Before a few weeks ago, I had never left the United States, nor had I ever even travelled alone before! Thus, my trip to Tbilisi, Georgia in Eastern Europe is a trip of “firsts”. Ever since I was young, I had always wanted to study abroad. When taking my first tour to the University of Pittsburgh, I heard great things about the study abroad office; therefore, Pitt was the obvious choice. After my first semester at the University, I applied to Pitt’s Summer Language Institute for Russian Language. Two years later, I can finally use the Russian language in more than the classroom. Hence, my trip to Eastern Europe!

I had been anticipating my first trip abroad, and although I was excited, I was more nervous than anything. Specifically, for the actual travelling part. How many bags can I take? Where do I purchase and receive my tickets at? How do I choose my seat on the plane? How do I navigate a layover? I had anticipated and awaited the worst-case scenarios. What if my luggage was lost? What if no one speaks English in the Istanbul Airport? What if I miss my flight? The night before I left from the Pittsburgh International Airport, I went over my course of action with my family and friends. My course of action was as follows: 1. Go into the airport, weigh bags, and receive tickets. 2. Go through TSA and go to my gate. 3. During the layover, get my new tickets with your gates and maybe go through TSA again. 3. For the next layover, do the same thing. 4. When I arrive in Tbilisi, receive my bags at the carousel, text my driver who was picking me up, and go to the hotel. Even though I had prepared in every way possible, there were of course nuances to the trip. My longest trip, from New York to Istanbul, I experienced the biggest stressors.

When I arrived at the JFK airport in New York, I had to change terminals. This included taking an air train to a different terminal and going through TSA again. This process took about 1.5 hours, but luckily, I had a 4-hour layover total. However, as I boarded my plane to the Istanbul, I realized I only had a total of 1.5 hours between when my plane lands and when my next plane leaves. If you have ever ridden a plane before, you know that the plane always lands 20 minutes after scheduled and that the next plane boards 45 minutes before it takes off. Thus, I anticipated that I would have only 5 minutes to get from my first plane to my next plane in Istanbul! If I needed to change terminals or go through TSA again, there would be no way I would make it. Although I expected people in the airport would be speaking English, I prepared myself to play charades to try to find my next gate. Thus, my 10+ hour flight from New York to Istanbul was sleepless and restless. I stressed about missing my flight, tried to create a new course of action, and texted my friends and family in a panic (purchasing 100mb of wi-fi at a time). I even spoke to one of the flight attendants, and she grimaced and said I have only a tiny chance of making my next flight! I had decided to ask the man two seats over for his advice. Somehow, it was a Russian pilot. He reassured me that I would likely not have to change terminals, and I could just go straight to my next gate. I felt a little bit better, but I was still in a panic.

Thus, after 10 grueling hours (and 3 surprisingly good airplane meals), I landed in Istanbul. I had 40 minutes before my plane was taking off. To top it off, I was in row 36 of 40 in the airplane. Thus, I immediately stood up (I know, I also hate when people do that) and tried to run to the front. Another man on my flight had a similar situation, but he was going to Uzbekistan. He told me to follow him, and we tried our hardest to make it around rows 1-35. Eventually, I made it out of the plane and immediately an airport worker hurriedly spoke to me in Russian and told me to write my gate on my ticket. Him and another worker told me my next gate was far and I had to hurry over. Thus, I ran all the way from terminal D to F. With sweat dripping down my face, I finally reached my gate. I charged my phone for 3 minutes and updated my family and friends who helped me while I was panicking on the flight. When I boarded my flight from Istanbul to Tbilisi, I could sit there with a smile on my face. When I eventually reached Tbilisi, even though I wanted to immediately explore the city, I took a 3-hour well-deserved nap after not sleeping for 24 hours.

Even though I experienced high levels of stress and panic, I am glad that I was able to navigate a tough situation by myself. When I travel in the future, I will know where to get my bags, how to navigate a layover, and how fast I need to go to catch my next flight. I believe that this situation happened so I can learn how to trust myself and know that the stress wasn’t even worth it. I am thankful that I started my trip with this experience, as it taught me that although I can plan everything prematurely, there can still be unexpected nuances.