Adventures in Airport Frustration, Part 1 of 57

The study abroad program director just emailed us with information on the new "tweaked" security measures, and praise Zeus for tweaking because I was certainly not going to bring all my business in a clear plastic bag. I mean, it's a given that people traveling to the UK will have a passport or other theft-prone items, but I'd rather not put it out there as "I AM DISTRACTED AT THE TICKET COUNTER, SO PLEASE NOTICE MY AMERICAN PASSPORT, £50.12 IN CASH AND SUPER-ABSORBENCY TAMPON!"

So because I must feed my inner researchasaurus, I immediately googled "carry-on baggage US UK" and found that although I can now bring solid lip balm, I will have to remove the gel inserts from the boots I bring on board. Also, all water bottles must be empty, but it would kill me to waste all that empty space in my luggage with my giant nalgene, so I'll probably stuff it with things like hankies or underpants or something. Although now that I think of it, I don't have a good reason for packing ahead of time if I'm not going to be able to avoid having my life spread out in front of a few dozen co-travelers and a couple of armed security personnel. I should just haul all my stuff to the airport in a crate and pack in the terminal.

This is too much! As it is, I am just coming to terms with the thought of spending a year without my mattress topper. Oh, the horror! (We're going to overlook the fact that I just googled "UK university mattresses" in a hopeful attempt to find the blog of a prior traveler announcing the superiority of British dormitory bedding to American.)

posted by limeywannabe @ 2:39 PM