Day One - Europe 2010

DAY ONE
Europe 2010

[I will be updating the blog as often as possible to share stories and pictures from our trip to Europe.  So keep checking for updates!]

We were up all night Wednesday, packing, cleaning, tying up loose ends. I kept wondering how we got so lucky to get a flight straight from Hickam to Dover (Delaware)!!! Not only that, but right on time! Nick’s leave had only just begun. Basically, conditions couldn’t have been more perfect.

We left the apartment at 3:30am and were at the terminal around 5:00am, bright eyed and bushy tailed! It was a long process getting onto the plane and the whole time I was thinking, “I can’t believe we’re doing this! This is so crazy! We’re going to Europe!” The adventure was beginning.

We were on the plane just after 7:00am and it was fun to see Nick so giddy at flying on a C-17. It’s a big plane with seats lined up along each side. The seats felt kind of like a lawn chair – definitely less comfortable than your commercial plane chair but LOTS of leg room! Nick was, of course, thrilled about that. He was looking all around at the plane saying, “How many people get to fly on these planes?”  And, of course, the flight was free.  Aaaawesoooome.

We weren’t in the air until 8:00am and by then the lack of sleep was catching up to me. I was falling asleep in my chair when the conductor guy said that after the seat belt sign turned off, we could do whatever we wanted, including lie on the floor. I laughed at that, but when I woke up there were indeed people lying on the ground! Ha! So, Nick and I laid these blankets down and tried to get comfortable. The ground was hard and the plane was cold, not to mention incredibly loud (thank you, ear plugs), but we both got some sleep. I eventually put a couple of seats down and sprawled across them, which worked better for me. My goal was to sleep most of the flight so I could try and get my internal clock on to Europe time. I succeeded for the most part.

During the flight, I was in wonder at the whole thing. Just how well everything had worked out - I know we’re just getting started, but it’s a great start – and how unreal it was that we were going on this totally awesome, somewhat spontaneous, once-in-a-lifetime six week trip to Europe! I thought, ‘I could be at home, playing my video games and hitting the beach, and that would have been a great enough summer. But we’re making memories here. That’s what we’re doing. We’re making incredible memories’

We landed at midnight East Coast Time, making it a 10 hour flight. We checked in at the terminal to see what was going out to Europe and there is a flight to Spain leaving Saturday around 4:30 pm. Still no guarantee we have a spot on it but there is another flight to Germany later that evening so I feel confident we can get over there within the next 36 hours. I am definitely hoping for Spain.

Either way, I am feeling grateful and excited for a good beginning and anticipate an awesome trip to come!
 

PHOTOS:

 

Here are Nick and I at the terminal at Hickam AFB.  We had our bags ready to go and were just waiting to get on the plane.  Both of us are a bit dazed from the lack of sleep.

 

Nick and I got on a bus to take us to the plane.  Nick is smiling, ready to roll!

 

Nick got a candid of me looking out at the planes.  I was feeling a little jittery.

 

Our plane looked like this.

It was so cold in there so I'm all bundled up trying to get my sleep.  Obviously, I succeeded.

Nick got a shot of the group.  See them all lying on the floor?  The lighting is weird because the overhead lights had a green tint but it didn't really look this green.  It looks like something out of a scary video game.  I was laughing because it looked like the plane had been gassed.

And here I am at the Dover Terminal, blogging!