Day 1 (and a half)

My trip is officially underway!  Yesterday morning, my sister Jana, brother-in-law Scotty, and nephew Parker dropped me off at the airport for the first leg of my worldwide tour.

Since then, I’ve spent over 24 hours on planes and in airports.  I’m not sure if it’s because I flew so much for work — or because I had an egg mcmuffin for breakfast — but so far, this all seems extremely familiar to me.

My first stop was in Miami, where I took advantage of a 4-hour layover to run out and buy a voltage converter.  Along the way, I discovered that my cab driver was originally from Haiti.  His family was living in Port-au-Prince before the earthquake, and now they’ve been forced to move to a different city.  I asked if he was worried about them, and he replied, “God is great.  He does the work for me, because I can’t deal with that on my own.”

Very profound.

Of course, in the next breath he told me that he moonlights as a tax consultant, and offered to teach me how to make thousands next April.

Alrighty then…

Even though travel hassles are a huge pain, I actually don’t mind airports that much.  I think it’s because I enjoy the people-watching.  The army of family members anxiously awaiting a soldier’s return.  The retired couple who’s holding hands as they wait in line to blow the miles they’ve stockpiled for years.   The four kids who are so excited to leave for Disney World that they’re actually behaving themselves.

Of course, that’s all mixed in with the business travelers and run-of-the-mill randoms — like the 2 guys I saw proudly picking their noses today.  Gross.  Apparently, they are attempting to offset the uber-cleanliness caused by surgical masks and excessive hand sanitizing.

But, I digress (I guess this is what happens when I haven’t slept in over a day and just finished watching “Up in the Air”).

Since leaving Miami, I’ve made a quick stop in Bogota, Columbia, and now I’m in Buenos Aires waiting to grab the next plane to Santiago.  I´ll be in touch again soon… Kara