First Time Flying: My Journey to Washington Part 1

Flying can be terrifying for some, especially those with fear of heights or people who do not have faith in the engineering of man, for others however, they simply believe that if God did not give us wings then we shouldn’t be flying. Personally, I’m the guy who thinks something is going to go wrong mid flight because of bad luck or fate but that’s not the reason why I’ve never flown. I was born and raised in the sunny state of Florida, from which I didn’t cross the Florida border till I was 19 years old. Living in a state with such allure and beauty, not to mention all the fun and activities that tourists flock to Florida by the millions to see, why would I go? I never saw any reason to leave my home that I was in love with a deep passion for, let alone fly 500 mph away from it. But as I grew older, of course, I changed….things changed.

I love Florida and I always will, more than any place on this earth, but seeing such beauty and diversity that this one peninsula contained made me curious about the rest of the world. My first experience leaving the state planted the seed of this feeling that grew year by year. Sad to say, Florida no longer fed my urge to learn and explore because I’ve spent all my life learning the plants and animals, seeing the springs and the oceans, rivers, streams, swamps and lakes. But most of all….i was growing tired of the culture which is a conglomerate of many other cultures foreign and domestic. There was no excitement anymore

The roots of my tree could not grow deeper than the limestone aquifer nor could they branch out into the salty water. My only option was to cast my seeds into the wind, quite literally.

My mind and eyes were tired of experiencing the world through books and television. I began to feel deep within that my feet wanted to stand on different soil, my lungs wanted to breath in different air, my senses wanted to smell, taste and see different things, but most importantly, I wanted to learn something new. It no longer seemed to be a decision to make but a necessity, I HAD to leave. But where in the world would I go? How would I get there?

Fortunately I am blessed with family who loves and supports me, well, at least the part of my family who cares enough to stay in contact. An Aunt and Uncle of mine I have not seen since I was a child came to visit me and my family, it had been about 18 years since we all got together so I would consider it a family reunion. At the conclusion of our time spent together my uncle offered the family to fly out to Washington state where he lived to stay for awhile and explore Seattle and the national parks or whatever it is tourists like to do or see in Washington, a state I obviously knew very little of, after all, it’s on the opposite side of the country and I lived under a rock called Florida. My family respectfully declined because of, you know, responsibilities at home to tend too. However I had nothing going for myself, I was in a state of depression due to my conditions which critically limited what things I was capable of doing. My Aunt and Uncle, being the very intuitive people they are, noticed my state of disrepair and pulled me aside. My uncle told me he noticed I had a certain aura about me that he said was “palpable.” He said to me that he could feel that I felt like I was in a prison, that he noticed I had a desire to spread my wings and get away from this perpetual nightmare of stagnation I was living in, which his accuracy astonished me because we all only spent a day or so together before their flight home. My aunt also concurred with my uncle that there was a certain air about me that relayed to them that my spirit was “crying to get out.” So I took them up on their generous offer which would brighten anyone who felt land locked by circumstance.

So everything was set up, the tickets bought, the luggage packed and on the way to the airport. I have never been in a airport before, I figured I would of gotten lost but it seemed pretty simple to navigate. Checked the luggage and then proceeded to the TSA screening area where they make you throw away any bottles of water or other liquids, remove your shoes and empty the contents of your pockets into your carry on. While waiting in line I couldn’t help but be on the look out for some psycho armed to the teeth ready to gun me and the rest of the airport goers down. But everything went smoothly, they didn’t even ask about my prescription drugs, but they did seemed concerned with the amount of notebooks I had.

After I was done being screened I headed to my terminal to wait to board the plane. I paid 6 dollars for a Starbucks coffee (the ones in the glass bottles) and stole a cliff bar, took a seat and listened to Trump rant on the televisions they had above us. Coincidentally I sat next to a man who was from Washington, he said I would love it up there and told me I’m going at a good time because the tulip festival was about to start. He pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of endless fields of tulips of various colors that went on for miles, he also showed me pictures of snow covered fields and mountains all of which we very beautiful and increased my anticipation to witness these things with my own eyes. Everyone at the terminal was very friendly, I did not meet a single rude person, but of course, this was my first time flying.

So they begin calling us aboard the plane in groups, I was group six. When they called my group number I boarded and immediately noticed how nice and spacious and quite futuristic the seats were in first class…. Then as I got into economy class I noticed how everything was jammed packed together and it just look like a bunch of old movie theater seats. I couldn’t help but be reminded of those poor souls in 3rd class on the Titanic for some reason.

I picked my seats ahead of time, a window seat, which I recommend to anyone flying, or else you will have to stand in line and wait to be assigned a seat. I was very exited, plus I knew only one person was sitting next to me. He was a nice man from Vancouver, who travels to Seattle quite often, ironic how I kept meeting people who frequent my destination. We talked quite a bit about many things, 3,000 feet up he recommended that I should go sky diving, and I considered it. He was headed to Vegas for work, we talked until the pilot came on and told us to buckle up for imminent take off. I was excited….. I had a grin on my face and felt like a dog with his head out of the window. The engines began to roar like monstrous machines and we start to go fast, very fast, then very high. The people became ants, and then the houses became ants, I was blown away. Our destination was Dallas, Texas. Roughly 3 hours. This was only the beginning of a very long journey.

#2017 #flying #trips #newbeginnings #travel #Washington #moving #life #newexperiences #selfdiscovery #journeytothewest #personal #freshstart