(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

*pulls out the paper bag again* Continental sent me my TripNotes, I withdrew some money from the bank (though we're not sure where I should exchange it yet -- Sea-Tac, Newark, or Heathrow), I told my bank I was going abroad, I bought some of the toiletries I'm taking with me (that way I can get my mother to pay for them, heh). So I guess I can reluctantly concede that this may actually be happening. Tomorrow I shall pack. *despairs some more*

My mother does not understand why I am so freaked out. Let's be honest, I don't know why I'm so freaked out either. "They speak English there," she reminds me, which is the reminder that she is a non-native English speaker who came to America when she didn't speak very good English and that my dad lived in Thailand part-time for more than ten years, and he went not speaking a single word of Thai. "You can ask someone if you need help!"

So that's happening.

Comments

[starlady]

My advice would be to change at Heathrow, I always get a much better rate in-country. Good luck!

[clanwilliam]

Change a little bit at Seatac so you've got some cash on you and change the rest at a post office in Cambridge. You'll almost certainly get a much better rate that way.

[highlyeccentric]

Do you have a VISA or Mastercard debit? I just withdraw cash at destination. Tip, though - use an exchange service before you leave to get cash suitable for the place you have your stopover. I did NOT do that with Dubai and ended up with around $160 US worth of UAE Dirhams.

You will be fine. Your mum's right, they speak English there. You have Clanwilliam to lend you a hand in London and your program will help you out in Cambridge.

All that said, it's not strange or abnormal to be anxious about travelling. It makes most people stressed.

*sends hugs*

[bedlamsbard]

Fortunately my stopover is also in the U.S.! (Newark, New Jersey.) So that's a plus. Something to remember for the next time I have an international stopover as well as an international destination, though.

I think you were probably longer in transit than I'll be, so if you can do it...

[highlyeccentric]

I was in transit for BLOODY WELL FOREVER. It was very, very surreal. But also... oddly soothing. Aside from getting disoriented in Dubai airport over the money thing, there were a whole... more than 24 hours of my life, from check-in at sydney to EU customs, where I just did exactly what I was told, and people fed me on a regular basis.

[bedlamsbard]

I was in transit for a full twenty-four hours once, one Christmas break from New Orleans to Ellensburg. (Flight got delayed at MSY because the signal tower was down, which meant I missed my connecting flight from Houston to Seattle, and when I finally got into Seattle the airport shuttle didn't arrive until past midnight, and I got home at, like, four a.m. I spent more time waiting around in airports than I did in airplanes. *twitches frantically* Not an experience I want to repeat.)

I'll be in transit this time for, I think, around twenty hours? Counting the time it took to get from Ellensburg to Sea-Tac (two hours). My sympathies to your transit not-trauma. :)