_{The following are notes I wrote in a notepad during my 20+ hours long trip from Sweden to Arkansas, US.}



Here we go. Got my suitcase, got my passport, got my Fella. I'm on the tram and the journey has begun. This far most everything is normal, I've been on this tram so many times before. The people are rarely this quiet though, 4:30 in the morning is not a talkative hour.

It's so dark outside. I can't wait for summer to come with its 4 AM sunrises. We're getting there, it'll dawn around 7 AM today. Wow, I'll be on the plane by 6:55. I'm hoping for clear skies so I can see the view of the ground below. It's like flying on Google Maps.

I can see the train station now, time to put the pen down.

...


And I'm back again, this time on a bus, the airport shuttle. I sure hope he (the bus driver) just came from the night parking, because if he's been driving for a while and it's still this cold I'm in for a cold 30 minutes ._.

I guess writing this early on the journey is quite silly.. I mean, I don't have a lot of exciting details yet. I got some photos of the dead silent and all empty tram stop earlier. Very interesting.

The streets are so empty, the stores are so dark. Actually, no, most of them are lit up because they don't have night vision goggl... security cams. What a waste of electricity.

The people on this bus aren't quiet. I guess co-workers got here with different trams so now they have someone to talk to. I wonder why the library is fully lit. Who would steal books you can borrow for free? Looks like they've built a new McDonalds restaurant.

I wish I had company. Someone to laugh with. To get lost together with.

The dawn is on its way. We're out of the city now, and behind the dark silhouettes of trees I'm seeing deep blue skies. Looks like I'm in for an amazing view.

A few minutes later and I can see a hint of yellow at the horizon.

The bus is finally warming up and the world is going from black to gray.

I think I see an airport.

...

I did see an airport! And then I entered it. A nice lady at the check-in gave me a boarding pass without me having to wait in line. Gate 17. At the security check I heard this cat speaking in panic. Poor thing. I sat down next to Gate 17 and picked up my phone - oops, 5 missed messages. Was texting Jason while on the tram earlier, and apparently Silent Mode on this phone didn't even vibrate. Another oops, suddenly realized I didn't bring my itinerary..! Good thing I emailed it to Jason, asked him for a summary and got a text with the necessary info before boarding the plane. After a bunch of texts I realized it'd probably be cheaper to open Gtalk and chat instead of texting, so I did. Yay, some company! I like this phone (borrowed it from Roze).

I had a quick look in the tax free shop to see if they had any candy I'd like to bring, but I was disappointed. Nothing interesting at all.

We're moving!! Time to fly!

Sunny daylight now, with long morning shadows.

We're in the air now. I'm at the window seat on the sunny side. Warm and nice I can see lots of puddles of ice below, some fields scattered around, but mostly trees. We're over the coast already, so it might not be long before all I see is water.

Starting to get hungry. Had a small breakfast ._.

Captain just said the weather's bad in Frankfurt. And I saw online yesterday that the weather forecast said rain when I get to Arkansas. Does that mean delays, maybe? Hope not.

They're serving food now! Got a very cold sandwich. Waiting for something to drink.

Only seeing mist now. I can hint land at the sunny horizon. Guessing the mist is clouds above water.

Fella's hands are annoying. They're too big.

Captain says we're above Copenhagen now. That was quick. Felt like it was only for a few minutes that I didn't see land. Not very hungry anymore. Ate the sandwich (healthy bread with cheese, lettuce and sweet pepper) with a small cup of hot tea. Small as in normal size, 2 dl. My tea cup at home holds 5 dl.

Flying over a big fluffy cloud rug now. I want to dive into it and just feel the soft fluffiness. Too bad it isn't really as much of cotton as it looks to be. Apparently it's snowing in Frankfurt. Btw, why are clouds black from underneith sometimes, but always lamb white from above? Why isn't Fella as fluffy as a lamb? Are lambs as soft as Samoyed dogs?

