Guess where I am. Yup, Thailand!! My squad arrived sometime early this morning. Most of us went to sleep once we arrived and got in our rooms; while others showered then went to sleep. Which I don’t blame them. We have been traveling for about 72 hours.
We left launch on Monday the 9th at three. Not three in the afternoon, no. Three in the morning, or 3 a.m. Yuck! So most of us were running on no sleep ‘cause they just stayed up till we left or they went to bed and got maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep (me by the way). We left to get to our bus ride which was 4 hours long. It was a double-decker bus so I sat on the 2nd level obviously because it was so cool! I was hoping to sleep the whole ride since I didn’t get much earlier, but it was really cold and it was somewhat rocking. After the bus, we had 5 planes the longest flight being 14 hours. The 14-hour flight was actually not as bad as I expected. I slept for about 1/2 of it and watched 2 movies for the rest. The worst thing about all my flights was sitting by myself. With however the sitting order worked, no one on my squad was ever sitting by me and the seats were 3/5 of the time empty. Yes, for others that would have been nice, but I was wanting to talk with other Racers so it was less fun for me and kind of lonely. So I took advantage of the times we were waiting for flights and spent time with my Racers. My favorite time was when I went out to supper with Izac and James. James and Izac each ordered this Thai soup that looked amazing. The soup had three tiny red peppers in it. We each ended up having one and had a mix of reactions, Izac’s being the best. He was wanting the “full flavor” so he chewed it all up (especially the seeds) and spread it all around his mouth. After he swallowed it pain just came on. His face turned really red, his eyes were watering, and his nose was running. He ended up going to the register and asked for some water. The ladies laughed at him after he explained why he wanted it and we later figured out why. With what we understand, those peppers were actually just for flavor not really for you to eat. So we all got a good laugh out of that! Anyway, as I said earlier in all it was about 72 hours of travel time to get here. With the many timelines we pasted I couldn’t keep track of the days and they all just kinda mixed together.
Izac playing while we wait for the next step
Waiting for our first flight
Just a selfie I took while waiting for a flight
Austin playing the guitar while we wait for our first flight
A cool picture of the clouds as the sun rises
Rosie hiding her screen from me while we play battleships (I won most of the games still)
Some of my squadmates getting sleep while we wait for our last plane
For the people who ask “How was launch?” or “What are your feelings about Launch?”, everything and nothing, a mixtape. The main feeling I remember was sorta confused. The mix of excitement of leaving and going on the Race and the sadness of missing everyone. The first day I was really sad, especially since that morning I had to say goodbye to my parents. I also hadn’t cried yet about leaving everyone so all my emotions were about to break the dam. So after letting everything sink in it helped a lot. Another thing that helped was during lunch on the second day, I was “adopted” by Jesse, one of the guys on my squad, and his parents, Randy & Debi, during lunch. They all made it easier not having my parents there while others did at Parent Launch. Getting to know them and hearing about their lives, getting encouragement from them, and just hanging out was all nice. Talking things through with other Racers and some leadership also really helped everything. So Launch was really good, even with its lows.
Guys! I’m in Thailand. Like it’s so hard to believe yet it’s so amazing here that you just have to believe it. But I am finally here! 🙂 I am going to miss everyone back home, but I know that my life is about to change forever.
Until the next time……
