leaving and getting there (old)
As I was leaving Rochester, it was the first time I knew that I was leaving home. I said good-bye to my mom and gave her a kiss and I was on my way. Benjamin, a former German, VW intern who lived with us two years ago was visiting us this past week. He drove me to the Airport. When I was in the car with him I found my self-pointing out all the places that I would miss about Rochester. Even though all this was happening it still hadn’t hit me that I was really leaving. It wasn’t until I got to the airport and Ben walked me to the desk and he told me that he hopes that I find my self and what I am looking for. Then we man-hugged and he gave me some money, smiled, and left. Ben is my first contact that I have made so far on my journey. I now know that I will always have a place to stay when I go to Germany. After he left I got in line to check my bags on the plain.
While I was standing in line, I read a sign that had the baggage policy on it. The sign declared that for the first bag was $15, but if it was over 50LB then it was $100! But if you had 2 bags the charge was $40 and they had to weigh less than 50LB each. I knew my bag weighed 105LB. Thankfully, I had a extra duffle bag with me, so I jumped out of line and as fast as I could, I filled the duffle bag and re-stuffed my back packs. I did this with lightening fast speed. Lesson: When traveling it’s better to have 2 light bags and 1 heavy one.
After that I had to run through security and as all ways they stopped my big cameo back pack and they looked through it 2 more times. Of course, they didn’t find any thing and I grabbed my stuff and ran to the plane. I had 10 min to spare, but, I was the last one on the plane. After we had been in the air for a while I couldn’t comprehend why I didn’t have a return ticket home. Then it hit me, this is not just a short trip. This is my life for the next year not just a short term trip. It was the first step to my life long journey. There is no return flight.