My eyes are heavy. Don't think there'll be any problems falling asleep on the next plane. The engines are so loud they're drowning all possibly annoying vioces, so all I'm hearing is the constant engine noise (making me sleepy) and background murmur from talking people. It's like sitting in a distant corner of school! Perfect sleeping environment for me. Only downside might be the chair.

Will be landing in Germany soon. The seatbelt sign is lit and a stewardess just finished reading a list with what gates connecting flights will be going from, in both German and English. Really long list. My flight wasn't included, so I guess it's too long a wait for me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please prepare for landing."

...

Frankfurt Airport is huge. I went to the ladies room as soon as we landed, and when I was done and washing my hands the speakers said Charlotte passengers were to go to C9. Wtf, already? It's only 9, the plane isn't supposed to take off until 10:40!

So I picked up the speed. Followed the signs towards C. Walked. Walked. Walked. A straight line, kept walking. Kept seeing signs pointing towards C. 10 minutes later I finally got to turn right... into an elevator. Oh well, it said C on level 4, so I went up. Out of the elevator. Around a corner. And stop. Wtf. The automatic doors wouldn't open! Didn't see any C anywhere, and it was a really small space, definitely no gates anywhere. Nobody to ask eith.. oh, security guard in the corner.

"Excuse me, how do I get to C from here?"

She said to take the traain. I turn around and see a little trainlooking thing closing in behind the unopenable automatic doors. WTF?! I have to take a TRAIN to reach my gate?!

So I get on the train. Quite comfy. Reminded me of the London sub, only cleaner and comfier. A few minutes later I get off the train. From what I could see we traveled high above (4th floor, I guess?) between two main buildings. Lots of planes outside. I meant to video record the train trip, short as it was, but the phone crashed on me Maybe on my way home.

After the train and some escalators down to ground level I found myself in a huge terminal with hundreds of check-in counters. After walking around for a long time (too proud to ask anyone) I finally found my check-in counter. Got my boarding pass. And walked and walked some more to reach C9.

At 9:45 I finally sat down at my gate, security and everything done. That's basically 45 minutes of no detours at all, except for the lost moment before I found the right counter. HUGE!! I wonder if Charlotte is as huge..

There's a whole lot of people at this gate. Plenty of Americans. I'm guessing 200-300 people in here, while I saw no more than 50 back home.

And I'm getting hungry again. And thirsty. The stupid machines only accept euro coins, I only have my Visa and some dollar bills.

...

On the plane now. Delayed. Waiting for the de-icing machine. Raining in North Carolina (next airport).

...

Finally in the air! Sure took a while. Probably 60-90 minutes late. ETA 4:15 - 4:30 PM Charlotte time. Still well in time for my 7:50 flight.

...

Well, this is rather boring. The seat is so uncomfortable it's impossible to keep the same position long enough to fall asleep. I'm not allowed to turn on my phone which means I have no way of keeping track of time. Except.. by watching movies. Didn't feel like paying $5 for the headset, so I have no sound. Been watching things only to know how much time passes. Chuck (45 minutes), Mythbuster's James Bond Special (45 minutes), Toy Story (90 minutes), and Beverly Hills Chihuahua (90 minutes). Currently watching the 140 minutes Batman The Dark Knight. They announced we'll be landing in 1h 55 m (at 4:30 as previously estimated), so I don't think I'll see the end of this movie (not that I mind, was gonna try sleeping anyway).

It's amazing how I can stay concentrated on these things without sound or subtitles. I make up my own story. The most amazing though, is that the Chihuahua movie made me cry Think I oughta watch it with sound some day, see the real story.

They'll be serving a sandwich with beverage soon. Earlier, almost right away, they served the main meal. Quite tasty actually. Both warm and cold vegetables, the main item was chicken with some kind of mushy potatoes goo, apple pie piece for dessert, and a delicious piece of bread - so delicious I could've eaten it without the butter and I'm normally very picky about butter. Shortly after the meal they served an additional beverage and I think halfway we got a glass of orange juice. In short, I feel fairly decently fed.

