A week of bad juju

Just a heads up, this post is a little whiny.... my roughest pre-trip week on record.

So here I sit, with half a glass of South Australian Red in hand to calm my nerves, in an attempt to replay just a fraction of the bad juju that came hurtling hot and steaming directly at us in the last 7 days.

It all began last Friday, at half an hour to closing time, the Divine Miss M receives a call from the passport office informing us that there were 'issues' with her passport that likely wouldn't be resolved before our departure date.  Naturally I took this news in my usual laid back manner and rang the number stipulated in a frenzy of worry and begged for some mercy.  With little to nothing to be resolved in that scant amount of time, I resolved to 'get it damn well sorted' first thing Monday morning. 

Well, they saved me the trouble.... the phone at work rings at 5 past opening .... and with my boss less than impressed that I spent  the better part of an hour on the phone to both the passport office and immigration, the reason for the problem in the first place - her father ( who, granted, was not responsible for being born in an Australian Territory which then all of a sudden, wasn't - rendering him countryless unbeknownst for a good decade) who also beseeched the immigration office with pleas and paperwork enough to drown them.  I do fervently believe that they granted Miss M a passport purely on the basis of getting her parents off their phone lines.... the weirdest part of the story is this is not her first passport - her child one was a five minute job. 

So by mid week we had no fingernails and confirmation that her passport had been granted with the upshot being the requirement of a day trip to the big smoke to pick it up....then we started to relax into the trip prep.... wrong move.

While all this other stuff was going on ( oh yeah, and me working through it all as well) my rental agents decide it was time to do a house inspection.  With my plaintive phone calls falling on deaf ( and totally unreasonable , I might add) ears, I then had to set about getting my home in pristine condition ready for inspection mid week.  Now, I don't know about you, but the week before major travel in my house leads to piles.  Piles of 'stuff' that I don't want to forget to pack.  Piles of stuff that I need to deal with before I go.  Piles of stuff that needs to be washed and piles of stuff that I'm ignoring because I don't have time to deal with it.... and then all of these well thought out piles had to be demolished and removed for the sake of a 10 minute inspection.  Not to mention the windows washed and the hideous tri-fold shower screen dismantled for a 'proper' go at it. 

As if all that wasn't enough, tickets we thought we'd secured to a museum that the Divine Miss M had her heart set on... were actually not available after all... full stop.  There was heartbreak on top of exhaustion at the beach house that night.

Friday dawned and it was off to the big smoke to collect the long awaited passport... the trip down was the quickest I can remember at under 2 hours, and I mistakenly eased into the down time thinking we'd be home mid afternoon to get all those piles redone.  The collection of the aforementioned document was painless and before long we were back at the station ready to catch the next train home.  Alas, par for the course of the week, because of a major accident on the highway, the bus part of the trip had to become another train trip with almost an hour wait between.    It was at this point we became aware that a 4 figure sum of money that was supposed to be in my account had disappeared into the ether and panic set in right there on the platform.  Stranded and with no way of making it back home within working hours, I ran my phone down to about 1% battery with calls to the bank, and then to my payroll office when I also found out that my holiday pay had been 'missed' and wouldn't now be available until we are almost heading home - FROM TOKYO!!!!!

The shoe-string had now become noose-like and with thoughts of cancelling the trip starting to swirl in ours heads we finally boarded the train home... arriving home well after dark and in the rain - which aptly matched our mood.

Finally home, and after reworking the daily budget to the point of making my brain hurt... it was decided that we will just have to rein in the souvenirs and make the little we have to spend last the distance, and of course, live on rice for the week.  Not quite the journey we'd anticipated, but still a journey we wanted to take.

So here we are... only half a sleep away from D day and the nerves are kicking  in.  The endless shopping expeditions have finally come to an end and I do believe its time to pack and be done with it.  Today is pamper day with a capital P.  From my hair to my toenails, all will be trip ready at the end of the day.... a moment to breathe before the whirlwind of adventure truly begins...

So see you there...

Lisa. xx  

Let it begin... let it begin....

So here we go again,  another O/S trip, another blog, but anyhoo, you know you love it.

So there we were a few months ago, sitting watching a travel show of some sort and both my daughter and I mused  ' wouldn't it be nice to go on a holiday?'

.... meaning perhaps later in the year.

Nek minnit - we have flights booked at buy-one-get-one-free ( a misnomer I will explore further on) to Tokyo with barely a thought that there were scant few months between then and now to pay for everything else on a part time wage... but none the less, here I sit 14 sleeps away from my next big adventure on a very small shoe-string... Only this time I'm not going alone.

This time I'll have my adult-let daughter with me whose last visit to Tokyo was literally on her 5th birthday and we have plans to recreate some of the same photos in a then/now style piece.

So, the flights we booked were the extreme pov-pack- aka no meals, no entertainment and probably not much much else either.  OMG do they sting you for everything on those cheap flights.... we even had to pay a ridiculous amount to actually sit together - despite us having  multiple seats in the booking.  Bloody sheisters - anyway... so with that in mind, and with little laptop and portable HD in tow, we'll take our own entertainment and buy snacks when we're through customs.

So two weeks out is the time I like to call 'get the case out and check you have clothes that still fit and will look ok on the scrapbook pages' time.  It's also the time to co-ordinate the grey regrowth being obliterated ( wouldn't be the first time I've had to sharpie-out the grey stripe in my post holiday snaps) and arrange pedicure appointments.

Still praying the divine Miss M's adult passport arrives in time and all will be well.

So the family have been informed of our imminent journey - always a tricky time as most of mine have quite the aversion to me traveling it seems.... something about being below the poverty line most of my life with the occasional junket OS not being a suitable way to live.  Anyhoo...
what do I care right?  Its what I love with a passion and gives me something to think about when I'm sitting in that rocking chair. 
Sadly, I believe these itchy feet have been passed on to my youngest offspring as well.

Actually, its been quite the journey already just in the planning stages.  Even as the 'submit' button was being pressed for payment of the flights, I was rapidly informed that this was indeed NOT ( underlined and in bold)  a Disney trip.  Somehow though, 4 ( with the possible inclusion of an evening sesh on day 5 and ok, perhaps day 6) of the available 7 days will be spent on a Disney property.... go figure.  However, I will have to submit myself to several days roaming the Tokyo streets and far flung Edo buildings, shrines and Anime centres to make up for it. 

There is MUCH planned and that, dear readers, you will have to discover as we go along so for now, welcome aboard and hope you enjoy the show.  I'll be updating regularly and posting a few photos to hopefully inspire you to travel to the Land of the Rising Sun yourself.  For those who that have followed me before, you will KNOW a lot of foodie photos will turn up here so stay tuned.

Feel free to share my blog and I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments if you so desire.

Sayonara for now,

Lisa. xx