I have 5 tickets on British Airways, and 4 people whom I know will be going. I canceled the B&B and found a lovely hotel with some English Charm. I bought Oyster Cards and London Passes. I bought and had delivered some GBP and Euros. I’ve arranged for our second Mad Max Tour. (You can read a bit about our original MMT here.)

I contracted with Darren of Adelphi Executive Hire for transport between the airport and hotel, several times during our trip. He’ll pick us up at Heathrow, take us to the hotel, pick us up again and take us to the airport to catch our Dublin flight, pick us up again and take us back to the hotel, and finally take us back to Heathrow so we can fly home.

Yes, I know that the underground can take us from Heathrow to within a block of our hotel, but I am afraid that Mama won’t be able to negotiate the steps of the underground with her luggage. I’m trying to make it as easy as I can on her…and on ME…so I hired a car to cart us around.

No way would I attempt to drive on the wrong side of the car and the road!!

Anyway, now I’ve got tickets in Business Class for 5 adults, non-refundable, $500 change fee, and a headache.

I searched and researched hotels, b&bs, and other accommodations. I found the perfect hotel, with elevator, and Full English Breakfast, VAT included in the price, online at Travel by Fingertip. I’ll have a review of their services when I return. In the meantime, let me say that their customer service before and during the sale are fantastic. I am very pleased with the price, the appearance of the hotel on the internet, and the easy of booking. What remains to be seen is the actual product and the customer service after the sale.

I’ll let you know.

Since I jumped the gun with the Bed & Breakfast booking, I had to go and un-do that, too. They were very nice to cancel that reservation for me. I will stay there sometime in the future, I hope.

I finally got my head on straight and have started to focus on the logistics of traveling with old folks.

Whoa!

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080508/mom_s_salary.html?.v=1

Excuse me while I go put in for back pay…

Here we go…going off across the pond one more time.

This time there are factors that didn’t factor in last time, but I forgot those factors in my haste to get in on British Airways “sale” on business class.

We’ve always flown economy class…and I hate it. I’m not able to sleep on flights, and with the nasty smoking habit I possess it’s hard to go that many hours without feeding my demon. Papa can’t sleep on flights either. The rest of our party doesn’t even get off of the ground before they’re snoring away.

I didn’t intend to fly again after 9/11, preferring to cruise out of Galveston on the Ecstasy many times instead…and I bought a house on the West End of the Island in October of 2001 that kept me busy and entertained for three years. I sold that place to make the BIG move we made in July of 2006…but that’s another story for a different post.

We got our Business Class tickets for this trip. I conned Mr. Man the same way Papa conned me into this trip. I jumped online and secured those tickets, even having to extend our trip to fit into the sale dates.

The problem reared it’s ugly head after I pressed “submit”…

I totally forgot that one of my kids is trying to graduate from college in August…and that the other had just opened her own business and might not be able to take off on a two week trip.

I am a wonderful tour director, ask any of my relatives and friends who have joined me on a trip! I plan everything out well in advance, do my research on everything, and totally obsess over the details. I chart out the days, times, and figure out the expense. There’s rarely a nasty surprise when you travel with me!

My nasty surprise is that I had already purchased the airline tickets, with a $500 change fee…and I’m still not quite sure if one of my kids will be able to go.

Continuing on in my “jumping the gun” phase I booked us into the 3rd rated Bed & Breakfast on TripAdvisor. I fogot that Mama doesn’t get around as well as she used to, and would need an elevator. I also forgot that “ground” floor in England isn’t the same as “ground” floor in Texas.
The undoing has taken lots longer than the doing.

Things have changed since our last “big” trip…

I made the plans through Expedia, bought tickets and booked rooms, and off we went.

Seven years later, after several cruises, we’re heading out again on a “big” trip. We’re going to London for a few days and then to Ireland for a week and back to London for a few days.

My parents are seven years older, as am I…and you. We’ve weathered a big move, kidney cancer, broken brittle bones, and overactive bladders. There was no 9/11 back then, no 3 oz. limits and plastic baggies (or at least, not ones carrying toiletry items). We wore our shoes from home onto the plane, slipping them off for that 10 hour flight. We wore belts, jewelry, and were allowed to smile and laugh in line.

Things have changed.

My parents live at the other end of our 1000 ft long driveway now. They lived 20 miles away back in 2001.

Papa is retired and his job is now to fetch the mail, do some mowing on this 20+ acres, visit with his favorite daughter while delivering the mail, play with the animals and feed them cookies (animal safe cookies, not chocolate chip people cookies!), and various and sundry other jobs.

Mama is retired, too, but who would know it…she volunteers five days a week. She’s a people person, and can’t take the quiet of the country.

This “big” trip came when Papa delivered the mail a couple of weeks ago. During our afternoon gab session, he said, “I’d really like to see Ireland one more time before I die.”, and it was ON!

How could I *NOT* take my parents back to Ireland one more time?!?