Ca$h

Today I opened a charles schwabb account. This is monumental in my eyes. For some reason, only real adults have accounts with charles schwabb, only adults who have the potential to buy stocks and make investments, things I have no intention of doing anytime soon. It turns out, however, that they have a fabulous checking program, especially for us globe trotters: no atm withdrawal fees (globally), no exchange rate or currency conversion fees, no nothing. I suppose trading stocks means you can make your money in other ways than nickel-and-dime-ing the little guys like me. So now I have a means of transporting money around the globe, from the us government into my bank account. Its making things seem more real. It is funny to me that something as simple as opening a new bank account makes traveling abroad seem more plausible, or just more determined to happen. Its hard because as of right now everything, all my planes, my date of arrival, what Ill need, are just words floating around in emails or my head, archived and existing only in gmail's endless memory. I have no plane tickets, no place to stay, no books. Some of you may gasp and shake your heads with concern, but the tickets are in the process of being approved and you apply for a visa after getting there. Lets just hope everyone keeps checking their email. Oh, how did the world function before the internet?

Well, I'm off to the toy store to make the big bucks (ha ha). Check back often! I promise to be rambling off joys and muttering frustrations.

Emily