Greetings from Philadelphia Airport! I’ve been here since 6:30 am and it is presently 5 pm! I wish I could write you about a day trek in Philly, but thanks to my packing skills and east coast weather, I never made it outside the airport. It’s a perk of flying stand-by! (which my dear friend Lauren and I are doing…yay!) Although it’s only the beginning of my journey, I’ve learned some invaluable lessons so far.
For example,
1. It is a $10,000 fine to pop bottles on the plane or throw a party at the gate with your duty-free purchase of alcohol. Why dangle the carrot in front of us if we can’t ever bite it?
2. The “cute little extras” of scarves and hats I decided to pack into my backpack last minute aren’t going to look so cute with my chafed shoulders and Quasimodo back that will inevitably come with wearing a backpack 19x my own weight and size.
3. Couch surfers are an interesting crowd. Some nice, some creepy, some completely clueless. The split is 30/30/30 but only guys with mustaches and a fond attachment to the winky face had messaged me ;).
4. There is no need to leave the airport in hellish weather to see the Liberty Bell because there is a perfectly impressive replica made out of Legos in terminal A (even though it seems that some of the pieces have been chewed off by children – or perhaps adults – who wanted a piece of freedom inside them forever).
5. The airport conveniently shuts off the heaters near the kiosks selling animal hats and scarves. How else would looking like a gerbil with blood shot eyes seem appealing?
So anyway…
Our flight leaves at 8:50 pm and we’ll landing at 9:30 am in Amsterdam! Wooo!
Overall, I’m excited to begin this journey, develop a plethora of accent imitations, meet new people, and really get a grasp on my own independence. Stay tuned because I’ll be posting from my iPad regularly (with pictures!) and there are bound to be a few amazing autocorrects if nothing else!