Friday, October 30, 2009

Making plans for Australia

Today was a quiet and kind of frustrating day.

When we woke about 8 am Steph and Felix had gone to work.

I spent the first two hours on the phone to the trave agents, trying to change our flights back to Australia. When I booked the return tickets last December (and then only because we had to have proof of our return to our place of residence so we could go to the US to visit my brother) I knew that we would probably need to change them and that this would incur some cost. We can be a little flexible around the 13 - 16 November, so armed with this information I phone Zuji who have informed me that for security reasons they will not make changes through email.

I get an agent who sounds asian and when asked about the weather back home, he informs me that 'home' is in India where the Zuji Call Centre is located! Back and forth we go, exploring all possibilities including cancelling these tickets outright and booking a return fare home (a return ticket is always cheaper than a one way ticket - helps to have worked in the industry!) But the penalty costs are too high. And when I originally booked the tickets I was smart (NOT) and booked them through to Brisbane. Now however, we want to go via Sydney and catch up with our Mums before we return to Queensland and Maryborough. My Mum flies out to South Africa for 3 months to visit Michael and Aunty Mary on December 8.

Turns out that a change in the route - that is, Sydney instead of Brisbane, can only be okayed by the airline and they only work to 5 pm Monday to Friday - bugger the greatly increased time difference, it is now 10 hours instead of 8 and I have missed this time. So now, I have to wait for Monday because we sure as hell can't afford two changes.

After that, I went back to bed and slept for much of the day - I am fighting a cold and a persistent sore throat so a few extra hours sleep was great.

Michael emptied the car and brought all our bits and pieces up and then did some washing. Tonight we sorted through all the literature we have yet to send home and sorted winter and summer clothes into the appropriate suitcases. Steph had a minor heart attack when she came home and saw the table covered in 'stuff' for them. Some camping gear and food staples that we are not going to be able to use any more. But it didn't take long to go through it and put it all away.

Felix is out tonight, so Michael and I are treated to some of Steph's Hungarian Goulash and Rice. She ate a big lunch (as they do here) and so just had bread with cheese and cold meats. We chatted over dinner and later Michael ironed and we half watched X-Men while he did it.

Tomorrow we are off to the Post Office to sort out the most economical way to get our extra stuff home - ah, the fun of it all!

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