Arrival

Day 1 - Arrival

This would be my first time ever crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Just thinking about it seemed incredible. I'd never travelled that far before, and it is unlikely I will again any time soon. I arrived at the airport around 1:30pm to catch my flight to New York City. After going through check-in and security, I killed some time with Dimitri and the peeps on Discord while having lunch. After finally boarding the plane, I soon started talking to the traveller in the seat behind me. His name was Peter, 42, a digital artist living in Brooklyn who's originally from Connecticut. We made conversation through the small gap between my seat and the wall of the plane until we decided that I should simply sneak back to the seat next to him. Thanks to Peter, free movies to watch, my audiobook and the fact that I was unbelievably tired and managed to sleep some, the time luckily passed rather quickly. After landing at JFK airport, Peter and I parted at Immigration. I was nervous as hell about that process, but Immigration-guy was very nice and the whole affair took about 5 minutes. I got my luggage immediately and didn't even get checked for customs. Matt was already waiting for me at the exit and after an awkward hug and some time of not really knowing how to deal with meeting the other person in real life, we quickly adjusted to actually being able to see and touch each other. The cab ride seemed to take ages and I was surprised by how similar random streets in Brooklyn looked to the outskirts of any other European city, at least from what I could make out in the dark. Once we arrived at his apartment, we ate some amazing Thai food, thereby starting my foodie-experience in NYC. Then we went through some of the candy I brought and spent the rest of the night watching a movie that ironically plays in Vienna - Before Sunrise. Since I was already halfway asleep by the time that movie ended, we called it quits for the first day.Read more