I found myself asking a strange question today...what do most people do the day before they leave the country for a month? I considered the people I am traveling with and their most recent e-mails. I'm pretty sure someone was fretting over a converter. Someone else was probably sitting on her suitcase trying to get it to zip, and at least one person was looking though India guide books to figure out what to do during free time.
What did I do? I woke up and thought, "Oh my goodness, I have to clean my house." My cousin is house sitting for me while I am gone, and he's not that particular about cleanliness, but there is a possibility that some relatives from up North will need to stay a night or two in late July. So, I spent six hours cleaning my house, and I didn't get done. I had driven my animals to my Mom's house, so I took the time to do some deep cleaning knowing that my animals wouldn't mess it up. In retrospect, this may not have been the best idea. It was 3:00 in the afternoon before I even started running the errands I needed to do. I needed to get cash, run to REI for non-scented shampoo (to keep bugs away), run to the mall for last minute make-up, etc. After those errands, I was meeting friends for dinner, and then finally I could come home and pack.
I began to feel a little stressed, and when I get stressed I don't always pay close attention to detail. Take today for example, I started my errands by driving through the ATM for some cash. While the machine was processing, I was planning my route for the rest of the errands. Naturally, they were all over the city rather than conveniently located near one another. Once the machine popped out my cash, I grabbed it and took off. It was 20 minutes later that I realized my ATM card was still in the machine. This is where the "fright" of the day occurred. In the 21st century, ATM cards are the way to travel. Just get to your destination and find an ATM. You don't have to worry about standing in line, showing passports, or conversion fees (although there is an international fee from your home country and the visiting country). I immediately began to panic. I don't have my credit cards set up to give me cash, so how was I going to get cash while in India...for a whole month?
I drove back to the bank, and talked to some really nice Bank of America employees (shout out) who very calmly and efficiently helped me out. They canceled my old card, and got me set up with a temporary card. They even activated it for me before I left the bank. I immediately took my cell phone out in the parking lot and called to notify the official record keepers that I will be in India, and it appears that I am all set. It was two hours later before I calmed down enough that my hands weren't shaking and it no longer felt like someone was wringing out my intestines.
Needless to say, I was ready for some drinks with friends over a great dinner. It was a great dinner, and the drinks were welcomed! They only nagged me a couple of times for not being packed, and the evening ended when someone said, "In 13 hours your cousin will be picking you up to take you to the airport, shouldn't you go home and pack?"
It took me a little less than two hours to get everything packed, weighed, carry-on situated, and snacks shoved in every spare nook (I'm not wild about Indian food...Delhi belly scares me). I needed my big bag to meet domestic weight limits since we will have three domestic flights while in India. I currently meet that if I eat a few snacks, and don't buy a single souvenir until after all the flights. My carry-on is packed to the brim, so that won't be any help. I did pack extra duffel, so I may just have to eat it and pay the fees for an extra bag. We'll see how that turns out.
I still have the kitchen floor to mop, the office and the guest bedroom to clean, but I figure they can wait until the morning.
My next post will be from India, so stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment