The day had come which I had been waiting for my whole life. I was going to fly to the USA. It was the 27th of May in 2017. So my first time traveling alone was about to begin.
You can read about the roller-coaster ride I had while planning the trip here.
The first flight
This day wasn’t as cheerful as I thought it would be. The reason was that I had found my other half while I was planning my trip and it didn’t make it easy at all. The first flight to Stockholm was supposed to be at 5 am so there was no point to go to sleep. I made it to the airport with swollen eyes.
But let’s continue on the positive note. My favorite parts of flying are the take-off and the landing but I just couldn’t stay awake for them. I fell asleep the moment I sat down as I hadn’t slept for the whole night. The first layover was 8 hours in Stockholm. They are so annoying but that’s what you have to do to get cheap flight tickets, right?
Airport adventures in Atlanta
I remember it was still hard for me to keep my eyes open and on the next flight I dozed off again the moment I sat down. I didn’t sleep long though, because I hate sleeping on the plane and it was a 10-hour flight so I guess I slept a maximum of 3 hours. Yay!
The moment had come. I landed in the US, Atlanta. I guess my layover was about 2-3 hours. So, I remember how I just sat there waiting and thinking that my gate is just around the corner. About 45 minutes before the flight I got up and guess what, I couldn’t find the gate. The airport was huge and by that I mean enormous! Every time I checked the time I started panicking a little.
I looked at the signs and went through a door. The door closed and I saw there’s a man, a guard who looked at me and said: “Well done, now you’re out of the airport lounge and you have to go through the security check again.” …Say what?
Source: giphy.com
Believe me, I was shook. I asked what should I do and whether I could go back through this door because my flight is in 30 minutes. He refused and I ran towards the security check. Oh my, when I got there the line was like 10 meters (32 feet) or more.
I took his advice and went to one employee and asked if it would be possible to get in before the others because I have like 25 minutes until my flight.
Lucky me, because the worker was in a good mood and let skip the line. I asked where my gate is and when I heard that I have to get on the shuttle train I got scared again. I wasn’t certain I’m going to make it but I DID. Obviously, I was so ready to leave this cursed Atlanta airport and fly to Florida.
Florida airport - a blessing or a course?
I remember the feeling I stepped out of the plane and felt that warm breeze. The employee saw we were carrying jackets and laughed at us but I would have regretted it if I didn’t have it. I had to go outside to get warm because the airport was like a freezer. And it was like a sauna outside.
These 11 hours of waiting for my forth and last flight were a torment. I tried to sleep but then I found myself freezing, I went outside and came back in because I couldn’t stay awake.
Oh, and I also discovered that they have different plugs for which I obviously didn’t have adapters. So I tried to manage with my half-charged laptop and mobile.
While I was waiting there was one guy who came up to me and tried to do small talk. I was thinking that alright, I have to get used to this small talk. In Estonia, most people don’t do that. Finally, he started talking about himself and how he travels all the time, has several cars – one of them is a Tesla, and he has houses in different cities. The talk started to get a little bit weird for me and then he said that he could hire me and that he has gotten a work visa for lots of people. Sounds suspicious?
Anyway, I went to the check-in and when I had finished with it he came up to me again and told me that he had forgotten his wallet and asked me if I could lend him money. I tried to stay polite and nicely say that I can’t. He suggested that I could pay without giving my card details and he would pay me back through PayPal right away. I said that I don’t have a PayPal account and walked away. Obviously, I was not going to give away my card details on the first day in a foreign country (that doesn’t mean I’d do it on the second day either.)
I was really hungry so I tried to find something to eat. I found a bagel booth and got myself a tuna bagel. While I was eating it and walking to the terminal another man came to me and started to make small talk. He was going on the same flight so we walked together and met with his friends. Suddenly I was in a group of at least 4 men. It felt a bit scary at first but I had a feeling that they don’t have any bad intentions and just want to talk, like most Americans.
They said that they sing the song “Celebration”. I couldn’t remember it at first and they started humming it. I knew the song but I wasn’t sure if I had heard them correctly. I just couldn’t believe that they would just come and talk to me.
So, I sat on the plane and one of the men came to me and gave me a business card which said Kool & The Gang.
Well, I should have taken a picture with them..
What I learned from traveling solo?
The fourth and last flight was tense for me but the feeling that you get when you arrive at the destination beats it all. I had arrived under the palm trees.
Looking back right now I find my first time traveling alone pretty adventurous considering everything that happened. I can’t believe how many events happened in the past 24 hours. It was challenging but also taught me how to stay strong, be optimistic, and find positive in every obstacle on the way.
I believe traveling alone is something that everyone should do at least once in their lives. I promise you will discover one or more things about you that you didn’t know you had.
If you have some funny or exciting stories to tell about your first time traveling alone you’re more than welcome to share it in the comments!
