First Time Flying Alone at 27!
YES you read the title of this blog correctly! I recently just took a flight solo to San Antonio, Texas for the VERY FIRST TIME!!
I had recently gone through a breakup and my friend Danielle recommended I use my planned vacation to come out and see her. So that's just what I did, I booked a flight out to San Antonio and didn't think twice about it. 😊 The day before my flight, I used that day for some self care to head to my favorite nail salon and pack up my last minute items. I think I only slept for about 2 hours that night because I was very excited to travel somewhere but also nervous flying solo for the first time. I have been on many airplanes before, however I was always traveling with family. I woke up around 3:30am to head to the airport for my 5:30am flight. My mom was kind enough to drop me off and wait with me before I had to go through security.
Delta made my flight very smooth sailing and what was even better, was being up in the sky when the sun was rising! 🌅 While in the air, I chose to watch the newest James Bond movie and listen to my latest favorite podcast. (@suburb talks on Spotify) I also managed to snap quite a few photos of how the sky looked from the sunrise to how it looked after the sun was fully up. You can check out a few of them down below.
Arriving to Atlanta, GA
When I made it to my first destination, that is where my nerves really started to kick in because I have always hear that the Atlanta international airport is insanely busy, which it was! I was shocked to see how busy the airport was for a Tuesday morning at 9:40am. The lady that was sitting in my row was nice enough to help guide me to where I needed to wait for my next flight. She was very understanding that I was nervous and wasn't sure where I really had to go next. In the past when traveling with my family I would just follow them and not really pay attention to where we were heading.
I loved how the clouds were looking
This is in the sky over SAT just a few mins before landing
In the sky somewhere
I MADE IT TO SAN ANTONION, TEXAS!!
When I arrived first thing I did was call Danielle to let her know I had landed and that it was time to celebrate! 😄
Of course you know as soon as we got in the car, I told Danielle we needed to make a Target run (no girl can resist a good ole Target run😉🎯) so that I could grab a few things that I didn't pack in my carry-on. Danielle and I LOVE target ohh so much that we are ALWAYS sending each other reels from accounts showing what they are currently selling or giving ideas of something we really don't need to buy, but we want to buy it anyways HAHA. We headed over to the clothing section first so that I could pick up a cotton button up shirt as a cover up for my bathing suit and then headed over to the food section to grab us some beverages for the pool side and just to have around the house. Before walking out of there, I HAD to stop at the Starbucks to get myself some caffeine to keep going for the day. Waking up at 3:30am when a Starbucks or Dunkin' isn't open was hard for me. (you guys know I love my coffee)
Day 1- Whataburger/Pool
Danielle had a whole itinerary lined up for us the whole week I was there. Since I had been traveling all morning, we decided to have a more laid back Tuesday. When we got to her house, we unloaded everything and headed over to her neighbors house to let out their dog for a bit and then I came back to freshen up and head out to grab some lunch at Whataburger. You guys, Whataburger was DELICIOUS! 😍 It kind of reminded me of a Chick-fil-A mixed with a McDonald's, only their French fries were wayyy better than any McDonald's. I ordered myself the Bacon Whataburger with a chocolate milkshake and Danielle got the Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich ( which was also freaking amazing!) After eating a late lunch, we headed back to the house to hang out by the pool and cool off since it was over 100 degrees that day.
About to bite into my first Whataburger
The Spicy Ketchup was better then the regular ketchup to me
Cheers to vacay with friends!
Day 2- Lunch by the Riverwalk/Menger Hotel/Alamo/Peachewave
Wednesday started out with us working out after taking out the dogs before it got to outside. When we had finished sweating bullets, we got ready to head out to the Riverwalk to have lunch @Casa Rio. Their food was by far the BEST Mexican food and margarita that I've had! I eat Mexican a lot, but their food tasted like authentic Mexican food. We sat outside by the riverwalk so we got to enjoy the heat and people watch while we ate.
