Day Four - You know what's really cool? NATURAL HISTORY FOO'S!

Ok, so a lil Modern English lesson for ya...

          1) If you come down here, do yourself a favor and check out the Natural History Museum…AH-MA-ZING.

There’s dinosaur skeletons all over. There are models of little velociraptors and creepy dinosaur heads. And best of all…A LIFE SCALE TYRANNOSAURUS REX MODEL!!!

And do you know what’s even cooler?!

THAT’S ONLY ONE ROOM OF THIS EPIC PLACE!!!

I know insane right?! There’s a mammal room with a giant life-sized model of a blue whale, which is insane to even comprehend. There’s an Earth science room, where in one section they replicate the convenience store from the Kobe, Japan earthquake in 1995. There’s a room dedicated to creepy crawly bugs, the study of evolution, models of lions, hyenas, polar bears, and even a bird room that has dodo replicas!! It was the bees knees peeps and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. You gotta check this place out!! Oh, AND  IT'S FREE!!!

Don't have a heart attack!! But check out the website:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Once I get a card reader, I’ll totally post some pics.

Well after that Aissa took me to one of her favorite cookie places, called Ben’s Cookies. There sign made me laugh because it had a picture from Quentin Blake, which is one of Roald Dahl’s regular artists. My brother and I were never big fans of the work, so seeing that made me think of him haha. We took our sweet treats down the street to a Starbucks nearby and talked. (Cookie's were SO GOOD btdubbs) Aissa unfortunately had work in a bit, but she got the solid idea to take me along and give me a quick tour of her offices. She works for a British QVC. The bus ride was interesting, I got see another totally different part of London, it was definitely older and reminded of how Tucson is separated into different parts, newer and older, richer and poorer. 

So I don’t know if any of you have any preconceived notions of what it’s like to work at pay-TV channel. But that shit is INTENSE. People are all over the place, making schedules, talking sales from the night before, making sure nothing interesting is on during their time slots so people will watch more.  Wow, I don’t know if I can ever complain about my job again haha. It was super interesting and I met some of Aissa’s coworkers who were all very nice, some a bit more angrier than others, but still nice haha.

Sit-Up TV:

http://www.sit-up.tv/

Sian soon met up with us and we unfortunately had to part ways. Sian asked me what I was hungry for and it made me think of something Aissa told me when  I first got here:

Modern English Lesson #2

2  2) BRITISH PEOPLE LOVE CHICKEN…and you know which franchise they’re obsessed with? That’s right KFC people; the Colonel is overseas and taking charge. CRAZY RIGHT?!

 I told Sian something with chicken would be cool and her eyes lit up. She decided to take me to this huge restaurant chain here called ‘Nandos’, which is a super-quality chicken joint with some Spanish flair. Supposedly everybody from England eats here, and it’s almost an English right of passage. They have punch cards that when you fill out, you get a free chicken, and people sell it on ebay just to get cash. Yeah, that’s how much people here love Nandos, that’s how much people here love their chicken.

Modern English Lesson #3

3  3) You wanna be English, EAT AT NANDOS.

Well dinner was absolutely delicious and Sian and I decided to catch a movie. And to both our luck, ‘Paul’ was playing (I don’t even think it’s come out in the states yet!) We bought our tickets and decided to walk around a bit. Sian showed me all clothes places they had. One place that really made me laugh was this clothes store that sold food while you shopped…Can you imagine going to Macy’s and ordering a burger while trying on a swanky new pair of pants or colorful new dress?…You’re right I can’t either. There’s a giant Best Buy place called HMV (DVDs GALORE). A store that appeals to people called Chav’s, which I found out means it appeals to wigga-ware, purty sad. They had a really big Lego store, but it was closing as we were walking by. 

The movie was getting ready to start though, and we picked up some popcorn and found our seats. Oddly enough, they kept playing promos to visit Canada, I can tell you honestly, it didn’t make me want to visit there, in fact it just annoyed the shit out of me. Speaking of annoying, they are promoting the heck out of the Farrelly Bros. flick ‘Hall Pass’ over here and it looks f’n TERRIBLE. Who do I need to find and threaten to make this stop?

Well for those interested, ‘Paul’ was the shiiiiiit!!! For those who love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movies, you’ll totally dig it. Its bite isn’t as hard as the other flicks, and that’s probably because it wasn’t directed by Edgar Wright, but it’s still a very sweet movie and fun as hell. Check it out!!!

