Today marked the beginning of a semester-filled adventure in Italy. Getting through flying for the first time was the first item I could check off my list as I embarked on this journey. I first go through security in Charlotte and forget to remove my quart-sized plastic bag with my liquids, the gentlemen looked at me frustratingly and informs me that I have to wait as he places my plastic bin back through security. Of course, in my head, I blamed someone else.
As I watched from the line before it was my turn to go through the intimidatingly large metal detector, I watched as people smiled sweetly and waited patiently as the person in front of them removed their shoes and filled 2-3 bins of personal items. This, I thought to myself, is not at all how I've heard this goes. Then, luckily for me, I begin my process and can feel my shoulders become tense as the flip-floppy man behind me shot arrows of impatience in my direction. I removed my cell phone, computer and shoes and hadn't even remembered I had that quart-sized bag. Thank God, that really didn't cause too much of a stir in Charlotte at 2:30pm on a Sunday.
I then board my large plane with my friend, Paige, and am ready to endure the 8 hours ahead of me. The first few go smoothly, but then this precious baby beside us becomes fussy and awakens me from the little sleep I managed to get. Because I love babies and he was only expressing the same frustration I felt in his way, I forgave him. The rest of the plane ride would go smoothly until something catches the side of my eye as I attempt to get lost in an episode of Man vs. Wild, a GIANT black bug is on my lap. I involuntarily smack it away and wake Paige who was sleeping peacefully beside me. We then spent the next ten minutes keeping a lookout for the bug and eventually kill it, or so we hope. He never did bother us again. By this point, the lights on the plane have turned on and the flight attendants are passing out "pastries," which were plastic-wrapped flat blueberry muffins. We land within the next hour and I was in Paris!
Though, when passing through security in Paris, I gave the officer a warm "Bonjouuuuur" in the sweetest accent I could mimic. It must have been convincing because she proceeded to give me the instructions in French and I had to ask her to cut me some slack, I don't even speak survival French, madame!
The next flight from Paris to Bologna, on a clean and modern Air France plane, would go smoothly. The only hiccup would be attempting to fit my large carry-on in the overhead compartment and hearing the sweet French flight attendant say, "it is quite large, no?" I pretended not to agree and stuffed it in with little grace.
Paige and I agree that we should nap during this 2-hour flight because it was about 4am EST and we were exhausted. Though, the moment I finally close my eyes, I hear a precious Italian boy in front of me sigh and say, "le montagne!" I immediately reopened my window and see one of the most incredible, if not the most incredible, sights in my life. The Swiss Alps.The rest of the flight went by ridiculously quickly because I was mesmerized by the intensity of this mountain chain and all of the hills that came afterward.
Overall, my flying experiences were good. I'd probably say a 7/10 because of the black bug and the overwhelmingly large French airport that took us by surprise. Though, I must say, that airport was beautiful. I will definitely connect there again someday, but at least its size won't take me by surprise.
Tip: try to have a longer layover time when in this airport, some of the travel times to get to your gate is out of your control.
I truly cannot wait to see what else this trip will have in store for me. If you're interested to find out, stay tuned!
Ciao for now!
I am very happy for you!! I can't not wait to see pictures of everything. I want to see what you eat, who you meet and where you go. This is going to be exciting for all of us. I love you. May God bless you every second of your precious life.
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