Rio de Janeiro - I’ve arrived! ✈

The stress of moving out of my apartment was the perfect send off for my trip. Who else loves to run away from stressors? 🙋🏾‍♀️

I’ve traveled internationally by myself before, but this time was different. This time, I wasn’t going for work. This time, I was going for myself. I was nervous, but also super excited. Unfortunately, I was also very ill and nothing’s worse than traveling while sick during covid. 🤦🏾‍♀️

The shame!!! 🤧😭

As I was boarding my first flight from Dallas Love to MIA, I realized that my ticket didn’t have TSA Precheck on it. 🤔 Guess my status expired? Not having the time to investigate, I had to swallow my elite travel pride and go through the line with … the regulars. 🙄 If I’m coming off as spoiled, it’s because I’m indeed spoiled when it comes to traveling. 😅 It’s been so long since I’ve traveled non-precheck that I had to ask what to remove and go through the naked body scanners! dun dun duunnnnnn 😨😲

I remember circa 2012 when I refused to go through those scanners. I made such a big deal, requested a pat down and even felt a sense of pride for taking a stand for something that was important to me (well - us). Now, things were different. Now, I didn’t care. Now, I was thinking for myself. Even in that small way, I reminded myself of my newfound freedom.

A mere 20 hours later, I was fighting off aggressive Brazilian taxi drivers and retreating to the bathroom. Yep, I ran to the bathroom to check my phone, because based on what I had researched, when you’re in Brazil, you’ll get your phone stolen. So, I needed to protect it at all costs and thank goodness Uber was available. 🙏🏾 I immediately ordered one to my hotel.