My Fella is serving as a pillow enhancer. I'm glad I brought him or my neck would be dead by now. With each seat there was a small white pillow and a warm blue blanket, but the pillow was a little bit too small to carry the weight of my head (great for the back though).

Oh, almost forgot. When they were serving the orange juice (and/or water) the captain lit the seatbelt sign, meaning everyone were supposed to sit down. Heh, might as well have told a teenager to turn down the music - the beverages made everyone go stand in line for the lavatories instead. Or, as I would've said it normally, the juice made everyone run for the toilets. It's a bit difficult to keep track of time without a clock, but I think the sign was lit for at least 20 minutes, and they used the speaker system three times telling people to sit down. They never did. Kinda pisses me off..

It's too bad Heath Ledger is no more. When he finally showed real talent, and not just that one pretty boy character he had in every movie, he up and dies. I'll miss him for a while, I think. Keep seeing him as Patrick from "10 things I hate about you" which I must admit is a movie I love.

Oh well. Sandwich time. Apparently we're in US territory now, maybe even over land.

...

I'm in the US now. Been for over an hour already. I tried texting everyone to say I'm ok, but it kept failing.

I love this airport. It's big, but not huge - I haven't felt lost even once yet. The security check was more thorough than European ones (e.g. had to remove my shoes, and show my boarding pass to lots of people). The floors are completely covered with carpet, so it's all quiet - no footsteps, no luggage wheels. Plenty of seats everywhere, ROCKING CHAIRS in the areas with the best view, wide corridors and windows all over. Since I had been sitting uncomfortably for almost 11 hours I figured I'd walk around a bit. Got a big area to walk in, even though I'm past security, and it's all as nice with carpet and windows.

The view south of the airport is black. The view north of the airport is not. Looks kinda eerie on the dark side - I hope it won't delay my flight.

The trees are half green here. Real spring, not just pretend spring like what we've got going on at home now. Oh, and some trees are purple here in Charlotte...



_{That's where my notepad notes end.}



The little plane for the last part of the trip was so comfortable I didn't want to waste possible sleeping time, so I didn't bring up the notepad at all. While at the airport I realized I had been awake for over 20 hours already. The little plane was so empty I didn't have to stay at my seat, but could move to an empty double at a window instead. Because of the weather I never really saw anything, except for the last few minutes before we landed - no rain in Arkansas. Lots of street lights, but the sun had been gone for several hours already so I didn't really see anything except lamps.

There were some regulars on that plane, nice old men with a very happy attitude. Was fun listening to them.

Since I was determined to be wearing green when meeting Mr Green himself, `Zikes, I refused to wear my sweater. That means I was shivering on the plane, and as we got out to the 5C/40F weather I was shivering some more, and the fact that I had just woken up didn't help. I was actually wearing my jacket, but it doesn't help much if my arms are touching the jacket without a sweater in between. This woman who sat across the aisle from me on the plane said "So where are you from?" when we were outside waiting for our bags to be carried to us (small plane, small airport, not any fancy baggage claiming), and after that making fun of me for being from such a northern country and still being so cold. She said it'll be much better tomorrow during the day (this was at 9 PM), but I didn't believe her. I was wrong, been outside without both jacket and sweater today, and it was nice.

So yeah, been at `Zikes' house for 18 hours now, but actually only seen the person for 3 hours. I had only slept 2 hours in a total of 25, so I went to bed kinda straight away, and he's at work right now. Vacation starting tomorrow.

His cat is adorable. She stayed in my room all night (I kinda stole her to begin with and she decided to stay after that), though she's a very playful little thing and my room incidentally happens to have a lot of cables in it, so I had to be on guard most of the time. Which means I didn't actually sleep much at all, but I felt all rested when I got up in the morning anyway.

More adventures are sure to be had