I am on the metro now - it’s 9:15 - and I will probably just save this post for a while because we’re about to enter the tunnel. I am totally scared of undertaking this adventure alone, but it’s too late now! The odd thing is that I know how to check in at the airport and go through the security screening and board the plane…but I have only ever done it three times before. Once was to Atlanta in 1999, and I got bumped up to first class but I was horribly ill and couldn’t enjoy it. I also flew to Charlotte in 2000 and to San Francisco (hi dagard!) in 1998.

Okay, it’s now 11:00 and I am waiting at the gate at National. I made it to the airport just fine, went to the wrong terminal at first but then I made it to the right one (had to take a shuttle). But then the outside checkin machine didn’t like me so I had to see an agent, but they wanted me to check in at the same kind of machine! They finally figured out that the paper I kept showing them said BOARDING PASS and that all I really wanted to do was check my bag. So I finally got checked in and I stopped at Starbucks for a mocha and a scone (might as well start the caloriefest now!) but the girl filled the cup too full so when I opened it to add splenda it spilled on my boarding pass! Fortunately the bar code seems okay. So I got to security and the guy teased me lightly for having a messy boarding pass, heh. No problems going through security…I didn’t beep at all! The scanner guy said “ohhh” as my bag would have been under the camera so I got worried but he must have just been talking to himself or something. Shortly after I sat down at the gate, they put my flight up on the LED board. It said “Minneapolis/Seattle” and my immediate thought was OH MY GOD I’M FLYING TO SEATTLE I HAVE NEVER BEEN THERE WHAT ON EARTH AM I DOING GOING TO SEATTLE EEEEEEEE! Hopefully it will all be okay. I think I will buy a bottle of diet coke even though it will be a complete ripoff, because they only give you a little can on the plane. I also have a granola bar (graciously donated by :MK:) and a 100-calorie pack of fake Oreos.

My next update will probably be during my stop in Minneapolis. I think I have about an hour there and I will get off the plane to grab some lunch.