CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

It’s finally here! I’ve been counting down for months and now it’s time to go on the adventure of a lifetime!

Departure day began on January 25, 2023 at 1:00am, on no sleep (definitely not my best idea). My flight departed at 8:00am from Toronto Pearson International, which is about a three-hour drive from home. We left at 2:00am and made the drive up. Said goodbye to my parents at security, and thus began my four-month stretch of solo travelling. (I’ll be meeting back up with them in June to travel around Ireland.)

In the weeks leading up to my trip, we were all having *moments* where the enormity of what I was doing hit us. My biggest *moment* was saying goodbye at security. I keep reminding myself that it’s not forever.

Through security and pre-clearance for customs (which meant no customs at either my layover or when I landed in Hawaii), I took a little walk around the area at my gate and then sat down to wait for the plane. The waiting is definitely the hardest part about long travel days. At this point, some of the adrenaline had worn off and I was feeling so very sleepy. I’d only had about an hour nap in the afternoon the day before so I’d been awake for a really long time already. When we finally boarded the plane and started taxiing, I was already nodding off. I dozed off and on for about an hour and a half of the flight, then woke up feeling less tired and read for the rest.

I got off the plane at San Francisco International, where I had a six and a half hour layover. Let me tell you, time dragged. I finally found my gate (big thanks to security, because I didn’t know where I was going and was initially heading toward baggage claim and the exit before I asked) as well as a quick-stop spot in the airport where I bought a sandwich for lunch. After eating and calling home, I sat down for a while, plugged in my earbuds and a movie, and dozed off and on for a little over an hour. I walked up and back down to check out some stores and a spot to grab something to eat before flying to Honolulu, then sat and worked on the blog post before this (read it here) before getting a splitting headache.

If you know me, you know I can get really bad headaches when overtired or dehydrated and I was definitely overtired on departure day (hello, less than three hours of sleep in the last 24 hours). I took Tylenol and tried to settle in for a bit of a nap and was able to doze a little. By the time I woke up and was prodded into grabbing something to eat (thanks, Mom), my headache was down to manageable but was making me a bit sick. I bought crackers and yogurt and nibbled on the yogurt until it was time to board my flight at 4:10pm. We boarded and I hunkered down in my window seat. My seat was a saving grace, honestly, as I could curl my head into the window and prop it on my hand so I didn’t nod and wake myself up.

I watched out the window while we taxied down the runway and was awake until the seatbelt sign went off. I slept for the first two and a half to three hours and woke up feeling so much better – headache basically gone and feeling much less queasy than at the beginning of the day. I texted family and friends (thank you, in-flight wifi for messaging) before dozing off and on for the last two hours of the flight.

It was fantastic to walk out of the airport in Honolulu and feel the heat. The gate was completely open-air and the night was warm and beautiful. I made my way to the bus pick-up zone outside the airport for the hour-long trip to my hostel, finally arriving just after 10:00pm Hawaii time. Thanks to my really sweet nap on the flight, I was alive enough to sort out my stuff (props to the guy in my dorm who held up his flashlight so I could get my sheets on my bunk) and take a shower before I collapsed into bed. I literally cannot tell you how good it felt to be horizontal after a day of travelling and trying to sleep while sitting upright.

I slept a little fitfully, but I expected that, and still woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go the next morning for my first full day in Hawaii!