I hate flying

I'm flying to Buffalo on Friday for the weekend and I'm not looking forward to getting there. I hate flying for two reasons, 1) Because I'm afraid of crashing and 2) Because I get really, really airsick.

Now my dad is a career jet pilot so I have been accostomed to flying my whole life. Obviously it was a big part of my dad's life so therefore, we had countless opportunities to fly while growing up. I have even worked at an airport where private jets would fly in and we'd refuel them and provide other services. You would think that after so much exposure, I would almost be aloof to the idea of flying - but that's definitely not the case. Now I know that the chances of the plane crashing are very, very slim. I know you are more likely to get run over by a bus while walking down the street. Regardless, I am still scared of crashing because IF it does happen then you're pretty much dead.

When I do fly somewhere, I always have rituals to help me in remaining calm:

-Dramamine and anxiety medication are necessities. I must take 3-4 non-drowzy Dramamine's and a couple of anxiety pills before boarding. I keep them handy while I'm sitting in the plane and will chew on them when nervous tension arise.

-When boarding, I observe the exists and escape routes. I look for anything suspicious. I listen to the plane's engine for anything abnormal.

-I watch the flight attendants very closely. They will be the tell-tale sign if anything is wrong.

-In an attempt to distract myself, I look at Skymall magazine and try to pick out all the things I could use while sipping on my Gingerale.

Our trip to Miami

This past weekend we made the 11 hour drive to Miami for my cousin Jessica's wedding. Will and I left Thursday morning at 5:30 AM to head down there. We both aren't morning people but surprisingly we slept well that night and were rearing to go by morning. The trip down was uneventful with the exceptions of a few rain storms in FL and some bad traffic. We stopped for lunch in Flagler, FL at a Woody's BBQ. We both ordered the "Carolina BBQ" sandwich and interestingly, it wasn't bad! It tasted as authetic as you could imagine.

Here's some pictures of us driving:

I look pretty mean (I was just trying to drive carefully) and Will had to make a face right when I snapped the shot.

We got into Miami right about 5:30 PM and met up with my parents and Hannah. We were ready to eat and explore the city so we changed clothes and headed onto the Monorail to go to Bayside, a neat marketplace with outdoor restaurants and shops. We chose to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and afterwards we sat outside and sipped on daquari's while listening to the live band. It was fun.

Friday the Fourth was the day of the wedding so we woke up and headed straight for the pool. We were there pretty much all day hanging out with some of our family members and working on our tans. Talk about vacation!

The wedding began at 5PM with the reception immediately following at the Marriott (where we were staying). We had a blast at the reception dancing and just being with everyone. Here's some pictures of before the ceremony and at the reception.

We left Miami the next morning to head back to NC. The way back was better than the way down, but sad because we wanted more time to vacation! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Here's some cool pictures of Miami from our hotel room.