Traveling Alone for the First Time

I’ve been to England, France, Australia, Mexico and China. But the one thing that was different about this trip was I was ALL ALONE.

It didn’t bother me too much since I knew that once I got to Chile, I’d be in the safety of the Sisters, but then I had family and friends to console. My aunt Debbie, who recently saw the movie Taken (which unfortunately I didn’t get to see) warned me about talking to people during the trip (I still need to see the movie to know what she was so worried about). But I promised her I would. My friend Cathi, expressed in a touching card that she really didn’t want me to go because she was worried about my getting the formerly known “Swine Flu.” I had to send her a reassuring email explaining that I was confident that the CDC was on this epidemic and that I would be okay. But secretly, I shared her concerns.

My biggest fear was losing my passport, boarding passes or some other important material. Big trips like this almost always cause me some sort of loss of property. The chances go up when I don’t have a friend along to look out for me. For this reason, I took extra care in packing, organizing my items together neatly and placing them in plastic recycling or ziplock bags. I was determined not to be frazzled by security checks, changing planes, or bathroom breaks. I have to say, I had a pretty good system. All I had to worry about was my travel blanket, my carry-on that had my laptop and my purse.

The flights were fairly uneventful. I spoke to no one (per Aunt Debbie’s instructions) and got some much needed sleep. As for the swine flu, Cathi would have been happy to see so many people wearing masks. While most had them on correctly, others wore them around their chins or on their foreheads.
















In Panama and in Chile, we were given paperwork describing the symptoms, and were given numbers to call if we thought we were infected.
















In Chile, all passengers were scanned for temperatures and given documents to sign concerning their health. We were were held in the temperature-taking room until we were all processed and then allowed to continue to immigration.

Next, I paid a $135 entrance fee to Chile (which is good for future travels to the country) and then went to immigration, where I was asked to tell them where I was going in Spanish and in broken English. I knew what they were asking, but didn’t have an answer. I had no idea where I was going, all I knew was that the sisters were picking me up. I said that I was staying “en un escuela con las hermanas de San Juan de Baptist at St. John Villa Adcademy.” The immigration official didn’t like my answer, but I guess he realized that he could keep asking me, and it wasn’t going to get any better. Finally he let me go.

I came out of the airport and found Sr. John Marie and another sister waiting for me. Sr. Lois sent her a picture of me, so she knew who to look for. We found eachother right away. It was 7pm when I arrived so I couldn’t see much from the ride in the car to the convent, but I was so excited to just be there, it didn’t matter to me.