Day 2: From Zurich to California

After 4 amazingly restful hours of sleep, the alarm clock rang at 4:15 am. Today, I'm finally going to America.

Two days ago, my 'travel organizer' even sent me an email reminding me that due to the current high passenger volume, I absolutely must be at the airport 3 to 3 1/2 hours before departure. So, I set off from Hotel Cockpit to Hamburg Airport on the relatively short walk just as the sun was rising. As a good German tourist, I naturally rounded up generously and ended up being there over 4 hours early in the end.

And what can I say: 10 minutes at the check-in machine, 15 minutes at the baggage drop off, and another 15 minutes at security later, I was sitting at the gate almost 3 hours before departure, mourning the extra 2 hours of sleep I could have had. At least Hamburg Airport has functioning Wi-Fi, unlike a certain hotel, and I was able to use the time to write the first part of today's report.

The flight from Hamburg to Zurich with Swiss was fortunately on time, so I arrived on time after a 90-minute flight.

From Zurich itself, I only saw the distant Alps apart from the gate, as my next flight was already ready. After a two-hour layover, I was then on the United Airlines plane heading to San Francisco.

A few weeks ago, I had already reserved an aisle seat in the very last row of the plane. For some reason, I thought it was an acceptable choice at the time. It quickly turned out to be the worst seat on today's flight. For several reasons: First, I had to realize that the food/beverage cart always drove from front to back through the rows, so I was served last. And who likes to wait for their food? Especially when you have to watch the happy people in the rows in front of you take big bites of their lukewarm half-cooked airplane curry. Certainly not me!

The second reason was that without a window seat, I couldn't admire the beautiful eternal ice landscapes of Greenland. So, I only managed to take these semi-good photos from the small door window (still very impressive).

The main reason, however, was that the only small, annoying, constantly screaming toddler on the entire plane naturally sat right next to me along with its parents. I really like children, but this one had made it its mission to provoke me. After countering the constant screaming by using headphones, it changed its strategy and started to kick me regularly and almost broke my headphone jack. After 11 long hours, it was finally done, and my new archenemy and I could finally go our separate ways.

Immigration and baggage pickup went relatively smoothly afterwards (my suitcase was just standing in the middle of the room instead of on a conveyor belt). When I left the terminal, everything immediately screamed California. The hills in the background, the sun, the cars, the streets... it all felt just as expected.

To get to my hotel in downtown San Francisco, I used Uber for the first time. And it was quite intuitive. Within 5 minutes, a driver was with me and took me directly to my hotel. Payment is made directly through PayPal and the price is fixed beforehand. Personally, much more attractive than taking a taxi. Too bad the service is so regulated in Germany. I also had an interesting conversation with my Uber driver named Karma, especially about neighborhoods in San Francisco that I should avoid after dark. Good to know....

Then I checked into my hotel 'The Grant'. The building and the room are not particularly new, clean, or beautiful, but it serves its purpose once again. However, there was exactly one roll of toilet paper and exactly 0 toilet brushes in the bathroom. But as compensation, I have my own ironing board and iron in the room, top!

To end the day, I briefly went to the small supermarket one block away and finally took some photos of the city. Right on cue, one of the world-famous cable cars passed by.

I didn't dare to do more today, even though it's not that late according to American time. But after 25 hours without sleep (Alex would be proud), I'm catching up on it now. Tomorrow, I'll explore the city.

Leart