Our Once in a Lifetime Trip to the World part 2 D-Day -13 (14 June 2006)
Cast
M (DH44) "I can think of places I'd far rather spend all this b****y money on"
J (Me42) "I'm soooooooo excited"
D (DS15) "I can't bear crowded places" (!!!)
M (DD11) "I don't care how fast/high/scary it is I'm going on it"
Y (DS9) "Can we do this and this and this and this "
Well, down to 13 days and it seems to be unlucky 13! Last minute hitches have set in and I'm in a foul mood and keep saying "why the hell did I ever think I could organize this trip?".
Finally got the flight tickets a couple of days ago and immediately noticed that my name is written as Jackie whilst my passport says Jacqueline. Dates of birth for two of the kids are also wrong and there is one letter missing from DDs name. It's too late to call Sara (the TA) and I have a restless night worrying about being stopped in immigration and being put on the first flight back to Israel thousands of dollars down the drain!
When I called her the following morning she assured me that there'd be absolutely no problem but she'd write to Delta and have them make a note on the computer. She said there was no way she could reissue the tickets and I should relax!!!! She obviously didn't know me as well as I thought she did! Now I'm waiting for a copy of the email she's sent to Delta confirming the changes.
In the meantime, we finally get around to finding out about insurance, certain that it's a simple procedure either through our health fund or through Visa. In the past we've always done ours through VISA and the kids through the health fund to get the cheapest rates. However, my sister said "what if one of the kids is hospitalized and isn't released before you're due to fly home? Will VISA cover you to stay with the child if that child is not also covered by VISA?" I'd actually never thought of this before, probably because almost all of our trips out of Israel are to visit family in the UK and if that were G-d forbid to happen then we'd just stay on and get the ticket changed. But this is the States and the rules are different.
I'd also not taken into consideration the fact that I have high blood pressure (since the birth of our youngest, almost ten years ago) and DH was diagnosed three months ago with high blood pressure too. We're both on medication so it's controlled and I couldn't see why this should be a problem. The insurance companies don't agree with me here and it's considered a pre-existing health condition which they won't take a risk with!
Two days later and we're still no nearer getting it sorted out. The most anyone will give us is medical cover up to $500,000 which is ridiculous. I know that in the UK you can get medical cover up to $10 million but as we're not resident in the UK we can't get insured through a UK company! Urggghhh! My blood pressure is sky high right now!!
I can't get any work done as these two major problems buzz around in my head, so I'll just have to have another look at the plans, although these don't interest me either I just can't focus on anything else at the moment.
I've changed the itinerary a few times but think I've managed to nail it down. I've actually made a file to take with me with each day marked with a divider and the day's info already inside how sad is that! I'm still working on it but with all the problems in my head I've actually lost interest!
I did go out last week with everyone to buy short, T-shirts and swimming costumes and they're all ready in the suitcase well it wasn't worth putting them away in the wardrobes just to be pulled out again next week was it?
I've stopped buying camera film last count was 42 rolls of 36 each do you think I have enough!
So now I think it's time to down a bottle of Rescue Remedy and pull the blankets over my head and hope that the next 13 days disappear and I miraculously end up at the airport with everything sorted out
Watch this space!
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