Good to be King

I have finally begun the trip! Left late yesterday on Air Canada from Toronto and was in First Class due to a promotional special. Checking in was a bit of a bother because all the AC staff was either having a very bad day or just plain bored but got through that, got through security, after an almost tearful goodbye to my daughter and had some crappy dinner in the lounge then walked right on board and to my seat. For the very first time I had a fully recliner seat. wish it had been a much longer trip!
Sometimes things conspire against you. It was my intent to recline and sleep BUT there is dinner first and that takes over an hour, then the entertainment had to be rebooted and since I had started watching a movie, I did need to finish it, of course stupid though it was and quite predictible. So I probably only got to recline, fully prone on an aircraft, for maybe 3 hours, IF that. Once the fight attendents start up for breakfast, there is no reason to stay prone because they are very loud.
Made it to London without a problem and as a bonus, you can get a nice shower room to freshen up at the airport. geez, I would love to fly first class all the time but isn't going to happen.

leaving today

OH MY GOSH. the day to leave is finally here. still not totally done planning the trip and although that part of the trip isn't until December, makes me nervous that it is not all done. seems rather silly. I know that at some point I will be able to find a plane ticket to return back to North America. Also know that at points on the trip I will sit in my hotel room and go, Gosh why did I do this, I'm really lonely, am spending way too much money, I miss my cats, I want to go home. Well, the point is to have fun, enjoy what I see, meet new people, have new experiences, etc. etc. all the reasons we travel. It will be good, most of it. and I am excited to be going but there are always trepidations in starting any journey by myself, Can I do this? this time, the answer is YES.

countdown

leaving tomorrow. can't believe it is almost here. still only have the trip 3 months done out of 4. trying to still get from Australia to the Philippines and trying to do it on miles but might be a problem with that. we'll see. Not like I have to have it done before I leave which is what hubby keeps telling me when I get stressed. So took the day off and went to a fan expo and paid good money to gather autographs of people like Leonard Nimoy and Walter Koenig. wasn't that much fun because all you could do was stand in line and wait. ah well. makes good gifts for avid fans. Now back at the computer to press onward in the planning and double check the dates/times/payments of what has gone before.

smooth sailing

not always. I've worked the trip through Australia now and into Fiji and back. BUT, one of the most expensive places we will visit, hotel wise, is Ayers Rock! AND because I was busy doing two things at once, managed to book a hotel there on the wrong dates. now I am hoping they will get back to me but haven't yet. I certainly hope I don't have to swallow those bad dates. well, can't expect everything to run smoothly except of course I do.

finally, stress reduced

had to go to the Fed Ex office and pick up my passport. they don't deliver if it hasn't cleared customs by 8 a.m. so the whole time I was watching the tracking number and hoping it would finish clearing so I would get it by noon was just an exercise in futility. when I finally called them, they said I could pick it up. took another 4 hours for them to get the envelope then took me 30 minutes to get directions from the computer (google maps crashed explorer 5 times on my laptop and finally went to another computer to get directions), drove over and got it. the Uzbekistan visa is very nice looking

passport travels

apparently my passport is having an adventure all on its own, if the tracking number of Fed Ex is to be believe. On its way back to me but it left Alexandria, Virginia, went to Mississauga, Ontario (that bit is good because that's where the airport is in Toronto) but then it arrived in Memphis, Tennessee before it got to the airport in Toronto and has now left Memphis. needless to say, I am totally freaked and have been up for hours hoping for a knock on the door

a sign

Today my train tickets from Berlin to Gdansk arrived. I took that as a sign that things are going to proceed then this afternoon I got the email that my passport has come back from the Uzbekistan embassy and will be fed exed to me and I'll get it tomorrow. I will probably still stay awake all night worrying about it but I believe it to be on its way, finally. Huzzah! Now if I could just get the rest of the trip planned!

vitamins are heavy

still packing. trying to organize the vitamins now. went without them on the last trip and I was dragging so guess I do need to keep them up. after I counted out 240 calcium tablets and saw how heavy and big that was, decided that I'll pick some up along the way and only take the ones I use that might be harder to find.

flights and country list

counted how many flights i am on to get from Toronto to Perth, half of my trip. Fifteen! well, that's not too bad really as I am spending a couple of weeks in Uzbekistan, a month wandering in Europe where most of the transport will be on trains, and about 10 days in the Ukraine. The second half shouldn't be as many flights, hopefully.
Here's the country list so far:
Toronto - England - Jersey (Isle of, not New) - England - Iceland - England - Berlin - Poland - Prague, Czech Republic - Venice, Italy - Romania - Istanbul (using Istanbul as a base for several flights to and from odd places) - Uzbekistan - Istanbul - Ukraine - Istanbul - Qatar - Perth.

time to pack

been having nightmares that I get to the airport to leave and have only one suitcase with nothing in it. guess it's time to start dragging everything out and seeing if it will all fit without being too much overweight. that will also give me time to take things out as well.

halfway through

I have made it to Perth in my planning! halfway through the trip. a real milestone for me. NOW, it would be good if my husband meets me there as planned. His company cannot seem to find any of the good airfares that I have found. Rule #1, you can't save the company money, or is that Rule #3.

sometimes not exactly east

Have managed to get all my trip planned through almost the first of November now. Of course my passport is still out getting an Uzbekistan visa and if it doesn't come back on time, then the whole thing is off kilter BUT that will be another day to worry about it.
After Uzbekistan, found I had time to spare so am backtracking a tiny bit to hit the Ukraine. Have almost got it wrapped up now, just waiting for the tour company to come back with the invoice and double check all the stops and such. It was a bit harder to find stuff for the Ukraine than I thought. Uzbekistan has been the hardest so far but Ukraine was a close second. just don't know why more people don't go there. will probably answer my own question on that when I get there.
for now, I'm putting it to rest and going to make a casserole for my daughter.

third world H*** Holes

trying to go to the Crimea on this trip. have the time. very hard to find a tour company that responds to emails. You google, you get a lot of "Ukraine women want to marry you". They are pretty women but as I am a happily married woman, not what I'm looking for in a tour. Finally get some responses and the prices are outrageous for off season and such a far out of the way place, what my hubby would call "a third world He*L hole" and usually with accuracy. Maybe this is the only way they can get any money into their beleagured economy, soak the tourists. hmmm. still, the photos are lovely (of the scenery, and the women) and might be my only chance to get there so will have to bite the bullet and be a rich tourist, again.

Crimea looks interesting

have a couple of weeks to fill between the time I leave Uzbekistan and go to Perth. had hoped to meet some friends but they are gone on their R&R when I am in the area. Crimea looks interesting. had tried to go before and again, no one signed up for the tour but me so it was cancelled. what's wrong with people not wanted to visit historic sites and odd places? so working on finding a way to get there and places to stay and day trips.

rather busy yet lazy

Obviously I'm not very good at this blog stuff as it has been weeks since I made a post to this blog. my excuse is that I had another trip, sent my husband back to work in Nigeria, and worked hard on getting my daughter ready to go to Jamaica - which she ended up not doing. Now I am due to leave for 4 months in under two weeks and I am super busy trying to get it all organized. So will keep this site open now and try to be a better blogger. don't know if that means I can catch up with what has already happened but will try and keep current