Never in my life will I take Florida weather for granted again…

So, as of Saturday, January 8, I am back at Embry-Riddle! Even though meal plans don’t start until Monday, January 10, I arrived early since I’m on the Orientation Team and working spring orientation.

For me, winter break was pretty fun. I didn’t have a job since my family took a week-long destination Christmas to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida on the Gulf Coast. We were with some of our other family members, who were from California, and I had a lot of fun. Our rental house was on the beach and a short walk away from a shopping center.

I didn’t end up swimming in the Gulf- it was a little too cold for that. My mom and little sister ended up swimming, but I mostly enjoyed the sun, sand, and shops. We ended up going over to a boardwalk once, where I did a high ropes course which was super fun. I completed the first level before discovering that I did not love heights.

My home airport is Lexington, Kentucky (LEX) and I was flying Delta back, so I connected through Atlanta. On the way from Lexington to Atlanta, the aircraft being used was a 717, and I ended up snagging seat 20B- an aisle seat with no seat next to the window. So, I had a row to myself.

It was pretty cool to have- and I didn’t have to pay extra for it! It was only about an hour of flight time, which was good since I couldn’t exactly lean my head on the window. The flight from Lexington to Atlanta was pretty full and definitely a climate shock. Atlanta was chilly, yes, but not freezing cold. And there was no snow in Atlanta- on Thursday, Kentucky got a massive snowstorm.

As usual, the Atlanta airport was busy. I ended up grabbing a Starbucks (I have a new drink order: the Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew!) before heading over to my next gate. The flight to Daytona had a ten-minute delay, which wasn’t too bad.

I really like flying into the Daytona Beach airport. First, it’s super small; the longest TSA wait I’ve ever had wasn’t longer than five minutes. There are only one to two flights leaving at the same time, so it doesn’t take as long. The airport itself is small, so it’s perfect for those who aren’t very comfortable in an airport alone. Plus, it’s a short drive from campus with little holiday traffic.

A friend picked me up from the airport and delivered me back to O’Connor. From there, I unpacked and made a quick Walmart run to stock up on things my dorm needed for the upcoming semester. I’m super excited for the upcoming semester, too!

See you in the next post… and hopefully at Riddle!