Around the World in 45 days: Prologue

Welp, the trip has officially begun. I'm sitting here in the tiny commuter terminal at San Diego International waiting to board the first flight of my "Round the World Trip O' Awesomeness!" and it is a DOOZY.....a whole 49 minutes up to L.A.

OK, so maybe that was a little anticlimactic, but commuter planes are the worst. To start, you begin in the Commuter Terminal which is by far the worst place to me in the airport. Once you pass security, there is a little snack stand with sodas on sale at 2 for $8! There is also a single male/female bathroom with ONE repository.

Once you board the plane, you have "valet" anything that won't fit under the seat in front of you...for these planes that almost everything since there's barely enough leg room to fit your own legs. In fact, calling it leg "room" is a little ridiculous.

Once in the air, there's a whole new barrel of inconveniences. Obviously, there's no in flight entertainment on these flights - understandable. But good luck trying to listen to music. The engines on these flying tin cans are so loud that even at max volume you can only hear when Celine Dion hits the high notes (not that I'm listening to her).

Ok, so music is out. Maybe I'll read a good book! Yea!

Uhh No.

The problem with these little planes is that they're also quite turbulent. Trying to read is just ASKING to get to use the lovely lunch sacks they leave in the seat pocket in front of you.

So this will be the first leg of my trip. Ok, so I'll admit I've exaggerated the badness of these short flights, but they're not fun....luckily they're also short.

In L.A. I have a 10.5 hour flight waiting to take me to Paris. My biggest issue with this flight??? I'M MISSING GAME 7 OF THE NBA FINALS!!! AHHHH!! I'm so pissed about this because I'm a huge Laker fan. I'm PRAYING that my airplane has satellite TV (unlikely but possible). I'm even considering upgrading my seat if that's what it's going to take.

International flights are usually pretty decent though. Good food, lots of entertainment, etc. Ironically though, this 10.5 hour flight is actually my SHORTEST flight after the San Diego to LA one. By the time this trip is over, I'll be an airplane flying expert!

But getting ready for a big trip is an interesting feeling. I had a big dinner with a bunch of friends as a send off. It'll be really weird getting out of my normal routine for so long. Not exercising regularly, eating sporadically, etc...but it'll be good for me. Routine can sometimes make you stagnant.

It's also interesting packing for two months. If you saw what I have, you'd probably think I'm packing for a week or two. I didn't bring a lot. One duffel and one backpack, neither all that full. I suppose I'll have to buy some stuff to bring back!

So here we go. Goodbye San Diego, Bonjour Paris!