After the movie, Sian and I chilled for a bit and I got some ice cream. It was kind of weird, I don’t think I’ve bought ice cream since working at the store. And while it was tasty, I definitely think my serving skills beat the crap out of that stand haha.

Sian and I were lucky walking back to the tube, we barely missed the rain and we actually got the last one headed to our area. Getting back we just chilled, and I finished ‘Blacksad’. (SO GOOD!!! I WANT MORE!!!) We waited for Aissa to get back, and once she did everyone had a quick drink, (I think I had water) and we chatted till the sun came up.

Here’s to late nights and good early morning talks, I’m looking at you Nick and Mikey Mike Joyner haha.

Till Next Time,

Toby

Day 3 – Jet Leg Day

So yeah I mentioned that we didn’t get to bed till like 4 or 5 in the morning. That means the gang and I don’t get up until 2 in the afternoon. I was totally ok though, from traveling to Panama, I remembered how important it is to just give yourself a day to breathe. We all thought it was best to just chill for the entire day,  so then I decided to catch up on reading:

I finished ‘Takio’! Like I mentioned super sweet, but way to short, I totally wanted more.

And I got started on ‘Blacksad’, which is literally waaaaaay too cool for words. It got me so jazzed, I made Sian check it out and she loved the art work too!!

It didn’t take long for day to turn into night. The girls and I started exchanging funny youtube videos. They showed me a clip from this amazing performer named ‘Beardyman’, who we might see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fC65sy9tzY

And then, they told me about this awesome show called ‘Fonejacker’.

Check out some links here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjH9cEoEup8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVYW-4zPKLE&feature=related

AMAZING!!!

After that, we watched some clip show on the TV that focused on funny youtube vids. We decided to stop after they showed some lil kid from America failing at a grind and potentially cutting his nugget pouch…yeah that shit was gnarly.

To lighten the mood, I chose a movie, they got some pizza, and we watched ‘How To Train Your Dragon’.

Congrats Dreamworks…THAT SHIT WAS OUTSTANDING!!!

What an awesome movie, I loved absolutely everything about it. And the pizza was mighty nice too.

For a jet lag day, it was purty darn great!

Till next time,

Toby

Day One: A flight, A nap, and A night full of dancing. Pt. 2

(Note: To anyone who might have been bothered by the language in the first post, I apologize I should have made notice for you. I will let you know now, I won’t be swearing like that every post, but there might be more that feature some salty language.  If that’s not your bag, I totally understand.)

So,

Where was I? That’s right, big plane, funny wombat, bossy lady next to me. So I was feeling pumped and ready to go, I had a backpack full of snacks, trades galore, and a mini-computer full of ; music to keep me entertained…Well none of that shit mattered because this damn plane had everything: tunes, TV shows and movies galore. THIS PLANE HAD EVERYTHING. I never felt more over prepared to have fun stuff to do on a plane. To give you an example, the in-flight selection had every film nominated this year except ‘The Social Network’.  So I did what any rational person would do, gripe for 5-seconds about not being able to watch ‘Flash’ DVD’s and then check out ‘The King’s Speech’.

Sean, if you’re reading this…Yes, that shit was good, REAL GOOD. Better than ‘Social Network’? Honestly can’t say they’re two totally different films, but ‘King’s Speech’ is awesome, especially because of Geoffrey Rush who owned every scene he was in.

So great, I kill two hours of my 9-hour flight. Yay for minor success! You’re probably now asking yourself, what did Toby do to kill some more? WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE! This time I chose another academy award winning film, and personal Wayne Campbell favorite, ‘Winter’s Bone’.

A lil 'Winter's Bone' perhaps...?

The flick was good, but I stopped it a few times because I could feel myself getting tired. It didn’t help that the woman next to me was picking other films I wanted to watch, so I’d find myself multi-tasking between watching the ‘Bone’, failing at napping, and just plain sitting around. Well somewhere in the middle of the movie, I got my second wind and finished the shit out of it.

Mom, sidenote, I think you’d dig this flick, it’s harsh but very solid.

We were given drinks and these weird paper like ‘veggie crisps’ that I ate as I was watching the movie, it’s bad because it led me to eat what I really wanted, my gosh darn ‘Goldfish’, which probably led me to look like this on the plane.

 At this point they were dimming the lights in the plane, and I took it as a good sign to get some much needed sleep…

What a waste of my f’n time.

