Soaring to the Czech Republic

It all started when I lugged my fifty pound suitcase up three flights of steps to the third floor of my high school.  I placed my suitcase down next to twenty other suitcases belonging to my classmates. They would embark on this journey with me.  Ten hours from now, we’d be on a plane flying over a portion of the majestic Atlantic Ocean.  The catch was that we had to spend eight hours in school and then venture to Newark Airport on a lovely yellow school bus.  That day I memorized the face of the big fat black and white clocks that hung on the wall in every single one of my classrooms. Then the final bell rang and we were off in the yellow school bus to Newark Airport.  I couldn’t be more ecstatic, but all I kept thinking about was the fact that I had puked on an airplane every single time that I had flown. Something kept telling me that this time wasn’t going to be any different.

  That day, I was certain that my biceps got bigger from hauling my suitcase that was stuffed with clothing.  As the sliding doors opened to the airport, the four TV’s all blared  "Breaking News: Germanwings plane crashes in the Swiss Alps".  Not only was I worried about throwing up on the plane, now I kept thinking, "What happens if the plane goes down?"  But what were the odds of two planes crashing on the same day?  Very slim, I kept reassuring myself.  To avoid my thoughts, I turned to food, as I usually do and devoured a chicken cesar wrap for my last supper. I was savoring all the good greasy American food that I would miss out on for two weeks.

  My pink motion sickness bands were around my wrists and I was ready for take off.  We were riding on a double-decker plane and there were beds on the second floor. I would have given my whole summer paycheck just to upgrade to one of those beds. However, it was too late and the engines roared as we soared off over New York City and the vast Atlantic Ocean.

   That night on the plane I slept for approximately zero minutes. I watched a few episodes of "Friends" as well as the movie "Gone Girl". For dinner I had penne vodka with a garden salad and tiramisu for dessert.  Truthfully, the food on the plane was pretty impressive.  I was prepared for the food that astronauts eat.  The type that is all dried up and tastes like cardboard.  For a few hours I stared at the screen watching the digital plane on the map get closer and closer to the Czech Republic.  As we got closer to the yellow star on the digital map, it was time for breakfast.  Once again, the food was better than I expected.  I had a blueberry muffin, yogurt and some fruit.  Then, the wheels hit the ground and eventually the plane door opened.  The sun from the Czech Republic crept in and our journey had begun.

      

                                       Some Trip Photos:  The first photo is the view at night from the airplane when the plane was above New York City.

My friend Hannah D'Amico took these next two photos. In the photo above, my friend Lizze is all the way to the far right.  I happen to be in the center with the purple backpack, and my friend Kalysta is all the way to the left. The flight took about a total of nine hours. We had left the United States at about 10 pm and we had arrived at 9 am Czech time. None of us had slept on the plane, we literally hit the ground running. Below is the first thing we saw, as we stepped outside the doors of the Czech Airport.