Which then of course, I was the fortunate passenger who had the not-so-quiet-always-has-something-to-say person sitting next to me on my flight from MSP to Chicago. Sweet girl, and not a day over 21. She basically told me her life story: from Rochester, plays golf, in fact she plays golf so well that she was awarded a $30,000 scholarship to some school (idk I wasn't listening) in Wisconsin and has been to my home town of chaska a couple times to play at hazeltine and the town course but then she "didn't really care much about golf in college" so she quit. Lost her scholarship. Then landed a new degree pursuing nursing at UW Lacrosse. I only remember that because I've been to Lacrosse. Lovely town. We talked about boys, breakups, and dating. I told her to never give up on your dream or happiness and that she deserves what she wants in life (as anyone should). That led to her admitting she wasn't going to marry this guy (even after dating him for almost 3 years) because he wants to do tree work the rest of his life and she doesn't want to be the sole provider since she clearly would be making more money than he will. The hell did I get myself into? Luckily we landed in chi-town and she was off to London and then to Scotland. I wonder what Scotland is like for New Years?
Before I knew it I was back on a plane bound for Miami. Peace. Quiet. Dark. Then came the turbulence. Almost as bad as the turbulence coming home from Alaska which made Ben sick as a dog. Haha I was laughing on the inside but seriously, poor guy was white as a ghost. I only suffered a migraine. What's new, Stacie would understand how I felt. Again, no peanuts, pretzels, or cookies. Anyone that knows me when I'm tired and starving I act like Aretha Franklin on those snickers commercial.
First thing I see when we land in Miami, palm trees. An unfamiliar sight to see as opposed to the tall pine trees back home. I guess I'll have to get use them. Finally in warmer climate. However, I heard wind chills this weekend back home are going to be so unbearable you wonder why anyone chooses to live there in the winter. Oh sure we Minnesotans don't ya know just love such a beautiful place.
My bags made it to Miami without any problems. I loaded them up on a smartcarte, found a Subway, scarfed down a $10 sand which, and made new friends with a few Rossies I found. We decided to search all over MIA for a place to sleep, along with the many thousands of others doing the same. Did you know MIA has a hotel in the airport? Neat huh? Well we found four vacant chairs somewhere in the middle of the airport, I'm guessing international side, and set up "camp" for the night. It's impossible to sleep in a chair let alone in the middle of the night, at an airport, when the air conditioning kicks on. I learned from traveling to Costa Rica to stash a blanket in my carry on. 
It's almost 4 a.m. and I can't get myself to sleep. In a couple of hours I'll re-check my bags, go through security yet again, and find my gate which then I'll meet some of the rest of my Rossie family.
12 more hours and I'll be in St. Kitts. Crazy.
It's actually happening.
