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9. Etappe: Quer durch die USA nach Baltimore, 21. März - 04. April 2020

The day after tomorrow in Dinslaken?

Yesterday, on the way from the campground to the hotel, we learned that our flight had been cancelled. Of course we were agreed that it will not go smoothly. But when it happens, the joy is not exactly big. But since we are both people who don’t bury our heads in the sand, a few kilometres and a coffee later the new concept was ready.

Roll up your sleeves and go

Calls to Booking.com and the harbour master’s office and mails with the escort service for the harbour followed. We cancelled the first flight on the advice of the hotline employee because we were informed of the cancellation by mail. This was followed by the message that our request was now being processed. We hope to get our money back soon. Thanks to the internet, a new flight was found quickly – but the confirmation took three hours… All the people we dealt with were very friendly and supported us very much. Solidarity and help in times of Corona – a wonderful experience. Less than two hours later I also changed from the desk of the hotel room to the Amigo, where Manfred had already packed his seven things. It was not easy for me to “tune in” the Amigo – and thus myself, for his long journey to Hamburg. Sure, it’s our decision, but it is “only” reasonable and does not correspond to our heart’s desire. How good that there was still so much to do, so I could distract myself a little… In the hotel I started the last machine for laundry. We warmed up our prepared chili in the microwave in our room and ate it from styrofoam coffee cups. Life demands creative solutions from all of us at the moment, because due to the pandemic there was no gastronomic offer in the hotel except coffee and tea. Last but not least I collected all the documents for the delivery of our Amigo in the harbour of Baltimore. That was yesterday.

Goodbye Amigo

This morning we headed for the port. In the port office I got all documents handed over and was then accompanied by the escort service employee into the port area – alone you are not allowed to stay there for several years. During this time Manfred waited on the premises of the forwarding agency. We passed several barriers, police and customs. Finally, an employee arrived who measured the Amigo and stuck the decisive sticker on the window pane, just like with a piece of luggage at the airport. We had been on the road for two and a half hours. Since our return to the hotel via Uber, we have now been observing the curfew and staying “at home” in our hotel room.

Thanks for your support

We receive daily news from home, but also from the USA and Canada. Isn’t it madness that we can all communicate in real time in this way? Against this background, the Internet is really a blessing, even though it can sometimes be a time stealer and accelerator.
The connection with you is good for you and gives you courage in these difficult times. It feels like a false bottom. Only toilet paper nobody can offer us… that really seems to be a problem ;)) So we come back home after seven months and can’t meet anybody personally; at least not different from here – thousands of kilometers away. At the beginning of our journey unimaginable.

Sleep again

Tomorrow we’ll be heading home. Two stopovers are planned on our way from Baltimore to Düsseldorf, one in Atlanta and one in Amsterdam. We remain confident that everything will work out and yet we are prepared for the unexpected. Saturday around noon we will probably land in Düsseldorf – that’s the plan! 

Wir freuen uns auf den Austausch mit dir...

Dieser Beitrag hat 4 Kommentare

  1. Susan

    Safe travels!

    1. Ingo

      Viel Glück – drücke die Daumen, daß alle Anschlüsse klappen, und ihr drei (incl Amigo) bald gesund hier ankommt!

      1. saradevi

        Vielen lieben Dank Ingo. Das Daumendrücken hat genutzt. Unser Amigo dürfte heute gestartet sein. Er wurde umgebucht. Hoffen wir mal, dass wir ihn in zwei Wochen in Hamburg wieder einfangen können. LG von uns Dreien ;))

    2. saradevi

      Thanks, Susan,
      I hope you had a good time at the lake?
      Best regards
      sama