Day 1: Always the worst day

**all pictures are at the end of the blog in the order they were taken**

I have decided that the first day of the trip always seems to be the worst day. If you watched the blog last summer, my first day I got terribly lost in Washington, DC with no knowledge about the metro system. Today started off pretty rough too…

My mom drove me to the airport this morning, and we left around 7:30am. My flight was at 9:55am, so we should’ve had plenty of time to get there. As we get closer to the airport, traffic comes to a dead stop. Stress starts to set in as we find out that someone’s car caught on fire and that’s why traffic was so backed up (prayers to them). We finally make it to the airport around 9:30, I give my mom a very quick hug, and check my bag at curbside. I make it inside and through security in less than 20 minutes (probably record timing for Tampa). I speed walk to my gate and make it just in time! I board and get ready for my flight to Denver for my quick layover.

The flight was pretty smooth for the most part, just some turbulence in the beginning due to some storms in the panhandle. I make it to Denver about 5 minutes later than planned, and have 30 minutes to get off my plane and to my next to go to Vegas. Of course it takes everyone forever to get off the plane, but I finally make it off, check what gate I’m going to, and speed walk there. I’m probably going to be a pro pretty soon.

I made it in the nick of time to my second flight as they are getting ready to board the section after me. Since I went from one plane straight to the next, I had no time to even get anything to eat…..big mistake.

We take off, and I’m officially on my way to Vegas. There’s still some turbulence going on, and I can feel myself getting nauseous. I started to get cold so I turned the fan above me off, and then a few minutes later I started to get really hot. Before I know it, I’m really nauseas and starting to get a little dizzy. I start coughing (that’s what you’re supposed to do to get oxygen to your brain), and decide it’s not working and I’m probably going to vomit. I get up from my seat despite the seatbelt light still being on and make my way towards the back of the plane. As I get towards the bathroom, the flight attendant tells me I need to sit back down and I tell her I don’t feel good.  She points to the bathroom door and I go to grab the handle.

Next thing I know, I’m being shaken awake, and I’m on the ground. Yes you read that right, THE GROUND… of the airplane… cause I passed out. I make my way into the flight attendant seat and next I realize, I’m surrounded by people. A lady on board happened to be a RN and came back, and so did a young gentleman (cute too 😉 ) who happened to be a paramedic. They’re asking me a bunch of questions,  and I tell them that I think my sugar dropped. They give me orange juice, crackers, and a cold cloth to put on my neck. I finally start to get color back in my body, but I’m still weak and very shaky. I sit in the back of the plane for about 30 minutes (I think) before making my way back to my seat. Once I drank the juice and ate the crackers, I was good to go. Hooray for hypoglycemia in the absolute worst situations and also for the first time I pass out being in the middle of the sky.

Finally I land in Vegas!! I make my way to baggage claim as they start unloading the bags from my flight. I’m standing there waiting for my bag for 30 minutes and finally decide to ask Southwest where it is. They tell me that since I was late getting to the airport, my bag never made it on the plane. Now I have to wait for the next plane to land (an hour after I landed), because they sent my bag on the next flight that went to Phoenix. I decide to find something to eat and work on homework until the flight lands at 2:45pm, and when the time comes,  I make my way back downstairs towards baggage claim. I check the monitors to see which carousel the flight is using when I see that the flight’s new landing time is 3:40pm. :))))))))))

Now I have another hour to kill, so I continue to do homework and call my parents and let them know about my “minor complication” on the plane. The screens finally say the flight is in so I move my gaze to the carousel on the lookout for my bag. A little bit of time goes back and still no bag. I head back into the Southwest office to let them know and finally someone finds my bag, although I have no idea where it actually was. I call an Uber so I can get to the Flamingo hotel I’m staying at and finally check in.

I settle myself in a little, change my outfit, and decide to hit the streets early and see what the famous Strip is like. It’s 100 degrees outside as I’m walking around but it doesn’t feel that hot since there’s no humidity. I would take this hot weather over Florida humidity ANY DAY.

I went all over the place it seems like. I went to Caesar’s Palace to pick up my Las Vegas Power Pass (the journey of tomorrow and Wednesday) and saw so many awesome things! *pictures at the end*

I went into a little art gallery, saw Neptune’s Fountain, visited a little Antique shop that I wasn’t supposed to take pictures in but did anyway ;), and ended up somewhere I didn’t know but it was super nice! I even found Mickey and Donald on my way! After about 3 hours of walking around I decided I was pooped and headed back to the hotel to wait for my aunt!

She arrived around 9:15pm, poured us a drink, and we started the night! We went out to Margaritaville for dinner (nachos) and drinks, then walked around a bit, and ended up watching a band put on a concert. We came back around 1am our time (which is 4am Spring Hill time 🙂 ) and got ready for bed.

It’s currently 2am which means it’s 5am Spring Hill time, and I’ve been up since 6:30am sooo goodnight, and I shall see you tomorrow 🙂