Thank you avram for your validation. I am so tired of people making assumptions about me. I am laying a few things to rest and then leaving this thread.
I do not carry USD on me since I am not American. It seems to me that Americans think their currency is universal. Additionally, we tend not to carry large amounts of English currency when we travel, only the currency of the place we are travelling to.
Secondly, just because I live in Gateshead does not make me a closed-minded chareidi. I grew up more modern than I currently am and do not have any of these chumros that MO seem to disdain. I simply feel uncomfortable sitting in close proximity, in a confined space, next to a male who is not my husband, brother or father since it makes it difficult to avoid nogeia and I am by nature fairly sensitive.