The last week before my departure was both relaxing and chaotic. I no longer had to wake up early and make the long commute to work; and, since I was moved out of my apartment, I was able to spend the week visiting with my family. At the same time, I also had a lot of last-minute things to take care of. All the things that had been in my apartment needed to be organized and stored, bills needed to be automated, banks notified, insurance dealt with, a few more items still needed to be bought, and my car needed a home that wasn’t the driveway. There were a lot of things to think about, and the last thing I was concerned with was my flight to Singapore – after all, I had had the confirmation in my email inbox for nearly two months!
It turned out I should have been very worried. When I had checked on the flight earlier in the week and noticed something strange with the booking, I was assured by the booking agency that everything was alright and I just needed to wait until check-in. Check-in time rolled around and the reservation still seemed suspicious. The agency once again told me that everything was fine, while the airline told me my ticket was canceled! This is not what I wanted to hear at 11:30 the night before I was due to fly! At that point, though, there was nothing left to do but continue organizing my packing while I was put on hold with both the agency and the airline simultaneously. The issue passed on to both agents’ supervisors as I watched the clock tick over to February 2. Happy birthday to me!
On this day last year, my car nearly prevented me from making it to my own birthday party (at my favorite Indian restaurant in Houston) by bursting a tire. This year, Singapore Airlines nearly caused me to miss my trip (which includes India). There seems to be a pattern here trying to keep me away from India, but that’s not going to stop me! I got my tire fixed last year and made it to the party, and this year the airline agent’s supervisor came through with my ticket shortly after midnight. The trip is still on!
Traversing Territories 
Aaron, you are doing EXACTLY what I should have done many many years ago! Enjoy it to the max and keep writing. I am so envious and plan to be traveling vicariously through you. Your dad and I traveled an awful lot but never like this – we always had a tight schedule….meetings, hotels, restaurants, airports, ugh. Little time for much else.
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