Departing For London
I woke up this morning at 6 AM to finish packing and preparing for the trip. This consisted of strapping the rest of my clothes into my bag, running copies of all my important documents, and just generally getting organized.
I left for the airport at 8 AM. And after almost two hours, I was at LAX. Getting there was easy, but figuring the airport out and finding helpful advice turned out to be almost impossible. One thing I do advise from my experience, is to attempt to check-in and print out your boarding pass online the night before your departure.
For my United Airlines flight, all I had to do was log-on to their website and complete the "EasyCheck-In." During the process I got to print out my boarding pass and pick out my window-seat of choice. Then, once at the airport, I got to stand in extremely short EasyCheck-In line to check my baggage - avoiding the very long regular check-in line. And since I was already checked-in, I could have even checked my luggage at the curb. What a deal?!
What Time Abroad Really Means
Once I was finally on my flight, I started to think about exactly what "thirty-nine days abroad" really meant. It meant no constant connection via the internet or phone. It meant no MySpace or Purevolume. And on a happier thought, it meant no work.
It also meant time away from all that I had come to know in the United States - friend, family, habits, work place, environment, living situation, etc. And one of the reasons I took this trip was to get the chance to get away from all of this. I wanted some time away to "find myself" as it were. I wanted to get some perspective on my life, to reevaluate what I was doing, and to make sure I was headed in the best direction for me.
And I really do think taking an extended trip abroad is one of the absolute best ways to do all of these things. Because it's so hard to get perspective on your life and reevaluate things when you're in the midst of them. And I really don't think taking a short weekend off, or even a week or two off, is enough time to do either of these things. And I was excited to see where I really stood and what I really wanted to do once I got back to the U.S. I was excited to get out there in the world, and learn more about myself and the world around me. I was excited to be departing on my European Adventure!
- August 15th, 2006
- By Daniel Scrivner