It was literally impossible, sleep was not an option, and no matter how many times I tossed in turned my ass could not fall asleep. And then I notice something that confuses the heck out of me, I look to my right everbody’s passed out, I look to my left everybody’s passed out…except the movie lady next to me. Who is wide awake and super into the movie she’s watching (‘Afterlife’ by the way) So I’m trying to both sleep and watch the ending of this movie, even though I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m failing miserably.

Well ‘Afterlife’ finally finishes and I’m like great let’s turn off these lights and close my eyes…

No, now it’s time to watch the 1980’s Lawerance Kasden classic, ‘The Accidental Tourist’…F’ffffffffffffff.

I was getting frustrated, I had no idea how anybody could get shut eye, and I’m tossing and turning and never getting comfortable. I kept wishing I had someone I knew next to me so I could sleep on the shoulder, and not feel guilty about it.

So I did something I normally would never do…watch ‘Harry Potter’. Eddie told me the intro on this new flick was insane, so I decided to check it out, and it was! I was kind of enjoying it, but my eyes were killing me. So I turned it off and tried reading ‘Takio’ but that lasted for 8 pages before my body said, “What the shit are you trying to do to me, get to sleep’. So I put away my book, closed my eyes. Then after what literally felt like a minute, I opened them up and it was morning outside…

It was Troll 2 everybody…

(See Troll 2)

They gave us breakfast and I began to wake myself up. We had a little less than two hours till we get there and I decided to watch another movie…so shoot me what else was I gonna do?! I chose ‘Afterlife’ after being incredibly intrigued as Neverendingmoviedoesn’tneedsleep Lady watched it. It was pretty solid, but in what felt like moments, we were getting an overhead message telling us we were getting ready to land.

HOLY SHIT.

This is it.

I got all my shit packed and sat there eagerly. The landing was clean but it took us a moment to get out, only building up the anticipation of getting the heck off that plane. When I did, I waved by to Helen Mirren’s Little Sister, I’m sure she knew why ; ).

It was a bit chilly but I was eager to get to the baggage claim. I found myself in this sorta-race with one of the other passengers, and we kept fast walking but the bastard took on the flat escalators and I couldn’t catch up. I kept moving and finally did catch up, and eventually got into the lead, until we came to an area where I could see the entire airport. I stopped, took a deep breath, looked around and took a picture. The bastard quickly walked past and took the lead. But at that point, it didn’t matter, I was here.

I quickly reached customs and got in line. It flew and I found myself being helped by a young British lady. She proceeded to ask questions about myself and the intentions of my trip. Obviously this is a face to be scared of…

 It was going off without a hitch until she asked me where I was going. Here’s the recorded transcript:

Sassy British Lady: Well where are you going?

Me: Well I’m visiting my friend.

Sassy British Lady: Well where does she live?

(I stare at her in confusion and as if she caught me with my pants down)

Me: I don’t know, she said she was just going to meet me here and take me to her place.

Sassy British Lady: Well do you have her number?

Me: Well yeah but I can’t call her (Verizon doesn’t go that far people!!)

(Intense Sassy British Lady state)

Sassy British Lady: …Well I’m gonna let you go on this time, but you need to know exactly where you’re going so we have an idea of where you’ll be.

Me: Yeah, I’m sorry…

Ughhhh I already got scolded and I wasn’t off the flight for 5 f’n minutes. But whatev’s my passport got stamped and I rushed over to baggage claim. It was pretty busy, but not as busy as I’m sure it can be since it was pretty early in the day. I waited just for a little bit and my giant roller complete with neon green strap, Dexter and Tucson pins, popped onto the baggage carousel. My ass was out of claim as soon as I had it in hand. I walked towards the exit opened the door and looked around me. The first  exit lead to a fragrance store (weird right) and then to the main exit/entrance. I got excited when I heard some of the employees started talking to each other with their accents. It’s the little things people!! When I got to the main exit, entrance I saw a lot of people waiting for others. And a lot of limo drivers holding signs for what I thought might be rich and important people. But then I turned to my right and saw the best thing ever…Aissa waiting for me in here PJs!!! We gave each other a big hug and she told me she called a taxi to take us to here place. As we waited we got a picture of us in Heathrow, it felt like a lil success haha. Aissa and I had to go upstairs to meet the taxi man, who also seemed a bit sassy and was running late.

I was shocked when he showed up in a regular car, with no obvious taxi characteristics other than his license plate. I wondered if the dude was just bored one day and decided to play taxi.

Well Aissa gave the dude directions on how to get to her place, but he insisted on following his Nav Phone which took us another 30 min. to get home, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. I got to catch up with Aissa and get a quick look at London. Let me tell you…

THAT SHIT WAS AMAZING.

