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Try not to panic. Is that even possible?

I've had an uneasy feeling about our upcoming trip to Australia. No, it's not about being picked up by the backpackers express or being bitten by a funnel web spider. It's not that kind of fear. It's more like my college dreams--the ones where the end of the semester is coming up, and I realize I've never attended class. I'm not ready.

I feel unprepared.

I didn't feel like this the last time. I think the reason is the past trip was very last minute. We bought the tickets mid August and went in December. There was a sense of excitement and disbelief. There wasn't as much fear about getting everything wrong.

This time we bought the plane tickets in May. We did the hotel stuff in September. We were good and planned ahead. We relaxed.

But I've had this nagging feeling--the same feeling I get in my dreams.

A few weeks ago, I was looking through my saved emails and saw our flight itinerary from Tasmania back to Sydney. The itinerary wasn't in the email. You have to download it. I tried and it said this file is no longer available. I didn't worry too much. I figure Tim had a copy of everything.

Then today, Tim came upstairs to ask me which airline we're using to get out of Tasmania. The way we ended up doing it is we're using one airline to get there and one airline to get back. Tim had the information for the first airline but not the second. He said I must have it.

We looked through my mail and found that awful email in which the information is no longer available. I felt a touch of panic but also a little bit of relief. At least now, we knew what airline we were going on. We had no idea of the time we're leaving though. Tim fortunately was able to do a search, and we pulled up the information.

Then Tim asked me if I had the information about the Holiday Park in Canberra. I looked through my saved emails. Nothing! Crap. I couldn't even really remember talking to them. Did I not make reservations? Had I assumed Tim did it while he assumed I did it? Our only hope was that I had forwarded the emails to Tim and he saved it.

Luck was on our side!

We are good in Canberra.

We know our Tasmania flights.

I guess my lesson here is to be better about saving my important emails. I probably should just make sure to save EVERYTHING that is related to our Australia holiday.

We're usually more prepared than this. Maybe we're too prepared, and this is what makes us panic. We probably wouldn't have these feelings if we were the type of people who head to their destination without reservations.

Oh wait. I forgot. You know how the whole panic filled conversation began today. Tim got an email from our airline from Sydney to Hawaii. They changed the dates on us. WTF? I've heard of changing times, but dates? I mean it's not that I wouldn't love an extra day in Sydney. But we're going to have to find a hotel for that extra night, and I don't know. I find it a bit odd. Maybe it was a mistake. Tim says he's going to call them. I can't help but think it's fate intervening. Perhaps our destiny dictates that we stay for that extra day.

9 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm such a "fly by the seat of my pants" traveller!! When the boys and I went to Europe, I still hadn't confirmed some of the friends we were staying with until after we were actually in the UK! I did have a panic about flights and rental cars etc just before we left. I think that is just part of the stress of travelling.

    I can reassure you, though, that you will not have to sleep at the airport. We don't have enough beds, but we have a big sofa, a small pull-out mattress, and lots of floor space (I'm sure I have an air mattress somewhere!). If worse comes to worse, you'll be fine!

    As I was typing that last paragraph I was thinking about the fact that you have to stay an extra day. And a bunch of kookaburras started laughing extremely loudly just outside my window! Definitely fate!

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  2. You poor thing, you are getting into a tizz. Your trip will be fine, don't sweat it. *hugs*

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  3. Fe: I wish I could be more relaxed about things. I have a total type A personality.

    You're so sweet about letting us stay. I'll try not to take advantage of you. But if it comes down to that, I'll try to behave better than our recent guests!

    I'm wondering about those kookaburras. Are they laughing with us or at us?

    Seriously though. We'll figure out what's going on at the airport. We might be able to just extend our hotel/apartment stay. It is nice to know that if worse comes to worse, we can camp out on your floor. I think it would be fun!


    Anja: Oh, I'm full of Tizz. It's the American way. You guys have your no worries. We have our tizzies ; ) Thanks for your kind words.

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  4. I would have stressed over that!!!

    Can you email me your flight dates and times for Tassie when you can?

    Ta

    xxx

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  5. Oh when are you coming? I am in Sydney!!! Yeah!!!

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  6. Changing the date would annoy me too. Have a great trip!

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  7. Michael: I think we'd be more stressed if I didn't love Australia so much and want to stay. Tim called them yesterday. They said our flight was canceled so we're now on the next day's flight. It's not that big of a deal for us. We just have to cancel a day of our hotel reservation in Hawaii and then add one to Sydney. I'm VERY happy to have an extra day there.

    But I was thinking it's not good that they do such a thing. What if we had to get back? Or what if someone was heading to a wedding or other important event?

    I think with a change like that, they need to actually call customers....not just send an email. If they have to send an email, explain what happened. Don't just say hi, your flight's been changed.

    magikquilter: Hi!! We'll be there in February and March. Pretty soon.....

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  8. I usually get really uptight and nervous in the planning stages - but once I am on the plane, it's like I've accepted that anything could happen and totally relax.

    Airlines are crazy - but I am with you, I never complain if it means and extra day in Australia!

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  9. Deirdre,

    I wish I could relax on the plane. Overseas flights give me the creeps--especially when almost everyone else is asleep.

    I can barely sleep and I get in really weird moods.

    I'll probably enter Australia as someone who is close to psychotic. But hopefully a good night's sleep in the hotel will make me a bit more mentally healthy.

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