School ended and before I knew it my family and I were heading for the airport at, as my Dad would say, “the butt crack of dawn”. Excitement was not the word I would use for how I was feeling, quite honestly I was beyond nervous with the thoughts in my head of what the heck did I get myself into, Thailand? Who would, for their first trip out of the country choose to go to Thailand? A closer destination seemed far more appropriate (in other words not a twenty-two hour flight and eleven hour time difference). Rolling all my luggage into the airport I was in quite a daze, I said goodbye to everyone and watched them waddle out of the airport silently wondering if I should follow like the little duckling I am to my mother and older sister. Once we landed in JFK I was a bit more comfortable but still very anxious, traveling with nine people I would classify as at that point in time acquaintances was in a word; frightening (what if they didn’t like me?)… However these fears and unnerved thoughts were silenced when we shared our first general laugh and joke and together boarded our flight and left the JFK airport and embarked on our thirteen hour flight to Tokyo, Japan. Little did I know that this truly would be quite the adventure and life changing experience.
