In The Sky Again

Ciao people, since it was so requested I figured I would do another blog for my current travels (if I can keep it up for 25+ days). I still can't figure out how I want these blogs to be formatted, so for now we're just gonna keep formatting it the same as New Zealand. This blog starts out with time stamps and me writing out my every thought, but then transfers over to what you're all used to. Hope you enjoy!

4:30am : Wakes up

5:15am : Leaves for the airport

6:00am :Says goodbye to mom and off I go

6:45am : Thinks about how I bought a backpack big enough to hold my stuff but small enough to be a carry on so I don’t have to check it

Gets to the gate and gets told all the overhead compartments are full so I’ll have to check

😃 amazing

Oh well, it’s not that big of a deal, maybe this means I can actually leave the airport during my layover of 6. freaking. hours.

6:49 AM : At least this plane (Delta) has screens on the seats even though it’s only a 4 hours flight. Catch me watching all kinds of movies. Starting with Bob Marley: One love

6:51 AM : The guy in front of me has major B.O. it’s gonna be a problem. Think he’d be offended if I handed him deodorant?

Woke up at 4:30am this morning, flight takes off at 7, lands in Atlanta at 2:20 Georgia time (which is 11:20am California time) I have a 6 hour layover (trying to go to the aquarium) then take off at 8:20pm Georgia time (5pm Cali time) and finally land at 11am Venice time (2am California time) sooooo it’s gonna be a long day.

6:53 AM : There’s currently a mess up with seats…they might have over booked. Or people are just dumb. Not me though 😌 I’m in the right seat. She checked my boarding pass and said “34 F? Yep you in the right place” yes ma’am I am.

7:00 AM : Maybe the person with the B.O. is the lady next to me?? What’s up with the lack of hygiene people.

7:15 Am : Guys the aroma on this plane is seriously unpleasant. Somebody save me.

9:35 AM : Someone tell me why the Bob Marley movie is making me emotional…hormones man, hormones 🙄

9:58 am : Already emotional so let’s watch the impossible, because that movies not sad at all 🥲☝🏼

11:14am (2:14pm Atlanta time) : plane just touched down, I really have to pee. So I’m gonna go to the bathroom, call an Uber and go to Best Buy to try and get a SD card for my camera (it’s an olddddd one so it only takes 2gb cards and I couldn’t find any in sac) and then from there I think I’ll go to the aquarium.

So actually what I ended up doing, since no store would answer my calls and from what I can tell online you can’t just go and get a 2gb SD card without ordering it in advance…was just calling a Lyft and going straight to the aquarium. But I got there at 3:20 and my ticket wasn’t until 4. So I decided to get lunch. There was a chick fil an around the corner that I was going to walk to but on my way there I saw a subway and I debated which I wanted more. I decided on chick fil a but then I was asked by a lady, who I later found out was named Erica, if I could help her out with lunch. So of course I said yes and I asked if subway worked, since it was right there and sandwiches are easier to keep as leftovers. We went in and I told her to just get whatever she wanted, I got my classic 6 inch Italian herbs and cheese turkey bacon with lettuce and pickles obviously, and then I invited her to have lunch with me. We talked about life and travel and different experiences and I really enjoyed talking to her, so if you’re reading this Erica, thanks for keeping me company! I wish you the best in life.

After lunch I popped some Midol to avoid pimps (if you know you know) then headed to the aquarium. And O. M. G. Was it amazing. It was sooo big and I can see why it’s #1 in America. You have all the classic animals and aquarium would have BUT then you have whale sharks, manta rays, tiger sharks, hammerheads, dolphins, AND belugas! It was incredible. I took pictures for a bunch of families, cause that’s kinda what I do when I’m about and about places like this, and in return a lot of them took pictures of me since I was solo. I met this nice man named Wayne who worked at the aquarium and was very informative of all the animals. We actually ran into eachother twice and the second time around got to talking about stuff besides aquatic annals. I told him I was going to Italy and he told me about his friends nephew who flies fighter jets in Italy, which if you know me you know I was completely into that conversation. He showed me pictures and the guy flys f16s…incredibly cool. Anyway I got a picture with him because why not, and then he got one of me with the hammerhead. Also, don’t judge the outfit…it’s comfortable and it’s a travel day okay. Unfortunately I spent so much time watching the manta rays and whale sharks that I missed the dolphin exhibit, but oh well there’s always next time, and there WILL be a next time. It’s just too cool not to go once. I was having a great time.

On the Uber ride back I had a funny Uber driver, I liked him, he just had a good vibe. And he got me to the airport by 6, so I had like 2 hours until boarding. The Atlanta airport is huge though, so after security I had to take a train and then walk very far to my gate. I stopped and exchanged money, which yes nana I know I’m not supposed to do that at the airport but whatever. $400 US dollars for €270 euros…I definitely got jipped. But the girl was nice and complimented my curls, which has happened a lot lately…it’s the Dyson air wrap people, worth the investment. Then I grabbed some snacks and headed to my gate. We loaded onto the plane about 7:30pm and took off about 8:30pm and as I right this it’s 1am (10pm California time). We have about 4 hours left in the flight, and so far the flight hasn’t been bad. Just having to stay on top of the midol so I’m not miserable. I guess we shall see how the next 4 hours goes…wish me luck.

The next 4 hours went fine, I got super tired and did that thing were I slept for 10 minutes then woke up and changed positions, then slept for 5, then did it again, and so on until the plane landed. Then everything after that was fine, I went and got my passport stamped, got my bag…which had tears in it now btw, this is why I didn’t want to check it…whatever, then I went outside and got a taxi and went to the hotel. Except the taxi dropped me off in front of the wrong hotel (they’re all right next to eachother) but I thought it was mine so I used the guest bathroom and changed and freshened up, only to come out and realize I was at the wrong place. So I walked the 30 feet over to the right place and met half of the group and our group leader Libera. We dropped off our bags, got introduced, and then took the bus to Venice where we walked around for a bit and got lunch. It was HUMID, not as bad as Greece at the beginning of June but I was still sweating buckets. Me and another girl (Lindalu) split a salad and it worked out because it came with tuna 🤮 and so she ate that, and the tomatoes, and the cheese, and I had the cucumbers and olives since she wasn’t a fan 😌. The group got split up after that so half of us headed back to the hostel and once we got there our rooms were ready. I’m rooming with Logan (from San Francisco, we’ve been messaging for a couple of weeks) and Della. The room we got is pretty big and has 4 beds.

At this point I was sooooo tired but we had to be downstairs at 5 for a group meeting and I swear I have never fought harder to stay awake, I was totally nodding off. Then we had dinner at 7 which I was almost gonna skip because I was so nauseous, but I figured that was because I was starving, so I took a quick 25 minute nap and then off we went. We went to this pizza place near our hostel/hotel and we each got our own pizza and just was so hungry i nearly ate the entire thing. They also gave us ice cream, I think it was apricot flavored. After dinner I was feeling MUCH better and so we went down to the town center and walked around a little bit. Here’s a picture of Logan, Vona, and I before we met up with the others.

Now I am finally heading to bed to sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time since I first woke up 33 hours ago.

Arrivederci ✌🏼