Page 32 - KCRPCA July Aug 2018

32
Jul / Aug 2018
Our weather in Germany was unseasonably warm, almost hot. The clothes we brought were more suited for the coldest first part of April that Kansas City had ever experienced. Go figure!
With our time in Germany winding down, we headed for Sindelfingen to turn in the Macan for shipping. I hosed off all the road grime at a do it yourself car wash that was only 700 meters from the drop off location. Dropping the car off was a breeze. The place was considerably less crowded that on our previous visit. I did find out that they transport cars to the Emden port on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They only needed one more vehicle to fill up a vehicle transport, so hopefully the Macan will be headed to the port on Tuesday. After it gets there, we will be at the mercy of the shipping schedule. Who knows how long that will take? We had an uneventful taxi ride to our hotel and focused on repacking our carry-ons for the trip home. Luckily everything fit. The next day we strolled around Stuttgart while we waited to take the ICE train to Frankfurt. We stayed in the Airport Hilton Garden Inn to minimize the airport departure stress. We had a great dinner in their restaurant; Weinersnitchel, roasted potatoes, spargel (white asparagus) and a 3 sausage plate with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. How German can you get?
As we were relaxing in our hotel, we talked about our observations of driving in Germany. The country is neat and clean. There is no trash or litter on any of the motorways. We even saw workers cleaning the white posts on the edges of the rural roads. The posts in Luxembourg are noticeably dirtier. There are no billboards along the autobahn. There is nothing to distract you from driving. We only saw one marked police car on the autobahn. Most of the German drivers obey the speed limits. Speed limit signs
are quite visible on the autobahn, but there are not as many on the rural roads. The Tom-Tom nav system was quick to let you know when it thought you were speeding. The frequent ding, ding, ding got to be a real irritation. If you are going to drive in the left lane on the autobahn, you had better keep a close watch on your rear view mirrors. I’m certain we were passed by cars going in excess of 140 mph. We did not see a single car that was driving with damaged bodywork. There were no “rust buckets”, cracked wind shields, or burned out tail lights.
After a good night’s sleep, it was off to the lounge to wait for our flight. When it was time to board our flight, we were driven directly to the plane. We took an elevator up to the jet way and walked directly onto the plane. Sweet! I hate airport crowds!
We had a great flight back, smooth and no turbulence. We were an hour late leaving Frankfurt but had no issues at O’Hare. We skipped the baggage claim since we only had carry-ons and went directly to the Global Entry Kiosks to clear customs. A quick scan of the passport and fingerprints made it super simple. No lines, no waiting. If you are traveling out of the U.S, Global Entry is worth checking into. We hopped on the Tram and made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare. It would have been nice to take a snooze on the way to Kansas City but the plane was completely full and there was no way to get comfortable.
Where is the Porsche? It’s on the Goodwood Vehicle Carrier with an ETA of 1 Jun at the Port of Houston. We dropped it off in Sindelfingen on 23 April so that’s pretty quick. You should put the European Delivery Option on your bucket list. You will not be disappointed!
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