Chapter 1 - Arrival - A rather long day

Today has been a rather long day. It began, as is custom, as a yesterday; the day I boarded the flight across the Atlantic. The flight itself was uneventful and I even managed to catch a few hours sleep thanks to the anti-cold pill I took. The latter half of the flight was sleepless though, and consisted mainly of turning from this side to the other and sometimes from that side to the next. Flying with a cold had an additional bonus effect as we descended for landing my ears felt like they were about to explode. Fortunately for me and the passengers besides me, they held on. As we landed just after 4 AM, we had to wait a bit for the airport to feel prepared enough to receive us.

After an unceremonious welcome at Immigration, I got to the hotel to shower and change. A couple of hours later I went to the bank and ordered a credit card, debit card and some checks. I also spoke with the internet people who will come tomorrow afternoon. After that, I got to the apartment and got its various keys.

For some odd reason I strove to be efficient with my time and after a few mini adventures on the roads* got to Ikea. For the record, it is not a good idea to get to Ikea when you're jet lagged, dead tired and have no sense for internal design whatsoever. After a few rounds I gave up and ordered for picking and (some) assembly for the items I selected beforehand. Whatever was missed will be ordered online. I'm in no shopping mood and walking around that place seemed more alien to me than a few other experienced I had earlier today. Sleep deprivation is not very conductive to shopping. Or fun.

I'll pop by work tomorrow morning for some bureaucracies and then head to the apartment to entertain the internet people. Maybe I should get a cat or something.

* So far the public transportation is adequate. There is some waiting around, but the monthly pass seems very useful.