firsts (the alone edition)

Having married while I was in college, and then had babies shortly thereafter, I've rarely done anything by myself. So this trip has been a big one for me—it's the first time I've gone somewhere unfamiliar alone (Salt Lake City and Denver don't count because I've lived both places). So here are some firsts from my first day of travel:

-First cross-country flight alone where I am sitting between two super-tall men who both have a “big stance.” You know what that means? They have like 3 ft each between their two knees and I had no space at all for mine, Everytime I fell asleep I woke up to find myself with the outside of my thighs resting on theirs—as if they were trying to squeeze me out of even more of my legroom. It was a long long night.

-First taxi ride alone (I was really scared, which is crazy because I know it's a totally normal thing) but to be in a car alone with a strange man? Weird. I don't think I tipped him enough, but it cost more than I thought and I didn't want to dig back into my cash stash as we were standing on the street corner at 5:30am in a dodgy area of downtown Boston.

-First view of the Charles River alone (the taxi driver doesn't count)

-First stay in a hostel alone (nice experience, though I did spring for the private room)

-First aborted attempt to buy a T ticket myself (someone had to bail me out because I was totally oblivious and didn't know that I needed a Charlie card....). Oh, and along with this one goes “first aborted attempt to get through the T gate myself.” Had to be bailed out of that one, too.

-First ride on the subway alone. Grabbed myself a pole by the door (it was rushhour) and did just fine.

-First chichi Harvard tea & cakes reception(!) alone. When I checked into the Harvard Special Collections library this morning, they handed me an invitation to this event. I went, knowing that it would be something to blog about. Discovered that even though I walked in looking a bit like a drowned rat (having traversed Harvard yard just moments before in a pouring rain with a hole-y umbrella), people were nice to me anyways.

What are your recent "firsts"?