Travel Day 1: Baltimore to Denver

I cried like a baby all morning. From when Chris and I got in the truck till after I got to the terminal and got off the phone with him again. I don’t know if it is fear, or just sadness over leaving everything and everyone and him. I was just so incredibly sad. I also miss him terribly, but it’s getting more bearable, if only slightly. At least I don’t feel like I’m going to bust into tears at any moment anymore.

So yeah…in my ever-lasting fear that I will arrive late and miss my flight, we once again got to the airport at an impossibly early hour for my actual flight time. It sucked, actually. Earlier wake-up in the morning, and in the interest of not sitting in the terminal for hours, we got coffee and breakfast and sat and watched the security line get longer and longer. My flight wasn’t supposed to leave until 1:50 (it actually was later than that…we didn’t leave the gate till nearly 2:40) and we got to the airport at about 11am or so. So we sat and I cried and I’m sure made a general spectacle of myself to the other people. Finally, around noonish or so, I screwed up the courage to actually go get in the very long security line. We walked together till I turned the corner, and then I cried some more. Made it through security with only a couple of people staring at me, and was looking for a place to sit in the terminal when he called. He was crying which only set me off again. I’m pitiful. Good thing I wore my glasses and brought a pair of contacts with me.

I managed to get a call in to my mother and my grandparents and talk to them, and they made me feel slightly better. I went and bought a book to read, since I only had 2 with me.

When I was boarding the plane, I was one of the last people on, and therefore was left with less-than-optimal over-head space. Trying to hurry (we were late already, and I detest people who hold up the line trying to find the perfect spot for their luggage) I had to shove my one carry-on up while trying to not dislodge the bag on my back and clock the guy sitting in the seat I was next to. He gave me a hand, and I was rushing trying to get my other bag off my back, and got all tangled up in my headphones. Between that, and trying to slide into my window seat, I lost one of my earpieces (the little rubber thingy that makes it comfortable for your ear). No clue where it flew off to. So I was left iPod-less the whole 3 hour flight. Luckily, I can get lost in a book.

The woman next to me was actually very nice and we chatted a bit about her time in the military, where I was going, and so on. When we got to Dallas, I was looking for the stadium (just for a reference), and she said that her husband was a huge Skins fan and was a Hoggette. What do you think of that one Art and Ron?? No, I didn’t get a chance to ask her if he was in the commercial, or which one he was.

Because our flight was late leaving Baltimore, I got to Dallas with not enough time to do what I wanted to do, which was to find out the scores of the games. Instead, after trying to find my earpiece on the plane, I hurried out to the bathroom and find some food and maybe a replacement earpiece. I changed into a set of contacts (since I was done crying now and hate wearing my glasses…I like peripheral vision), and went in search of food. Luckily, my new gate for the flight to Denver was 2 gates down from the arrival gate, so things weren’t too bad. Unluckily, there was hardly any place to eat that I could find in a hurry. As it was, I waited for one person to serve several people, with only 5 minutes till my boarding time. I ordered my food, and went across the way to the Brookstones, where they had earphones and stuff. Not that I could afford the noise canceling $200 ones, but I scoured the place for some replacement earpieces. I did manage to get a pack of them, and while they aren’t a perfect fit on the earphone, at least I have music for while I travel. I really wasn’t looking forward to buying a new set of these things in Denver. I went back and grabbed my food, which wasn’t that great (I would have rather had a Fuddrucker’s burger, or something from Einstein Bro’s) but the line for Fudd’s was just too long and the Einstein was closed.

As I was walking to the gate after getting my food, I ran into one of the guys from my class. He’s a couple seats ahead of me, but it’s nice to know that there’s someone to travel with for the last bit of the trip.

The plane to Denver is hot. I think it’s just the sun coming into the windows, because my window shade is hot to the touch. Whatever the reason, the A/C on the plane can’t keep up with it. The pilot just said we are about 170 miles south of Denver, so we’ll be landing soon. I guess I better turn this off and put it away. I’ll post it as soon as I can.