Goodnight, Travel Well

TRAVELING: SUNDAY/MONDAY

I left Dulles at about 6pm on Sunday night. I stupidly left my cell with momma so I couldn’t call her or text anyone or get on the computer, etc. the entire time I was waiting at the gate for my flight to take off. I tried to figure out a pay phone but it was so complicated, I honestly had NO idea how to work it, hahaha. UGH. So anyway, I started the trip nervous about not making contact and everything and then I got on my United flight which and it was kind of miserable. There was very little room, I didn’t sleep more than an hour off and on, and the TV options were super bad. By the end of the flight, I was so nauseous I had to get up 2 times during landing (seatbelt time) cause I thought I was totally gonna vom. Managed to get it together though and landed in Amsterdam alone at about 730 AM. Walking through the airport there was hella intimidating—my first time in an international airport, ya know?—but I managed to find my gate and 3 people were already there, which was super comforting. But then I freaked out about calling my mom to tell her I was there and AGAIN couldn’t figure out the phones. I finally had to call the customer service number from the payphone, give them my credit card number, and then call. SO TECHNOLOGY INCOMPETENT. A bunch more peeps met up with us at the airport and 9 of us were on the flight to Nairobi. The KLM flight was sooooo nice, TONS of food and I finally got to see Avatar. It was aight and I definitely got more sleep that flight.
Finally got to Nairobi and was super intimidated by everything. Going through immigration was INTENSE and I definitely thought I wasn’t gonna be let in the country ha. Mainly I think I was just nervous since it was my first passport stamp!
Once in the airport, I was pretty much in a state of shock and awe. Then we met everyone else and got room assignments and it was sweet. But then, we went outside to put our bags in the bus and it hit me that I was in fucking Kenya and who the fuck did I think I was? So the excitement was quickly replaced with WHAT DA FUCK feelings and being just straight up terrified. We made it home to the apartments to no power on and had to try to move in stuff in the dark which was super fun. But we managed with cell phones and flash lights. As soon as we were in, I called mom and just cried. It hit me immediately that I was nuts for doing this and not knowing anyone and OMG OMG basically. But I'm glad I had those feelings to begin with, since I hope it means I won't flip like 3 weeks in with culture shock. We'll see.