The Adventure Begins

The last few days in Germany I wasn’t really nervous about the flight to Charlotte or the journey itself. So I enjoyed the days with some really good friends. We grilled some beef, made burgers and had a lot of fun.

Thanks to my sister Carolin who drove me to the airport in Frankfurt. So, she was the last person in Germany who saw me alive ? The flight itself was horrible. Way too long and I couldn’t sleep this time. So I watched nearly an entire season Suits on Netflix on my phone.

When I landed in Charlotte my friends Fabian and Jacky and her cousin Cindy picked me up at the airport. Many many thanks to Cindy Cummings and her husband. Without her it wouldn’t be possible to start this trip! I could use her address for my VISA request. She picked me up at the airport. I could sleep at her house. Really awesome!!! First, we went shopping. I needed an American SIM card for my phone, fuel for my stove, some food, etc. After more than 2 hours in the T-Mobile store and some technical problems later, I got my own American mobile phone number. How cool is that? ?

The next day, Jacky, Fabian an myself drove to Springer Mountain in Georgia which is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Many thanks to these two guys who spended the last day of their two weeks trip for me driving me about 5 hours.

I started at about 6pm on the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I took an camping spot just after 3 miles of hiking because it was getting dark outside. So I set up camp and just after eating and going to bed it started raining nearly the whole night. The next morning I had to pack my soaking wet tent. I met many different people on the next day out there on the trail.

This first day I hiked around 16 miles to a nice little camping spot. Few weeks ago I said to myself that I have to start slowly. So a first 16 mile is definitely not a slowly starting. I met some awesome people at the tent spot. We eat together and had a lot of fun.

I‘m really excited about Neels Gap. There‘a supposed to be the best outfitter on the entire Trail. Every single person there once thru-hiked the AT. I‘ll keep you updated. I definitely need some stuff and fresh food ?