I'm in my mid-20s and just took my first plane ride. Here are 7 things that surprised me about flying.

Even when my family took Disney World vacations throughout my childhood, we opted to drive from New Jersey to Florida rather than flying our family of four down the East Coast.

So this year, when I decided to spend a weekend at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida, I figured it was time to take my first flight.

Of course, I knew flying would be a bit different both on the plane and at the airport as a result of the pandemic, but there were still a few standard things that surprised me throughout my journey.

My flight was set to depart Newark airport at 5:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning. I assumed the airport wouldn't be too busy when I arrived around 3:30 a.m., but I still found long lines waiting to check bags and go through security.

But to my surprise, it only took approximately one hour for me to do both.

When not reporting on theme parks like Disney World, I often cover beauty news and products. So it caught me off guard to see the signature pink packaging of Kylie Jenner's beauty brand in a vending machine as I prepared to board my first flight.

But as I came to learn later, these machines are actually a staple at numerous airports across the US.

The first airline I flew with was Frontier, and the second was Southwest. While I enjoyed flights with both, their two boarding processes were completely different from one other.

Frontier worked on a first-come-first-serve basis and opened boarding to all passengers at once. Southwest, on the other hand, took a more organized approach and called each group individually.

That being said, I had an assigned seat on my Frontier flight, but had to search for one on my Southwest flights. The latter airline has an open boarding policy, and allows passengers to choose their seats once their boarding group is called.

Of course, I'm sure the seats pale in comparison to those on luxury planes, and I am on the shorter side at 5 feet 2 inches.

But because I've always heard people complain about airplane seats — especially those on budget airlines — I was expecting much worse.

Logically, I know that airplane windows can't be huge. But when looking at planes from a distance, they seem bigger than they actually are when seated next to them.

I found myself craning my neck to see from the aisle seat, and couldn't always appreciate the view below us.

Next time I fly, I'll definitely be getting a window seat.

I assumed that the plane would begin ascending shortly after the flight attendants gave their safety demonstrations, but instead, we stayed on the ground. Considering how anxious I was at the moment, those few minutes felt like an eternity.

Unfortunately, things didn't get much better when flying. I always thought I'd be OK in the air so long as there's no turbulence, but I felt dizzy and nauseous for most of the smooth flight.

At first, I thought it was the result of nerves, but even on the way home when I was much calmer, I experienced the same symptoms. Luckily, I found that concentrating on a book or even the plane brochures helped — the complete opposite of what I experience when I have motion sickness in the car.

In the past, I've taken week-long vacations where I trekked hours through theme parks in extreme heat. But somehow, three flights and two days in Florida left me feeling more exhausted than ever before.

Maybe it was the speed of my trip, or maybe it was the nerves from my first flight. According to Cleveland Clinic, you can also become tired on flights as a result of low humidity leaving you dehydrated, and lower air pressure providing your body less oxygen.

But whatever the reason, I felt like I needed another vacation as soon as my third and final plane landed.