Look, if you know me well (and probably don't work with me) then you already know I use some colorful language. So I'll try to be tame because after all this is a public blog.
I got halfway on the first flight from Baltimore to Philly and realized I'd left my glasses at home. WTF??? After my passport, they're just about the most important thing I travel with. I'm just about legally blind and although my contacts work miracles, I just can't do 36 hours of travel with them alone. Aiyo! (That's a Sri Lankan exclamation btw, though not really a curse word). Griffin made me promise promise promise I'd wake him up early to say goodbye, and the taxi arrived earlier than expected, so I guess I didn't do that last sweep. Nor employ Steve's old standby of "spectacles, testicles, watch, wallet."
So a panic attack ensues. I rarely panic about anything but with the unusual stress of preparing for this Everest-style field visit, man the expletives started flowing. I held back the tears simply because 36 hours of teary scummy contacts would be way worse. I break FAA rules and start madly texting Steve from the air. We deem it highly unlikely he can drive to philly and hand them off to me before my flight, esp with crazy pope security where I'd have to leave and go back in. So he goes to the FedEx office and I start hyperventilating. DHL delivers to Kathmandu in 2-3 biz days. Yay! It's early Thursday morning. We leave for the field Monday. Not so much. For $130 they refuse to guarantee delivery before Tuesday and even that they're worried about because of customs. For which Steve confirms, being intimately familiar with Nepalese customs. So he pays anyway and I start praying. And tweeting. DHL Twitter answers my tweet and says they'll try to help. I buy a pair of drug store reading glasses at the Philly airport at (+2.75) which might help my (+7.75) eyes at least see the flight attendant. And Steve calls the opthomologist and emails me my prescription so I can try to get a new pair in KTM. And the flight to Doha takes off and cross my fingers magic will happen in 12 hours. And for the person who asked, um no the $130 is not a business expense! I work for an NGO remember? That is my own stupidity paying for that. There goes my new fall handbag.
The good news is that saying goodbye to Griffin at 6:15am went very well. We marked the calendar for 15 days and promised to send lots of videos. No tears just a quick photo and scramble out the door. Here's a picture. Damn I wish I could rewind and run upstairs to get my glasses! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment