3...2...1...Blast off!!

January 24, 2012

Today was the day...the day I have been waiting for and anxiously counting down to since at least 75 days ago.

I woke up at 6:15 after a good night's rest. I did hit snooze...I was excited, but I still needed seven more minutes of my bed. I took a nice shower, got ready, and ate a bowl of Life. I curled my sister's hair for picture day and said my goodbyes to both little sister's, all three dogs, and my one sweet mama. My dad and I packed our bags in the car and headed to the airport.

We arrived a little after 9 am. The lady in security almost skipped right over checking my ID because she thought I was underage (reason number two of one million that I probably should not be doing this ;) ). We were through security and sitting in my terminal in just twenty or twenty five minutes...so we sat around for an hour and fifteen minutes. My first solo plane ride would take me to Detroit, Michigan.

My dad's flight to Reno for work left ten minutes after mine so he left me about the time mine started boarding. I may or may not have shed a tear or two at this point realizing that I was now alone as I would be for 62 long but amazing days.

They said "Gardner" over the intercom and I looked around and waited for someone else to get up and walk to the desk. When no one did, I realized that it was probably me so I went over and they just checked my passport.

I was in zone 4 so I was one of the last to board. The first class snobs and zones 1-3 had pretty much taken up allll the overhead bin space, but I managed to awkwardly make room for my backpack.

The plane had three seats on each side of the aisle. I had the aisle seat so I waited for my row mates to arrive before getting settled.

One young man finally came, and he had the window seat. The seat between us remained empty for the entire flight...it was the ONLY empty seat on the plane. How lucky (and lonely) is that?! I decided it was reserved for one of the million people that wish they were with me but were too wussy to tag along. :)

The guy by the window was from India but currently lives in Detroit. He was probably around 30 years old. He was headed home from California where he had some sort of meeting about starting his own business. He backpacked Europe seven years ago and told me all about the places with the best beer. It was great advice that I pretended to be grateful for. :) He gave me his email and told me to let him know if I got into any trouble in Rome because he has friends there that would drop everything to rescue me: An American girl they don't even know. I like the sound of the southern Italians already.

We were in the air at 11:34 am MST. Take off was scary, as always. All of a sudden the pilot just guns it. It totally freaks me out an I feel stuck to my seat. I feel the corners of my lips touching my ears. It's like a roller coaster but scary. Every noise, every bump seems like the start of the plummet to my death.

We flew over Kaysville and then up and over the clouds into fantasy land where I will be for the next two months. Goodbye Kaysville. Goodbye Utah. Goodbye real world.

The movie I watched was "I don't know how she does it." It was ok. I dozed off for a while but my head kept bobbing and I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. I read sky magazine which just happened to have all sorts of good tips about visiting London and Amsterdam. I ate sour patch watermelons, courtesy of the best second mother on earth, listened to Justin Bieber (no shame), and put my head down on my tray table wishing I had the pillow my friend previously told me about..I also saw it in the sky mall magazine along with many other brilliant ideas.

We arrived in Detroit at 16:40. I went potty. I found my gate. I boarded. I flew to London heathrow. The flight was seven hours. There were only 60 people on the plane for 300 do I took up a whole row and tried to sleep for most of the time. Most of the people in my flight were seemingly pompous Brits :)