<p>Baseballmom, I notice we've not really addressed the loss of sleep. I worry about my children traveling too, but I also rely on their common sense, and the knowledge that very little goes wrong anyway. Think about it: the disappearance of that girl in Aruba (name escapes me) is still big news MONTHS later---if it was common, it wouldn't still be news, we'd be on to someone else. (And it appears she didn't use the best possible judgement, either.)</p>
<p>I would suggest sitting down with your daughter and working out answers to the questions that are worrying you: "what would you do if your flight is delayed? Cancelled? If your purse was stolen? If you lost your money? If you had to stay overnight in the airport? If a stranger approached you? If you only had a few minutes to make the connection?" There are good answers to all these questions.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have a cell phone? They're invaluable when traveling! My favorite example is getting to the airport to discover my D's flight was cancelled; we got in line and I got on the cell phone to the airline--by the time we got to the front of the line, she'd been put on a whole new route, connecting in a different city, on an EARLIER flight, and all the agent had to do was give her the new boarding passes. </p>
<p>As for your lack of sleep, I wonder if you're focusing on travel worries as a way of deflecting your worries about her leaving home at all? It really does get easier with time!</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone for the great advice. Since we're in the northeast, a trip is seldom completed according to the original itinerary. D has travelled with me quite a bit and witnessed first-hand negotiation skills to get re-booked, re-routed, upgraded, vouchers, etc.</p>
<p>The last trip W to E occurred on a day with big storms expected on the east coast, so we got to the airport at 5 a.m. with plans to work on an earlier itinerary in advance of flights being delayed. She was a good student, listening intently while I convinced the airline clerk to rebook our entire trip.</p>
<p>In my gut I know she'll be fine on her own. It's the letting go that's the hard part.</p>
<p>I am extremely anxious about my D traveling about 8000 miles on her own. She'll be in the US and the rest of the family will be in Asia. I worry about everything - cancelled flights, losing money, losing passport, losing credit cards, snow storms, ice storms, thunderstorms, kidnappers (please don't get me started on this one), stalkers, predators, dark alleys, dark corridors, going anywhere at night, illness, homesickness, and much, much more.</p>
<p>I so hear you! Went thru this last year .... my H laughs, saying it's your own fault for being such a good parent... sometimes he makes it impossible to argue... LOL!</p>
<p>However, Alaska's credit card lets you accumulate miles on a $1/1 mile basis and has no upper limit, so if you have a lot of business credit card stuff, you can really accumulate the miles]]]</p>
<p>I have a gazillion points on AmEx but have been told that those can be hard to turn into upgrades when you want them too. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, my frequent flyer programs are United and American, much more mileage on the latter, as Northwestern & Delta are mostly useless for us in terms of our travel patterns.</p>
<p>I am with holycow and the other anxiety stricken parents--but from personal experience--if you child is on an airplane--99.99 % of the time it will land at an airport. If your child stays at the airport until she can get another flight somewhere else closer to her destination, she may be uncomfortable but she will be safe--airports are high security places and safer than hotels or motels--I have been told you have a right to stay there overnight if you have a flight the next morning or are put off because of snowstorms etc. Some security personnel will be there 24 hours and you cannot be kidnapped if you do not leave the airport. Make sure your child has a security pouch worn under the clothing for credit card and passport. Make sure there is a photocopy of the passport with you for faxing and in another pocket with your child.</p>
<p>Go see the Tom Hanks movie "Terminal" --it is possible to survive a long time at an airport.</p>
<p>When I was 20, I spent a night at Belfast airport--British soldiers in camouflage with rifles jogged past me every 45 minutes or so . The man at the snack bar offered me a cup of tea and biscuits before closing up for the night and I got my flight out early the next morning.</p>
<p>Sickness and homesickness can be coped with by a variety of staff at any US college-- good to establish contact to a chaplain if you have a religious affiliation-- colleges also offer training in safety and "street smarts" depending on the college's location. It is reasonable to use college security escorts for late nights where available and for young women to avoid being alone late at night in dark alleys etc. Cell phones and blue light security phones are a help here too. Talk with your D about common sense precautions and "how to keep your wits about you" at all times. Then trust her and pray.</p>
<p>joining the frequent flyer programs are useful for getting extra customer service not only for upgrades,that was the original point of suggesting it for the OP.</p>
<p>An echo for Cathymee's put your kid on your credit card. As we were preparing for D to go to college, I was talking about finances with my partner (work). When his oldest went to school, he was in similar circumstance to us - no relatives in the city where she would be, no relatives in our city, younger sibling at home. He and his wife reasoned that if the worst possible situation happened - both parents dead in an accident - they wanted the oldest to be able to fly home, and have money to draw upon until the initial crisis had passed, to some extent the oldest would be responsible for the younger child for awhile. This made sense to us, especially for our older child - we put her on a credit card that we don't use, has no annual fee, but has a $40000 credit limit, and we discussed situations in which she might need the card - real emergencies.</p>
<p>I think that it is kind of difficult to get kidnapped at an airport. Its not easy. I don't think it can be done. Unless, she were to ride with a stranger and then kidnapped. But, as long as she's inside the airport, she is very safe.</p>
<p>My S traveled to East Asia after his junior year in HS and stayed the summer in a major city. It was a big sep, though he has traveled out-of-the country in the past, he had never been away from home much, not even summer camp. While disconcerting, what made it possible was that the phone communication was quite good and inexpensive. He used a phone with voice over IP capabilities and would call us frequently. Today with Skype and other services the cost is next to nothing. The traveling part was the least of our concerns, it was the staying by himself in a big strange city part that made us the most nervous. </p>
<p>What we learned was that he was much more resourceful than we thought, was careful and took great care of himself, and found many ways to make his trip a great experience. In the dorm where he was staying, he met many kids, including girls, that were doing the same thing as he. They quickly bonded and supported one another as well. When he arrived home, I asked if there was anything he would have changed about the trip, he said yea, "I would have liked to stay longer!"</p>