If you know anything about the World Race, you know that travel days are notoriously crazy. We actually got off easy, but I thought it’d be fun to share my (hopefully humorous) first travel day experience with you!
10:00pm – LET THE TRAVEL DAY BEGIN. After our wonderful coaches pray over us and see us off, we all grab our 50lbs backpacks, packsdaypacks, and pillows and hike them up to the buses in the freezing cold Georgia rain. We load the buses and we’re off!!
11:30pm – We get dripped off at the international terminal, drag our bags inside, and start setting up for bed.
11:45pm – We realize we’re at the wrong terminal.
12:00am – We walk across the airport dragging our bags behind us. We all regret packing so much. We realize why we did the fitness hike in Georgia. And then we realize the domestic terminal is NOT walking distance away.
12:20am – We load a shuttle and head towards the domestic terminal.
12:30am – We all walk another 2 miles trying to get to the entrance and trying to find a place to sleep. We’re all sweaty, out of breath, and exhausted.
1:00am – We find an empty second level in the airport where we decide to set up for bed. Knowing we’re supposed to be up at 2:30am to our check ourbags, I don’t even bother with my sleeping bag or sleeping pad, I just curl up with my blanket and eye mask on the cozy airport floor nd andstart to fall asleep.
1:01am – The cops start yelling at us. Now I’m awake again.
1:15am – The cops decide it’s okay for us to be there. I think I fell asleep now??
4:00am – I wake up and think I’ve held everyone up because I thought we were supposed to check our bags at 2:30??
4:15am(ish?) – To be honest, I’m not quite sure what happened from here until I got coffee. I was still half asleep. I think the Jet Blue people didn’t open the kiosk until the last minute, then we couldn’t check in on the machines so we had to do it manually, and our proof of negative covid tests wouldn’t load. But somehow, we made it through security and got on the metro heading towards our gate.
6:20am – We just barely get to our gate in time despite leaving for the airport the night before. We board a plane heading to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. See you later Georgia!!! I take a much needed nap on the plane.
8:45am – We land in Florida!! There’s a lot of people here and that shocks us becuase we haven’t been in a crowded space since before covid (but it’s Florida so…). Me and my teammate Emma head straight for the coffee shop. I spend $8 on coffee. But I don’t care. It’s coffee. We all hang out at our gate and prep for a 5 hour layover, which actually goes by pretty fast.
11:30am – We all got a $10 world race budget for breakfast and lunch. So in airport terms, that means I ate a granola bar that I packed for breakfast and use the $10 to barely cover lunch. (Don’t worry, we all got enough to eat! The AIM cooks loaded us up with snacks before we left.)
12:50pm – We meet back at the gate and get our temperatures taken!! (because a temp check a day keeps the covid away, or something like that.)
1:10pm – We get our passports ready and board the plane heading to San José, Costa Rica!!! Peace out U.S!! See you in 5 months 🙂
3:40pm (central time) – We land in San José, Costa Rica!!! None of us can believe it, but once we grab our bags, get through customs, and make it outside, it finally seems so real!!
4:30pm – We load up the bus and head to the AIM base. Once we get there, we eat a DELICIOUS authentic Costa Rican meal and then find our rooms, unpack, shower, and pass out on our bunks.
It was a long 24 hours, but we finally made it! My squad is actually in Costa Rica as I write this blog. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us here and I can’t wait to keep sharing my journey with you!
