Beginning my travels

After sleeping over Lindsay’s grandparents’ house the night before, Lindsay and I headed to Newark Airport to begin my adventure. The line to check bags was unbelievably long, but luckily we stopped a very accommodating security guard, who proceeded to take us to the front of the line, no questions asked. A man who was next in line discovered that I was “cutting” everybody else and started to raise his voice to Lindsay, but Lindsay simply said I am at the front of the line because I am traveling alone and I was going to miss my flight (which was partly true). I checked my two bags with no problems then proceeded to the security checkpoint, where I had to say good-bye to Lindsay. Once getting through the security checkpoint, I was home free…or so I thought. My flight was not delayed when I arrived at the airport and everybody boarded on time. However, we then proceeded to sit on the runway for another 2.5 hours while they de-iced all the wings of the planes. This caused me to miss my connecting flight in Houston, but there was nothing I could even do at that point on the plane.

I finally arrived in Houston and after talking to several different people, customer service told me there were no more flights to Belize that day and that I would have to fly out tomorrow. They paid for and put me up in the Baymont Inn hotel only 10 minutes away from the airport and also gave me an $8 voucher for food and a bag containing a toothbrush (now I have 4 different toothbrushes with me), toothpaste, hair spray, shampoo, a comb, a razor, and shaving cream. I called the hotel and a free shuttle picked me up from the airport. My hotel room was decent size and contained a King size bed. I then made all my phone calls, showered, and got settled for the night. In the shuttle to the hotel, I had met a young man that was on my flight and in the same situation. We got to talking and I found out he was born in Belize and is going back to visit his family for a couple days. He currently lives in Korea and works as a Kindergarten teacher, but plans on moving to Melbourne, Australia by the end of February. When we checked in at the hotel, he asked me if I wanted to do dinner, so we decided to meet at the hotel restaurant at 7.

Once it was dinner time, I met him outside and we proceeded into the restaurant together and had a cheap, but nice meal. We just talked about traveling and places we’ve been. He grew up in San Ignacio, where I will be staying, and was letting me in on all the things I should know about Belize. I also found out he is 30 years old and he did not know I was only 20 either. Nonetheless, we had a good chat and after dinner, proceeded to our own rooms to retire for the night. After making all my phone calls for the night, I washed up, set my alarm, and went to sleep in my gigantic bed…better travels tomorrow.