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USA 2017

August 2017
Business trip to USA with some private actions Read more
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  • TravelerUSA 2017

    Back in the USA

    August 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Hello there, I am back in the US again. This time mainly for business but there will also be some time for recreation and I will write about it here whenever something worth telling happens. The first day was the day of the journey to arrive on the East coast. In the morning I jumped on a plane from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt and after a full body and explosives test they let me fly to Boston. Maybe I looked a little bit suspicious because of my baggage but I will write about that later. When I have arrived at the immigration I was already tired and only wanted to get a car to leave Boston. Unfortunately I was really lucky with the officer :-( he was asking me a lot of questions about why I have to enter the USA and at the end I didn't know what to say anymore. I never had such issues in 6 years of flying to the US!!! Finally he let me in and I drove to Wrentham which is southwest of Boston. I dropped most of the baggage there at a nice house in a suburb because it was not mine (explanation follows). From there I drove to Newburyport in which I found my accomodation for the time on the East coast. I fell into the bed and slept. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of that day ;-)Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 1

    Hiking on the AT

    August 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    I got up and went directly on the highway towards northwest. After 2,5 hours I came into the area of the White Mountains National Forest and there I met Jonas and Julia. Joni is a friend from home and Julia his mexican girlfriend. The baggage which I brought was for them and the sister of Julia lives in Wrentham. They are hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT) since May this year and I was very happy to join them for one day. The AT is the longest hiker only trail in the world ranging from Georgia to Maine on the East coast and crossing 14 states. was the first time I met Julia, so we got to know each other and then we already started on the trail. As we were in a mountain area we had to get on a peak of course: the Mount Moosilauke (nobody knows how to pronounce it). The path was quite steep and slippery as it has rained the day before but we were fast and arrived at the peak (ca. 1400m high) after around 2 hours. The weather was ok, a little bit cloudy but warm. At the top there was fog first but then it got better. We ate something and went down on the other side of the mountain. At the bottom was a hiker hostel behind which we grilled some sausages for Hot Dogs and drank some beers for dinner. Afterwards it was already dark and we hiked to the next shelter which was a mile away. We crawled into the sleeping bags and slept.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 2

    The Kancamagus Highway

    August 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    When we got up Joni prepared breakfast for us three: Delicious scrambled eggs with bacon and for dessert we had avocados and a chocolate cake. Then we headed back to the hiker hostel where the car waited for us. We packed the stuff and I brought them to the start for their next stage on the way to Mount Kathadin (the endpoint of the AT). Unfortunately Joni forgot the water filter at the hostel so we had to return to get it and come back again. That costed us roughly an hour. After the farewell I had the plan to drive a detour back to my accomodation. I was driving on the Kancamagus highway which is a very famous recreational area within the White Mountain National Forest. As the weather was perfect lots of people had the same idea. I stopped at several viewing points and also did a small hike. At the end I came to the Swift river on which I wanted to relax a bit in the sun but there were so many people that I decided to hit the road. I still had many miles to drive anyway. On the way I got hungry and I stopped at a Five Guys restaurant - they have the best burgers - to enjoy my first burger here. Hopefully there are many more to follow :-) Then I finally arrived in Newburyport and strolled around this nice little town and had an ice cream. The sun went down and I prepared myself for the day after.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    1
    Day 3

    Solar Eclipse

    August 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Finally I had to do for what I was coming here: Working. As always I was welcomed very friendly. Since the last time there were also some new colleagues which I could get to know. I heard that there will be a Solar Eclipse on Monday so I had the chance to witness this event. When it was about time all people went out and were prepared to see a spectacular event... but it even didn't get really dark here in New Hampshire. Too far away from the core shadow which was in South Carolina on the East coast. The colleagues from the West coast (Seattle, WA) were more lucky as they were closer (core shadow in Oregon) and they had less clouds. As nobody had glasses one of the colleagues had a tin foil with a round little hole in it and when the sun shined through it you could see the crescent behind on a white paper. I got a pic from a West coast colleague and another pic from Illinois which is really cool. After work I went shopping in one of the big outlets in New Hampshire - I had to use the time (there is always so less time here)Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 4

    Boat trip

    August 22, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Today I had to work again, what a surprise. I had several meetings and talked to some people and so the day went by very fast. I have a colleague which lives in the near of Newton (where the company is) and the great thing about his beautiful house (which he has renovated for years) is that it has a boat pier on the Merrimac river. If you have a pier you have to have a boat of course and so he bought a small motor boat some years ago. I know him since quite a while and we also got friends over the time and when he was in Germany some weeks ago he invited me on a boat trip. I was happy that it worked out and so I met him at his house after work. We went out with the boat and enjoyed the sunset and some beers on the water. It was the hottest day of the week with up to 35 degrees Celsius and so it was a very warm evening, perfect for a boat trip. After it got dark we have returned to his house again and chatted a while before I headed back to Newburyport to sleep.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 5

    Company dinner

    August 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This morning was really hectic and stressful. What happened? Everything was as usual as I woke up. I wanted to prepare my stuff for the drive to work and then suddenly I noticed that my car keys are missing!!! I ran through the whole apartment and checked all possible places but I couldn't find the keys. I was nearly becoming desperate when I had the idea to check the administration office of the building. And yeah: they had the keys, somebody must have dropped them there. After that I was driving happily to work. This day it was planned to have dinner and some drinks after work. I had already spoken to two colleagues before I got here and they have organized that almost everybody from the office joined us. It was great that they took my visit as an occasion to meet alltogether in our free time. In the restaurant in Haverhill I ordered a big burger - of course - next to my local craft beer. After dinner some of the colleagues left and only the young stayed. It was fun talking to them outside on a deck next to the Merrimac river. Around 10 PM we left and everybody went home.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 6

