Man, the light thing is so real and nobody talks about it. I stayed in a place in Da Nang with those thin white curtains and I was waking up at 5:30 every day feeling like I hadn't slept at all, then crashing hard by week four. What finally worked for me was a cheap blackout curtain liner from Shopee, the kind with the little rings, and I just draped it over whatever rod was there with binder clips. Also tape over the little standby lights on the AC and the TV, those tiny red dots are worse than people think. Six weeks in one spot is the part I wish someone had told me two years ago. All that gear money would have been better spent on slower flights.

Wait, your cousin let you ride up a tower crane near Pike Place? That is wild. I always figured those little wind socks on the boom were just for show, but hearing that buildings actually funnel the gusts harder up there kind of changes how I picture it.