Eurotrip Day 1

So far so good. Daniel's fear of flying has been held at bay and the first leg of our trip, bna>lga, wasn't bad at all. We are tired but determined to stay awake so we can hit the ground running in Dublin.

{Sidenote: I realized that we are crossing multiple timezones during our trip and I was sure to make note of all of our arrival and departure times, but didn't list how long each flight was. It's something to note when creating your itineraries, if you are annoyingly over-organized like myself and don't want to have to figure it out along the way.}

Any who, we are sitting in the LGA airport, drinking coffee, charging our phones, and hoping they don't force us to check our bags because our next flight is FULL. Also, someone in this terminal keeps farting and the germophobe in me can't decide if it's better to just deal with it or to breathe through my mouth in this crowded airport. Better here than on the plane, I guess.

To be continued during our layover in Toronto...

Continued:

I have no idea what time it is. We just landed in St John's for the final leg of our flight to Dublin. It's dark outside, but that doesn't mean much. Daniel thinks we may be able to see the Northern lights from our plane tonight. I don't plan on seeing anything except the backs of my eyelids, so hopefully it's common courtesy for the flight attendants to wake the tourists for potential bucket-list-checking.

Speaking of bucket lists, hello St Johns?! Aside from the fact that it's 4 degrees outside... and dark... this place seems pretty awesome. Canadians call it 'the rock'. From the plane it looks like a mini Ireland. This may be added to our list of places to visit, even if the customs line in Toronto took For.Ev.Er. today.

Blogging from here on out may be a little sparse, but we will definitely keep you filled in when we have wifi. For now, I'll leave you with a few phone shots:

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Prepping For The Time Change

Prepping for the Time Change

Part of our trip that we almost overlooked is the time difference between Ireland, and
where we live in TN.  There’s a six hour difference between the two, so Amber and I have come up with a way to cut out the jet lag upon arriving in Dublin.  It’ll be a long process but we’re doing this so that we don’t miss out on the chance to explore our first day there. Otherwise, we could be battling exhaustion and just wanting to sleep.

We currently have 8 weeks until our trip to work out our new sleep schedule, and here’s how we’re going to do it. So, 7 a.m. Dublin time is 1 a.m. our time in TN.  We’re planning to go to bed a little earlier each week over the course of the next 8 weeks.  By the time our trip comes around, our goal is to be going to sleep around 5-6 p.m. Tennessee time, and waking up around 1 a.m. Tennessee time.  This would translate to us going to bed at 11 p.m. once we get to Ireland and waking up at 7 a.m. Our hope for doing this as stated above, is to cut back on jet lag so we can get the most out of our trip while we’re there.  Take a look at the chart below for how we’re going to pull it off.

Weeks until trip	TN / Dublin Bed Time	TN / Dublin Wake Up
8	11 p.m. / 5 a.m.	7 a.m. / 1 p.m.
7	11 p.m. / 5 a.m.	7 a.m. / 1 p.m.
6	10 p.m. / 4 a.m.	6 a.m. / 12 p.m.
5	9 p.m. / 3 a.m.	5 a.m. / 11 a.m.
4	8 p.m. / 2 a.m.	4 a.m. / 10 a.m.
3	7 p.m. / 1 a.m.	3 a.m. / 9 a.m.
2	6 p.m. / 12 a.m.	2 a.m. / 8 a.m.
1	5 p.m. / 11 p.m.	1 a.m. / 7 a.m.

We know that it sounds pretty crazy, but we’ll be ready to hit the ground running once we arrive!  If you’re as crazy as us and have done something similar, or if you have your own weird tips on how to avoid jet lag we’d love to hear from you!

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How I Overcame My Fear of Flying

I’ve never been a huge fan of flying, but it isn’t due to the danger of flying, it’s always been because of how dangerous I perceive flying to be.  

This can put a major damper on traveling for people. Believe it or not, some people don’t even travel to places that they have to fly.  Well, I’m going to tell you a few tricks I’ve used to overcome that fear of mine, and I can’t express enough how important it’s been to my enjoyment of traveling.

The first thing I did on my journey to overcome the fear of flying was face the facts.  

I realized that I wouldn’t be able to see the world unless I got over it.  That alone was enough to get me on board, and buckled in for my first flight.  

The most uncomfortable thing for me on flights was the quick and sudden drop that happens sometimes during takeoff or during turbulence.  I think I was almost more afraid of throwing up during a flight than I was of actually flying.  I mean, who wants to be “That Guy” that threw up on the plane?!

A good mind set to have when going into a flight is to just realize that turbulence will probably happen at some point, it’ll usually be over before you know it, and there’s nothing you can really do about it.  I’ve taken motion sickness medicine before my flights in the past which helped tremendously, but one of the best things to do, in my opinion, is to say a prayer.  Saying a little prayer for safe travel and peace of mind before getting on a plane works wonders when it comes to helping me relax.


I’ve also found that having a small meal before going on a flight helps my stomach to settle down. Most people take comfort in food and having a little something in your stomach before flight could be a big help for some.  I was reluctant at first, because I thought it would make me throw up in flight, but after I tried it, I’ll never go on a flight with an empty stomach again.

These are just a few tips that have helped me along the way in regards to flying.  I’ve heard some friends say that having a few drinks beforehand helps them relax, some that take medication so they fall asleep before they even take off, and some friends that just play some Sudoku and listen to music. 

Every person is different so if you’ve had luck with other methods, then please let us know by commenting below.  We’d love to hear from you!