Menger Hotel/The Alamo/Mexican Market(Historic Square)
After grabbing some lunch at Casa Rio, Danielle took me over to see the Alamo and get a picture in front of it. For those that don't know, the Battle of the Alamo was an important event in the Texas Revolution and American History because it rallied the rest of Texas to fight against the Mexican army eventually leading to a victory over Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto.
We then headed over to the Menger Hotel to look around there and cool off for a few mins before heading to the next location. The hotel was pretty cool to look at and read some of the history about the hotel and what it use to look like many years ago.
Before heading home we stopped by Peachwave which is kind of like Sweet Frog here, only MUCH BETTER!! They not only sell frozen yogurt, but they also had smoothies & Boba. I chose to get their Raspberry Watermelon and Cake Batter flavors with rainbow sprinkles on top.
Day 3- Cajun Coffee Shop/Delightful Doughnut/Mariposa Cafe/La Cantera/Rustic/Pool
Thursday was a busy day full of fun and TASTEFUL events!! 😋 Once again we started our morning off by getting in a quick 30 min workout and then headed out for some good ole Cajun Coffee and Delightful Doughnuts for breakfast. Cajun Coffee reminded me of Coco + Hazel with all of their seasonal coffee and other ice coffee drinks they offered. I went with an iced coffee with chocolate drizzle syrup. At Delightful doughnuts we got ourselves a couple of Kolaches which is kind of like a pigs in a blanket only much bigger because it's like the saying goes, "EVERYTHING IS BIGGER AND BETTER IN TEXAS". Next we headed back to Danielle's house to once again take care of the puppers 🐶 before the temperate really got up there.
Our first stop Danielle took me to Neiman Marcus @Mariposa Cafe to have their popovers and a drink as an appetizer and then we walked around the shops at La Cantera. We really shopped til we dropped there! Lunch at the Rustic was really good. The vibes there are super cute and I could tell that on the weekends when they have live music playing that its the spot to be at! Then headed back home to cool off by the pool once again. The heat in Texas is always over 100 degrees during the summer but I still liked it better then the heat here in Virginia because I didn't have to deal with my hair enlarging before the end of the day from the humidity.
Day 4- North Star Mall/Wonder Champer/Alamo Beer Company
My final day in Texas has come to an end🥺
Since I changed my flight to later in the evening, Danielle and I decided to use our last day together to go and get a few more Instagram photos in. She drove me over to the North Star Mall to capture a picture in front of the world's largest cowboy boots. And can I just say, they were MUCH BIGGER than what I was picturing in my head. I had seen a photo that Danielle shared from last year with Christmas lights decorated on them, but seeing them in person really made my jaw drop!
Then we headed over to a museum called the Wonder Chamber. The museum was really cool and had some interesting items for you to take a look at. My most favorite thing in the museum was the room with the blue lights all around.
Lastly before catching my 6:40pm flight back to Richmond, VA we stopped to have lunch at the Alamo Beer Company. We ordered their brisket nachos and bbq jerk chicken wings, which by the way the pork nachos were *chefs kiss* They were the BEST nachos I've ever had! We also ordered ourselves some flights of different types of beer to try. My top 2 favs were the Rainbow Sherbet and Sangria Seltzer. The Golden Ale and Davy Bockett were my least favorites.
Travel Vlog- First time in San Antonio, Texas
You guys should know I had to vlog my whole trip while I was in San Antonio, so here is every video I captured put into one video. Hope you enjoy it! 😄📱
This isn't the end of me traveling
Overall I had the BEST SOLO TRIP I could ask for!! Traveling to San Antonio has opened my eyes to traveling other places in the future and actually going to do it. I loved Texas so much that as soon I I arrived home, I went online to start looking at apartments in the area along with jobs. I'm really considering moving in the next couple of years, and if I don't happen to like it there I can always move back home and try another state. A HUGE THANKS to DANIELLE AND HER HUSBAND DEREK for hosting me and allowing me to stay with them during the week. I can't wait to come back and visit them in the spring.
If you are thinking of traveling on your own, I highly recommend to do it before you settle down with a family/husband. I also suggest that you be extra careful as to where you travel to and be aware of your surroundings.
