Five years ago yesterday my life started to change in ways I could have never imagined. On July 5th, 2004 I left my house in Boston for a study abroad in Wollongong, Australia. I was 21 years old and flying by myself to the other side of the world. Although I have always been fairly independent, this was a complete departure from anything I had ever done. I was nervous for the flight and for everything that was to follow.
My itinerary included a flight from Boston to Memphis to Los Angeles. I was scheduled to meet a group of students at LAX and continue onto Melbourne, Australia. Nothing really went according to plan and though at the time I thought of it all as bad luck, now I believe that fate stepped in and guided me into the rest of my life.
1.) Boston – Memphis: Fire at a rental car place in Boston’s Logan Airport shut down the terminal which delayed my flight.
2.) Memphis – Dallas: Because the flight was delayed, I missed my flight out of Memphis. I was rerouted to Dallas, Texas.
3.) Dallas – Los Angeles: Thirty minutes to catch my next plane. With three bags over my shoulder, passport and tickets in hand, and a cell phone on my ear; I ran through the terminal toward my gate. I talked to my parents for maybe a minute and a half. When I hung up, my passport was gone. A cold chill ran through my body. I turned around to run back onto the plane and was stopped by security. I explained my situation through streaming tears. Flight attendants were sent to look for my passport as I scoured the area just outside of the gate. The passport was gone. Vanished. My flight was the last one of the day so I boarded, sans passport. Flying to California, I was frustrated, embarrassed, and only a few hours into my 5 month long journey, I wanted to go home.
I made it to Los Angeles with just enough time to catch my flight to Australia but without a passport, I wasn’t going anywhere. At 1:00am, 18 hours after I started my trip, I checked into a hotel near the airport. I spent the entire next day at the federal building in Los Angeles and after 9 hours and $200, I had a new passport. I was on a plane to Australia exactly 24 hours after my scheduled flight.
Fast forward the 20 hour flight, the confusion and excitement of landing in a foreign country, and the several modes of transportation I finally met with my already travelling tour group (you know, those people I was supposed to meet in LA). I was dropped on the side of the road next to a parked bus. I was told that my group was off having lunch but I could climb aboard and wait. There were jackets and bags on all of the seats so I just chose a seat toward the back.
When kids my age started boarding, I was introduced by the driver as the girl who lost her passport. My story preceded me. The girl sitting behind me offered to show pictures of things that I had missed thus far, mainly a kangaroo stampede. I found out later, I had actually stolen her seat and that is how we started talking. I am proud to say that five years later, the girl whose seat I stole is my best friend.
That night, I sat next to a boy on the bus on the way to dinner whom I had not yet met. He was quieter then most but really cute. He was from Minnesota and was unlike anybody I had ever met. Five years later, we are together and living in Minneapolis. That night at dinner, there was a small group of people who were talking about ordering wine. I inserted myself in the conversation and said I would be happy to split a bottle. We did, and today those people are still some of my greatest friends.
Had things played out differently, I do not know who or where I would be. For all of the changes in my life, the moments that matter, and the things that didn’t go as planned; my journey to Australia will forever stand out as the time that something bigger than me, whatever you want to call it, took over and guided me somewhere new and wonderful.
And if I could
