i think this is when i exploded. in a good way...
i called casey. explained the situation. he thought i was insane, because that would be a normal response. i looked up plane ticket prices, train ticket prices, hotel stay prices, car rental prices... then i called casey again. with the figures in hand he thought i was insaner. then i texted my friends echo and becca, and talked to my other friends ezinne and brian... it was pretty equally divided between, "girl, you cray." and "DO IT!!!" all of this happened on tuesday.
i had a moment tuesday afternoon when i realized this was utterly ridiculous and of course we weren't going to spontaneously leave for england next week and whatthecrazywasithinking, and me and my iphone went in the shower (with it's waterproof case, mind you) and i cried my little eyes out while i listened to Mumford and Sons in the shower. (seriously can't believe i just admitted that... so SO corny.) i wrote it off and dismissed this whole business of spontaneous world travelling. really now, i'm an adult.
WEDNESDAY the 23rd:
wednesday i woke up with the whole mess behind me. did i still want to go? well hello, of course. but i'm just not the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of gal. i plan things out. i'm careful with the monies. i make responsible decision. i'm almost 30 for crying out loud!!! i don't follow bands around paying too much money to watch them sweat and strum on stage... c'mon now! wednesday i was normal again. i put on my running shoes, dropped the girls off at their respective places of education, and headed to the bike path for a jog. but then i decided to call mom and dad. mom didn't answer, so i called dad. and we chatted. and he said i was crazy if i didn't go. he said, i quote, "GO! and call me when you get there!" then just after that mom called me back... she was on the "girl, you cray!" side of things. so i badmintoned the idea back and forth, back and forth.
right shoulder voice: live the dream! left shoulder voice: be practical.
right shoulder voice: once in a lifetime crazy spontaneous opportunity? left shoulder voice: be practical!
right shoulder voice: you only turn 30 once... left shoulder voice: be practical!
and then there were the real, honest-to-goodness roadblocks...
#1 expired passports: can we even get them renewed in time?? it's memorial day weekend... that's one less business day before we would be leaving... we would be leaving in 7 days, only 3 business days!! this is impossible...
#2 the plane ticket prices were bouncing all over the place... if i couldn't get them for the cheap end of things, i WAS NOT going to pay the higher price.
#3 if we could get the passports renewed AND get the plane tickets at the cheap prices, were the concert tickets still available??? what if i paid for the crazy plane tickets and BOOM no concert tickets?!?!
#4 am i really going to spend an exorbitant amount of money to go to a concert?? (justification: not just a concert, a country. i'm unreasonably fascinated with england...)
#5 last, but not least, child care. could i find people to watch my lovely little humans for that long of a time?? i mean, i think they're adorable and pleasurable and easy to handle... when well fed. but would other people??
i called casey again and we talked it over... he gave me the go-ahead. well, basically he said if i could really pull it off, then go for it. but i shouldn't start counting any chickens, if you know what i mean... and he still thought i was insane. (side note: he loves mumford & sons just as much as me... and he likes castles. so, you know, just saying this wasn't a one-sided wonderland. it's like a 80/20 wonderland...)
RESOLUTIONS:
#1 i called the passport office in honolulu and had the shock of my life when they said they could expedite a passport renewal and it could be done in 3 BUSINESS DAYS!!! (they did it in 2 for us because we smiled a lot.) CHECK
#2 after confirming that we were in the clear for the passports i jumped back on every travel sight you've ever heard of, and Wednesday early-afternoon the tickets dropped to the lowest they had been the entire time... and i went for it. CHECK
#3 almost simultaneously, on another open window, i clicked the "purchase" button for the Mumford & Sons Huddersfield, U.K. Stopover tickets. we were officially ticketed, intended-attendees to a Mumford & Sons concert IN THE U.K. CHECK
#4 yes. i am. CHECK
#5 we called grandma (who, by the way, does not actually live in HI) to see if she'd like to fly over... unavailable. checked with several family friends who we've known since moving here... it seems like people like to leave the rock in the summer, and everyone was in fact leaving the rock... i had had a few friends who had already offered to child-watch if we decided to go, but one was coming sick, another was literally having a baby... literally. another was traveling right after we got back... just bad timing all around. but somehow, miraculously, three amazing families sprang up to the rescue to watch my women. CHECK
right shoulder voice: we're going to england! left shoulder voice: mumford & sons!!
and so the countdown started... T-minus 6 days to departure. and holycrapwe'regoingtoengland...nextweek started to set-in.
3 comments:
I love this story. So worth it!
So pretty much the entire sentiment of left shoulder, right shoulder, husband mother friends think your crazy bit, as well as the crying in the shower(not to mumford n sons) resonates as way too familiar the last two days. But with a house. However you have inspired me to hold out with my craziness in hand. miraculous things do indeed happen and I love reading about them.
Andrea @ thisrednecklife.blogspot.com
I'm so happy you guys went! I'm totally on the just do it side. International trips are always worth the $. Can't wait to hear more- and it's crazy we both were in Europe at the same time.
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