<p>You know Kelsmom, I think you clarified my worry. It’s the flying. She has been traveling often since she arrived in Vienna in August and I have not heard from her until she returns to Vienna. No worries. Up until now though all her travel has been by train. I don’t know why adding 2 flights to the process has made me so nervous, its not really rational. This is a girl who has traveled by plane often and can negotiate airports with the best of them. She is also the one that will contact me, by any means possible, if something has gone wrong. There, I’ve talked myself into a less worried state! But I can’t tell you that Lockerbee hasn’t crossed my mind since she’s returning from Paris on December 21 after traveling for 2 weeks after her classes finish on December 6. Just add that to my list!!</p>
<p>Mine is also traveling after she finishes classes, then returning through London the 20th. Our kids will be just fine, I am sure. Just keep reminding yourself that your D is actually safer in the air than she would be driving in a car (certainly safer flying home from Paris than driving home :))!</p>
<p>I feel your pain… DS is going to Barcelona for a semester next spring. I have this feeling I’ll try to reach him and find out he’s gone to France or Scotland or Prague for the weekend and “forgotten” to tell me… I know he plans to ski in the Alps. </p>
<p>Since your D said she’d call when they were “settled in,” maybe they just haven’t “settled in” yet. To you and me that may mean “the second the wheels touch the tarmac” and to her it may mean after we get to the hotel, check in, eat lunch, explore, eat dinner… then “settle in” for the night.</p>
<p>It sounds like she didn’t sleep during her time in Barcelona, and when she hit Santiago she may have taken a nap, or, conversely, been so excited that she is out exploring and meeting new people. Spain is such a wonderful place. I have family there, and have always felt that it is one of the most alive places in the world. It is also possible that her phone may not be working. That doesn’t surprise me; Coruna is a fairly remote corner of the country.</p>
<p>And the prize goes to…those who suggested she was taking a nap, and those who suggested she was out exploring…and, and, and !!! She called at 8pm our time (2am her time!) to say she was sorry not to have called and to have missed my call. They crashed upon arrival, slept and then went out. She is, as all predicted, having an amazing time in Santiago after an equally amazing, and fun all-nighter in Barcelona. I can sleep easily tonight.
Thanks to all for your support and stories. I knew this was the place to come.</p>
<p>Oh, good!!! Glad that waiting it out a little worked.</p>
<p>Last night, ds1 and I were watching a PBS show – maybe Rick Steves? – about Spain, which ds1 visited over spring break. It was great to hear him talk about how he had seen this or that. World travel is so important for them!</p>
<p>So glad to hear everything is OK. I am a worrier myself.</p>
<p>So glad that you’ve heard from your daughter.</p>
<p>My son travels internationally frequently and we have an agreement that he will use the airport ATM as soon as he lands - assuming that the airport has an ATM. The withdrawal usually posts on the U.S. bank account a day later and that’s when I find out that he has landed safely. It’s not as good as a phone call, but it works for us.</p>
<p>Just heard frm D that she is back from Cardiff. RR, glad D is safe and having fun. Kelsmom, it is eerie that you mentioned Lockerbie, as I was in labor all day w/D on that day.</p>
<p>I also check ATM activity. My one DD calls me a stalker!</p>
<p>Our DD, abroad in Florence, went to London and Amsterdam on fall break. Remebered the charger but left the cell phone at friends’ apartment in London. So much for phone contact.</p>
<p>It’s amazing how conditioned we have become (well, I have) to being able to be in phone contact. When S1 went to Valdivostok after his second year of college he took no cell phone, no computer, nothing. I only knew he arrived once he had registered for his classes and had access to a computer at the university. I was at the mercy of internet cafes and international phone cards as he then traveled for 5 weeks, much of the time alone, from far eastern Russia to London for his study abroad quarter. Clearly, both he and I survived. S2 went to Uzbekistan after his third year to work with an Italian archeological team. Did I mention it was a 36 hour, 3 plane change journey and he doesn’t speak Russian, Uzbek or Italian? But, he did have an international cell phone/sim card, which, of course, he couldn’t charge most of the time due to lack of electricity! Limited cell phone service even when it was charged. We all survived! So now I freak out because I don’t hear from D within 6 hours of when I expect to hear, clearly MY problem. This all communication, all the time is clearly a two-edged sword. </p>
