The First Ten Minutes in Arlanda's Arrivals Hall

Find a toilet and a moment to get your bearings if you need one — arrivals halls at major airports generally have washrooms landside, close to where you come through, though exact locations are worth checking on swedavia.se if you want to plan ahead. After a long flight, a few minutes here before doing anything else is time well spent, not time wasted.

Check your phone for your driver's name, phone number and licence plate, sent to you before pickup — you'll want these in hand before you start looking for the car, rather than searching first and reading your messages second.

• Find a washroom if you need one — there's no rush, your pickup time already follows your actual landing
• Check your phone for the driver details sent before pickup
• Head to the meeting point named in your confirmation

A SIM card, local currency, or anything else you'd usually sort out on arrival can wait until you're at your accommodation, calmer and less rushed — none of it needs to happen in the first ten minutes, and trying to fit it all in before finding your driver just adds pressure you don't need. An international card covers most things for the first hour or two regardless.

The same goes for exploring the terminal itself — shops, cafés, anything that isn't directly on your way to the meeting point. There's time for all of that later, once you're settled and not carrying luggage through an unfamiliar building.

Because your driver's details are already in your phone before you land, and because your pickup time follows your flight's actual landing time rather than a fixed schedule, there's no clock working against you in those first ten minutes. Go to the agreed meeting point, match the licence plate and name you were sent, and that's the hard part done.

Free waiting time is built into every pickup, so a slower first ten minutes — a longer walk from a distant gate, a stop at the washroom, checking messages properly rather than rushing — doesn't cost you anything.