I am so excited that I am not at all sure that I will be able to keep this entry focused. I am going to London. Me, a woman with a passport. Me, a world traveler. Me, Ms. Fidget, about to spend six hours on a plane. Me, about to deal with money exchanges and wondering whether they will hate me as much as banks do.

Mr. Philately has been no more of a world traveler than I have. He thought he was doing exciting things when he left small-town Iowa for the wicked, wanton Big Apple. Now he�s going to London�and he is as excited and as anxiety-ridden as I am. While I obsess about long plane rides, he�s worrying about whether he can do laundry in London. While I try to figure out currency, he�s worrying about how much money we should take. Bev and Mary seem much calmer but they are much better traveled than we are.

I had the usual packing problems. For mysterious reasons, I can never find a pair of shoes. I find several shoes but none of them make up a pair of shoes. I never realized how many shoes I have that I never wear. How can I wear them? I can only find a left shoe or a right shoe. There�s some fairy or borrower out there than has some use for only one shoe. It�s not as a boat or I�d notice the wet shoes when they mysteriously return. Perhaps they live in that shoe�although one of Kat�s would be far roomier. They must also be the ones that throw my heel pads around so they end up in opposite corners of the very messy closet.

And now I�m ready and then some. I still have to wait for the plane to take off for Pittsburgh and then on to London. I can barely contain myself (which is another of Mr. Philately�s anxieties as he will be trapped on the plane next to me). I�m out of here.

Perhaps I�ll do some posting from a cybercafe and perhaps I won�t but don�t worry about me. I�m off traveling the world.

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