Since signing on the dotted line to become Hull City's most expensive player in a 10 million-pound deal on the first of September, Abel Hernandez has travelled here, there and everywhere but to East Yorkshire.
As well as trips to Japan and South Korea for friendly games with Uruguay, there was a return trip to Italy to patiently wait on a visa from the British Embassy. That eventually turned up in Croydon of all places before the paperwork finally fell into Hernandez's relieved hands in Rome.
Not your average opening fortnight with a new club but, as his Premier League debut suggested, the 24-year-old striker signed from Palermo is far from average.
Hernandez needed just 39 minutes to repay the first chunk of an eight-figure transfer fee in Monday night's 2-2 draw with West Ham United. A smart header, jostling in ahead of James Tomkins to nod in Ahmed Elmohamady's cross, was predatory and instinctive. His movement swung between languid and explosive but always with a purpose.
And then there was a confidence that belied the fact Hernandez had trained just once with his new teammates. A thumping shot against the underside of the crossbar was inches away from rivalling the magnificent equaliser that followed from West Ham's own South American, Enner Valencia. Adrian twice had to pull off saves from long-range efforts. Hernandez, it appears, knows exactly where the goal is.
Whisper it after just 77 minutes of football, but he could be just what Steve Bruce's side have craved for almost as long as the KC Stadium has stood. The crown of goal-scoring king has rested on too many heads in recent years and suited very few. Hernandez and Nikica Jelavic, signed for a combined sum of 17 million pounds, already look two of the better candidates.
There was more than one new boy to catch the eye, however. Mohamed Diame, a fellow deadline-day arrival and jet-setter with Senegal through the international break, was another to win early admirers. Diame's debut was powerful, controlled and alert, as was his goal. Latching on to an awful throw-in from Aaron Cresswell, he ran at the Hammers defence and curled a sumptuous finish in off the post.
It was at that point that Sam Allardyce sunk deep into his chair. Two weeks after sanctioning Diame's departure, football's fated quirks brought an inevitable sense of regret. It should have been greater. Diame's calm finish had restored City's lead at 2-1 with a quarter of the game remaining only for a sloppy Curtis Davies own goal to tie an absorbing game up three minutes later.
Not that Steve Bruce was complaining. A fifth point of the season was appreciated and, in truth, not enough had been done to warrant all three. What will please Bruce most is the scope to grow.
Of the 14 players used on Monday night, only three can tell tales of promotion out of the Championship. Seven of them have arrived in 2014 and five of those have not yet been here a month. Hernandez and Diame make a mockery of the theory, but time will be needed before the best of City is seen this autumn. Gaston Ramirez and Hatem Ben Arfa, both introduced as substitutes on Monday, are still some way short of fitness, while partnerships are yet to be formed between relative strangers.
City are certainly stronger than ever before. That is undeniable. Ten internationals featured in the starting XI against the Hammers and selecting the bench has now become an impossible art. Tom Ince, Yannick Sagbo, Paul McShane, Alex Bruce and Harry Maguire all failed to even make the matchday squad.
The one blemish on an otherwise encouraging evening came from the stands. Within a week of declaring the club was up for sale and that an appeal had been launched through the Football Association, owner Assem Allam witnessed those opposed to his name change vision maintain their tradition and chant "City Till I Die" with 19.04 -- the year of the club's formation -- on the clock.
Only that was when things took an unexpected twist. Amid the chanting came boos from around the KC Stadium. And not just the odd one. The revolt against the protest, if you will, had begun. Heated words were then exchanged in various pockets of the KC Stadium to paint an unhealthy image of what the club has become. Infighting, no matter the circumstances, will lead to ruin if allowed to rumble on.
Quite how to heal these wounds remains the big mystery, but at least Bruce's side have the appeal to offer each and every supporter a cherished sense of escapism.