Around 18:30 yesterday evening I took a train (19€) from Sonthofen to Munich's airport, a 3h ride via München Hbf, and spent a restless night trying out various airport benches.
Despite being there early, check-in was inquisitively slow, everybody having to pass a friendly interrogation & passport control first, before being allowed to get a boarding pass. As usual, I also had to open up my backpack, airport security always being suspicious about my WAL. The flight itself was cramped & uncomfortable but otherwise nondescript, landing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA almost an hour early.
The waiting lines at the US immigration control in Atlanta are rather long but at least pass-through is fairly steady. Passport check, fingerprint scan and webcam photo are standard procedure here. By the time I get through, my check-in bag's already there, ready to be hand carried through customs. Here again I get picked out for a more thorough inspection of all my stuff and some more friendly questions before being allowed to find my way towards my connecting flight. Getting from the arrival gate to the next boarding gate only took two hours. Well within the five hours transit time I've got.
From Atlanta, Georgia to Palm Beach, Florida is only a short 1h30 hop, and at 21:00 local time I truly find myself on US bottom without anymore hassles, except for the fact that my check-in bag got obviously searched one more time somewhere on the way. Fifteen minutes later, a shuttle bus (20$) brings me to my Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, a 15' minute ride from the airport.
As they haven't changed to winter time yet, there's currently only a five hour difference: Florida summer time = Bayern winter time - 5h. Till sunday that is, then it will be officially winter time here too.
Currency: 1 Euro = 1.25 USD , 1 USD = 0.80 Euro
