My First Time Traveling

In my 24 years of life I had never traveled before overseas. I have only had experiences traveling in my country, Panama. All these years I’ve been doing some internal tourism, but I haven’t even visited all the places in my country. I have always wanted to travel abroad, for tourism or for studying. Finally, it is going to happen.

It all started back in Panama, I was looking for an opportunity to get a scholarship, so I began my search on the web and I found out about this University on a Panamanian institution webpage. After this I set a meeting with the school representative in Panama and then all the process began. I was accepted, I got my visa, I got my flight tickets.

The day has come I’m at the airport saying bye to my parents, all of the sudden I’m in the plane on a seat next to the window. It is my first time traveling, first time in a plane, I’m so excited!

I’m in the sky looking at the clouds... enjoying the flight and the view... but at the same time I had some thoughts in my mind. I had some questions in my head. Is this really happening? What am I doing here? I was experiencing many emotions, I had a mix of emotions, I was thinking about my family, about the dog, about my friends, about the girl I used to like. But on the other hand I was thinking about this new and exciting experience, the places I would visit, the people I would meet, a new culture. All this was going through my mind at the same time.

I was about to arrive, lots of lights can be seen, the lights of the city! The lights of the cars! I was about to arrive at Miami International Airport. Finally I had arrived, I’m in the United States for the first time in my life, I’m in Miami! I was ready for this occasion, I was wearing a Miami Heat jersey. The Heat is my favorite basketball team, so I was really happy to be in Miami. While I was in the airport, I had to wait in a long migration line, after migration I had to walk a while then I had to wait in another line for checking my bags.

Finally, I was done with the lines! I was looking for the gate for my flight, then I noticed they were calling me in the speakers, I was like WOW! Then I realized I was late for getting on time to my flight, I was in a hurry, I asked one of the guys that work on the airport what to do?

He told me that I needed to take the train (there’s a small train in the airport), so I took the train, cause the door was very far, and was not going to make it on time walking. I arrived to the gate but the women at the gate told me that they had already closed the plane door, and I was like what am I supposed to do now? She told me that I needed to wait until next day, and re-schedule the flight. It was Friday 9:20 P.M. so, the next flight was on Saturday at 6:20 A.M.

I had a one minute shock, but I was calmed, I called my uncle using Skype, and he gave me instructions, so I went to the American Airlines Customer Service and they re-scheduled my flight for the next day. So, I stayed the night at the airport, I wasn’t scared, I was happy, I had internet so I could text my parents and friends. I couldn’t sleep at all, so I stayed all night awake.

It was 6:00 A.M. I was hungry, so I bought a Wendy’s hamburger, fries, and a lemonade. I asked for a regular size lemonade and when I saw the glass, I was so impressed the regular size here is like the big size in Panama. After I was done eating I walked over the gate, and they checked me, I was finally in the plane, YES! I had some sleep during the flight.

After two hours of flight I was in Houston, I met with my uncle (he lives in Houston), so I stayed at Houston for approximately 24 hours, I visited some places, I bought some clothes for cold weather, etc. On Sunday at 5:00 me and my uncle took a flight to St. Louis, the flight was 2 and a half hours. I was at St. Louis, my uncle rented a car, and we stayed in a hotel until the next day.

Another important day has come! It’s January 20, it’s the check-in, I’m finally at my new University. I was all alone, all by myself in a new place, an unknown place, with new people, lots of strangers. A new challenge it’s about to begin, new experiences are about to come, but that’s another story...

All this was a whole new experience for me, I never thought that on my first time traveling I would lose my flight, and stay a night in an airport in Miami. I could say I wasn’t ready for this, but, I didn’t freak out! I dealt with it in good fashion. And one of the morals of this story is, that next time I’m going to move faster in the airport and I’m going to be more aware. In the end it wasn’t a bad experience, I'd consider it as exciting! I was looking forward to travel, and here I am!