Memorial Day weekend soccer tournament in Charleston - Part 1

Every Memorial Day weekend for the past seven years (except one), I have traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to play in a soccer tournament with my friends from Knoxville, TN.  While I was a grad student at UTK, I played in an adult coed soccer league in the city.  Most of the girls were good friends, but we were all forced to play on separate teams because there were not enough women for a league of our own.  So, every Memorial Day weekend, the women would all join together on one team to play in Charleston.  We were joined by a men’s teams, coed teams and a women’s over 30 team from Knoxville.  With about 70 soccer players from Knoxville all going to Charleston together, it made sense to get several large houses on the beach.  The “young” girls and guys all stayed in one house and the “older” crowd stayed in the “big house.”  While studying at UTK, I got to travel both years with the team.  Since moving to NYC, I have made the trip down four of the past five years.

I always seem to have issues getting down to Charleston when I travel from NYC.  One year, Colin and I drove two others.  We hit so much traffic in New Jersey that we didn’t get to Charleston until 3am.  The first game for our team was at 9am the next morning.  Another year, my flight was overbooked and so I got rerouted and eventually made it to Charleston, but my soccer bag did not!  I borrowed shorts, shin guards, socks and cleats from my teammates (they are so nice!!).  This year’s travels were no exception to the rule.  I arrived at JFK for my 7:30am flight to Charlotte, NC at 6:30am.  Unfortunately, the kiosk didn’t work to print a boarding pass, and so I had to get in the long line with all those going internationally on JetBlue.  Long story short, I missed my flight and had to wait until 4:30pm for the next one.  The worst part was that my ride from Charlotte to Charleston couldn’t wait that long for me.  So, I flew to Charlotte, took the Columbia-Charlotte Shuttle (www.columbiacharlotteshuttle.com) to Columbia, and got a ride from a teammate driving from Knoxville.  We finally got to Charleston just before midnight and were lucky that our first game was not until 1:30pm on Saturday.

Thankfully, my travel back to NYC was much less eventful.  I did the reverse trip back to Charlotte through Columbia and got to visit with my good friend and former roommate Michaela.  My 6:50am flight from Charlotte to NYC went off without a hitch, but it served for a really long day in NYC.  I wish I could sleep on flights, but only being in the air for 2 hours makes it difficult.  I don’t want to pass up snacks and beverage service!!  I was up at 4:30am, in NYC by 8am, at work by 10am, and had to teach after work, so I wasn’t home until 8pm!!  Oh, the things we do to extend vacations and do it affordably!