BY SAVANNAH SHAPIRO

I have never been on a plane by myself. I have never left the country. And the furthest flight that I have ever been on was from California to Arizona. That flight lasted around 35 minutes… Needless to say, I was a little nervous to be flying by myself on a ten hour flight to another country. My flight left at 6:00PM a day before my English program started giving me one day to explore the city. When I arrived at LAX, I was feeling both nervous and excited. My cousin gave me some advice prior to leaving that was extremely helpful for me.  

  1. Give yourself plenty of time before your flight. My flight left at 6:00PM and I was at LAX around 2:40. I wanted to give myself as much time as possible so I could learn how to navigate the airport.  
  2. Take everything one step at a time. Once you arrive at your airport, you check in with the airline you are flying with. You can stand in line to have your boarding pass printed, or you can choose the faster option and go to the automated stations that prints both your boarding pass and luggage tag. Your luggage must be under 50lbs (I had to put my chucks in my carryon because I was a little over oops!).  
  3. Security. Going through security is very simple and easy. You put all your carryon items up on the table and just wait to go through. If you are traveling with a computer, you must take the computer out of its case and put it in a separate bin! Because my cousin told me this before I left, I didn’t lock my carryon and I purposefully made my computer easily accessible. This saved me time and kept me calm throughout the process making everything much easier!  
  4. Landing. The great thing about airports is there is always someone there to help you. Additionally, there are multiple signs with arrows that lead you in the right direction. Once you start walking through the airport, you will go through immigration where you show your passport, an immigration card that your flight attendant will give you (they are also available everywhere in the airport), and proof that you are studying abroad (don’t worry, the IEO office will give this to you).  
  5. Heathrow Airport to London. It’s time to navigate yourself from the airport to the dorms. I landed in Heathrow at noon London time and decided to Uber from the airport to my friends apartment on near Clarkenwell. The Uber cost around $57 in U.S. currency. I wanted to learn more about the city before I traveled on the Heathrow Express and the Underground.  

Quick Tips: 

The app “Citymapper” is extremely helpful when trying to navigate the city. The app has bus routes, times and routes of the Underground as well as the fatest and cheapest options to wherever you are trying to go.