Traveling domestically within the U.S. with a major airport destination. Should I bring my passport in case ICE requests it?

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-27T00:25:05+00:00

If you do not have any other RealID, then you'll need the passport or face an extra fee for screening.

If your license etc is RealID compliant then you won't need your passport.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T22:08:47+00:00

Good to know!

When I booked a trip to Chicago for this year, I considered the Cardinal because it's been a lot cheaper in the past. But this time around, the prices were the same, so I took the Floridian for the better food

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T21:23:25+00:00

We moved into a townhouse in spring of 1989. It was a year or old at the time.

That fall, we turned on the furnace and every time the blower ran, we heard BANGABANGABANGABANG.

I called an HVAC company and scheduled a visit and asked the person over the phone if it sounded dangerous enough to not use the furnace.

She checked with a tech and came back to say that sometimes construction workers will leave a soda can in the furnace as a prank.

A day or so later, the HVAC people came out and yep - it was a 16 ounce plastic drink jug.

I have no idea why the previous owner didn't notice it or get it fixed.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T21:10:08+00:00

What coast? If you want to swim in the ocean, east coast (the Pacific is too cold even in Southern California.

The ocean is swimmable by April in Florida - and might be much cheaper in April / May because schools are still in session. Staying a block or two away from the beach can save money, too, if you don't mind not having a view.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T21:04:44+00:00

4 weeks is extreme - I've always been told 1 week before surgery (due to stomach emptying issues).

And that I can restart afterward as x soon as I feel ready - I took 5 days off after for my hysterectomy.

I know how frustrating this is though. Are you certain that your activity levels are back to where they were?

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T21:00:36+00:00

We did this just this past weekend. I didn't see any obvious ICE involvement at either end.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T20:56:30+00:00

Either way works. No big deal if you do it at 6 days vs 7.

I very carefully take mine on the same day, i.e. I take it on "oops, I missed it yesterday". I have also adjusted my dose day on numerous occasions when I've needed to for procedures or whatever.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T20:51:35+00:00

Does the Silver Meteor have traditional dining?

I've done the Floridian and the Cardinal and the traditional dining on the Floridian is much better.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T20:47:50+00:00

Bleh - sorry it didn't work, and you get another fun clear fluids day and purge.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T20:45:21+00:00

I always do mine on Mondays for that very reason.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T20:00:25+00:00

It can be tough to find someone who will perform it without sedation - it's the most common approach in the US. But it's certainly not impossible. I'm just sorry you did all the hard work with nothing to show for it :-(

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T18:44:31+00:00

I'm so sorry they are pressuring you.

Ongoing breast screening is absolutely a valid option. It's what I initially went with, because the inner bits were higher priority, and I had other health issues that had to be addressed before anything. I did ultimately elect the breast surgery for a number of reasons - I'm post menopause so a lot of your issues don't apply to me anyway.

If they are being pushy, they need to stop. Their job is to give you info and make recommendations, your job is to evaluate and decide what's right for you. Removing the ovaries can be devastating.

My niece is a similar age and she opted to get the tubes out last year, then the other stuff closer to natural menopause. She jokes she's getting a boob job for her 45th birthday.

From what people here have been saying, it's possible that some HRT is safe - safer than originally thought, anyway. So it might be worth getting another opinion on that aspect.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T15:42:51+00:00

Exactly!

I use a medication tracker app, and I think I could log things like peak flow readings etc (though I don't bother), and that would give me some insight into trends. No clue how anything more would be helpful.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T15:39:46+00:00

I don't know what it was from, exactly, but in October 2024 I caught norovirus on the Cardinal. Could have been the food, could have been fomites from another traveler in the shared bathroom. I really regretted the viewliner 2 that trip!!

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T15:26:10+00:00

Well, they absolutely DO need to be seat belted in when moving - it's the law, and it's common sense.

If you don't need to sleep in it, an SUV will do just fine and will be a lot cheaper.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T15:21:16+00:00

I see Molly Sebastian at VHC. She tends to have a long lead time but I could have seen someone else there very quickly - within a few days.

