I love love love traveling. Luckily for me, I have family and friends sprinkled across the United States, providing me with a lot of opportunities to see and explore new cities and places. This summer was a special one because I finally made it outside of the USA for the first time ever!
Read about my journey below :]
This past summer I took my first ever transatlantic vacation. Okay, so I don’t know if that is the correct terminology but I thought it sounded cool. So, AKA I hopped on a little jet plane with some of my friends and before I knew it we were landing on an island, unboarding the plane, and being offered marijuana.
OK OK FINE—Here’s the facts:
This July I was lucky enough to travel outside of the country for an unforgettable 6 days & 5 nights.
Unforgettable, people, U N F O R G E T T A B L E .
But first let’s rewind about 13 months prior to take off.
One of my very best friends, Christina, was asked to be the Maid of Honor in her cousin Amanda's destination wedding.
Destination: Jamaica
For a couple years now I’ve tagged along to countless family birthdays, a wedding, 25th anniversary, etc. with Christina. Over time, I grew to not only know her parents and brothers, but also her aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandma. She has one of those families where you instantly feel at home when you are around them and the hours spent together fly by effortlessly, filled with laughter and good conversation. About a year before the wedding Christina mentioned that I should totally come to Jamaica with them. I thought she was crazy. Then at the next family gathering they were talking about Jamaica and Christina mentioned it again- I was a bit embarrassed because I thought Christina was nuts for suggesting this in the first place and now her whole family was around! BUT THEN, the bride’s mother chimed in and was like ‘You totally should, it will be a blast!’ I remember just replying casually with something like ‘yeah, that would be fun!’ but in my mind I was still thinking –no way, I would feel way too intrusive- (says the girl that crashed another cousins wedding just weeks prior, haha) Long story short, every time I was with Christina and/or her family the conversation always led to Jamaica—can you blame them?!—and I slowly starting warming up to the idea. I was feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea and started viewing it as an actual possibility.
Now, time to fast forward. Winter comes and goes and it’s all of the sudden spring. Time to make an appointment with the local travel agency to book this trip! Oh, and I should probably apply for a passport soon, too. On a sunny Saturday morning I went to my appointment at the travel agency to meet with Karen, who also booked Christina and her parents trips. It was pretty vital that my itinerary matched some of my fellow travelers because the resort was about an hour and a half ride from the airport and I knew I was too much of a baby/inexperienced word traveler to do that on my own. My next stop was the post office where I turned in my passport application to ensure that I would get my passport on time (I received it a few short weeks later- in May- so I had more than enough time)(& as you can see above I even had enough time for a little Passport photo shoot ;]).
& so the countdown began!
With my all-inclusive resort stay booked and my passport in hand the excitement really began to set it. It was crazy how fast the past year had flown by but we were all so excited to get this vacation underway! The island vibes, teal and turquoise waters, soft sand, and radiant sunshine were only a plane ride away.
Fast forward again—It’s July 18th, before sunrise, and I am on my way to Christina’s parents house with my luggage [Christina and her boyfriend, Derek, were already in Jamaica with the bride and groom]. After being dropped off, her dad and brothers load up the car and we head out to her grandma’s house where the bus will pick us up and take us to the airport. There was 13 of us traveling to Midway Airport together from her grandma's house. Once we get to the airport we figure out where we need to go and what we need to do, and before we knew it we were sitting at the gate. Some of the grooms family was already at the gate, ready to get to Jamaica too!
We board the plane, get situated, and prepare for take off. Once the plane leaves American soil I realize how crazy it is that the next time it lands i'll be climbing out and stepping foot on foreign land--- on a Caribbean island! The flight was pretty easy, less than 4 hours. As we are began our descent into Montego Bay we were able to see the beautiful blues of the ocean which of course made me so excited all over again. Of course other emotions were also flowing through my veins. Like anxiety and worry. I meannnn... we were really close to the water, what if we missed the tarmac and ended up swimming [drowning] alongside the sharks? Obviously that didn't happen because i'm still here now, but in the moment those thoughts pop up without your consent.
So... in regular flight fashion, we sit there waiting to unboard our plane with much anticipation and restlessness. Eventually we make our way to the front of the plane, and then we are off and making our way through the airport hallways... hallways that were decorated with Ebola signs... but hey, I was officially INTERNATIONAL!
xoxo,
Kaila
{My original intentions were to write all about my Jamaican vacation but in normal Kaila fashion I had to start from the very beginning without leaving out very many details, so be sure to lookout for my next blog post where i'll write all about those 6 nights and 5 days in paradise}
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