Then I have the next chaotic traffic jam: At the second luggage drop is again an endless waiting line and nothing moves on. Suddenly, they open up a new line and we are all forwarded to American Airlines. There they open up a second baggage drop for United Airlines. Probably, there has been developed a real chaos due to the thunderstorm.

After I survived this shock, I immediately walk over to the terminal train. I hope that I will leave again from Terminal 1 and I stay on the train to this station. At the flight panel my estimation gets confirmed and I walk on to the security. Down there is already a long waiting line, which I erroneously relate to the check–in. But this is a huge mistake: Along half of the terminal is the waiting line for security! The total chaos. And it is already a quarter to eight. Hopefully this will work out!

But also here everything is way faster than expected. And they almost smash the people through. You cannot compare this to the unhurried way at the Munich airport. I immediately let a couple of people pass me because I will need a while until I have everything stored in these boxes for the X–Ray.

The security itself is then without issues, no further checks necessary. I hope that my luggage will also find its way to my place after all this giant chaos around here…

The gate is this time not at the very end and around half past eight I made it. I am at the last gate for the departure to Pittsburgh. Now I must quickly change the laptop to the new time zone and especially to the location USA to have a working wireless connection. There I had issues last year until I realized that they switch to different frequencies around here. Then I activate my mobile phone and quickly write a text message back home. After this I read a couple of lines in my book.

At 9pm boarding should start with a departure at 9:30pm. That is not a real long waiting. But then there is an announcement that the plane from San Francisco is delayed, where the crew is flying in. Everything is now delayed by half an hour. Okay, that is not too bad. But when this waiting is over, the next announcement starts: The plane is not able to receive a free gate. Currently they don’t know how long this will take. But nothing will happen before ten!

This announced 10pm eventually ended up to be 11pm when the boarding starts. The plane is completely booked and this time I don’t have the luck to receive a free upgrade to First Class like a couple of years ago. Instead, I received now a pretty funny neighbor who had been working for his company in Hong Kong for a while and is now back in Pittsburgh. Originally, he is from New Jersey.

Around half past one local time we arrive in Pittsburgh. In the meantime I am totally exhausted and only want to go to bed. Because my seat is at the very far end of the plane, it takes of course an eternity until I am out of the plane. After I have left the plane and gangway, I turn on my mobile phone and call Helen. Hopefully, she is still awake!

After ringing for a short time she picks up and immediately leaves the house. Now I must take the train to the baggage claim. To my surprise, both of my luggage arrives pretty much at the beginning! And it is really my suitcase and my trolley! Also my neighbor has received everything. He was also skeptical. It is already quite normal to loose your luggage in Chicago. He wishes me all the best and I walk to the exit first. Outside I sit down on one of the benches, totally tired out. Then I quickly write a text message to my parents.

Around 3am Helen arrives and we drive back home. There are a lot of road works on our way. Therefore we have to drive a couple of detours before we arrive back home. After my arrival I only get the most necessary stuff out of my suitcase, brush my teeth and fall dead–tired in my bed around a quarter to four…