Off I go!

So on the morning of Monday 3rd June I woke up at 4:30 am after only about 2 hours sleep. I felt really calm, I had to double check I had everything, got ready, loaded up the car and headed out to the airport. I checked in successfully and said a brief goodbye to my parents. With the ability to Skype so easily (and lets be honest I'm not very good at goodbyes) it doesn't feel like I'm completely leaving everyone at home.

Security was a doddle to get through and I hoped to get breakfast once I was in the departure lounge. I still had several hours until my 9:25 flight so browsed through the shops and looked for some suitable food and a place I could get a couple of magazines so I popped into WHSmiths.

I still had about an hour until I would be able to find out which gate I was boarding from so I sat down with a view of both the runway and an information point so I could watch for my gate. I had only sat down for about a minute when a man who had behind us at the check in desk came and sat next to me. Now please don't get me wrong, I love when people talk to me, I am a chatterbox, but this guy was a little strange and kept staring at me whilst I ate until I replied him. It took me and age to finish my food. Anyway, long story short, I felt obliged to follow him to the gate and stay stood near him until we had boarded.

For some reason I had been upgraded into Economy plus (Thank you Au Pair In America!) and I was able to board a little earlier and had a tonne of extra legroom.

GOOD BYE ENGLAND

AND HELLO AMERICA

Preparation

It still hadn't hit me that I was actually going but I thought it would probably be a good idea to start and think about what I want to take with me. As I'm planning on saving as much money as I can in order to travel after I have completed the program I don't want to pack really light and just expect to buy a lot of the things I need whilst I'm over there and although I really really wish I could fit everything in one case I don't think that's going to fly considering I've already filled about half my case just with gifts for my family! I admit I may have gone slightly over board...

 

I have already started to separate clothes up into 'Definitely', 'Maybe' and 'Definitely not' piles and it's a system that's been working well as I have my brother's old room to use as a packing area so I have taken pretty much all my clothes out of my room so I can see what I have (I was surprised how many items I had forgotten about). The 'Definitely' pile includes clothes that I really wear on a day to day basis, favorite pieces and bits that I couldn't live without. The 'Maybe' pile is for clothes that I could buy whilst I am there and would take up too much room to take (big jumpers etc.), clothes that I only wear every now and then, that I'm not sure fit really well or have holes in (I'm looking at a MASSIVE mound of tights to check through!) and do I really need to take 12 pairs of pyjamas?!... Probably not, thinking about it.

I still have plenty to think about like make-up and shampoo etc, but having kept in constant contact with my future Host Family I know that after I arrive on the Thursday my family is free the whole weekend to take me to the supermarket, show me the area and take me out driving. I cannot say how important frequent communication helps! I know that I only have to bring about a weeks supply of shower products which will save me a decent amount of weight.

Wahoo!

Only 40 days until I set off to the states!