Skyward Bound

The 20s are all about hitting the road (or in this case the air). A change of scenery is something a much needed experience. Leaving where you are and just going somewhere can bring a whole new perspective to your life just when you need it most. In college, counting down to breaks is pretty much everyone's unofficial favorite passtimes (besides you know boozing, knocking boots, and smoking any/everything #shadethrow). When you take off, you're being whisked off somewhere new. We are skyward bound.

There's just something about travelling that gets me. Every single time I'm in an airport I always see and hear the most ridiculous things of all time. The randomness of it all is kind of unreal. As I write this post, I'm where else but sitting in an airport waiting to board. It's 10AM and some dude is hardcore munching on some very potent smelling French fries and squirting ketchup straight into his mouth from a bottle - tell me this is not real life. Travel stories are kind of my forte. Of course when I'm not getting patted down (can you say racial profiling) and panicking that I'm going to miss my flight, I get to just watch people be weird (in this context, based on my social content of normal). Airports are  There's the sleepers. The people who just knock the heck out and don't give a care. This past week when I was I flying home to Cincinnati, there were two. One guy had his mouth full on open and was snoring like his livelihood depends on it. The amount of people taking snapchat videos with him unknowingly was kind of ridiculous (you know I got that creeper pic and tweeted it out so quick). There was this other lady who put up her feet and tried to put them on me and I subtly moved and her ass collapsed and woke up way too fast #awkward but I have personal boundaries homegirl. Then there are the mischievous kids - doing who knows what while their parents are totally oblivious or could care less. They may be both the best and the worst thing ever about travelling. Kids do say the darndest things - the one who just walked past me was chastising his mother loudly for biting her fingernails. Some kids are a little too wild though, having temper tantrums, refusing to walk or throwing things at a strangers. Kiddo, throw one more Bugle at me and I will end you - do not worry. My least favorite people are the rude patrons who will catch an attitude with the flight attendants or the gate agents like they have control of when a plane arrives and departs. Like get your life and relax with your piss poor melodrama, it's highly unsightly. Oh, those speeding carts that just come zooming through crowds of people carrying people to their gates, tell me someone else thinks someone is just going to get knocked over with one of those one day. Last but not least is the rare chance to see a celebrity (awkward because literally while writing this I did). Ready for departure, skyward bound.

Flying is still scary for me to a certain extent. When the planes just be dropping it like it's hot straight in the middle of clouds I can't even deal. I clutch onto the arm rests like my life depends on it. There's just something about being up in the stratosphere that is so calming. It's beautiful with the sun glistening (#nofilter) through the oval windows and fluffy white fields of clouds surround you. The sky is so blue. Everything just seems so pure, so simple and so relaxed. Usually I either sleep or talk to the person next to me on flights (I'm one of those people). Here's some instant classic travel stories from my most recent skyward bound encounters. Tell me why I was in line to go through the security checkpoint and this guy really tried to argue his gallon of real Vermont Maple syrup was not a liquid. TSA agents wouldn't let him take it through security and he wouldn't throw it away, so he went to go sit and drink at least half of it straight. I couldn't believe I had actually witnessed it, only in Vermont. On my flight from Burlington to Newark there was this couple like play fighting but at one point the guy was like legit choking his girlfriend and I was thinking - excuse me sir, but you can't just break her windpipe in public. I had no idea if I should say something, but she just gasped for air and then laughed. I kind of didn't feel bad because the two times I barely sniffled she swung her head back towards me and gave me death glares, like calm down you're in a potentially abusive relationship, sister. This other lady was hardcore fangirling over the Skymall magazine and taking pictures of things to order, as in the most unnecessary things of all time. Because you really need a 5,000 piece Titanic replica or a bedazzled toothpaste squeezer. Best of all was the dude sleeping on the other guy, full on head on shoulder action, complete with drool. At first the man was okay but that drool started coming out and he just slid out from under him and that guy's head plummeted and shot right back up. The more random the experience the better. Skyward bound.


You've waited long enough, and I bet you're practically salivating to hear about my celebrity encounter. So I'm just sitting at the gate in Cincinnati waiting to board my flight to Newark and I'm watching the latest episode of the Sex and the City prequel show on the CW, the Carrie Diaries and up walks on one of the actors from it. Jake Robinson who plays Bennett Wilcox sat three seats away from me. I sat there and couldn't even comprehend that this was actually happening. I sat for five minutes contemplating whether or not I should talk to him. I didn't want to be a bother but I mustered up the courage to introduce myself and tell him I was a fan. We talked for like 3 minutes and that I asked for a picture which he graciously obliged. Time to board and I was in group three, so I took my seat and was ready to just zone out in the air. There he comes and he walks over to me and says, I guess we're travelling buddies too. I couldn't even. I was writing an essay for my religion class awkwardly going over notes about fratricide and the demolition of Sodom and Gomorrah while he was reading a script, running lines out loud and just existing next to me. I had so many questions but he put his headphones in and looked engaged in his art so I waited until we were making our descent with 30 minutes left to grill him. My pop culture afficianado side came out and went to town. I asked some hard hitting, kind of quirky but definitely insightful questions and he gave some profound bomb answers. He was so engaging and so courteous. Even though I was still shaking with excitement he was super chill about the whole thing. I realized, this is just his life and there's nothing extraordinairy about the mundane things he does, it just seems that way to me. We talked about the set, shooting on a lot, the pilot process, and his upbringing (apparently he lived one town over from me). I asked about his co-star's girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens (#highschoolmusical forever) and about the protagonist played by one of my OTP crushes, AnnaSophia Robb (I would marry the hell out of that girl). I asked about his favorite Shakespeare play, his life goals, how he reconciled his personal beliefs with the morals of the characters he has to play and many more. He asked me if I was pursuing a career in journalism (in another life I would) and was thoroughly impressed with explanation of combining religion and medicine. He wished me luck on my final exams and I for the audition he was going to. He definitely is passionate about his work and that came across in his responses and the fact that even took the time to talk to me. No one else seemed to notice or recognize him. It was an amazing experience I will never ever forget. Skyward bound, and lucky me.

The 20s are about taking the journey to a whole new place. No matter if you've been there before or not, your experience is brand spankin'  new (oh MTV those trashy afternoons shows were the bomb) every single time. You never know what adventure awaits when you touchdown. Whether you travel by car, plane, train, bus, boat or everything in between, the voyage is sometimes if not more important than the destination. Please buckle up and prepare the cabin for takeoff. We're going skyward bound.

My blog post question for the day is ... where is somewhere you've never been but would like to go to? I think a trip out to California is long overdue for me. I want to determine if the west coast really is the best coast or not.