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Saturday Musings - Crazy and Hectic!

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The clock is ticking as we’re on the downhill race towards the longest vacation we’ve taken in over 11 years. Now that our children are old enough to look after themselves, Roselyn and I are heading away to Europe for six weeks as a part of our 30th anniversary celebrations.

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There’s a myriad of infinitesimal details that need to be rounded up before embarking on the journey. The chore of making sure the bills are paid while we are away (can’t they just wait???), we have Internet on our phones at a half decent price (ie. not extortionate) and the older children we’re leaving behind clearly understand there are to be no parties while we are gone.

On the last point…..is a wink between our two daughters a bit of a joke or something I should be worried about?

I’m now looking over our schedule and notice there are big gaps where we’ve always planned to arrange cars, hotels etc. So back online I go to see if I can navigate the strenuous terms and conditions of hire car companies that come with way too many clauses and subclauses. Seriously??? I just want a car that works where I don’t have to re-mortgage the house for insurance.

In the process of my research, I discovered that hiring a car in France 30 kilometres from the Italian border, would cost an additional $1,000 to drop off in Venice. On the other hand, if we took a train the 30 kilometres into Italy we could save the $1,000 and get a better car. It’s something about cross-border car drop offs……you would think that some entrepreneurial car hire company would have seen this as an opportunity…..or maybe they have and decided to pocket the $1,000?

In amongst all this craziness we had the joy of a water pipe bursting under the concrete slab in our house. There’s nothing quite like waking up to a lake in your bedroom.

After furious (I really do mean furious) negotiations with the insurance company we had a massive hole jackhammered in the slab by the plumber as he tried to find the leak. In the end, the pipe was bypassed and we had the wonderful experience of running water once again. All we have to do now is replace our bathroom, bedroom carpet and toilet…..a job for when we return.

In amongst all of the racing around I’m finding that I’m dividing tasks into two camps, now or later. The now is those tasks that we need completed before we leave and the later ones are being left for when we come back.

For instance, buying some new bathers is a now task. Getting the car serviced is a much later one. Ensuring we have applied for an upgrade with the airline is definitely a now task while pruning the trees can wait. You get the idea? It’s a bit of why do something now that you can put off to later.

When I really think about traveling for pleasure versus business the decisions boil down to just two things. I need to have my passport and a visa card. Everything else I can buy along the way……so maybe I should just put my feet up now and be done with all the hecticness? I’m starting to feel better already.

Have a great weekend!

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Comments

mgilmour on 16 September 2017

Yes!
We are going to: Katakolon (Olympia)
Nafplion
Piraeus (Athens)
Piraeus (Athens)
from the 17th to the 20th October. Where do you live? It would be great to catch up :-)

Yes! We are going to: Katakolon (Olympia) Nafplion Piraeus (Athens) Piraeus (Athens) from the 17th to the 20th October. Where do you live? It would be great to catch up :-)
mgilmour on 17 September 2017

We will be in Athens on the 19th and 20th Oct. Sign-up here and I can then PM you the more specific details. It would be great to catch-up.

We will be in Athens on the 19th and 20th Oct. Sign-up here and I can then PM you the more specific details. It would be great to catch-up.
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