Home sweet home???

Thursday morning our first (most hated) task was to pack, which wasn’t easy after seven weeks on the road and two conferences. We had quite some „discussions“ about the number of pieces of checked luggage and about what to take with us and what to leave (like Made-in-China plastic Las Vegas lamps or Mardi Gras beads). At the end we had three heavy pieces (each almost max. weight of 50 pounds) and two (large) carry-ons plus a backpack and a purse. After strenuous packing and a hot bath to wash off sweat we went for a last stroll on Mag Mile to get some coffee and to do some last-minute shoppng (small items only!).

We checked out early, for lack of enthusiasm to do something useful, and caught the 11:30 am bus departing from our hotel. Arrived to O’Hare Airport at noon, but our Lufthansa counter (not in the highly-praised brandnew International Terminal, but in old Terminal 1) didn’t open until 12:45 pm. Of course. we had to pay for the extra piece of luggage ($ 100!) and – never had that before – at the gate they later weighed the hand luggage before boarding. Of course, many people "forgot“ to bring some of their stuff to the counter for weighing and getting a "cleared cabin baggage“ badge…. Friendliness was rather restrained, but at least we got two seats in the first economy class row of this Boeing 747-8 (the new „Jumbo“ with two levels) – meaning, we had a bit more leg space and I had the separating curtain directly in front of my face. The plane had electric outlets at the seat, but it felt like the seats were a bit narrower than on other planes.

Security took about 30 min. and take-off was about half an hour delayed. Nevertheless, with a lot of tail wind flight time was 6:40 hours only and we arrived to Frankfurt earlier than scheduled at 6:30 am.

While waiting in line at the LH counter in Chicago, at the security check and later for boarding, we got confirmation for what we already noticed during the two conferences: how rude and unpolite many people from foreign countries are, especially from asian countries (mainly China), from Eastern Europe and from Central/South America. They often ignore lines, basic rules and politeness. Don’t want to generalize and don’t want to sound prejudiced, but there is at least a grain of truth in it.

Don’t get it: Why can’t they just serve a good sandwich or wrap or a "Belegtes Brot“, wrapped in wax-paper, plus a tomato or a pickle and an apple instead of these many teeny tiny containers with horrible food and lots of plastic? Same for almost every airline in the cattle class. Today’s choices only included "vegetarian“ or "chicken“ - both equally tasteless. In addition, they are now saving the salt & pepper packages, but hand out metall cutlery. LH still serves alcohol for dinner, but we would rather have prefered a decent breakfast instead of a muffin, some fruit cubes and dry cookies.