<p>To all whose kids are currently traveling and studying abroad, I’m always here to commiserate! The one thing about which I’m sure we can all agree is that this is an amazing, exciting, growth-inducing experience in their lives. If any of your kids have shared travel locations or experiences that are not to be missed, please share. My D still has 2 full weeks and multiple weekends to fill! From her perspective, the baths in Budapest were an experience not to be missed. Anyone else?</p>
<p>LOL - the ATM was how I knew our boys were still alive when they were in Europe last summer.</p>
<p>When they hadn’t had a transaction for a few days I’d start to worry, but the three of them were together, so I didn’t worry too much, and they came back with great shared experiences.</p>
<p>YAY! She’s having a great time!</p>
<p>Older D has traveled on her own to Italy and Ireland and lived in Manhattan when she first graduated and worked in the Bronx. People would ask if I worried about her living there (shortly after 9/11) but I knew she would be smart about how she traveled about the city. </p>
<p>Younger DD has traveled abroad in many different situations, she lived away from home for a semester (in DC) when she was a junior in high school, so I have always encouraged them to explore and travel. </p>
<p>Both D’s are good about communicating - but sometimes situations were such that it was impossible. But, if she said she would call when she got settled, I would have been moderately concerned just because my interpretation (and her usual interpretation) would have meant that she would call when she landed. It would have more to do with it being out of character than anything else. </p>
<p>Younger D has been to Egypt, Croatia, Bosnia (where it turns out maybe I should have been worried), Europe, etc. without us. The most I ever worried about her wasn’t when she was abroad, but when she lived in a very safe college town but in an apartment that was in the lower level of a home situated in a beautiful, but very wooded area. She used public transportation which meant she had to walk down a wooded path to go to/from the bus stop. </p>
<p>I could see in the afternoon when she returned and was on skype - but it was all I could do not to call her employer and tell them to please call me if she didn’t show up for work some morning. I was so happy when the summer was over.</p>
<p>Glad to know your D is just fine, runnersmom. It’s also wonderful that she is enjoying her trip!</p>
<p>Oh dear, runnersmom, you have very adventurous kids! I’m glad that all is well. So far we only had to deal with a kid who missed her plane returning home from Gambia, but now the other one has expressed some interest in studying abroad in Moscow - yikes!</p>
<p>Tell your kids to watch the Liam Neeson movie “Taken” before they leave for study abroad and remind them this is where your imagination will be going, so to please be in touch!</p>
<p>Any currently worried parent should NOT watch that movie, though!</p>
<p>MomVA: my D1 was notoriously bad at keeping in touch in undergrad, so I frequently checked her bank activity ;)</p>
<p>OMG, “Taken”…I am so not going there! I would never trade my ease for their adventures, I just always ask them to remember their worried, neurotic mom. And they usually do. Prime example, the first words out of her mouth were an apology, she knew I was worried, rational or not. But yes, my kids’ wanderlust has conditioned me somewhat. For example, I didn’t ask to be called during the Barcelona layover, only once she’d reached her final destination! Baby steps and all. It’s all good, and I do my best to make sure my anxieties don’t slow them down. I even have fun following them on the map as they travel the world. Vicarious pleasures I guess.</p>
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<p>Glad your D is fine. I agree about “Taken”–I’d get too crazy if I started thinking about that film. My D is studying in Moscow and just went with the kids in her program to St. Petersburg for 5 days. I saw photos on Facebook where she was tagged, but haven’t heard from her. I usually get calls from an internet cafe.</p>
<p>Yeah, Taken is a bit extreme, but sometimes at 2AM where you’re worried, your imagination can run wild. Just saw that movie this week, so it was fresh in my mind 
But I was careful not to post that until AFTER you said she was okay :D</p>
<p>Facebook is a great idea, maybe kids who don’t want their parents on their full profile would add them to a limited profile and parents could see that they are alive and posting!?</p>
<p>Glad you heard from her. I can totally identify w/that awful worry feeling. </p>
<p>Have a D, abroad this semester, in Barcelona this weekend. Haven’t heard from her. Not even going to think about it because I’ll go nuts! </p>
<p>Well, maybe I’ll just email her now. :}</p>