Departure Day

Today was departure day. As you can imagine, I didn’t sleep very well. I made good time in packing all my gear last night. The best part of the evening was having family and friends stop over. After everyone left, I reviewed my check list to ensure I had everything. My bags looked so full and large, that I started to question the amount of gear I packed. I even pulled out our scale and weighed my bags. After checking and double checking my gear list, I was able to get to bed by midnight. Those of you who have traveled or had an important morning presentation will be able to relate to this, but I woke up at 3:00 am in a mad panic that I had overslept. This was a very uncomfortable and unsettling feeling which made any further attempt on to get some shut eye a vain and fruitless effort.
My plan was to arrive at the airport by 6:30 am. As I went out and started the car I noticed how cold it was this morning. It made me wonder how much colder Antarctica would be this time of year. Anyway, my flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8:00 am, but for international flights I like to arrive early. Some of my friends and colleagues will laugh at this, because they know for domestic flights I like to cut it close. International flights are a whole different animal and I don’t like to take any chances.

Our plane was deiced on the tarmac and then we departed Boise at 8:00 am bound for the Minnesota Minneapolis Airport. After a two hour layover, I departed for Atlanta. I have another two hour layover, and then it will be time to depart for Buenos Aries, Argentina.

I used to live in Minnesota, so it was comfortable landing in a familiar city. A winter storm had hit the Twin Cities the night before, so everything was covered in snow. When I departed the plane and headed into the airport terminal, I could see my breath in the jet way. I took this as a sign that my adventure was going to get colder as I progressed south.

While in Minneapolis, I called Kristi Barnett, one of my friends and colleagues from HP (Hewlett Packard). She and her family moved from Boise to Minneapolis last year. We were only able to chat for a short time because she had to attend a conference call. All-in-all, this first leg of the trip will take 24 hours to complete. I’m a little nervous, but as strange as it might seem, that adds to the excitement. Experiencing new adventures and overcoming challenges is a great part of life.