Save yourself the trouble (and time!) of waiting in line at the airport for your boarding pass by checking in online at home 24 hours before your departure. When you print your boarding pass at home you can proceed directly to the security line. Your connecting boarding pass will also print at this time.

At the airport, you can utilize the check-in kiosks to change your seat assignment if a desirable one wasn't available from home. If you misplace your boarding pass don't panic. You can reprint another at these kiosks.

If you are flying Continental you can locate "Print Boarding Pass" on its home page (dead center of page). All airline sites have this ability btw. Even though you can "Check Flight Status" ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check the monitors at the airport and listen to any gate changes while waiting.

Have fun and enjoy your trip. It doesn't have to be as terrible as you may have heard. As been stated above, if you give yourself plenty of time there's no reason to be stressed out.