Things in Order!

^ omNom!

Yeah, really feels like this might actually be happening. Feels like I'm covering many bases, while I guess there are endless amounts of possibilities I haven't (nor won't) prepared for. I started the day off by going to grab my bike, and I could barely hold in the excitement of getting to take away my awesome new bike! ^^ But no, I decided on picking up several things from the bike store now that I was there anyway, and I ended up with a whole bunch of bicycle-related items. Once again I got wonderful help and the clerk walked with me for a long time, suggesting things I should keep in mind and other things I should really buy, to be on the safe side. I guess one of the biggest items was the mudflaps (Are they really called that on bikes? Sounds more like things you have on a huge truck), and that resulted in them having to put in some extra work to get everything installed. They even went far enough as to understand my situation of going to leave in two days, and therefore made sure I could get my bike fully ready the same day. Kudos for that!

While they were preparing the bike, I went to pick up some more items I've come up with. Caffeine (For those early mornings), painkillers, salve for sore muscles and some salve for wounds and blisters. I even picked up a bike helmet I knew was on sale. Following that I had some time to kill, and ended up sitting on some stairs on Hötorget in the centre of Stockholm, enjoying two boxes of delicious raspberries! All of a sudden, two hours ahead of schedule, I get a text from the bike store saying my bike is already ready for pickup, and I head there straight away. She was now fully furnished with everything you could possible imagine, and she was beautiful! The colour I was a bit unsure about yesterday, today looked very nice, and I'm quite liking it. I get the formalities sorted out, get my fourth dose of great customer treatment from said store, and off I go.

Sadly the best picture I managed to get
late at night in poor light conditions!

I have to say that it's quite an experience to switch from an old, cheap bike, to a mint, high-quality, fully equipped sports bike! I almost got run over by another biker before managing to cross the street, followed by a few cars. There was so much to pay attention to! And I was even unused to using a helmet, which made me less aware of my surroundings. After some quick adjustments of the seat height, which was so highly set up that I couldn't reach the pedals, I managed to bike my way out of town. Even though it was such a new experience, it's pleasurable being able to bike in high speeds barely noticing the effort required. Heh, ended up with some staring people (Or my own imagination of it), as I was looking a bit "too serious" with such a bike, while probably looking entirely clueless. It even took me three quarters of the way to figure out how to shift gears!

The day was not over with that, however! David, a good friend of mine, informed me about being in possession of freeze dried food I might be interested in. He himself had acquired it as preparations for the impending, and certain, zombie apocalypse. For the moment the expiration dates were arriving at a far swifter pace, and therefore he suggested I might as well put them to use. That we certainly will! Thank you once again, I highly appreciate it!

Tomorrow is going to be the last day in port, and there are a number of tasks to be finalized! I'm feeling fairly comfortable, though still getting the occasional pre-travel nervousness. It feels like I have "most" of the important things figured out. But I'm also very aware that several things I've simply had to accept being uncertain and unresolved. We still don't have any analogue maps, for instance. It's an issue I haven't been able to find any good enough solution to. I know most of the planned route by heart, and for the rest I'm going to rely on my beloved Nexus S.

Now I'm knackered and heading to bed. This is going to be legen-wait for it-dary!

Peace Out!