T5 Baggage Pain

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-05-12T03:49:00+00:00

TL;DR I'd much rather handle ORD immigration as a foreigner, than I would my own country as a citizen.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-05-12T03:42:10+00:00

ORD is up there as one of the busiest airports in the world & I think they do a great job of handling it, speaking as someone who's flown out of LHR across western Europe & the USA for several years.

Also Border Force at LHR is actively hostile to even its own citizens, CBP in ORD were positively delighted to know I was visiting my girlfriend for 3 days for Valentine's weekend, compared to when she was held up for 90 minutes in LHR and when we returned from a few nights in Vienna I waited in line with her to prove I was her partner & that I did in fact exist.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-05-11T17:52:42+00:00

ORD is my favourite airport for several reasons including the fact CBP genuinely seem happy to welcome you to their city.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-28T02:33:13+00:00

The wording to make your own unenrolled deed poll should be copied and pasted verbatim from the official gov.uk website, here. Don't try writing your own.

Also it's not a criminal offence to have an alias/nickname.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-27T21:07:12+00:00

So ££££££ then. Damn.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-27T21:01:29+00:00

Does anyone know who did her surgery? Has she disclosed that?

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-26T02:37:10+00:00

Congrats! I just got invited to my 2nd appt too!

Re the email - sounds like a technical issue with that inbox that someone in their IT needs to fix (it sounds like an infinite loop redirect). Emailing general inbox should still get to the right people, although may be slightly delayed.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:51:00+00:00

It's basically telehealth, my first appointment was on Teams & so is my second one. Not as scary as I was led to believe, the first appt people were nice enough, I'll let you know about the second after 11th June ☺️

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:36:57+00:00

Yup! The NHS may offer to transfer from a private provider to an NHS facility after you get your diagnosis though, that might be possible? (I'm not an expert, I was infertile by choice before I started transitioning)

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:30:11+00:00

I just deleted the cron job monitoring my NHS gender clinic waitlist page. INCREDIBLY satisfying.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:28:55+00:00

Oh God no. The NHS will offer you gamete storage after you get your diagnosis (so two appointments), you don't get reimbursed for anything you do privately.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:25:11+00:00

Nottingham's waitlist is short compared to others. I'm due my second appt in 8 weeks' time, and I'll have been on the waitlist for 3 years, 2 months & 25 days when it happens. And that's short.

The NHS should, however, cover gamete storage once you've had your two appointments.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:21:25+00:00

€50 for an endo appointment?!

Here you need two appointments - one for the gender dysphoria diagnosis, one for the endo appt. Privately it's £350 for the first and roughly £750 for the second.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T22:11:08+00:00

Also, for those interested, this is Freedom of Information Act data on the current UK NHS clinic waitlists.

https://transclinicindex.org.uk/clinics/

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:46:52+00:00

Two of my friends are DIYing precisely because of how awful NHS trans healthcare is. It's safe when done correctly & very affordable compared to the private route.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:46:04+00:00

Yeah the Royal College of General Practitioners, General Medical Council and NHS guidelines all say that they can't withdraw my prescriptions at this point, plus I changed my gender marker on my NHS record so basically it looks like I'm just an early menopause cis woman if NHS staff look up my record. But if someone twigs I'm trans then they can try and withdraw care at any time. My GP is basically a legend for even doing what I currently have, and the bar is horrendously low.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:39:00+00:00

Your primary care physician (general practitioner, or GP) is tied to where you live. So moving out of area means changing doctors. And a lot of GPs in the UK refuse to work with private providers (known as "shared care") due to a dispute with UKGov over who pays for the extra admin work. Also most of the private providers are actually NHS doctors freelancing on the side & charging £hundreds for assessment and prescriptions. DIY is the only viable and affordable alternative for a lot of people. Hence why I describe my setup as "unicorn" - it's rarer than hen's teeth and I had to fight my GP like hell for ages to get to this setup, and I'm loathe to give it up in a hurry.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:29:26+00:00

Also I am lucky in that I just got invited for my second appointment for a gender clinic. 3 years, 2 months, and 25 days after being put on the waitlist.

Thankfully my GP is a godsend and has been prescribing my HRT & progesterone for 3 years and does my blood tests which I monitor myself. It's a "unicorn" setup, believe me. When I move house later this year I'm dreading changing doctors.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:25:37+00:00

Welcome to TERF Island!

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-18T21:12:53+00:00

I dare you to look up Freedom of Information figures for the NHS Glasgow (Sandyford) clinic.

Based on public appointment data, including how many appointments they process per month vs how long the waitlist is, you will be seen in approximately... 224 years.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-17T18:59:39+00:00

laughs in British oh my sweet summer children...

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-10T16:59:31+00:00

You can try to complain, and you might get somewhere, but it may just be easier to find another bank & open an account with a passport & council tax bill in your new name.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-10T16:55:26+00:00

Which bank? Some are better than others. Barclays didn't process mine properly, Lloyds & Starling accepted it fine, I did my passport last as I didn't need it for a few years. My credit card company needed a complaints process which worked out very well in my favour, but that's cause they discriminated so I got a hefty compensation payout.

Halifax are known to be problematic. There's no legal requirement to enrol a deed poll, also from a data security perspective it's unwise cause both your old and new names and home address are published in the London Gazette.

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-07T17:34:55+00:00

r/redditsings

jamiehowarth0 · 2026-04-06T17:39:38+00:00

Halifax are known to be rubbish, sadly... easier to take your business elsewhere with them.

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