Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Journey to Ireland

Let's just say that, although I'm in a different country, I still can't avoid having wonderful traveling stories. 

First, I arrived at Fort Lauderdale Airport yesterday 90 minutes before my flight to Newark, NJ. Somehow, my mom, my cousin, and I got lost in the parking garage looking for the entrance to the airport. I personally think it was a combination of exhaustion and stress because I was on only 2.5 hours of sleep and played about 3 hours of basketball before getting ready to head to the airport. 

After finding the entrance and checking in, I soon realized that if we would have gotten there two minutes later, there was a chance that I wouldn't have been able to check my bags in since you have to be there at least 60 minutes before the departure flight. 

After that, I had to go through security twice because I forgot to put my toothpaste from my carry-on to my check-in baggage. Fortunately, I got to the gate with plenty of time but, before boarding, I got checked again via a random check on passengers by TSA before boarding the flight. 

All in all, the rest of the flight to Newark, NJ was smooth and I didn't talk to my neighbors on the flight because I was so exhausted. 

In Newark, NJ, I found out the issues of when you rush too much. Before boarding my flight to Dublin, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom really bad. Not wanting to have to wait any longer, I rushed to the nearest restroom. After turning the corner, I soon realized that I have added my name to the list of guys that accidentally walked into the girls' restroom. 

To make matters more fitting, I bumped into two cleaning personnel upon exiting the restroom. The lady couldn't stop laughing and the guy called me a 'paca'. I assumed that it was Spanish and meant to say stupid or something like that but I hadn't heard it before so I wasn't too sure. After looking it up, it is Portuguese for a 'fool, idiot'. After going to the restroom, I talked to them briefly before heading to the line to board my flight. 

On the flight, I realized that I was not tired and, thankfully, we all had TVs for the flight. Therefore, I decided to spend some time watching a movie. The first movie that I watched was 'Pitch Perfect', which is about acapella singing groups that enter a competition. I could go into more details but, in case you were interested in watching the movie, I rather not ruin it for you. 

My take-away from the movie is that I REALLY want to see an acapella group perform live, especially if they have a similar take like in the movie. Honestly, it is a movie like this that shows how music can be so entertaining in so many different art forms. 

The second movie that I saw was Men in Black III. The beginning was a little bland but I really liked how the movie built up through the rest of it. My personal take-away from this movie is that, sometimes, we just can't handle the answers to the persistent questions in our lives. 


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