Getting There

I’m in my early twenties but I like to think that I am a decently seasoned traveler…up until three days ago when I discovered I have been doing it wrong this whole time!

First, let me describe my big adventure and the whole purpose behind this blog. On August 7th my best friend and I departed the Seattle-Tacoma airport and began a trip which includes Paris, South Africa and three places in Italy, the last stop being Florence where I will spend four months at the Florence University of the Arts finishing my degree in Communication (Public Relations) from Washington State University.

After spending six weeks in Pullman, Washington for the first summer session at WSU, I spent a quick weekend at my parent’s home in Stanwood, Washington before leaving for Bristol Bay, Alaska. There, I spent five weeks commercial fishing for Sockeye Salmon with my Dad as I have done for the past nine years. After earning a little coin, I then had a two-week layover at my Parent’s home, with a side trip to beautiful Whistler, British Columbia and a skydiving stint in Snohomish. Amazing. After several frantic shopping trips and an all-nighter packing my two checked bags and two personal items I was finally ready to leave....Ready as I’d ever be.

My View of Mt. Rainier Leaving Seattle 

I arrived at Sea-Tac a little after five in the morning and wheeled my Smartcart into the first class line at Alaska Air. One of the many perks of saving over 150,000 miles was that I would at least get to travel to Europe and Africa in style, and believe me the disparity between coach and business class is vast. Only a few moments after take-off I had the most gorgeous view of Mount Rainier, a wonderful sight to remember my last few moments in Washington. After a quick layover in Dallas (and a trip the KLM lounge where we found free drinks and the delicious Walker’s Shortbread Cookies!) we boarded our KLM flight and took our business class seats…Champagne! Hot towels! A three-course meal with recognizable food! More Champagne and all the almost all the legroom I could ask for! After dinner I was able to brush my teeth and wash my face before donning the complementary eye mask and taking a snooze, that doesn’t sound that exciting but it helped combat that nasty feeling you get after flying. I woke up at 6am Paris time and watched a gorgeous blood orange sunrise over the North Sea. This is when everything finally hit me. We began our decent into Amsterdam (unfortunately we did not leave the airport) and sat comfortably in the KLM/Air France lounge for several hours waiting for our next flight. Regardless of the perks of business class, the combination of stale pressurized air and all the germs I assume go floating around, I always feel disgusting after a long flight so I took advantage of the shower room in the lounge and I would highly recommend it to anyone who values personal hygiene. It was spacious, clean and even had a hair dryer but I didn’t go that far.
After sitting around for over six hours the next flight wasn’t so great, but it could have been worse – things can always get worse. (Nine years in Bristol Bay has made me appreciate this cliché saying) We boarded our Air France flight too Paris which was quick but jetlag was sinking its teeth in and the two hour flight left us feeling spent. We were finally at our first stop and had our fingers crossed tightly that our bags had made the journey with us, which they did so we jumped in a cab and headed toward the city.