#1 Arrival

While I'm writing these first lines here, I'm treating myself to a last time with the 9€ ticket of the German railway.

Today (23.08.), there was a last shared breakfast with my roommate before saying goodbye and farewell after 4 ½ years and dissolving our shared apartment. Then off to the main train station with all my belongings, and there the German railway showed its best side again, because I was standing there for over 30 minutes because something was broken and a new train had to be provided. I'll spare you the other delays and problems of the German railway here. Nevertheless, I managed to check in at Frankfurt Airport the night before. After checking in my luggage, I made my way to Wiesbaden to stay with a good friend couple.

The next day, I went back to the airport and somehow I thought I would be more excited, but since I never consciously said to myself that I'm now going to Canada for a year, I didn't feel much excitement.

Now it was time to go through security and then wait. My flight was actually scheduled to depart at 2:05pm German time, but refueling and loading took longer. Around 2:30pm, I was sitting in my plane and then the pilot of the flight already greeted us. However, with rather bad news. On the previous evening, passengers checked their luggage and then couldn't take the flight. So the luggage had to be unloaded again, the mentioned suitcases had to be searched and taken out, and then the luggage had to be loaded again. So we started with a 1 ½ hour delay.

As a member of a family enthusiastic about aviation, I could have glued my face to the window the whole time :D Besides rockets and submarines, airplanes are a masterpiece of technology. The takeoff went great and I find it amazing how quickly such a heavy device can gain altitude.

After a few hours, we flew over Iceland, and I was already looking forward to it, because at some point I want to travel this island by bicycle and a view from above doesn't hurt.....but unfortunately the clouds ruined my plans (see picture 2). Later, the view got slightly better, but then my phone fell under the seat - Yeah.

Then came another moment I was looking forward to. I saw the first iceberg in the sea and knew that Greenland was about to come.....so hello?! I could never have dreamed of seeing Greenland. When those mountains appeared - INSANE!!! Unfortunately, I didn't see Lars the polar bear, but the landscape made up for it. Well, it's getting too long again.....Picture 6 shows the first thing I saw of Canada. We flew for another 1 ½ hours before I could even see a sign of civilization. It's really crazy and it feels like they have more water than land here. Well, now I'm flying for another 1 ½ hours, currently at an altitude of 10,947 meters and at a speed of 913 km/h, before I land in Vancouver. I'm interrupting my writing flow, which is getting out of hand again, because dinner is being served right now (according to German time it's already 11:13pm).

I'm writing these lines right now on the bus to West Kelowna. In Germany, it's 6:07pm, and for me it's a relaxed 9:07am. Yesterday, I overcame the biggest initial hurdle. With my poor English, I had to go through the security checks and pick up my visa. At the first checkpoint, I said that I would be working on a farm, and then the officer asked me if the soles of my shoes were clean so that I wouldn't bring anything into the country. By the time I understood that, she already noticed that I didn't understand a word. Well, long story short, after about 40 minutes, I had my passport back with my first stamp and my work permit. Oh, how I was satisfied. Then I went to the hostel with my luggage, where I dropped off my luggage and then briefly looked at Vancouver before going to sleep. Today, I got up at 5 o'clock to catch my bus to West Kelowna. The farm owners will pick me up there.

Except for rats and seagulls, I haven't seen any animals yet.

But I'll end the way too long text now and wish you all the best.

Best regards

Samuel

Fancy a little cliffhanger? Just 3 hours after arriving at the farm, I already needed a firearm...

I'll get back to you in a few days/weeks.