July 27, 2015
Here... We... Go...

I've been in airports for the past 24 hours, so this first post is going to be a couple different reactions all in one go.

Part 1... July 26
For the past two weeks, a significant percentage of conversations with family and friends have started with them asking me, "Are you excited?" or "Are you pumped?" and on one occasion, "Are you FREAKING OUT YET!?!?"

It didn't feel real to me until I went to sleep last night. So despite my previous responses over the last week or two, yes I'm excited, pumped, maybe even freaking out. Its a good thing.

I fly from Pittsburgh to Dallas, then overnight to São Paulo and then finally touch down in Florianópolis around 3:15 tomorrow afternoon.

I haven't even left Pittsburgh yet and this trip is already going great. On the way to my gate I stopped at a coffee cart for a bottle of water and maybe an iced coffee. As I set the bottle of water on the table, the barista asked me, "Do you like biscotti? What about free biscotti?" My answer to both questions was yes, but I only answered the latter. I was about to order an iced coffee on top of that, when the second barista asked, "Any chance you'd also want a free iced coffee? I messed up the last guy's order and had to redo it."

A medium iced coffee, biscotti, and a bottle of water for $2. I haven't even left Pittsburgh yet and I'm already having a solid trip.

Part 2... the plot thickens.

I'm writing this section from the São Paulo airport, waiting for the flight to Florianópolis. "Você fala Inglês" has been my catchphrase so far ("Do you speak English?"). The answers have been hit or miss -- a good deal of the Brazilians I've talked to speak English "so-so." To be fair, that is wayyy better than my Portuguese. I'll post more later, once we actually get out of the airports and into Brazil. Hopefully there will be pictures on the posts to come.