Grey Clouds and Silver Linings

The preparation leading up to leaving was a roller coaster.

The week that I was trying to finalize my flight to Europe, I came down with a fever and a cough. It cancelled my plans with a friend, but I tried to make the best of being home-bound with more organizing and rest.
That same week, one of the volunteers at my work was talking about how she accidentally damaged her glasses and needed to get new ones. I was sorry for her predicament, but I used the experience as a piece of wisdom to order another pair of glasses before I left. This was providence, since my glasses ended up breaking beyond repair the day before the new ones arrived at the eye place!

On March 25th, I celebrated my "Golden Birthday" (your age being the date you were born) on a "Silver Anniversary" - 25 years/a quarter century completed! In years past, I have been prone to getting overly worked up over wanting things to go perfectly when celebrating, but this year I decided that it wasn't worth any stress and whatever celebration would take place would be great. My boyfriend helped me celebrate multiple times and I ended up going to Disney World, Rice Market - a Korean BBQ place, a house dance party, on a boat trip with an awesome family/co-worker, to a fancy Cuban restaurant "Columbia" which has been around since 1905(using gift certificates awarded from my work), then a vintage Swing Dance, followed by outdoor club dancing, and the next weekend a game night at Panera, then Blues dancing, and finally Filipino food while enjoying the weather at a park with cute dogs. :D

Now, due to my parents moving houses, there seemed to be a little more chaos than originally anticipated when considering going overseas.
The main stress being from the "Mail Forward" instating too early. While my parents had noted they were not moving until April 1st, the normal carrier had been out the week after they put in the request so he began to immediately send our mail to (what I like to call) "Mail Purgatory" ... or "Mail in Hell" to be more true to emotions felt in this crisis.
My uncle in California had been kind enough to mail me his old BlackBerry Torch that he no longer needed as of 2014 when his work automatically upgraded him to an iPhone. The package arrival coincided to the "Lost Days" of mail forwarding and so there was a great hubbub and wringing of hands trying to figure out where this package was. Apparently, the package wanted the grand tour of the greater Tampa Bay Area because it went from California to Tampa, to Largo (where we live), to Mail Forward "Purgatory" in Sarasota, to Tampa, then after much communication, to Largo.
On March 31st, my first non-working weekday, I spent an hour on the phone - mostly on hold - with the Largo main office praying that the package was not forwarded again and that I could pick-up since I had other things to do on my final full day in American and didn't want to chance missing the delivery in the regular post. There was much joy when the manager came on the line and confirmed she had the package in-hand and would note that I was coming that day to retrieve it.

The main reason for the fuss over the arrival of the phone was related to the fact that I still needed to take it to a business that had the resources to "Unlock" the phone, making it available for use anywhere and with any SIM card.
I was able to time it right to complete both tasks and then head to Tampa for a final friend hang-out and use my Free Tea I had earned from previous purchases there. By the time I finished there, it was 4:45pm and I was worried about traffic, but seriously I've never had a faster trip back from Tampa that I can recall in recent times.
I had enough time to stop into a store and purchase a few things I had really wanted to have for the trip and get back to my parent's new house. My fellow world-travelling friend was able to join me and helped accompany me through the final haul. She was a huge help when I tried to get Ethanol-Free gasoline into my tank, only to find that station closed at 6pm weekdays - with my tank turning on the "Empty" light right as we pulled away. She volunteered to stay in the car with the running engine while I stopped into the Auto shop before they closed as well, and found the right product to keep my gas from rotting while being infrequently used. Then she pumped my gas when we made it to the closest station and I did a Dairy Queen Blizzard run as a thanks to her and my brother, who would be the one dropping me off in Tampa to stay in the area for my flight the next day.

She and I tried one Car Wash place, since my car was thickly coated in spring pollen, but that had closed, too! So we tracked down another one and ate ice cream while enjoying the "show". She even mentioned one of my favorite childhood movies "Corinna, Corinna." that had a scene similar to our ice cream situation, which was hilarious because about a week earlier I had shouted for joy inside Target when I found that movie for just $5.

There were some packing hiccups - like the one bag having a zipper issue - but my family were wonderful rescuers who supported me until it was finished at 1AM, my mother staying up even though she had to work and my brother graciously still being willing to drop me off in Tampa.
My flight wasn't until 3:57pm April 1st, but that morning when I was able to weigh the bags at my boyfriend's house, even though it all fit, it was too heavy. :( Did I mention that I hate flying on April Fool's Day? (Even though I have managed to travel on it at least 3 out of the last 5 occurrences?)
So I had to call some difficult shots on what to leave and what to take. Then we arrived at the airport around 2:55pm - so I was getting nervous about my checked luggage being accepted and put on the proper flight. But the line for the airline service counter was short and the man said that my timing made it to where the only seats available on my first flight were extra leg-room sections and so I was given a window (with no middle seat partner, only one on the aisle so we had extra elbow room too!) and was allowed on my way.

