I hardly slept on the eve of my journey to Puerto Rico after a lengthy day of shopping and packing. My family woke up so early, to catch the plane whose check-in time was scheduled for 4 am. 

En route the journey, we glided into a cozy diner in Toronto and on a Sunday morning, there was not so much activity. Our exciting presence at the diner was much like disco ball’s in a darkened ballroom—Thrilled we were for my trip!

We got to the airport, and my ticket had issues, implying that I had to miss that early flight and schedule for another one leaving on the very same day. I should note that this was the first time I was flying alone since I left the Kenyan refugee camp, 10 years ago, and emotions were running high, oblivious of what to expect upon arrival. Was someone picking me up? Will they identify me? Will they be nice? What if I got lost? I had so many mixed emotions running through my mind, but I was positive about one thing, “this feels right, I am about to make history!”

As fate would have it, the flight had a soft landing, I arrived late at night, and was picked up by lovely members of the Miss World staff. I was so exhausted after the long trip and what a sigh of relief it was when I was directed to my lovely room, met my amazing room mate and just passed out, little did I know that my family and organization had been concerned about me since they had not heard from me since I traveled. I woke up to a bevy of messages which I quickly replied to as the Miss World program eventually begun and it finally dawned on me that I was OFFICIALLY AT MISS WORLD REPRESENTING SOMALIA!