30,000 Feet Above

It's 5:10 am Ireland time and I can't sleep because my tailbone feels like it's going to break soon, and the turbulence jostles me awake every minute or two. So I thought it would be a good time to work on a blog post that I could post when I get to the airport and get some wifi......

Right now we're somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and it's too dark to actually see anything out of my window. The screen in front of me tells me the following things: we have 867 miles to go, it's -65 degrees outside my window, we should land at 6:50 am, we're going 600 mph, and our altitude is 36006 feet. Wow. Did I mention I hate planes? I'm well aware of the statistic that significantly less people die in plane accidents than car accidents, but nonetheless I find planes absolutely terrifying. The way I see it, it's possible to survive a pretty bad car accident, which I've done, but when you're plummeting to the earth at 600+ mph, you don't stand a chance. But luckily so far we've stayed in the sky and despite the turbulence that hasn't let us take our seatbelts off the whole flight, I think I've calmed down significantly. I also have my dear friend Ali to thank for a lot of that, she definitely helps calm me down. We do sort of feel bad for the middle-aged man that's sitting next to to us though.... He clearly travels a lot and I don't know how pumped he's been to have two 20 year old anxious, chatty girls sitting next to him. He did help us force Ali's slightly too big carry-on bag in the overhead compartment though......

It has been a very long day of travel, and Ali and I being unable to sleep is definitely not because we aren't tired. We were airport bound by 9 am Minneapolis time, and we still have about an hour and a half of flying left with it being about 11:30 at home. We will also be losing the entire night considering it will be 7 am when we land instead of 12:30 am like it is at home and we feel like it should be. That should make for quite a first day in Ireland since we might be experiencing just a tad of jet lag. Did I mention I hate turbulence? It isn't the smoothest of flights currently....

Even though I'm in the middle of the Atlantic and only a few hours away from Ireland, this whole experience doesn't feel real yet. I think the one moment where it finally started to hit both Ali and I was at the Newark airport as we were standing in line to board our plane. We were slowly inching forward and taking our last glimpses of US soil, while listening to an Irish mom and daughter talk behind us about their trip to Sea World. In that moment Ali and I both just looked at each other and started laughing for no reason other than maybe it being the only reaction we could muster to the thought "wow we're actually going to live in another country for 3 months." I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. 

Well for the most part it's been a pretty smooth day. We've been able to navigate the airports and track down our flights with almost no hiccups, except for one close-call gate change. I feel so fortunate to being on this trip, especially with one of my best friends in the world at my side, and I am so excited for everything that lies ahead. We have just over an hour left in our flight, so hopefully the sun will be coming up soon so I have something interesting to look at. But if you're reading this it means I've safely landed and off on my first adventure in Ireland! I know I can't wait! :)