And we're off! ✈️

It is currently 3:30am US time and Charnelle and I are on the way to Frankfurt, Germany! We have approximately 2:15 minutes until we land and it will be about 11:45am in Germany. Taking it back a few days, there has been much preparation for this trip. One thing is, we definitely didn't think that we would be able to pack for 3 months in a carry on and one checked suit case. But we did it!

Our adventure at the RDU airport was quite eventful. For starters, I held up the security check and hopped in that thing that scans all around you while it was calibrating which I guess I wasn't suppose to do. Oopsies! Meanwhile, Charnelle went through ever so smoothly (with some clumsiness dropping a few things). Finally we get to the gate and wait for our group number to be called. It was our turn and we stepped up to have our tickets scanned. Charnelle was first and again, ever so smoothly, went right through. I am ready, ticket in hand and pass it over. "Ma'am, this is your Frankfurt boarding pass. I need your DC pass." I began searching for my other boarding pass and couldn't find it. You can imagine how much of a panic I was in as the line behind me kept growing. Charnelle was looking in one of my bags and I dropped all my stuff and searched the other bag. FINALLY I found it in a secret compartment in my fancy handy dandy money belt.

We get on the plane and take off. Man was that a bumpy flight. Felt like we were on a roller coaster, no joke. Charnelle was quite thrilled when the pilot came on the intercom speaker telling us we only had 20 minutes left until we arrive in Washington DC. Once we got to DC it was smooth sailing from there. We boarded at about 9:10pm (with no problems at the ticket counter I might add) and took off around 10pm. This plane was enormous-- 9 seats across with two aisles. Every seat had a personal tv and Charnelle was very happy that The Walking Dead was on! Dinner was served around 11:30pm. We had the option of pasta or chicken. Charnelle got chicken, I got pasta. We also had complimentary wine! It was a healthy serving I might add. That put Charnelle to sleep. Me on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. I guess it was a mistake to drink coffee on the way to the airport. I'll never do that again.

The lights just came on for breakfast at about 4am US time. We are not hungry in the slightest amount being that we ate less than 4 hours ago. We are so excited to land in Frankfurt and our generous supervisors will be picking us up to take us to Stuttgart. That will be about a 1.5 hour drive.

We can't wait to see how beautiful and scenic Germany is and to experience the Autobahn (says Charnelle).

We will update once we get settled in!

Charnelle & Crystal