I have just got back from the UK and I had some interesting experiences while there. Without doubt, I am looking at the very least 'androgenous' because I had as many 'Miss' and 'Madam' etc as I did sirs, which of course was great. It's even better though because I was in drab all the time, no make up/boobs/wig or anything like that so what a bonus!!

There was a downside..................sort of.

It's very hard to go to the loo because I get really odd looks when someone sees me walking in or out of the gents, but I don't believe I am quite femme enough (in drab) yet to use the ladies either. Although I ended up using both at times, I used the disabled ones where possible to prevent any 'problems' occuring.

Passport control was tricky too, since I don't look anything like the person on my passport anymore. (I will get it changed once my sugery is complete). I was scrutinised at every check because of this but the best was when I was heading through the gate. The conversation went something like this:

'This passport is for (male name)'
'That's right.'
'But.............Oh! I see!!.........er, um, okay, thankyou!'

I had to chuckle and was really chuffed too. Plus, at least I know I can travel en femme in the future which is a big plus.

So how did I celebrate? By getting my ears pierced of course!!

Nikki

I only have the your small I.D. picture to go by, but I have to say....
Looking like that, I'm surprised that you have even the slightest doubt about your appearance.
You are beautiful. Stunning.
I'm jealous as hell
If I'd had the same response from somebody at immigration/passport control, I think my celebrations might stretch to something more than piercings!! Probably a round the world cruise


Nicky
XX

lol, thankyou Nicola. I didn't quite look like my id picture here since I was in drab, or what passes for drab for me anyway so I felt the response was quite significant. I would like to think that with make up etc on there would be no doubt.........but maybe that's asking too much.

Thanks again though, but don't be jealous, I'm not exactly satisfied with how I look, especially compared to some of the girls here.

Anyway, Nicola, it's how you feel about yourself that matters, that's what's important.

Nikki

That's a really interesting post Joelle, and I can imagine the problems you have encountered. You are absolutely right though, just smile and laugh and don't let it get you down. I couldn't care less if someone is laughing about me behind my back, it doesn't affect how I live so I'm simply not bothered. It's interesting though how the women are much better about it than the guys though.

I never expected this since I'm not full time so it really makes me smile and feel good about myself.

Besides, unless I'm mistaken, I don't think there are any rules on how anyone can dress in order to go overseas.

I'm back in the UK next month so I hope I get some looks and questions then too.

I had a medical appoinment (not TS related) while I was there and had three student doctors in, one girl and two guys, and the two guys didn't know where to put themselves, lol. I told them, "It's okay, I'm used to being a bit of a curiosity." As you say, have fun with it, I know I do.

Nikki

I'm a member of Rose's club in the UK and their magazine has,over the last year or so,included stories on Tranny weekends in Amsterdam or tranny holidays ib Barcelona ,or wherever.Common to these reports seems to be that some or all of the participants travel 'en femme' with a 'male' passport- at least as far as the outward journey is concerned.All this apparently without any hassle.

It occurs to me that leaving a country is usually easy anyway-as far as the immigration authorities are concerned you're an SEP (Someone Elses Problem- thank-you,Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!)-i.e.the other end of your journey has the problem.However,in view of the increasing obsession of governments with security,this may get more difficult.I read recently in The Grauniad that UK Government wants to persuade the EU to introduce airline-type security checks on ferries and trains,and not just for international journeys
either.It may be that we're heading back to the days of communism in eastern Europe when,if you didn't look 100% like your passport piccy,they didn't let you in to places like Czechoslovakia.

Luckily,things haven't gone so far.....yet.Like Nikki,I'm not aware of any dress rulings.I would also suspect that self-confidence is very important here-trying to go through Customs and Immigration anywhere 'en femme' if you're a bundle of nerves is almost certainly asking for trouble.

Good luck,girls!

Lynn H

Just go for it Nikki! So many people are shrinking violets. And it's 2008. Not 1968.

I think your laid-back attitude is great!

Keep up the attitude.....

soniagee, shrinking violet.

Oh don't worry I will!!

I think Lynn's comment about self confidence is very valid there too. If you read Joelle's post as well it's clear that if you aren't fazed by any personal questions that you are likely to be asked, then you will be fine. Remember, you aren't breaking the law or trying to pass yourself off as someone else. How you choose to dress if your business.

In the summer I will need a new passport anyway (post surgery) so although I will look like myself then, the name and gender will still raise eyebrows.

Just roll with it girls.

Nikki

When I moved from the US to Germany recently, all German customs did was stamp my passport. No questions or anything. I love it here and want to stay forever, but in 4 months I have to go back to America. I feel like everything went wrong...I was born the wrong gender in the wrong country to the wrong parents.

I was really scared when I was 8 or 9 years old and the Canadian customs official asked ME questions (my mom was right there). I was so freaked out, and apparently customs thought my mom was a kidnapper.

Germany is quite an open country as far as girls like us go and they didn't check my passport as much as the UK did as I was leaving. It's a shame you have to go back because I'm sure the longer you stayed here, the more you would like it. You have probably only scratched the surface so far.

Nikki

Yeah, if I didn't have this cold...I don't feel like going anywhere except German class right now. Really, I want to tour my city (Ulm), go shopping, take the train back to München (I had to return early because I was getting sick, and because of the group tour I didn't get to do the things I wanted)...

