Chasing Shiny Pennies

So we got back to Inverness after cutting our stay on the Isle of Skye short by one day. Maps said 3 hours and 18 minutes to Inverness from Glendale. We actually made it in that. I’m becoming proficient at this driving thing.

Today (13th). Our flight out was at 12:20. We made it to London, got to our hotel, dumped our stuff and went in search of a drink and to discuss our options.

I had looked into short term tickets from London to Austin at the Community Center in Glendale. You ever had to purchase a plane ticket with a short lead time? Prices will make your toes curl. Getting here on our advance purchase, multi-city ticket (check them out, in my experience, if you get the right combination of cities, they’re cheaper than city to city round trip tickets) was a touch over $900 for each of us. For a changeable, non-refundable ticket. We also got 1 checked bag each and we paid the upgrade so we each got an actual seat rather than going steerage class.

A short lead time purchase of a flight home would be multiples of that. It would be refundable though. Now I ask, how valuable is that enticement? I know the vagaries of life, but if you’re making a plane reservation a day or two before your flight you’re either on the corporate card, an impulsive fool (possibly both) or you’ll be on the plane. Probability suggests it. Plus, the flight is locked (barring weather or mechanical cancellations), the airplane is designated, the gate is booked, the crew is scheduled, the passengers are packed and have their ride to the airport arranged. That plane is flying. The incremental cost of an additional passenger or two doesn’t justify the prices charged for late purchase tickets. The thought just makes my head hurt. I’ll move on now.

Some background might be in order. During our stay in Glendale, I had noticed a recurrence of the symptoms that led to the Dublin doctor visit. More itchiness, bumps forming on my arms and back, swelling of both forearms, skin redness, and flaking skin on my forearms. All of those led me to believe that the crud was back. And I was out of drugs. Then, this morning (and really, some last night) indications seemed to point in the other direction. Swelling is decreasing, itchiness is decreasing, bumps are disappearing, redness is fading.

So I told Liz all that while we were sorting out options. And we decided to defer judgement until tomorrow. We’ll check then to see what condition my condition is in (reference? Bruce knows.) We’ll see if we can get an urgent care appointment here and maybe score some more drugs.

Today (14th). So a new day dawned. The status quo remains. I checked in to urgent care options, tried to schedule an appointment with one, but after filling out the online scheduling form, the site noted that they were unable to prescribe drugs. I canceled. At this point, I know that whatever I have will not be diagnosed here, or quickly. I’m really just looking for a pusher to keep things in check. We walked to a pharmacy where the pharmacist informed me that there was not an OTC equivalent to the cream I was inquiring about. It’s been an unproductive day.

Shortening things up, we’ve decided to continue on. We remade the reservations in Paris, the train reservations, extended our stay here by a day and tomorrow I’ll make arrangements to get us to where we need to be on Saturday to catch our train to Paris.

Sorry for giving everyone whiplash.

Stay flexible. Enjoy life. Talk to you from Paris.