Dream Vacation - Day 1

So I got about three hours of sleep before my buddy Robert woke me up at 4am. I was sleeping on his couch since he lived closer to the airport and his girlfriend was dropping us off. Once awake I took a quick shower and we were out the door and at LAX by 4:30am. Out flight was departing at 6:30am. When we got to the airport the check in counter was still closed but there was a line forming but by 4:45am we were both checked in and making out way to secruity.

This was the first time I was using my passport. I had one for ten years and then it expired so I renewed for my second passport and it too expires next year. I've been wanting to travel internationally for almost 20 years. When I showed my passport to security they mentioned that I forgot to sign it. I had no idea that you had to sign your passport, so I quickly did that as a line of people behind me looked on.

This was also my first time going through one of those body scanners. I really don't understand why people are freaked out about those. They are painless and add to the security of the people on the plane. I don't care if they store the scans or delete them right away.. it's just a x-ray looking scan of my naked body.. not a big deal.

Once through security was had about an hour before our flight was boarding. So Robert and I grabbed some breakfast at Burger King.

We boarded the plane and prepared for our long flight to New York. The Captain of the plain was extremely funny and really put people at ease. I've only flown a few times but he was by far my favorite Captain.

The flight itself was a big bumpy at times but for the most part was uneventful. I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory and listened to some podcasts.

We got to New York and found out that we were already in the terminal that we needed to be in for our flight to Dublin. We had a 3 1/2 hour layover so Robert and I grabbed some lunch at a place that I had never heard of Cheeburger Cheeburger. They defiantly has some very tasty burgers.

We checked into our new flight, got our boarding passes and our custom cards. We boarded the plane on time and were on our way for the even longer flight to Dublin.

The flight to Dublin was uneventful. I sat next to a guy named Ethan who was very nice and from Ireland so we chatted for a bit. I watched a bit of TV and was happy to see that they had Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, so of course I watched that. I tried to sleep but found out that I'm not good at sleep on a plane.. besides there was a crying baby just a few rows from me and the parents didn't seem to care.. needless to say I didn't sleep at all.

We landed in Dublin at 5:30am the next day.. Day 1 of my trip was all travel. So begin Day 2.