The Adventure Begins...

The Journey: Part 1

Nothing's better than boarding a plane and having two flight attendants greet you in a beautiful british accents!

I am officially on my way to London. It still feels so unreal, as if all of this is just a very vivid dream. At first I thought reality would hit when it was "the day". Then I thought it would happen at the airport. Then taking off. I'm beginning to think I won't realize it was real until it's over! 

I set my phone to London time to try and trick my brain into thinking its time to sleep soon. It now displays 10:40pm. The only problem is that it's light out, so my brain isn't really that convinced :)

I feel so many things right now. I'm so excited to be heading to a place I've wanted to see for so long. I'm a bit anxious to head to Madrid and meet my host family; there are so many unknowns and I keep hoping for the best. And then I'm sad to leave my family and my gymnasts for three months. There were definitely tears when I said goodbye to Mom and Dad. And then again when the plane took off. It's a really weird feeling, going to a foreign country for such a long amount of time. 

Nine hours. Here we go!

Part 2...

"Last night" (which is really only a couple of hours ago) I was served dinner in my cramped, back of the plane seat. I had heard negative things about airline food but this was actually pretty good: a chicken and rice dish, dinner roll, and side salad. Not long after that it got dark out, seats were leaned back (without arguments, thank goodness!) and people began to go to sleep. I leaned my chair back, rested my head on my neck pillow, and put headphones in. But sleep did not come. I rested my eyes for hours before finally getting up to go use the bathroom. This was not one of my finer moments, as the old man sitting next to me seemed to be sleeping soundly and I attempted to climb over him to get out. While attempting this, I accidentally kicked him and woke him up. Oops!

Around 3:45 in the morning (London time) I finally slept, but not super soundly. I woke up at 5:45 to men laughing and the baby in front of me crying. The flight attendants were serving breakfast (a cute little box containing craisins, a croissant, and a small health bar) so I took mine and decided I'd be getting no more sleep tonight. Two hours will have to get me through the day.

I've been watching the plane's path on the entertainment screen in front of me for a lot if the flight. We are currently flying over the Irish Sea, with less than an hour to go. Although the bathroom incident was slightly horrifying, right now I'm very glad to have a window seat. The sunrise is absolutely gorgeous!

I can't wait to see what the day brings!