It's amazing what you can accomplish when under tremendous pressure. It looks like we'll be going on holiday afterall. A few minor details to iron out and we should be set. Planning a holiday is a good test of the strength of a marriage, like renovating your house. If you get through either of these, you and your partner are probably meant to be. If you can get beyond the decision-making and bickering, you're OK!
We seem to be getting through this - not counting my chickens before they hatch, but I haven't been dumped yet despite excessive mood swings brought on by ill-discipline (this seems to be a recurring trait I will proudly own and declare as "my personality").
That said, I have one train ride and one night of accommodation unbooked. Not bad, unless you know that this trip is happening in under three weeks.
Enough of this negative, counterproductive banter. I'm getting really excited now and the thrill of a road trip through Europe with my little family is enthralling. I'm picturing snow-capped mountains in the Alps, wine tasting in Bordeaux, freshly baked croissants in Paris, tapas in Spain and home cooked Italian dinners with my family in Italy along with freezing weather I know we're not quite prepared for.
I'm so grateful for the advise I'm getting from those who have gone before. There are little things that I would never have thought of that people are so freely offering advice on, ensuring that we're not totally lost at sea - so to speak.
So, despite the fear of driving on ice in a foreign country with three siblings in the back seat (not sure which is the more fearful experience), I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. Expectation, trepidation and the promise of something so amazing that I'll be left squealing with delight!
16 days and counting!
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Europe! Here we come! Maybe?
As usual, I've let living, laughing and life get in the way of "stuff I have to do". I am a perpetual procrastinator. Sometimes it's no big deal and everyone moves on with life and other times, life as we know it erupts into chaos and sometimes oblivion.
OK!!! Drama aside. I've really screwed up this time. Online surfing of accommodation for months on end does not actually constitute booking accommodation. Twenty six days from today, we leave for our Christmas holidays. I should be really excited right now, doing all kinds of shopping and finalising all our last minute arrangements. Instead, I'm mulling over my absolute lack of discipline while blogging. Really!!!!
Well, actually, instead I'm scrounging around for accommodation. We have our Visa appointment with the British High Commission or maybe it's the Embassy or some other organisation that handles this business, on Monday afternoon. I have not yet booked our accommodation in London i.e. this meeting will be useless without confirmation. I switched on the laptop to do this. It gets worse. Once we're done with them, we need to tackle the Schengen Visa. AND..... you guessed it...... we don't have accommodation in several of the cities we're visiting. After I booked the plane tickets I went into relax mode, hey, travelling is an adventure right?
Anyway, here I am, a family of five relying on me to actually get this right and I have so much left to do.
We're visiting my family in Italy (bookings mostly done, phew) and as we're planning our journey around spending Christmas with them, Christmas gifts are required. How, tell me how, do we do gifts? I need to take a little bit of South Africa to them right? My cousins have never been here and have some crazy ill-conceived idea perpetuated by the international media and maybe their mother (my aunt) that South Africa is a no-go zone to be avoided at all costs if you value your life or sanity. I just absolutely have to show them that with all our faults, our issues we have an amazing country that is so worth visiting and experiencing. When I drilled down to all that I want to share with them, luggage allowance becomes a problem. Apart from the mixed CD's of the amazing music we have in our sunny South Africa, there's no way I can pack crates of wine, South African shaped hand-crafted wooden cheese boards etc in our suite cases destined for a road-trip across Europe (there are two little U10 kids involved here too). Have I left this too late too? These need to be shipped out separately. OMG, why do I do this? I've been planning all this since June. Yes, planning, no actual action. So maybe I'll sleep tonight, or maybe I won't but damnit! I'm going to figure this out.
The Hungry Kitchen Slave
P.S. Anyone willing to assist, CALL ME!!!!!
OK!!! Drama aside. I've really screwed up this time. Online surfing of accommodation for months on end does not actually constitute booking accommodation. Twenty six days from today, we leave for our Christmas holidays. I should be really excited right now, doing all kinds of shopping and finalising all our last minute arrangements. Instead, I'm mulling over my absolute lack of discipline while blogging. Really!!!!
Well, actually, instead I'm scrounging around for accommodation. We have our Visa appointment with the British High Commission or maybe it's the Embassy or some other organisation that handles this business, on Monday afternoon. I have not yet booked our accommodation in London i.e. this meeting will be useless without confirmation. I switched on the laptop to do this. It gets worse. Once we're done with them, we need to tackle the Schengen Visa. AND..... you guessed it...... we don't have accommodation in several of the cities we're visiting. After I booked the plane tickets I went into relax mode, hey, travelling is an adventure right?
Anyway, here I am, a family of five relying on me to actually get this right and I have so much left to do.
We're visiting my family in Italy (bookings mostly done, phew) and as we're planning our journey around spending Christmas with them, Christmas gifts are required. How, tell me how, do we do gifts? I need to take a little bit of South Africa to them right? My cousins have never been here and have some crazy ill-conceived idea perpetuated by the international media and maybe their mother (my aunt) that South Africa is a no-go zone to be avoided at all costs if you value your life or sanity. I just absolutely have to show them that with all our faults, our issues we have an amazing country that is so worth visiting and experiencing. When I drilled down to all that I want to share with them, luggage allowance becomes a problem. Apart from the mixed CD's of the amazing music we have in our sunny South Africa, there's no way I can pack crates of wine, South African shaped hand-crafted wooden cheese boards etc in our suite cases destined for a road-trip across Europe (there are two little U10 kids involved here too). Have I left this too late too? These need to be shipped out separately. OMG, why do I do this? I've been planning all this since June. Yes, planning, no actual action. So maybe I'll sleep tonight, or maybe I won't but damnit! I'm going to figure this out.
The Hungry Kitchen Slave
P.S. Anyone willing to assist, CALL ME!!!!!
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