Hey, everyone! As you may know, I'm going to be studying in Madrid, Spain for the Spring semester!
...If you didn't know, surprise!!
Anyway, I figured this is the best way to update you guys, since international calls are insanely expensive and I can't skype with 200 people. I'll update a lot with interesting stuff, so don't worry, I'm not going to be telling you the thrilling details of how my thermodynamics class is going. Oh yeah, and this is going to be written a little differently than if I were to post something on facebook...I just suddenly feel like I have to pay attention to punctuation and capitalization more since I'm not just typing some lame facebook status.
I bought my plane ticket today, and it was only $700! Ahaha, I'm gonna be broke by the time I get there. Buying transatlantic plane tickets is the absolute worst. I actually found a really good deal, because most of the flights are over $1000 (in general.)
So, I'm leaving February 4th at 4:45 pm. Luckily I got a non-stop flight, so I don't have to transfer in London, Rome, Frankfurt, or Newark in New Jersey (I know, New Jersey, what the heck?!) I just get on at Ohare, wait awhile, and then plunk down at the airport in Madrid.
Wanna know how long the flight is? It's about 10 hours. God, I have never sat in one place for that long!! Suggestions on what to bring? So far, I'm bringing my iPod, a book, and some sudoku. My carry-on can only weigh 20 lbs, but that's not a problem because that's pretty much all I can carry anyway.
Well, this is getting a little long, so that's all for now! I'll update later on my host family.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ariel! I am so excited for you. I know a few people who went on similar trips and had blogs. They were always upset when people did not post anything, so I thought I would post something for you.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to South Africa over the summer, we had a 10.5 hour flight. It was pretty awful to sit in a plane for that long. The worst part of it was that I could not access my carry on bad easily because I was not in an aisle seat. I had to ask the person next to me every few hours to get up so I could get something from my carry on.
My advice would be to bring a regular carry-on bag to put in the overhead compartment, but also bring a small bag to put under your seat. You can put your purse in your carry-on if you need to bring that on the plane, too. Or, if you are a light enough packer, just bring a small enough carry on to put under your seat. It is really annoying, though, to not have your essentials in a readily accessible on a long flight.
Also, bring some antacid or something to calm your stomach. Usually I can eat anything, but the mixture of bad food and sitting in one position for such a long time gave me the worst heartburn ever. A few of the people traveling with me also had awful heartburn after our long flight, so it must have been a common trend.
Hope that helps, and good luck!
Don't worry about the weight of the carry on. They never actually check it. In my entire life they have never weighed any of our carry-ons, and I have lived at least a third of my life in airports.
ReplyDeleteI'm really used to sitting for very, very long flights. I always have a carry on, like a suitcase and my purse. That way I can keep things like my book and other little things that I wanna do on the plane with me, and everything else in theoverhead, because it's a pain in the ass to keep opening and closing, and it's kinda high up too.
The heartburn thing was never an issue for me, so I don't know about that. But the food is bad. So I would also suggest to bring snacks of the non-liquid variety.
I didn't know that the flight was that long. I thought it would be shorter, cause I know from here to Frankfurt is 7 hours and to London is around 6. Just curious, what airline are you taking?
I'm so excited for you!!!! :)
They usually show movies on the plane, which is a great way to pass time :) Trailmix, dried fruit (especially chocolate covered raisins :D), puppy chow and gingerbread are my on-flight staples. They keep your stomach from being unhappy and are miles better than any plane food.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps! I'm so jazzed for you!! I hear the wine and cheese are fabulous in Spain.
Thanks for the tips, guys! Didn't think about having to put it in the overhead, plus I'm always too short for things so I don't know how that would work anyway! I'll definitely try to find one that fits under the seat or something.
ReplyDeleteKels, I'm flying Iberia, I think it's like Spain's major airline because they have flights to EVERYWHERE in Europe!! They're just not so big in America haha.