Travel: Part 1

**Disclaimer: This somewhat disorganized. I apologize… I’m still suffering for jetlag, and I just finished my first day of school.**

Everybody loves a good travel story, right? Being my first time to travel internationally by myself, I feel like it needs to be documented.

First of all, I arrived safely in one piece.  That’s the short version.  You can stop reading now if you want.

My passport and visa finally arrived! Only after my dad chased the UPS truck and asked for it. That was stressful, but God was faithful to provide!

We left bright and early for Nashville with a quick stop at Chick-fil-A for a final meal.  Everything went smoothly with the first flight to Toronto.  It was 0 degrees in Toronto, and of course the plane exited outside… I enjoyed a donut from Tim Horton’s, and I filled up my water bottle (strange detail, but keep it in mind…).

On the flight to Frankfurt, I had a whole row to myself, and I watched Frozen.  I’d call that a success!

I did not have my boarding pass for my last flight, but I was told I could get it at the gate.  I went through security to go to my gate, and they stopped me to look in my bag. (Keep in mind that this is my 3^rd time through security—what could possibly be wrong??) My Nalgene was full. “Can I pour it out?” “No, you can drink it.” After a couple of jokes about my water bottle being full of vodka, I successfully drank all the water. 

I had to wait awhile for my gate to open, and when it did, I went to get my boarding pass.  Somehow I was not on the passenger list. I very calmly asked what I was supposed to do. Of course it required going back through security to a help desk.  They were able to add me back to the flight with about 10 minutes to spare.  I had to go through security for the fourth time (don’t worry, I didn’t make the water bottle mistake again), and then run to my gate.  Originally, the flight was supposed to stop in Sudan to re-fuel, but it wasn’t until I was on the plane that I realized we were actually stopping in Saudi Arabia! (I usually don’t think it’s acceptable to say you’ve been to a country if you don’t get off the plane, but I think SA is an exception to the rule.)

I made it to Addis with all my luggage, and I found the people who were picking me up.  I think I will call my first independent international trip a success!