Its travel day! Tine to learn some Czech and enjoy 18 hours of travel time. Getting to Prague from Miami is firstly not cheap and secondly not easy. Thankfully I am used to long plane rides and enjoying the journey as much as I can and find the plane rides to be a generous gift to create even more excitement for a trip. However, this can be stressful for first-time abroad travelers. Some steps I took beforehand to make the travel run smoother is to take into consideration the timeliness of it all. Airports being the biggest issue, I have come up with my own rules to never stray away from. Number 1: Always check in beforehand and try to add luggage online, previous to arriving to the airport. Number 2: Don’t overpack for your travel day and check all luggage you can as running to a gate during a layover will be easier and less embarrassing. Number 3: look up the maps of your gate in abroad airports before you land and take a screen shot of the map in case of low internet service. The last and final one is what made my air travel experience the best and that is to: relax, get excited and socialize where you can. By following these rules, I had a social and enjoyable flight on all 3 planes I traveled over into Prague. M first flight from Tampa to New York was short and sweet, I ran into an old friend in the airport and got some rest to prepare for my 8-hour flight from there to Amsterdam. On my flight to Amsterdam, I Luckly git sat next to an international student from NYU who was originally from Germany and traveling back for the holidays. We shared information and stories, as growing closer over 8 hours sitting next to each other. After deplaning and saying our goodbyes, I was more excited about this trip than ever. I catch my flight to Prague from the Netherlands and sleep to prepare to arrive early morning. I have made it to Prague! Immediately I fill up with joy and cannot wait for what lies ahead. I start my day with checking in and taking a nap before I start my day. Waking up alone in another country gives you such a feeling of possibilities and truly made every morning easier for me as a nighttime person. My first stop is out to my favorite pasta shop in the whole world, Pasta Fresca. I had made reservations and a week earlier knew enough Czech to get me by at dinner alone. After taking myself out for Italian, I walked around and stopped in some shops before meeting the group for dinner. Dinner is with our large group of 24 and includes a proper Czech meal…Duck. It’s always smart to try anything once, and as I did, I learned on the first night, I deeply like Czech cuisine and cannot wait for more!