Money, Money, Money

I've now taken care of the financial end of things. I went to the bank to purchase some Traveller's Cheques as well as to inform them that I would be travelling to London for the month of July. This was necessary because if I didn't, they would report my debit card as a "hot card" and potentially cut off my funds whilst I was there and that could be a bad thing.

I wasn't going to even bother with the whole Am Ex thing this time around, but it dawned on me that if I lost my debit card, I would be up a creek (or the Thames as it might be). There could also be some sort of horrible nationwide electrical disaster that made it impossible to access any ATM machines. Or, I could just lose the stupid card. So, anyway, I purchased the good old fashioned cheques. I felt safer just having them in my hand.

The new card that American Express offers, by the way, is not nearly as easy as it looks. For one thing, they charge you $14.95 just to get one. This is a rip unless you are getting at least $1500 worth of spendy cash to take with you in that form. If so, that fee is offset because Am Ex charges you $1 per $100 if you don't have it as part of your banking fees. However, here's the kicker. When you use that card to make a purchase, American Express charges you more fees. They do not, however, charge you any more fees when you sign one of those little checks over to a merchant or when you drage your sweaty half-dead self in to one of their many Am Ex locations around the globe where you then wait in line for anywhere from 2 minutes to half an hour to exchange your $200 bucks for about half of that in the local play money. I suppose there is something to be said for a small fee, hmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, I have cash. I can travel now. I also wore my new travel shoes, even if they do look like old lady shoes. They didn't kill my feet. In fact, despite the very clunky thick soles, they were incredibly comfortable. Once I got used to the whole "walking shoe" thing, I was fine. See, a "walking shoe" is much more firm than a standard athletic shoe or my usual flip flop. It's intended for things like cobblestones or tree roots and the like. I wasn't prepared for this at first and so I didn't pick my foot up quite enough when I was taking my initial step, thus dragging on the carpet and nearly rendering my four weeks of post-knee surgery rehab useless. Thankfully, I caught my balance and got the hang of walking and was able to adapt quickly. Any trouble with the shoe was solely operator error. I highly recommend New Balance and ordering them from Zappos. I ordered them on Wednesday and they arrived on Thursday. You can't beat that.