Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Day 1- THIS TIME FOR AFRICA

Well.. I am currently sitting in the Dallas, Texas airport about to board my plane to Paris!  I will be staying with Emma and her family for a few days before heading off to Africa.

Last night my mom through a "farewell" party.  It was so nice of her.  A little hectic finishing packing, but i'm so glad I was able to see all my favorites before leaving.  At the end of the night cute little Avery came and hugged my leg so tight and said, "I wuv you!"  

I couldn't hold it in... I bawled my eyes out. 

I got a blessing from my grandpa, dad, brother, and in-laws. it was amazing.  The Lord is going to be with me on this trip, I've already seen his hand.  My family is so great.  Every single one of them. Ang is the hardest to say goodbye to because she's my best friend in the whole wide world!

Ok... enough about the sad goodbyes... let me tell you about a little bit of my adventures I've had already.

(and i'm not even there yet)

First of all, we had to leave for the airport at 3:30am so I slept for a total of 1/2 an hour (which if you know me that is not a good thing at all) Dad drove me and was teaching me french on the way...

"Je parle anglais!"

"I speak english!"  I'm gonna get there and feel SO foreign.

AIRPORT (funny moment #1)

I flew from SLC to Dallas, Texas but the weather caused us to wait in Abelene, Texas for an hour and a half.  Which meant I was going to miss my flight to New York. When we landed in Dallas a lady was trying to direct everyone where to go.

My answer: "Go find another airport because there are no more flights to New York."

Ok, knowing how new I am to flying, "Go find another airport" is like telling an 8 year old to find their family in Disney Land... yeah right. So I got some more help and was told to fly to Boston, Massachusetts and connect to a Paris flight there.

Slight problem... it was 12:45 and that flight left at 1:00.  I felt like a loan ranger running to my flight like on Home Alone!

I hopped on the train/shuttle to get on my gate... no clue what i'm doing.

Well, I don't know how lucky I am because this old couple that was on my train were arguing back and forth, so of course I lean in to hear the drama.  Low and behold, they were in my same shoes- trying to get to the Boston flight as well.  So of course I say something to them that i'm trying to get there too!

No joke it was 12:55 and we were still on the train.  By this point the grandma wife was getting so mad at her husband that they were late.  The second the train stopped we shot outta there.

Me. Grandma. and grandpa.

We were BOOKING it.  I've never seen a grandma move so fast.  But this was the best part:

THE ESCALATORS
All I know is we had to take these escalators to get to our gate.  There were 2 next to each other that both went down so I hopped on one and the grandma hopped on the other.  I don't know how to explain or give this scene justice because it was seriously so funny.

All I see is this old lady CHARGING her way down the escalator with her baggage on wheels slapping each and every stair we went bouncing down.  I was doing the same thing.  We looked so frantic! All of a sudden this lady gets on behind us and says 'You going to Boston? Because there is an hour delay!"

Me and Grandma halted.

Our hair whipping around stopped completely as we looked at each other (still on the escalator) and busted a gut!  We were freaking out over nothing.

We finally figured it out and needless to say I'm flying straight from Dallas to PARIS. We keep getting delays because of the weather but at least I don't have 2 layovers, just one. I took a sleeping pill awhile ago and it's definitely kicking in.  I could sleep standing up probably...

Paris... here I come!

GRATITUDE LIST:
1) So glad i got a window seat in my first flight.
2) So glad that couple was fighting so I could find my way.
3) So grateful for my ipod
4) So grateful for my cute family.
5) My grandma gave me my easter basket since I was missing the annual hunt... extra candy for my trip:)

Switch-a-Roo

So... obviously, I have struggled to keep my blog updated while I was in Africa.

But not to fret, I have written what I did every single day I was there... from the very start to finish.

I guess I'm doing this more for me then anyone else, I just want to have a digital copy with writing and pictures of my Africa adventures... the truth of EVERYTHING... good, bad, embarrassing, funny, miserable, scary... everything! So... take it for what it's worth...

here goes.