Huge old buildings everywhere! Insanely hip clothes and food stores everywhere! Pretty girls in absurdly trendy raincoats everywhere! This shit was blowing my mind.

Aissa apologized, but this was awesome I was seeing parks, and the museums and a corner of Buckingham palace all within a matter of moments. And it was a perfect way to say ‘Hello’ to this place. When we finally got to Aissa’s flat, I was so  excited by how awesome it was. (There’s even a sweet balcony!) Totally a perfect place for young cool people to live!

Aissa’s fiancé Sian was waiting for us and she cleaned up (which she didn’t have to do) and Aissa gave me a quick tour. Then being the saints they are told me to take a nap in there bed, I refused politely but Sian sympathized with my inability to sleep on the place. And told me to get in there and relax. And with logic like that how couldn’t I? 

Let me tell you.

Heaven.

I passed the f’out and didn’t look back. 

I woke up about 5 hours later. Aissa took a nap as well because she didn’t get much sleep and we were both feeling groggy but good. I’d say I was a happy troll now.

It was then I decided to make the smartest decision ever…a long hot shower. 

If there was anything that woke me up, it was that. I was back and ready to roll.

We were all super starving and decided to get some foodz. So how were we going to get into London to find something delicious?

By the tube that’s how!!

So we went underground and I got this thing called an oyster card, which is like a week pass on any form of public transportation, super handy to help you get around.

We went even further downstairs and waited, I couldn’t stop thinking about one of my favorite movies, Nimrod Antels ‘Kontroll’ which is about the underground subway station in Budapest. It looked so cool and there were ads everywhere, even one for a new sequel to ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, called ‘Love Never Dies’ which is also by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The tube came and the girls told me I have to be aggressive to get in sometimes because people push and stuff because like a tourist I let a few people pass before me. I can’t help it! Anyways it was sweet I kept looking outside and seeing dark and then fast moving lights pass by, it reminded me of another description from ‘Kontroll’ how they would call the train, the worm because it literally felt like we were traveling through the ground. The tube was short and sweet and we soon found ourselves in London.

The girls told me how their favorite place was ‘Hard Rock’ which was one the first one ever built! They usually go there and celebrate on pay day after a long hard week of work. We chilled at the bar for a lil bit and got some drinks, it didn’t take long for this to happen…

That's right, Loosey Goosey Toby.

…And this only because I hadn’t had much to eat since Airplane Dinner (Which was beef brisket by the way). When we out our table we were ready to order and jammed to 90’s songs on the TV until the food got there. 

Hey you Jealousy, yeah I see you there...

I thought I told you it was Closing Time' son...

It was kind of poetic in a way, the kind of music Aissa and I listened to when we were kids was playing loudly when I visit her so many years later. 

The food came and it kind of felt like this...

Freedom tastes like this...

We had some tequila shots to celebrate and big smiles on our faces. Leaving I was feeling that really good full, where you feel content and not bloated, it felt perfect! So night was still young (I found out a lot of bars close at 4 am! Why are we not doing this in the states! There was this shady ass place that closes at 9 am though, and I heard that place was crrraaaaazzzzaaaay) We decided to take a bus…double decker bus that is! First ride we stayed at the bottom. Second connection, I asked politely if we could chill at the top, we did, and yes it was f’n SWEET!! I wanted to do this...

It feels like you're running at an incredible rate...

We ended up stopping at their favorite bar/club, Joiners, which Aissa informed me is mentioned in the Bloc Party ‘On’!

It was crazy, Aissa and Sian knew the bouncers and bartenders. The crowd was all from all over, young and old, working and students, there was this crazy Orthodox Jew guy who kept hitting on all the chicks, it was awesome. Everybody just wanted to let go. It kind of reminded me of Congress which was comforting. We got a couple drinks and danced to this awesome DJ (Matt McCoy you would have dug this guy haha!!) It got crazier when the DJ started playing late 90’s/early 2000’s jams, Aissa and I were freaking out! (Still poetic right?!)

In the middle of the night, we decided to take a small break and Aissa and I start catching up about everything else going on. It was a lil tough talking but I wanted to let her know what was going on. She understood everything. I told her how grateful I was that her and Sian let me stay with them and show me around. We kept joking  about how long I’ve been talking about this and she let me know she was really happy that it’s finally happening. And then she asked me a big question: something that literally brought some tears to my eyes. I’d like to blame the alcohol but I can’t it was too honoring.

She asked me to be a Best Man at her wedding. 

