HOLY COW! HISTORY: From Bavaria to Bangor—The World’s Most Misplaced Tourist – Inside Sources

Erwin Kreuz, a Bavarian brewery worker who in 1977 became famous for mistaking Bangor for San Francisco when he accidentally got off a plane at Bangor International Airport.

They say getting there is half the fun.

Almost 50 years ago, a visitor to America had plenty of fun thanks to not getting where he was going. This is the story of the incredibly mixed-up German tourist.

Poor Erwin Kreuz. All he wanted to do was see San Francisco. You only turn 50 once, and he decided to make the most of it. So, the brewery worker in West Germany (back when there were two Germanys) saved his money. He’d never been to America. He’d only flown on an airplane once. Except for a day trip to Switzerland, he’d never been outside his homeland. He didn’t even speak English.

But Germans are world-class, industrial-strength tourists. These minor details weren’t enough to deter the determined Bavarian. And so, one Monday in October 1977, Kreuz boarded a World Airways charter jet and left on his dream getaway.

He was half asleep when the plane landed. The flight attendant wished him a happy visit to San Francisco, then headed down the aisle and left the jetliner.

Kreuz had made it! Groggily, he exited the plane, inhaling his first breath of California air as he headed for U.S. Customs. Once cleared, he hopped into a taxi and said one of the few English words he knew. “Sleep.” The cabbie dutifully delivered him to a hotel, where he booked a room and crashed.

Yet when he set about exploring the City by the Bay the next day, uneasiness overtook him. Coming upon a Chinese restaurant, and having read about Chinatown, he thought he was in a San Francisco suburb. His jitters slowly turned into fear. There was no Golden Gate Bridge. No cable cars. No Nob Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf, or Alcatraz Island in the distance.

Those landmarks were still more than 3,300 miles away. Erwin Kreuz was in Bangor, Maine.

A friendly Mainer overheard him trying to explain his dilemma in a pub and called friends who spoke German. Able to communicate in his own language at last, he discovered what had happened.

The plane had stopped in Bangor to refuel for the final leg of its journey. The flight attendant’s shift had ended and, knowing he was supposed to fly on to San Francisco, had merely wished him well for the rest of his visit. Kreuz had misunderstood her to say he had reached his destination.

The local newspaper reported on the mix-up on October 20. The story was quickly picked up by the wire services. Kreuz’s goof was suddenly national news.

Bangor now treated its unexpected visitor like a celebrity. Over the next week, he was given the key to the city, was guest of honor at the local Oktoberfest, and was made an honorary member of both the Penobscot Tribe and the Old Town Rotary Club. He was even taken to the capital in Augusta where he met the governor and other state dignitaries.

For Kreuz’s 50th celebration, he had one birthday request: he wanted to go to McDonald’s. His wish was happily granted. He was even allowed to flip a few burgers.

It didn’t end there. The San Francisco Examiner flew Kreuz to the place he had first set out to see. When he finally got there, Kreuz was initially underwhelmed, saying there weren’t enough trees on the drive from the airport to downtown.

His mood quickly changed, however, when he was feted like an A-Lister. He was given yet another key to the city, inducted into the Wong Family Association at the Empress of China Restaurant, taken to a rodeo (where he was greeted with a standing ovation and given a white cowboy hat), and presented with a case of beer by a local brewery’s president.

At the airport for his return flight, someone jokingly gave him a giant luggage tag reading “Bitte, in Frankfurt aussteigen lassen.” (“Please put me off in Frankfurt.”)

His journey over at last, he was given a welcome-home gift: a 13-gallon keg of beer from his employer. Kreuz told reporters, “If Kennedy can say ‘I am a Berliner,’ then I am a Bangor.”

There was a second trip to Maine in 1978. But the novelty of his accidental arrival was wearing thin. Back in Germany, he got into a nasty wage tiff with his employer. The final straw came when he told German media he drank a competitor’s beer. A pink slip soon followed.

Kreuz went back to Bangor a third time in early 1979, hoping to land a good job and immigrate. With his 15 minutes of fame now totally over, the best he could get was a job offer as a janitor at minimum wage. In a farewell interview with the town paper, he thanked residents once again for their kindness and admitted that his final trip had been a mistake.

His final years were spent in a Bavarian nursing home suffering from worsening dementia brought by years of excessive drinking.

Shortly before he passed away in 2010 at age 83, a nurse said he frequently opened the photo album from his original moment of glory. And every time he did, he smiled.