Traveling under a pseudogender

I've never enjoyed international commutes. They are long, bothersome, crowded and wasteful. But since I've started identifying as gender non-binary, it's worse.

Constant reminders

During my travel from Israel to the UK yesterday, I had to mark my sex 4 times. Yes, sex, not gender, but somehow that isn't comforting at all. This was also the first time I felt bad about going into the male restrooms. It's just a constant reminder of how the world doesn't accept me for who I am.

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The unfamiliar

Traveling abroad means going to an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people and an unfamiliar culture. It means I don't know what kind of reactions to expect from people for presenting as feminine, or genderqueer.
At home I could slowly explore people's reactions, learn them, learn to deal with them. Dropping into an unfamiliar place is scary.
So I minimize it. Aside from my nail polish, which I decided to keep this time, I'm hiding my feminine traits. Am I going into a closet, after not ever being in one?

I'll be flying to Japan in May, and I feel even worse about that. I'm likely going to cut my nails short when I go there. I don't want the extra attention.

The good stuff

And just to end on a more fun note, after all, I am on vacation, and I'm not actually sitting here moping like the tone of this post suggests.

Got on a train to the airport. Commute was fine. Got to the airport. Flying British Airways, which means shorter lines than El Al, and quicker check in. Got to the duty free in about 45 minutes. Also didn't do the 3 hours ahead of time thing, so barely had to wait for boarding.

I took a bunch of selfies on the way, at @techslut's request. You know what bothers me? I'm wearing the same shirt in all of them. How silly is that?

British Airways flights are usually really nice, and this flight was no exception. The only problem was this huge hunk of metal cutting down on my leg room.

It turned out not to be so bad for the legs, but just not leaving me room for my bag on the floor, so had to stow it. Accidentally dropped a water bottle on someone's head while doing so. Sorry someone.

Pro Tip: If you want to get your meal early, order a special meal. I ordered a hindu one, which was vegeterian and quite nice.

Generally asking for something special, weird as it sounds, gets you better service. I asked the stewardess for ginger ale. She was super nice. Said she has some but not in the cart, she'll go get me some, and even offered to bring me two. Then insisted on giving me something from the cart in the meantime. Sparkling water it is.

I get to the UK, everything goes smoothly, though I lose the luggage roulette and reclaim mine fairly late. Mom picks me up from the airport. Ya, I'm visiting my mom, who lives in the UK since I was 16.

She said she made indian food, but thought I probably won't be hungry, and also cake. So she said we can have cake with tea.
I just landed in the UK though, I'm thinking, pub!

Me: We can drop the stuff at the house, and head to the pub for a beer.
Mom: Ah, well, we might have to drive there.
Me: What, no neighborhood pub?
Mom: No. Need to drive to one. Or walk 10-15 minutes.
Me: Disaster! A house in the middle of Oxford with no neighborhood pub!
...
We decide to walk to the pub. It was maybe a 6 minute walk.
Different definitions of what a neighborhood pub is, I guess.

Anyway, at the pub they have changing taps, and they have little clear jars with the beers in front of the tap so you can see their color. Real neat.

I tried half a pint of a local brew, which was super cheap, like 1.5 pounds. And also had a pint of blue moon. Blue moon was better, but not by a lot.