My First 14 Hour Flight Across the Globe
I woke up at six am on Sunday. My fan was slowly blowing cold air on my face, my soft mattress hugged the curves of my body, and I wasn't wearing any pants. It was one of those moments where you recognize every sensation around you. This was the last time I would experience waking up exactly like this for a year. I wasn't scared. I wasn't sad. I felt calm. A feeling of serenity came over me as I rolled myself out of my bed one last time, making sure to trip over everything as I put on my pj pants. I opened my bedroom door and looked down the stairs to see if my mom was awake. This always determined how quiet I had to be in the morning. I showered, ate, finished last minute packing, and put everything in the car. And then we left the house that had been my home for the past twenty years. As I shut the garage door, it felt like the end of a chapter in my life. I had experienced so many of them in the past year alone that I almost didn't recognize it.
Everything at the airport went well until I hugged my dad goodbye. He told me that he loved me. This is a phrase he doesn't use that often. Hearing those words brought tears to my eyes, but I pulled myself together as quickly as it took the tears to come and raced off towards my dream. This was where I was meant to be in this moment. I had been working towards my dreams for years, and they were finally becoming a reality. I wasn't about to let anything stop me.
I must've showed my passport to every person I came in contact with at the airport that day. It was an interesting experience to say the least. When we finally found our seats on the plane, I was in awe of the number of seats per row, and of course, the tv. All I ever wanted was to track my international flights on one of these tvs. After seeing travel bloggers and vloggers post photos and videos featuring this moment and dreaming of doing it myself, I instantly turned on my tv and found a map. Seeing that I was still on the East Coast bummed me out, but following the path to Tokyo made me instantly smile.
I probably should've mentioned by now that I have been traveling with my friend, Vanida. She is from Thailand, but I met her at my brother's temple. We were supposed to sit in a row of four seats with two other people. Much to our delight, those two people never showed up, so we got the whole row to ourselves for the fourteen hour flight. Things have a way of working out for those who do their best every day, and treat everyone and everything around them with kindness and love.
I kept the tv in front of the aisle seat on the Time Zone Map the whole flight. I had always dreamed of the day I went to a different time zone, and I was going to make sure I was looking the second I reached it. I kept my eye on this map for the majority of the flight. I smiled when we were above Canada (I've been to Niagara Falls, but only on the US side, much to my dismay) and almost jumped out of my seat screaming when the clock on the screen was finally an hour behind EST.
We had two meals and a couple snacks while on the plane. The food was good for plane food. There isn't much else to say about it. I watched a few movies and episodes of TV shows. I got into Gotham during the flight, but stopped after three episodes so I wouldn't become hooked.
I stayed awake for the entire flight. I did try to sleep on multiple occasions, but I've been in the same time zone my entire life. I was used to be awake during this time. I was never bored while on the plane. Friends and family told me I would be, but I told them I am very good at keeping myself busy for long periods of time.
Well, it's time to wrap this post up. We are going to board our flight to Bangkok in ten minutes, so I have to make sure my water bottle is filled up. I also need to walk around for a bit before sitting for another six and a half hours.
I'll see you all next time with Day 1 in Tokyo, Japan.
Shannon
Check out my previous post here.
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