Don't you pluck me by the beard!

Just had my heart heaved into my throat: I called Virgin Atlantic to confirm my flight departure tomorrow and, after an inquiry into my reference number, was told I wasn't in their system! Ack! And as I was frantically searching through paperwork and emails, and after all of a minute and a half, ("Just another moment, please," I asked of the representative twice), my call was disconnected (purposefully? I don't know). A phone call to Student Universe (through whom I'd purchased my tickets) and another to Virgin Atlantic and all was straightened out, but man, that was frightening. Though, perhaps, a normal experience. And I definitely felt a pinch at my chin-whiskers . . .

All packed, and ready to go-go-go! I'm all jazzed up. After I land I've now got two different ways I can get to where I'll be staying, the choice depending on how adventurous I feel and how many pounds I want to spend (the more conservative choice will run me about 25£, the more adventurous about 5£). Once I check in I'll explore a bit, either hiking to the Victoria and Albert Museum and soaking in or seeking out the nearest theatre sites and purchasing tickets (I also hope to find a grocer and try a cheese and Branson pickle sandwich). Most importantly, I'll be calling my foreign mentor (Russ McDonald, a fine Shakespearean scholar whose works I greatly respect) and setting up a lunch and chat to get me started on my project. Yay!

Douglas Lanier, my UNH mentor (and another great scholar and teacher), has done such a wonderful job preparing me. (Doug, when you read this, thank you again!) I would not have come this far without his guidance, and I commend him especially for his patience with my always bubbling excitement and occasional nervousness.

I'm not sure how much I'll be affected by jetlag - I've shuffled my sleep schedule so much for work these past couple weeks that my body just doesn't know when to sleep anymore! My plane leaves at 745pm Monday and lands around 7 - 730am Tuesday and I figure I'll stay up through the day and crash around 9 or 10 that night. (I honestly don't think I'll be able to sleep on the plane. Not only is flying a new experience for me, but being in an aisle seat I must be ever vigilant in gaurding my elbow.) I should also have internet access shortly thereafter, so there shouldn't be too long a break in my journaling!

One more day, one more day! And my silliest kitty, camped out on my suitcase below, plumb insists she can come along with me and no one will notice.














And this, this is what I don't want to happen with my flight.












I also don't want the kosher meal.

(**Later note: I just checked in with Virgin Atlantic online, a new feature, and ran across the same problem of not being able to find myself. So I decided to enter a few different things in the field entries and hit, first swing, on the problem: my middle name was in the system as part of my first name, dagnabbit! Well, if any difficulties arise tomorrow I'll at least be able to point folks in the right direction to fix them. And even though with online check-in you're supposed to be able to arrive only 90 minutes before take-off and be all set I'm still going to show up a good 3 hours ahead of time, just to be safe. Paranoid, me, 'yup.)