And the adventure begins!

I've always said that I love traveling... but the actual process of it turns out to be a nightmare most of the time. If I could just teleport to my destination, that would be fan-tastic!

My parents and I arrived at the airport an hour or so before my flight. Should have been plenty of time, and it turns out that it was just barely enough. I was able to check my two carry-on beasts with no problem, and so I said goodbye to my parents, and tried to get through security. Apparently, peanut butter is a potentially hazardous material, because they do not allow it at all. Besides that, I had completely forgot that I never took my dive knife out of my scuba bag, that was now in my carry-on suitcase. So I could see how that could raise some red flags. =P Called the parents back, and they promised to ship it all to me. I rushed through security again, and down to my gate (which of course had to be one of the farthest ones) and made it in time to get in line.


The plane ride was uneventful, thankfully. Small, uncomfortable seats, a disgusting pretzel snack mix, and two hours later, and I was in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I trek from one side of the airport to the next, and sit down to read my book for 30 minutes before the start the boarding for this next flight. So far, so good... until I realize that my phone had disappeared. I searched all my bags, not once, but twice, and then start to worry. I asked the guy at the help counter if anyone had turned in a phone, but no such luck for me. Fortunately, the was a very nice woman standing there, who offered the use of her cell phone to call mine. I could have hugged this woman, she was so wonderful. So I called my phone, and it rang, and it rang, and it rang, (but not from one of my bags) until I heard myself telling me to leave a message. No, thanks. And I called again. And this time someone answered! I dropped it along the way from one gate to another. I went to retrieve it thanks to some more wonderful people, and got on the next flight. (What a world of difference between my hometown, Miami, and North Carolina. If this had happened in Miami, my phone would have been long gone!)

At least the flight was again uneventful. I sat next to a very nice guy, we talked a bit, and then I slept the rest of the 5 hour flight. Cassandra and John picked me up from the airport, and took me on a night tour of San Diego, California, with a stop for food at In and Out Burger, which on a Saturday night at 9pm, is not so in and out. We finished up the tour, and went back to Cassandra's apartment, and I was asleep in about 5 minutes.