Living on the Tarmac

As I stated previously, goodbyes are hard even if it is for a definite amount of time. Last week I said my temporary farewells to the rest of my friends, relatives and parents. Sure those farewells were melancholy in a certain context, but everyone was extremely supportive of what I’m doing. (Despite a few worst scenario thoughts LOL) I’m blessed to have all of these individuals in my life because without them it would make what I’m doing a lot harder.

From the Boeing 777 before leaving the US of A

Friday, May 31^st was departure day.  My mom and Aunt Pat were gracious enough to drive me to O’Hare; which neither of them would ever voluntarily drive in Chicago traffic. (A BIG thank you goes out to them!) O’Hare was the first of four airports on my departure itinerary, and following are my stories:

• ORD: Issues started right off the bat at O’Hare. It took nearly 45-60 minutes to acquire my boarding passes; apparently, the automatic system decided I needed to have a Brazil Visa. After finally sorting things out with United Airlines, it was ruled since I was considered to be “in-transit” I didn’t have to purchase the visa.  Money saved! Once the plane was boarded, we had to sit on the tarmac for a good 20 minutes because weather created a delay of departures. The captain told us there was estimated to be 20 planes in line before ours. In my mind I kept doing the math…subtracting the delay from my connection time which was less than 1hour at Dulles International Airport in DC.

• IAD: Finally I reached Dulles with about 20 minutes to spare, but now I had to make it to my gate which was clear on the opposite end of the terminal. While making several last calls from my cellphone to my mom, dad, and brother, I power-walked the entire distance to find out the flight was delayed about 15 minutes. (At least it was a good workout that got the blood in my legs pumping!) I actually had to wait about 10 minutes before it was my turn to board. Boarded and ready to take off, the captain’s voice echoed through the cabin; “ We need to head back to the gate because the plane was overweight.” Apparently, some items made it on plane which shouldn’t have. Once unloaded, it was time to takeoff. This was by far the biggest plane I’ve been on. It was a 3x3x3-seated plane with a very luxurious looking first class section. Each seat had its own personal TV (where I watched Identity Theft and a documentary about the Dust Bowl) and an evening chicken dinner which was surprisingly delicious. Sleeping was difficult so much didn’t happen.

• GRU: The next connection flight was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Despite a gate change in the airport everything went smoothly. When the seat-belt sign came on for landing I peered out of the window. Below I saw the patchwork of Uruguay’s crop fields (which aren’t square like Iowa), and then the blue-gray waters of Rio de La Plata. I turned my head forward to catch my first glimpse of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The entire coastline was sculpted with buildings….some tall, some short, but all intermixed. Finally, the jolt of the wheels hitting AEP's tarmac made reality sink in. I reached my destination…my home for the next few months.