I gave her the biggest damn smile and hug and greatly accepted.

AWESOME RIGHT?!

Fun times were all around. Everybody was drinking and dancing, the bathrooms were unisex and super packed, the bouncers asked me about gun control in AZ, and some girl grabbed me and breathed on my glasses haha! Crazy good! Next thing we know it’s 10 min. to 3, and we gotta peace. Amada Kelley would appreciate this but the DJ closed with Wham’s ‘Everything She Wants’, SOOO GOOD!!!

We took a black cab home, which was fancy and purty cool. When we got back to the flat we played some Wario Games on the Wii (Beleney I had to make me on Mii but I’m pretty darn sure I got it almost exactly to yours except the eyes, I can’t remember what they looked like.) We played till like 4 or 5 in the morning.

We all realized once again it was time to get our sleep on. But I gotta tell you, as I mentioned before…

For first days…THIS ROCKED.

I’m here now, and I’m ready to make the most of it. Hopefully along the way I find what it is I’m looking, whatever that might be, and experience the adventure I know this will be.

Hello England, my name is Toby Canto, and this has been a long time coming.

Till next time,

Toby

Day One: A flight, A nap, and A night full of dancing. Pt. 1

(Note: Haven't been able to update as frequently as I'd like since my computer died and I need an adapter for it, the electrical sockets here are crazy!)


(2nd Note: To all my friends waiting to chat with me on Skype, once I get the adapter we can chat!)

Ok,

As for first days, this shit ROCKED.

Getting prepped in the morning, it was slowly hitting me, the 'realness' of the whole situation. I have literally been working to get to this point the minute I got my job at Cold Stone. And now within a few short hours, I was to be on my way to the one place I've wanted to visit for the last 10 freaking years.

I'm going to be candid, the one thing I typically don't do on blogs, but I told myself if I start this, I'm going to be honest. Things in T-Town, for lack of a better word, have sucked. Sucked really bad. There are definitely good moments, no doubt about it, but the shittyness of 2010, combined with some of the introductory moments of 2011 have been a heavy strain on a lot of people I care about, and the person I should probably be taking more care of, myself.

And honestly, I'm really FUCKING tired at how much the 'suck' has overwhelmed the 'awesome'. I know life's tough but I sure as shit know it's not supposed to be like this either. So what happens when one finds feeling increasingly frustrated, stuck, stagnant even?

You make a change. A very big dramatic change.

This trip represents a lot for me. In most ways, I look at it basically as a midpoint. The rising action before the climax so to say. I am at an apex, a turning point where a young adult starts to make the decisions that leads them to becoming, dare I say, a real adult.

So maybe that makes my first adult decision: Leave the nest and see the world.

And even though I was feeling really nervous and scared. When I got into that car to go the airport, I felt something I wasn't sure I was ever going to feel, ready. I don't say it often, but I worked my ass off to do this. I've been serving ice cream to bros, sorority girls, stoners, crotchety old folks, and annoying ass people who love shakes way to damn much, so I could finally get to this point. I haven't just earned this trip, I FUCKING DESERVE IT. And honestly it's pretty exhilarating to finally say, because I usually don't feel I deserve anything, but I can say in confidence, on this occasion I really do.

So enough of the deep-thought speak, I'm finally getting to what you really want to read, trip deets!! (That's 'details' for people who don't understand my cool speak, which is funny because everything I say is usually pretty cool, but neither here nor there.) None the less, I started early, unfortunately waaaaay earlier than I anticipated. My mom got me up at 7:20 which means I got four hours of sleep and additionally means I looked and felt like a troll. Not one of the tiny, cutsey-ones with the rainbow colored Super-Sajyin hair, I'm taking about this bastard below...

(See troll here)

Nose picking aside, a nice shower woke me up rather quickly. Nick soon after gave me a ride to the comic shop, so I could say 'bye' to Matt and pick up 'Takio' (P.S. It was purty sweet, just way to short) We quickly got back home and Nick gave me best wishes and once my mom finished at the bank, I was on the road.

Movin' Right Along...

My mom and I took a detour to Target to get some sweet sweet snacks for the plane ride. The deliciousness included:

- Fruit Roll-Ups

- Chocolate Chip Chewie Bars

- Fruit Snacks

- Gummi Jolly Ranchers

- And of course the mother of all crackers…GOLDFISH.

(Deliciousness incarnate)

Word of advice, a trip is never completely complete without the goldfish, TRUST ME. 

