My departure from the U.S.:
My journey for the Philippines started Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. with a flight from my hometown of New Orleans, LA. Until I was boarding the plane to leave for Seattle, it hadn't hit me that I was leaving the U.S. for the next two months. Which was surreal to me because up until this point, I had never traveled abroad, and I feel incredibly blessed to be apart of this once in a lifetime opportunity. The flight from New Orleans to Seattle was around 4 hours and wasn't too bad, but what honestly killed me was the 5-hour layover once I landed.
I was hungry and bored, so I thought it would be a good idea to, you know, nourish my body. So let me tell you my first mistake in my trek to the Philippines, buying a nasty, dry, unseasoned bacon cheeseburger with not a squirt of mayo, ketchup, or mustard on it. I see why Seattle is known for its coffee, and that's no shade to the city at all, just a little salty I spent more than $10 on something unpalatable to me because I couldn't even finish it. Once the layover was over it was time to board my 12-hour flight for Taipei, Taiwan, alone. However, on the bright side, I was going to meet up with my friends once I landed in Taipei. Did I mention the flight was 12 HOURS?? Luckily, I slept through the majority of it, but the last few hours were horrendous, and I was just ready to get off that Boeing jet.
Arrival in Taipei:
After the flight landed and I exited the plane it was a gloomy, rainy day at the Taipei International Airport, in conjunction with another close to 5-hour layover. As I walked through the airport, it was silent, but the hall was so long and wide. I had never experienced anything like it before. Once I passed through customs, it was like a mall/ fast food playground all mixed into one, and I couldn't do anything but stare at everything I passed through security gates. When I arrived at the entrance where I would be boarding to fly out to Manila, I found my friends and I couldn't have been gladder because up until that point I was oh so bored. It was better to have others to wait out the layover with, rather than just listening to music and people watching. During the hiatus, we played more than a few games of UNO and explored the airport once the shops opened. Walking through the mall when the shop and stores opened was considerably more distracting than when they were locked up. Everything was shiny looking, and the displays were spectacles themselves between shop to shop, I was in awe. I was so intrigued by what I saw I strayed away from the group I went to explore with a couple of times, and they had to come to retrieve me, so I didn't get left behind. The time had finally arrived, it was time to board for the Philippines!