I arrived at security at 3:10pm - my ticket saying boarding starts at 3:27pm. I debated saying anything at first, but I believe someone else asked what time my flight was, and when I said, people said I should start asking those in front if I could pass. So I did a little at a time until I was on the opposite side of the people about to go through the ticket scan. When the 2 ladies at the front heard my flight time, they said I could go ahead of them. I think this is where the problem came, since there were a few people in between (probably 6-8 people) that I didn't personally ask if I could go ahead. I already hate imposing on people and stress was building up as the clock kept ticking. I passed through ticket and passport check fine and as I was approaching the X-ray belts, the guards did a "random" hand test to make sure I didn't have any substances like drugs or wire/bomb fibers. I didn't complain and said "I have plenty of sweat for the sample since my adrenaline is pumping with my flight board time coming soon!" I was trying to be light-hearted, but he didn't say much and I don't know if ultimately it was taken the wrong way.
When I got up to the body scan, they pulled me aside for a pat down. I declined the private one since I didn't want to waste any more time, but when she finished, I was approached by a different officer and asked to step aside with all my belongings to be hand-searched. They were nice enough and the one lady (who's first name was spelled the same as my middle name, which is unusual) asked calming questions and tried to encourage me to breathe. They asked why I was so frantic and erratic in line when my flight had 30 mins of boarding and that even with the luggage search, I should still have time to leisurely make it to my gate. They mentioned I had skipped past others who were also running late to their flights, and my rush did not make sense with all the cushion time of boarding.
I explained that not only was I dehydrated, but I get stressed easily and have a medical condition which causes palpitations - the stress and heart condition proven by things found within my luggage. When they saw I had an international flight, they did agree that's extra stress when trying to navigate other countries alone. We were almost finished and they were helping me know where I could buy water and maybe food with my extra time before I truly needed to board the plane, when my carry-on's last collection wipe came up really dirty. I think since the luggage had been stored in the shed for several years, there was just dust, but that didn't help in the moment of having to be super sure I wasn't carrying anything illegal/dangerous. By the time the head agent came over, I was out of time to get sustenance and my carefully packed bags of 1 carry-on and 1 personal bag were a mess. He was quick and said that since nothing had shown traces of drugs or explosive, the last swipe should just be normal elements and I was free to go.
I had just enough time to stuff things into the 2 bags so that the airline attendants wouldn't call me out on having too much stuff and was literally the last passenger to have my ticket scanned, with the gate door closing behind me.

The Moral of this story? When running late, don't "speed" through and draw attention to yourself by the Officials or they will "pull you over" and ultimately all the time you were trying to gain by being imprudent will be used up. There is a better chance of making good time when being level-headed and steady than when being stressed and rushed.

I was able to get a water once at the plane entrance (and the same attendant kept me well stocked on the flight since I had mentioned the dehydration which was truly making me feel weak and light headed) and it worked out for me to be one of the last on since my seat was in the 5th row. There was even a space in the over head bin for my carry-on! :)

In Boston, we landed in great time, but I was misguided by the information desk at the luggage kiosk I had to pass by to get to the international terminal . He must have thought I was coming from overseas instead of going over because he said I needed to claim my bag and recheck into my next flight. I waited through all the rounds of the belt and no bag!! 2 other baggage claim employees asked me about my flight and tried to find it but no luck. Then one looked more closely at my baggage claim pass and said "Oh, it's automatically transferred since we have an agreement with the international airline! I'm sorry - you just proceed as normal." He gave me 2 options - either wait 10 mins for the bus to the other Terminal or I could take the 10-15 minute walkway. I decided it was just cold enough to make a walk invigorating, but a wait unbearable.
I made decent time and when looking in my luggage, discovered one of the liquids had spilled in the quart bag. There was another security line in Boston and they offered complimentary bags, so I was able to reorganize. No problems with security and had just enough time to buy my "lunch" a sandwich (appropriately called "The Best BLT" as my final American meal) and a frappuccino from Starbucks. Then my 9pm flight was boarding, so I had to wait to consume them on the plane. I was in the 3rd to last row, but no seat partner so that was great!

While waiting for more water and the evening in-flight meal, I watched some cute word-less short films and eventually The Highlander since I had a hard time hearing any movie with a ton of dialogue over the sound of the plane. I think I slept for 2 hours, then we landed in Dublin! Once again, no problem with security and over 3 hours to wait until the next flight. I was able to souvenir shop and get a lovely breakfast of a chocolate croissant, Oreo cookie hot chocolate, and a complimentary Bailey's Cream truffle. Yum! Free WI-FI allowed me to try to catch up and communicate where to meet my Dutch friend in Amsterdam.
There was some confusion with my next flight's gate saying one gate for all 3 hours until the 15 mins leading to boarding time saying nothing and finally producing a new gate. Luckily it was still in the same section I'd been waiting so that was a relief. Slept on the plane to Amsterdam. Going through the passport stamp booth was a breeze and managed to find my baggage claim with mine rolling out quickly, then shockingly fast through customs and into the main airport. My friend had just arrived and was surprised to see me so quickly. We decided to use the time we thought we'd have to wait in de-boarding, etc., to find me a healthy fruit energy drink and some postcards. We decided to balance out the health drink with an order of Frites (french fries/British chips) and mayo. :D
Then we circled the airport again (probably walked through it 4 times over with the food and souvenirs search) to find free flyers for more mementos.
We wrapped up the day by barely hitting traffic and getting to the house with plenty of time to enjoy homemade spaghetti with her fiance. Then I had some quiet time with the wi-fi while they had a prior appointment to attend.
And so ends the first leg of the journey.