And Awayyyyyyy We Go!

Date: June 8th 2016
Location: Atlantic City International Airport/ The Sky/ Ft. Lauderdale International Airport


Being awoken by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville this morning made waking up at 4am just that much sweeter. The day was finally here, time to get up out of bed gather my last minute belongings, my boarding pass and headed out the door. Of course I've been looking forward to this day for a while, going down to the Florida keys to do research everyday in paradise and also celebrating my 21st birthday while down there! Today is the first day of my teams six day stay in south Florida and we could not be more ready or excited. As I began my venture to the Atlantic city International Airport I had to stop at Wawa for a bagel and a coffee to wake me up and shake me from my sleepiness. I was a little nervous pulling up to the airport since this was the first time I'd be going through an airport all by myself ,checking in, security and all that fun stuff. Nerves on edge going through the process but nevertheless I was pumped.  After waiting in the security line to get x rayed, I was on my way to meet the rest of my research group in the terminal.

Once we all met up at our gate, exchanged remarks about how tired and excited we all were we immediately starting bonding right then and there. We walked over to the little convenience store kiosk to grab some snacks and a bottle of water for the two hours and ten minute ride. The boarding went pretty fast and soon we were all sitting in two rows in the plane getting situated and ready for take off. When the engines roared and the plane lurched forward we all pressed our faces against the window just to get a glimpse of the take off. It has been three years since I traveled by airplane but it still felt like second nature to me to take out my headphones to listen to music and stating reading a book as soon as we hit cruising altitude. I looked out the window and images of the plane scene from the movie "Bridesmaids" starting playing in my mind and i couldn't stop myself from chuckling quietly, and just like that i return to my book in my hand for the remainder of the plane ride.

Once landed we were so excited to stretch our legs and begin our journey to find Dr. Z somewhere in the airport to take us to our first adventure of the trip (which turned out to be a biological assessment of certain trails in the Everglades national park. Once located, Dr. Z came with us to gather our checked baggage from the carousel, and off we went to discover all the wonders of south Florida and the Florida Keys. Stay tuned to see all the adventures that me and my wonderful research experience

For more about spirit airlines and to plan your own adventure: https://www.spirit.com/
For more information about the florida keys: http://www.fla-keys.com/