The Travel Saga

The trip started off fairly well.  I arrived to Laguardia on time and made it through security without a hitch.  More importantly, I also managed to say goodbye to my parents without bursting into tears.  For those close to me, you all know that is a huge accomplishment.  Although I was a little nervous to be flying alone on what I surmised would be a very small puddle jumper plane (it was just that by the way) I was also very excited to finally be on my way.  After seven weeks of waiting, the day had finally arrived.  I sat in gate 6 reading my first book on the Kindle I received for my birthday (shout out to mom and dad for the sweet gift).   

I was feeling confident as I boarded the plan, as I was now only a little over an hour away from meeting up with Siobhan and Alexa in Philadelphia and no longer having to travel on my own.  I had the rest of the day all planned out; find my gate, get some dinner, and catch up with the girls.  Unfortunately this is where my trip started to get a little more interesting.  As we make our way to the runway, the pilot suddenly kills the engine (we were being delayed an hour because of snow removal and air traffic in Philadelphia).  I, of course, was panicking because I was afraid I was going to miss the connection in Philadelphia.  Luckily there was a very attractive 4^th year medical student that was sitting next to me and throughout the delay and the entire flight we chatted it up about school and our profession (and no unfortunately I never got his phone number….my life is not like the movies lol).  Although I had great company I still had to race through the Philadelphia airport sans food in order to make the connecting flight.  I arrived at gate A19 sweaty and unable to breathe as I have worked-out minimally since soccer season ended in November.  Nonetheless I did make the flight and met up with the girls.  I was finally able to relax….NOT. Our flight was then delayed 2 hours, we sat on the plane the entire time and I had not eaten since 11:00am.  It was now 8:30pm.  After a 6 ½ hour flight, 3 very uncomfortable hours of sleep, we finally arrived in Madrid.   It took another 3 hours of waiting, a 2 ½ hour bus trip, and I had FINALLY FINALLY made it to Salamanca.

To say the least it was an overwhelming 2 days…but totally worth it. More to come on my first day in Salamanca and the host family that Siobhan and I are staying with!

Love,

Tayler