The pilgrimage officially began on Saturday, July 20, 2013. It was very exciting. We knew that we chose to have "simple accommodations," which means that we were sleeping on the floor in a school or a church. Because of that, I knew that this day would be the last day in a long time that I'd get a nice, good, clean shower, so I took advantage of that and stayed in for longer than normal.
I had packed earlier in the week. I got everything to fit, but I did have a few last-minute items to pack, like my cell phone charger. We were allowed to pack one checked bag, one carry on, and one personal item. I packed my big back pack as my checked bag, my small suitcase as my carry on, and my small backpack as my personal item. After double checking to make sure that I really did have my passport and money and the information for my boarding pass, I was ready to go, and waited for Richard and Stephanie to pick me up.
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| All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go! |
At 10:30 am, we had mass in the chapel at SOC with Father Chris Gama and Father David Bluejacket and the families of all of the pilgrims. Actually, some people came to send us off who weren't related to the pilgrims, too. That was sweet. Many teens who didn't get to attend World Youth Day were also there. Some of them wrote me letters, but I was instructed not to read them until I got on the plane. My mom also wrote me a surprise letter.
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| Letters from teens and mom. |
Father Chris' homily was really good. He discussed the question, "why do we go on pilgrimage?" He talked about how much he hates waiting in line and how that's something that we are going to be doing a lot of during this pilgrimage. If only he realized then what exactly that would mean for him, specifically, in this trip! He also talked about bringing a prayer intention along. It could be for you or for someone you love. I had a hard time with this, because I had several prayer intentions that really meant a lot to me. Some of those prayer intentions were for myself, some were for others. I felt kind of selfish picking one for me when others needed it, too. But I dedicated my pilgrimage to one prayer intention (that will remain private). I mean, I knew that I would pray for those other things while I was there, but I dedicated the pilgrimage to just one prayer intention.
After mass, we took our first group picture in the chapel. There are 20 of us attending the event, including Father Chris, Richard, and me. This is an interesting group. I was curious at this point to see if/how everyone gets along. Often times these things bring people together. Sometimes they cause people to split apart. Who knows what this journey will bring? It's weird because there were several groups of people who know each other really well, but those groups didn't really overlap. I wouldn't even call them cliques. I mean, we had four people from one family going. That's not a clique. That's a family. And then we had a couple of adults who went who didn't really know anybody, but who just went along for the ride. What will their experience be? I had no idea!
Overall, I had a lot of hope for this group. From what I knew about them, they were all really good people. As far as behavior goes, I didn't really anticipate having too many issues. I actually didn't really think that we would have any issues at all.
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| It looks weird because I blurred the faces of the teens under 18 years old |
It was really cool that they made lunch for us. It was just sandwiches, potato soup, muffins and soda, but it was good and we were hungry. After this, the only things we were going to get to eat was airplane food, and whatever we got fed in Rio (which could be interesting). We needed to fill up!
We left for the airport in carpools. Most people just went with their families. I rode with Richard and Stephanie. Until this point, I hadn't really been too nervous. Now that we were heading for the airport, I was! It was becoming very real.
The airport went smoothly by my standards, but I don't have a lot of experience with the airport. Others may disagree with my idea of smooth airport experiences, but it was about the same as every other flight I've had. We got there at around 1:00 pm. We checked our bags, which relieved some fears. They had very specific requirements for checked bags, and some of us were unsure if we had the correct length, width and height. It turns out that they didn't even check for those things. They just checked for weight. Then we had to go through security.
That line wasn't too bad for us, either. It was annoying, as it always is, but it went rather quickly. I stood next to Father Chris, who was wearing his brown Capuchin robes. He got a lot of attention because of that, and it was cool to hear all the people talk to him about their Catholic faith and stuff. He does get a lot of attention when he wears those! Even the security guards in line talked with him as we passed by them.
The security line for DIA is on the main floor. It's open above, so people can go up to this balcony-like area to watch as their loved ones go through security and leave. Many of the parents went up to watch us and to wave goodbye as we went down the escalator that led to the train that took us to our plane. They wanted to be with their kids as long as possible!
When we arrived at our gate, we went over rules, created an attendance system and then let people go shop or get food. We still had a while before we could board the plane (because everything went so smoothly!). I was surprisingly calm during these moments. I didn't want to get on the plane, but I wasn't freaking out yet.
When we did get to finally board, I learned that I was sitting next to Richard and Tyler. Tyler was supposed to have the aisle seat, and I was supposed to have the window, but we switched because I didn't want the window seat. The worst thing for me to do would be to look out the window.
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| See me smile on a plane?! Weird! (It was fake) |
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| Ready for Take-Off!!! Picture Credit: Christa |
I was really grateful that the teens pretty much ignored me during the flight. They all knew that I was afraid, and they did a good job at not being rude about it. I did spend some time talking with one teen who hadn't flown before. She was kind of nervous, but she did a really good job.
But the landing was just horrible. It turns out, that landing is the worst part for me. I hate landing. But once you're in the air, you don't really have much of a choice. We did land safely in Charlotte, North Carolina, despite the fact that it was a bit of a bumpy ride.
We had to hurry to get to our next flight. They were already boarding by the time we got there. I was not anticipating a fun experience ahead. If I had such a difficult time during a 4 hour flight, how on earth was I going to survive a 10 hour flight?! I had no idea! It was going to be a rough night!
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| Getting ready to get on the plane to take us to Rio! |
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| Picture Credit: Christa |
I had taken some Advil PM, and so I was pretty tired. I wanted to fall asleep instantly after take off (which was much better than the first one). I started to rest just as the flight attendants brought around paperwork for immigration. That kind of woke me up. Then they brought around some food, which I ate. I didn't even hate that food. It was not the best thing ever, but it was actually kind of good. Our choices were chicken or pasta, but they ran out of pasta by the time they got to me. The food was VERY hot. I was happy with the chicken.
Also, planes are just difficult to sleep on. Christa and I watched some of the movie "What a Girl Wants," which she had on her cell phone. I did finally fall asleep, even though it wasn't a very restful sleep.
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