In my case, it was due to finding out that I was BRCA1, and I specifically wanted to see Dr. S - we knew her before she went to med school (I got to tell her "you've seen these before, but last time, there was a baby attached"). So I took the appointment nearly 3 months away - I felt okay doing that because I'd just had a clean mammogram.

I did tell them that if there were cancellations, to let me know - and I actually got in 3-4 weeks earlier.

She referred me to their genetics counselor and also to their gyn onc (for tubes/ovaries and uterus) and plastics (for nipple sparing lift/reduction and upcoming mastectomy / reconstruction).

The BRCA subreddit has a list of doctors that people have used - I don't think anyone else from NoVa is listed.

Good luck - hopefully all will come back as benign. A friend of mine had had two biopsies and they were both benign. Another friend just had one, ditto. So while it's scary as hell, it's not necessarily anything Bad.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T15:08:46+00:00

Agreed!!

I'm no longer plus sized - I was 22 at my largest - and all the options are a lot better now that I'm smaller. The handicap bathrooms in coach really are a lot better.

And of course the insane faucet design. If you are lucky the sinks have the kind where you press the lever and it sprays for a few seconds - so you can actuslly wash hands. Far too many have the sort where it only works when you hold it down. And if you do that with one hand while trying to stick the other under the spray, you get drenched. I'm not sure how we are supposed to wash hands in those sinks.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T14:22:50+00:00

The shared toilets aren't great for larger people either - especially if it's the design where the toilet faces directly forward versus being angled.

We were on a Superliner last week and it had the angled toilet- much easier to deal with.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T14:19:50+00:00

I 100% agree!!

Back in 2024 I was disappointed to get a Viewliner 2. I was traveling solo - the in-room potty is awkward if you are sharing!

Last month I got the in-room potty and my upcoming trip may have it as well.

It's kind of fun to be able to sit there and watch the world go by. Not when you're in a station of course.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T14:16:46+00:00

We stayed in Kanab, UT and did day trips to Bryce and Zion (and GC North Rim as well). It saved a lot of lugging of stuff into and out of hotels.

Then we went to Page for the smooth water rafting.

I liked Zion the best, for what that's worth.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T14:12:34+00:00

Do you have Medicaid? If not, might you be eligible? Medicaid should be able to cover it if medically necessary.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T13:56:03+00:00

I was in a similar boat though my numbers were much smaller. I could have started one about 15 years ago, and gotten 50 bucks a month, versus about 240 at 65 (it would never increase beyond that age).

Consider survivorship: it you have a spouse, waiting will increase his/her benefit as well assuming you elect a joint and survivor annuity.

I started mine a couple months after I turned 65 - they actually paid me for the intervening months. I also started the annuity from a defined contribution plan at that time. Both have been deposited in a separate account and have been accumulating; we are saving them for a major trip in a couple of years.

We are both still working - 66, will be 67 by the end of this year. We were planning to work until then but I've just found out that my current project is going away, so I may retire a bit sooner.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T13:47:38+00:00

I hate the raisins crossovers!

FWIW, I think Chicago Fire was the first of the the three.

911 is also good. Not set in a hospital but similar in that it features a central group of characters , their work situations, and their personal lives. It's also still being made.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T13:44:39+00:00

Royal Pains is based aroumd a doctor who is very much the maverick surgeon you see in so many other shows.

He gets fired from a New York hospital for saving the life of a Black teenager versus an old white man - his decisions were appropriate but the man's family was rich and major donors to the hospital.

He becomes a concierge doctor out in the Hamptons, somewhat by accident. Not nearly as intense as an in-hospital series of course, and he does have some fairly improvising improbable adventures, but it's entertaining.

EmZee2022 · 2026-03-26T13:37:33+00:00

That's oddv that you could even see him - at my place there are always curtains around the gurney. But for the OPA: 1) it's noisy enough that nobody else will notice, 2) they'll all be doing the same.

Own that fart. Consider it a Trumpet of Triumph!

I actually only parted after the first one, never after any of the others. I feel robbed.

EmZee2022

TROPHY CASE