    Shopping

    August 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    This morning I got up and made myself ready for work, everything was kind of relaxed. I worked the whole day, as always running around and having meetings with my coworkers. This day I wanted to do the rest of my shopping as it was the last evening I had on the East coast. Shopping is cheaper here, especially in New Hampshire as there is no sales tax in this state. Therefore I drove to a mall in Salem in which there is an Apple Store. One part of my shopping plans also included to buy a new iPad as my old one at home is quite old and got really slow. When I have walked into the store a girl said that I had to wait shortly for a free staff member. I waited and waited and after around 20 minutes I left without an iPad :-( because I wanted to see the beach (I stay so close to the ocean and haven't been there this time yet) before the sun was gone. But with the delay in the Apple Store I didn't really make it to the beach on time. I have made some pics anyway because the scenery looked great and I have made the plan to return in the morning before work as this was my only chance to see the beach and Atlantic ocean on daylight. On the way to the apartment I stopped at Chili's which is a kind of Mexican restaurant franchise I have wanted to try the first time. I have expected a fast food restaurant but it was really good, a little bit like Dennys and worth the money.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 7

    Flight day

    August 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    In the morning I packed all my stuff and went to the beach first. The morning mood and the air were great and I enjoyed the short time without stress. Afterwards I drove to work and spent my last hours there. It was quite a lot to do still and this kept me busy until it was time to say goodbye to my colleagues. It took me like an hour to talk to everybody and finally I was on the way to the airport. The traffic in Boston was awful as always and I lost a lot of time but I didn't get nervous because I had planned enough time. Eventually I arrived at the rental car center where I have returned the car. At the end there was something around 785 miles more on the tachometer, quite ok for one week. And I liked the car more than expected, it was great to drive. The airport was really busy, a lot more than on my previous visits. When I checked in online before there was no seat assigned for me and I was wondering how this would end, but I was lucky and got upgraded in Deltas Premium Economy :-) The flight was about 6,5 hours and to stay awake I watched two movies. Finally I arrived in Seattle and took a cab to my apartment where I went into bed almost right away.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 8

    Welcome to Seattle

    August 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    It was time to explore Seattle. I made some plans in the morning and then just went to the center by foot. First stop was the famous Pike Place Market which was totally crowded. Next to other stuff they sell fish here and throw it around. You can imagine the crowds of tourists which were there. I didn't really want to spend a lot of time at this place so I went to the Space Needle. On my way I came by the first ever Starbucks. Around and in this building there were even more tourists, so I left. I have purchased my Space Needle ticket in advance and could go up almost immediately. The view from the platform was absolutely amazing. I saw the skyline from Seattle of course and also Mount Rainier (the highest mountain in Washington: 4392m high). Afterwards I took the ferry to Bainbridge Island which is just opposite Seattle on the Puget Sound (the waters next to the city). During the ride there was a great view of the skyline. After 45 minutes I have arrived and returned immediately with the same ferry as I didn't want to lose too much time on this island which is not as interesting as Seattle ;-) Upon arrival I returned to the area around the Space Needle and then made the way up to Kerry Park to watch the sunset. As the weather was absolutely beautiful this day - there was only a blue sky - the sunset was wonderful. The lighting of the scenery was changing colors as it got darker. I enjoyed the view until I headed back to the Space Needle area again because there was a free show of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". I haven't had seen this movie yet and as I am a Star Wars fan this was a great opportunity to catch that up. After the movie I went back to my apartment by bus and slept, it was a long but great day.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2017
    Day 9

    Go Sounders, go!

    August 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Sunday was a special day even for this trip. I walked to Lake Union to lign up at the end of a big row in front of a wooden building on a pier at the southern part of the lake. There were already a lot of people queuing up at around 10 AM. The reason was because the Center of Wooden Boats (CWB) offers free sail boat rides on Sundays. I had to wait about 20 minutes when somebody from CWB came and asked who wanted to take the last seat on a boat for 11 AM. I was lucky because the people around me still had to wait about an hour. First there hasn't been much wind and the historic wooden boat which was built in the year 1900 was going very slow. But after a while we got some good breezes. It was fun to sail on the lake and to see lots of other boats and water planes. Afterwards I jumped on a bus to reach Fremont, a neighbourhood in the north of Lake Union. There was a park from which you have a pretty view on the city. When I rode back to my apartment by bus it was time to prepare for the next highlight. A local colleague picked me up and first we had dinner. Then we went to the Century Link Field which is usually an American Football stadium, but it is also used by the Seattle Sounders FC which is the local soccer club. Therefore I have attended my first MLS game. And it was even a special one, they played the derby against the Portland Timbers which are their biggest rivals and it happened that this was position 1 against position 2 in the league. Everything was prepared for an intense game, Seattle was the better team and scored the first goal but then Portland got a penalty right before the halftime. In the second half Seattle had some great chances but wasn't able to score again, it ended 1:1. The about 51.000 spectators (Seattle has the most soccer spectators in the US) cheering a lot anyway and so it was a great night.Read more

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