The Travels Begin - Washington, DC

OK, well, here I am. In Washington, DC. Well, actually, my hotel is in Maryland. Turns out I'm in the ghetto of Maryland. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Well, I guess it's an adventure...assuming I don't get shot while I'm here.

Anyway, let's begin the story of my travels.

Started out on a SERIOUS lack of sleep b/c I was waiting up for SOMEONE to log on so I could talk to them before I left. So, the story as I write it, is in the context of me being incredibly sleep deprived.

Started out in Saskatoon airport. Was there plenty, plenty early and got checked in no problem. Even though I checked in online, they had to re-print my boarding passes - so I'm not really sure what the point of pre-check-in was. Went through security no problem. Waiting for our gate to open, I chatted with a nice old lady from Kansas. Then our gate's waiting area opened and I chatted with another girl, from Regina, who is now a law student, Lisa! She's a slightly more seasoned traveller than me, so helped me out. We weren't sitting together on the plane, but we went through immigration, customs, and security together and got some breakfast together. Here's a fantastic picture of Lisa! The stranger I met! Yay!


So, we were together until Minneapolis, then she was headed to New York on a different flight. So yeah, getting into Minneapolis was interesting. On the plane, they give us our customs declaration form to fill out. So, we get to Minneapolis. We have to first go through Immigration who stamps our passports. That lady was the scariest. But she let me through with no problem. She was just very...umm....harsh?? I dunno the word. Then we had to go pick up our luggage and take it with us through customs. Customs was this single dude at a desk who took my paper said "Thank You!" and then I was done. Easy as pie! Then we rechecked our luggage by putting it on another conveyor belt. Then we had to go through security AGAIN. Although this time we had to take off our shoes and many people got their bags searched...but not me! Yay! War mongering is huge there...there are constant announcements over the loudspeaker...just so everyone knows, we are now in code ORANGE. Oooooooo.

Here is a picture I took from the terminal at Minneapolis!


Got on my next plane to DC, which boarded a bit late, but was otherwise mostly on time. That flight was good, I got a semi amount of sleep. The landing was scary...it seemed that we were going EXTRA fast and then it was really, really bumpy. Oh! And then when we're coming into the airport, it's by water, so I can only see out the side of the plane, so it just looks like we're getting closer and closer and closer to the water...and then land appears and I let out my breath. Whew! No water crash for us!

Then comes the "waiting for my luggage" part. That's where you stand by the conveyor belt praying to the gods of the airport that your luggage didn't get lost. Mine took a long time, but it came. That little rush of joy when I spotted my purple/green duffel was just awesome.

So, found a cab, and fortunately, I had printed off a map to my hotel, b/c he didn't know how to get it, just looked at the map to find out. So, whew to that. Cab wasn't too costly, in my opinion, so that was nice.

As I said before, my hotel is in the ghetto of Maryland. It's not the nicest hotel. But it has a fridge and microwave and free internet which is nice. My internet wasn't hooking up to the wireless, so they gave me a cable, so I have my internet, THANK GOD.

Went to look for food and I've gotta say...none of those establishments look up to health code. Or maybe the health code is just shottier here. Anyway, I spotted a Wal-Mart across the street and went to get groceries, and on my way there, spotted a Safeway, so went there instead and got myself food to last me for a few days. Not like I could eat once I got it. Talk about stress all balled up in my tummy.

Here's a picture of the view outside my hotel window...there are TREES here! And hills!


Anyway, I didn't take many pictures my first day :( I was a bit overwhelmed and taking pictures was last on my mind. I did take this picture of the wonky Doritos bags they have down here...what's wrong with you people!!??


Anyway, managed to catch someone on the phone, so settled down a bit and am finally feeling a bit calmer and ready to have some fun. Things aren't going 100% smoothly, but it's an adventure and I'll remember this trip for a long, long time.

Well that was Day 1. I survived it and as long as nobody shoots me in the ghetto, I should be fine!! :P