The real nice thing about the Target trip was that  everything I wanted to eat was pretty much waiting for us at the front entrance, I took that as a good sign. Afterwards, we picked up a secret money necklace satchel-thing that made me feel like a medicine man…you can create a picture. 

Both fashionable and a big F.U. to pickpocketers, suck on it Oliver Twist.

(The Twist man loses this game)

At the register an Indian man came up behind us that was almost dressed exactly like I was, glasses and all. To all my racist friends, I'm sure you could have appreciated the value in that. For some reason, I saw that as a good sign as well. On our way to the airport, Prince and George Benson played, music my mom and I both enjoy. And as we entered the parking lot, The Gap Band's 'Party Train' came on, I thought of it as the last good sign before I headed out.

(Dance to this)

Everybody all aboard...

Everything at the Tucson Airport flew rather quickly (pun intended peeps!) Goodbyes with my ma went well and Chris even called to wish me safe travels while I was waiting for the plane. I listened to some tunes and changed the background of my computer to a sweet image of Marcos Martin's 'Batgirl: Year One'. for reals it's pretty kick ass. Pretty soon after that we were ready to go.

(Sidenote: The man behind me on the plane was a musician who somewhat resembled Nathan Fillion but slightly. I'll call him homely Nathan Fillion, funny enough I didn't run into a single celebrity on this trip, but I did see a lot of people who resembled celebrities, more on this as we continue)

The entire flight to LA, I didn't read or listen to music, I just stared out the window and looked at everything. I haven't flown in a lil while, so seeing the all the mountains and terrain, grooves, and cracks, mines and desert details of Arizona impressed the heck out of me.

When we reached LA, I let Dave know I was there and told me to wait at Area 5. Being that I didn't know where that was I found a security guard and asked him for directions. They sounded a lot like this:

I nodded my head in agreement and walked away with a smile that soon left because I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Luck was on my side though because all I did was walk to the baggage claim and Dave was waiting for me with his 'American Son' trade in hand. It was very good to see him. 

We tried to find places to eat at LAX but they had nothing available for people not boarding a plane. After trekking for a good 20 min. we discovered the only open food court was at the international wing of the airport. When we got there we closely weighed our options for food and ended up choosing the most gosh-darn American food possible, the land of the Golden Arches and Justin Timberlake jingles…McDonalds. 

I can't say it was because of American pride, but I can say it was because I was really really hungry and everything else was way to damn expensive. 

So Dave and I had a good meal, we chatted a bit about the trip, business, and of course comic books. And when the time came around we walked back to my terminal only to quickly realize…it wasn't the terminal we were supposed to go to. *Cue dramatic music* In all actually it wasn't that bad, we still had a good hour and a half to find the place, but isn't it more interesting when it's dramatic?

When we did find the terminal it took us a good 15-20 walk and a few Bill Cosby impression to get there. We chilled for a bit more, then around 3 p.m. I decided to head to my terminal. I gave the little guy a big hug and went quickly on my way.

Security was kind of a pain since everybody and there mother seemed to be at the checkpoint, but when it was done it was just a straight shot to the other end of the building. My terminal was packed, and like I mentioned earlier I didn't see any celebrities but several people who were pretty damn close. This included!

Indian Peter Sellers:

and Middle Eastern Tina Fey (with a cute lil baby too boot!):

The wait was no more than an hour and wasn't bad at all, except for the fact that Indian Peter Sellers kept twirling his mustache and staring me…*shudders*. And then the dude, literally stole my seat when they called my name to give me my boarding pass!!

Finally, when they opened the gate I got to see our plane and it was HUGE. I have a pic but need to get a card reader to post the pics. Finding my seat was easy, and I noticed that one of the flight attendance was the Little Sister of Helen Mirren (not really but she looked like it). 

The passenger lady next to me was alright, but I had to keep getting out of my seat so she could put her belongings in the cabinet above. We watched the weirdest video introducing us to the flight, which included the passengers and crew mingling with this creature (maybe a wombat?). And giving him information about what to do incase of an emergency…not gonna lie, it was kinda funny haha.

Wombat guy being inappropriate...

When it finished all we did was wait a few moments for the runway to clear, and once it was, this giant mechanical tank of the skies I found myself in was about to take me on a 9-hour journey across the world and to my long awaited destination.

The story continues tomorrow, check in for Pt. 2!

DAMN.

That was one...

Long.

Ass.

Flight.

But that doesn't matter...I'M HERE : )!!!

Give a full post soon, I gotta crash!! Peace peeps!!!

The First

"Adventure is out There!"

- Charles Muntz