Ridin' Solo!!!

I used to love flying in airplanes! And just being in airports but this airpline trip has been about the worst plane trip I have ever had! So the flight from Phoenix to Chicago wasn't too bad! I left August 25th! I had a window seat and nobody was sitting next to me! So I just had some chill time! I wrote some letters, read my book, and listened to music! And they played the Big Bang Theory which is about my favorite show ever so I was in a good mood! It was just me and I was finally on my way to France! I had never been to Chicago so I was so excited to just be in the city if only in the airport! "I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine, I'm loving cloud nine, my head's in the sky. I'm solo, I'm riding solo, I'm riding solo, I'm riding solo, sooloooo. Riding solo, soooooloooo, yeah it's like S... O... L... O... S... O... L... O... S... O... L... O...Living my life and got stress nomore." Haha so basically that's how I was feeling!!! It was just me and I was on my way to a year of amazing!!!



Plane view of Chicago



I had never been to Chicago so I was so excited to just be in the city if only in the airport!I had 2 hours before my next flight so I planned on getting dinner so I didn't have to eat the airline food and just chilling! I was all smiles...until...I thought I lost my passport, ID, money, and credit card!! But after standing in the middle of the airport looking ridiculous searching frantically for it I finally found it after 10 minutes! And I had a lot of stuff! You see... I'll be gone for a year which for me equates to lots of luggage so to maximize the amount of luggage I could bring, I put all my heavy non-liquid items in my carry-on therefore I had about the heaviest carry-on ever!!! And then I had a "purse" which in all truthfulness was actually just a small little tote/duffel thingamajiggy! But for all intensive purposes, it was my purse! And that wasn't too light either. So I just put that on top of the rolling suitcase. Technically, you are only allowed 2 carry-ons but I kinda bent the rules by bring a pillow which was stuffed with my blanket and BugaBoo... So obviously I did not have the smallest load!

 

Anywho... when I found my stuff, I looked at the monitors but they didn't have the right flight so I was a tad confused! I didn't know if something had changed or what was going on! The terminal was so big I thought it was the whole airport! So I just started walking to the main part of the terminal (which already was enough of a walk) and after walking up and down this one part of the terminal several times I finally found a map that said my airline was in a different terminal! And that's when the lightbulb came on!!! Oh and keep in my mind my carry-on was ridiculously heavy!! I had to switch arms every 30 seconds which kinda turned into a twirl for me so I can imagine I looked quite ridiculous. But my arms were so dead after! I already have no arm strength to begin with so this was absolute torture for me! So I followed the stinkin signs to the terminal I needed to get to... but they were totally wrong! They took me out to the pick-up area which was in the opposite direction of my terminal!! I don't know if any of you have been to the Chicago O'Hare airport but holy gee whiz it is big!!!! And walking around in it is not something I could do with ease! So I finally asked this lady who worked at the airport but she didn't seem to thrilled to be giving me directions! And she gave me bad directions :-/ I was basically walking in a zigzag...but I eventually made it to my terminal after much tribulation! I wanted to cry a couple of times! I was like "I left Arizona for this????" Haha I spent like an hour and a half trying to find my gate so when I got there, they were boarding! I didn't have time to do anything!!! My next flight was an overnighter so I wanted to change into comfy clothes but I most definetely did not have time for that! And I didn't get to eat  :-(

Dublin, Ireland

So finally I got on the plane and you could probably imagine my relief... Haha I needed a guy to help me with my carry-on everytime because it was so heavy! But this flight was completely full and I was all scrunched in by the window! I was already crowded with my "purse" and my pillow so it was not especially comfortable. I was starving too! So airplane food... I have not heard the best things about it... but here's my opinion on the subject: it did it's job... I wasn't hungry after... And even though it was not the greatest culinary experience I will ever have it sufficed! My meal was chicken with pasta, salad, cheese and crackers, a brownie, and a roll. And it was a'ight. I watched My Life in Ruins on the plane which is an excellent movie! I didn't sleep very much on the plane. My neck hurt and I was just in an awkward positon. So I was very happy when it was finally morning! For breakfast the next morning... it was a banana, yogurt, and a muffin. By the time we were getting off the plane, my legs felt totally dead. And it being August 26th, it was my mom's birthday (WOO HOO!!). I'm like the worst daughter ever!! I was on my way to leave my mom for a year on her birthday!!! Haha on Facebook I said "She even let her favorite daughter go to France for a year! Talk about sacrifice!" :-)

I absolutely love Dublin! They have awesome accents which I adore! It took awhile to get through immigration! The lady was like "You are just here for vacation right? Not here for school" And I just said yes when I was thinking 'I'll be out of the country in like and hour so can I go?' Haha :-) I was supposed to have 2 hours inbetween flights but the plane was already late and immigration ate up most of my time. So I just went straight to my gate which took a while but I didn't get lost. But I think going any distance with all my stuff would seem like a lot. And the same thing with this plane. They were boarding when I got there so I didn't have time to do anything! Thank goodness it was short flight!!! Just Dublin to Nice! I sat by two Italiens I think! It was chill! I was just anxious to get to France!

This flight was late too so we didn't have a gate so we had to take a bus from the plane to immigration. And lugging my bag from staircase to staircase was not fun!!! I got straight through French immigration. No big D! But unfortunately they lost one of my bags :-( And that bag had all my clothes in it! So after we got that all sorted out and had arranged for my bag to be delivered to the house (which didn't come until Sunday afternoon :-/) Pascaline and Mailys were on our way to what would be my home for a year!! That's when I felt so relieved! Just done carting around luggage!!!  I was finally here! After 16 hours of flying and airports! I was in FRANCE!!!!! :-)