Holy Cow!

I leave tomorrow!  Crazy!!

I'm all packed, and guess what - I was actually able to pack everything in just the one suitcase!  I was kinda surprised by that.  Once I had all the clothes that I wanted to bring laid out, and had opened up the suitcase, both me and my mom were not quite sure that it was gonna work out.  But thanks to three large space bags (which, if anyone is curious, fit perfectly in a 28-inch suitcase), we were able to fit everything.  It wound up being about 1.5 pounds over, which considering what was in there, was really good.  If anyone is debating whether or not to get a luggage scale, I highly recommend it.

My bag with the first space bag in it.  Fits perfectly!  And there are a ton of shirts/sweaters in just that one bag.

The suitcase all packed... yes, that is an abnormally large boot sticking out on the top, upside down.

And then after packing was done, my dad and I ran out to go pick up some British pounds (Pounds?) last minute.

I had a very difficult time figuring out where to go to get pounds so I'd have some when I first arrived, so incase anyone is also trying to find them, here's what we did.  Apparently all of the banks in the area either do not have pounds available, or you have to be a member of their bank to get it.  My bank said that I could call the headquarters and get some from there but I wasn't really sure where "headquarters" was and I assumed there would be an easier way to do it.  Silly me...

We wound up having to make an appointment with the foreign currency exchange office at Albany Airport.  And you have to call to make the appointment, go to some weird security door/desk thing that doesn't look like you're allowed there.  They take your ID, give you a weird pass, and then you have to go through security!  So I had a little preview of what tomorrow will be like.  Then once you're behind security you can go to the office and get the foreign currency. 

OMG! British money!  And the Queen!!

So yeah, now I have money. 

And my family threw me a little surprise going away party tonight.  It was so, so nice to see all my friends and family and even though I wasn't expecting to get to see everyone before I left, it was really nice to be able to.

Ok so as far as my travels tomorrow, I'm going to post my flight information/times for anyone who may be interested (??) 

I leave Albany Airport at 3:10 PM (on US Airways flight 3780)

Arrive in Philadelphia around 4:13, then hang around there for 2 1/2 hours

Then my flight from Philadelphia to Glasgow (!) leaves at 6:45 (US Airways flight 768)

and arrive in Glasgow at 6:55 AM, their time (I think its like 1 or 2 am EST... )

And there it is... Leaving in like 16 hours (?  Apparently I'm not good at counting)