1:27 PM: Travel plans and realizations

So, discussion over spring break plans is closed. We decided on Greece and Italy officially, and, last night, we booked our three flights--London to Athens, Athens to Rome, and Rome to London. We found good prices using EasyJet, Aegean Air, and RyanAir, respectively. Still, carving things like flight itineraries into stone made me so nervous and stressed. All of us who are going--Caris, Kristen, Emily, Kevin (another Webster student, a friend of the girls'), and me--piled into Caris' and Kristen's room with our many laptops and booked our flights. We will leave London for Athens on Thursday, March 5th at 3:10 PM and spend some time in Greece. But, because some of us wanted to spend more time in Greece than others, we decided to book different flights from Athens to Rome. Caris and I wanted a few more days in Greece, so we decided to fly out on Wednesday, March 11th, at 6:15 PM, as opposed to the others, who will fly out on Monday. After spending a few days in Italia, we will fly back to London from Rome on Sunday, March 15th at 6:35 AM. We booked all these flights online and settled back to calm our nerves. Buying plane tickets is stressful.

And then I read about the airlines' baggage restrictions.

We had all opted not to check any luggage, assuming that two carry-ons could get us through a week in two countries and would save us time and money. BUT, in the airlines' description of carry-on baggage, only ONE item per person is allowed, with fairly tight weight restrictions as well. The girls had a moment of panic. Kristen and I are high-maintenance (and not afraid to admit it, either), so we are worried about cramming everything into one bag. After our brief freak-out, we put our heads together and realized that we could do everything to consolidate. For instance, we won't take tons of clothes and will simply wear things multiple times. We're going to share EVERYTHING--shampoo, a brush, clothes, etc. Julia told us that as long as we can get through security with one bag, we're pretty much good to go. She even said that she's gotten through with both a purse and a bag before. We'll see. This will be an adventure. "Pack light" has taken on a whole new meaning...

Also, airlines like EasyJet and RyanAir are very, very, very, very strict about deadlines. If boarding closes at 2:30 PM, and you arrive at 2:32 PM, that's it. You don't get on the flight. Rough, huh?

Phew. All these realizations hit hard last night after we booked our flights. We were all stressed, nervous, but still really excited... but mostly stressed. So, to remedy the situation, five of us girls snuggled into Caris' bed to watch Becoming Jane. We went to bed considerably less stressed.

Thanks, Jane.