Here in Germany there is the advantage that ,thanks to the Schengen Agreement,there are generally no more border controls with the neighbouring countries.The Police and Immigration Officials still go through the trains-but in my experience they only do spot checks ,so that if you look reasonably convincing and you're relaxed you may not even realise they've been through the train.I don't think the UK has signed the Schengen Agreement since we've always wanted to know who's coming in to the country.

Nikki-have you got a BahnCard?And if so,any experience of using it en femme?At the moment I only use mine 'in drab' so as to avoid the potential embarassment of having a rulebook train conductor in a sunday evening InterCity full of inebriated Bundeswehr squaddies...............Booking in advance to take advantage of the various Ticket discounts means that the price difference isn't too much though.

Cheers,
Lynn H

No I haven't Lynn, though I have used the trains en femme to go to Berlin without any difficulty, from the passengers I mean. I usually prefer to drive just to have the independance at my destination but Berlin is different having a great u-bahn system though, it's a waste of time taking a car.

Nikki

Well, any German city would have better mass transit than Detroit, where I used to live. The buses only ran once an hour, on very few roads, and not to a lot of the outer suburbs. I never had a car in Detroit, and I don't plan to get one here either. I tried driving in 2003 and didn't like it at all.

I grew up on the southwest side of Detroit. Busses only ran on one road & that was 2 miles from me.
So a car & driving is a big part of life. In Detroit proper busses run on most main roads. But once you cross into the suburbs they are few & far between, & only run to the malls.

as the hormones didnt seem to be ever going to me decent boobs plus hereditary/genetic and stress and really thinned my hair over the last 18 months I ha dbeen looking at inexpensive treatments and found Tunisia is getting into medical tourism with French trained surgeons and modern clinics so i booke boobs and hair over there (actually 'down' there but that is misleading)and went in February. I transitioned 3 years agon and changed all my documents 2 years ago so I was curious to see how rigorously the custom/security would scrutinise me at the three airports Manchester/Gatwick/Tunis and as Tunisia is a Muslim country and I've had bad expereinece with Uk Muslims I was interested how they would treat me even though my contact at the clinic had said they had no problems with TS.
The whole trip was great...no stares at security, no questions about my documents, no requests for proof of transition (I carry a copy of my Gender ecognition Certificate which states that I am now legally female and I can't understand those new females who refuse to apply for one or carry it to save hassles) just no real hassles at all and everyone either took me for a GG or let me be one. Only hassle I did have was from dickhead UK girl (naturally) who refused to 'sit next to THAT!' when she saw me in seat next to her intended one on the Gatwick to Mancs flight. if the aisle ahdn't been jammed with everyone trying to get sat down I would have called the steward/ess and caused a fuss as I'm getting quite militant about any form of PC.
At Gatwick I had to look into a small camera while the passport control guy compared image with that on passport but he handed passport back with a nice 'Thank you, Miss' so that was fine.
I think that like lots of TS I must pass better than I realise - or is now that GG's care so little about their appearance? I doubt I could have passed so easily when younger and fashions/styles/appearances were more important.

Danique, that is hysterically funny. It's also so cool that TW has opened up the world for us to where we know each other across borders.

......I noticed the headline in The Grauniad a few days ago:UK to introduce face scanning as a security measure at airports.This technique is reputed to be more precise than passport piccies etc.I regret I couldn't be bothered to buy the paper.Perhaps one of 'Our girls in the UK' could rummage around in their waste paper basket and provide further info?It was sometime last week,I think.

lol
Lynn H.

...wonderful thing,the internet!I've just visited the Grauniads Home page and found the report,which was the leader on fr.25/4.
It seems that the ,as always,paranoic and xenophobic UK government is about to fall flat on its face!The idea is that machines will scan faces and compare them with the biometric info in the passports.'Ministers are eager to set up trials in time for the summer holiday rush...................the necessary automatic clearance gates may transform peoples experience of airports.' (like Heathrow 5?) However.........it seems that there is a fair degree of government wishful thinking here.The best systems operating at the moment would only seem to have a 40% success rate,US police at the Super Bowl had to turn their system off after 3 days because, beside its low success rate,the computer was unable to recognise gender!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Seems like once again,'New' Labour is throwing tax-payers money to the wind.

Come on,girls,put on your make-up and screw the system!!

lol
Lynn H.

LOL... the computer was unable to recognize GENDER....

YES That is exactly what we need!!!!
===============================

BTW: Here in the US, we have a Registered Traveller program for Frequent travellers.

You sign up, scan your fingerprints, do a retina scan, and agree to a background check.
Once the check is done, they issue you a smartcard with your identity and biometric info on it.

I was hesitant at 1st, because of the background check and my status as Michelle isn't fully public.
However, I did go ahead and get the card. I'm really glad I did. Over the last year,
I've averaged less than 5 min to get thru security. The nice part is once your finger is scanned
they escort you thru and even carry your bags for you. What more can a girl ask for.

Hugz,
Michelle Lynn

PS: Only a few US airports have this at present....

I've just been reading the web diary of a swedish TV who has flown to Austria and the UK 'en femme' using a male passport.She was however with a couple of other girls (TV and GG) and it seems that,in Sweden anyway, they 'phoned the airport beforehand and warned them that 3 or 4 trannies were coming to catch the 'plane.
Passport control in Vienna and London weren't warned beforehand but just waved them through anyway! Returning from Vienna wasn't quite so easy until they offered to take their wigs off...............

'You can do it if you really want.........'

ciao

Lynn H.