I did it!

At least 80% of it must have been my own stupidity, but I've been having huge issues trying to book domestic US flights online.

There were problems with the credit card mostly.

But the stress is over! I'm sure the universe will come up with more things to make me stress, but at least this one is as finished as I can get it at the moment.

So they are booked. I have the confirmation email and everything.

What else have I achieved trip-wise over the past few weeks?

• I have successfully registered on the website to allow me to board a carrier flight to the US under the visa-waiver scheme. I look forward to filling in all the information again on the green form on the plane. I think it's just another chance for me to accidentally put in the wrong information so they can detain me.


• The pack I referred to earlier was slightly broken. I got it fixed and for a pretty reasonable price! There is a place locally that fixes packs which is better than the other suggestion I was given; to courier it to Christchurch and back for $15 each way.


• I picked up a little USD cash just for emergencies, but at a pretty decent exchange rate.


• I went to my doctor and stocked up on everything I could possibly need for the next few months and the trip.

Well, that's enough for now. I think I injured my back very slightly from jumping around too much in excitement when I actually got the flight confirmation email.

Crisis averted

All is right with the world again. People who know me no longer have to put up with the completely stressed version of me.

Sometimes I forget that my manager isn't my enemy! Sometimes they even act like a real person with feelings... It does me no credit that I forget it.

Anyway, I've been telling people all about how I get to be away for three weeks now, and I was even given permission for an extra day's leave so I can sleep once I get back home.

And my uncle is loaning me an awesome, huge pack to put my things in. I should be able to carry about one-third of my body weight in it. Hopefully it's actually going to only be one-quarter (or a "fourth" as they say) of my weight, otherwise I will get tired too quickly.

I have the idea to fill it up with stuff and carry it around a bit to try and get used to it, but I don't realistically expect to do it often enough for it to make any difference. Hopefully having to carry the extra weight will off-set the amount of junk food I will eat. Yes, I am planning on it.

Michael Finnegan (begin-again)

I'm going overseas again-again - I'm so excited! I enjoyed my last trip to the USA so much that I'm giving it another go.

Last time I went to the West Coast, this time I'm going to be spending time in the Mid-West (yeeha) and the East Coast.

The tickets I bought were on sale in January for a really good price, which was the main draw-card. Darn the sneaky airline. So I bought the tickets and had a bit of stress waiting for my annual leave approved, which it was. So that was all easy and sorted.

Then I realised that I had a bit more annual leave lying around, and I could extend the tickets out for longer. More time overseas is better, right?

I think this is the case once you get there, but at the moment it's being a bit of a nightmare! I talked to my Manager and got the extra leave approved with a little shuffling (I actually don't have enough leave by about 1.45 days, but that's ok) because I wanted to get that confirmed before I changed my tickets.

When I talked to my travel agent about changing the tickets, it turns out that the tickets which would allow me to get back within the current leave I have are all booked. That's the tickets for the same super-low price. I could get other tickets for the right time for about $600 more. Obviously I'm not too keen on that.

So the other option is to go back to my Manager, ask her for one exra day so I can fly in on Monday morning at 9.20am and then go to work on Tuesday. That doesn't sound too appealing, but it will be a four day week and then I can sleep for two days straight.

I'm in an acting-position at work at the moment, so I have two managers. The leave has to be approved by both of them. I feel quite bad asking them to change it again because I think I'm making a lot of work for them.

My fingers are firmly crossed to help this get approved and all sorted out again. Oh and I need to pay for my travel insurance to be extended as well. I mustn't forget that.