Day 1 – Rookie Mistakes

I am by no means the first person to show up at an airline counter without a passport. In fact, it turns out that airline personnel are quite accustomed to this.  I am, however, supposed to know better – but we all make mistakes.  Having the passport case is of no consequence when it’s missing its main component.  Sky miles cards, a vaccination record and some old Bahamian and Hungarian currency are nice, but they won’t get you through customs.  

Rather than being in its rightful place, said document  was in the copy machine where I left it around midnight last night.  

All my paperwork -  tickets, boarding pass, insurance confirmation, itinerary, passport – everything was together in one large, brightly colored envelope, just like I advise my clients to do.  But in a fit  of additional caution last night I decided to make another copy of the passport to put in my suitcase.  In addition to the one in my purse, the one in my carry-on and the one in my desk drawer.   This is not a decision you should make at midnight, when you’re tired, stressed and getting frantic about wrapping up all you need to do before leaving.

The word that escaped me at the check-in counter when I discovered my mistake was supposed to have been eliminated from my vocabulary after an incident at a Harvard club party back in the late 70’s.  Guess it was more deeply rooted than I thought.  

So this is where I was yesterday afternoon:

• Running late for the airport because of a last minute issue with credit card payments for an international client.

•  Trying to book  another client on a 2014 European sailing before promotional pricing expired –in between catching the shuttle from the parking lot and waiting in line to check my luggage.
  
  
• Changing voice mail and e-mail messages to advise that I would be out of town until mid-June.
  
• Standing in front of the Delta counter with an empty passport holder and a shell shocked look of paralysis on my face.

God bless my neighbor Jan, who rescued the passport from my copy machine and drove it to the airport while I counted down the minutes ‘til boarding.  I owe him this “vacation”.

After the adrenaline rush, the fear sweat, the shaking hands  and the self-recrimination I thought I would crash (physically) once I was safely on the plane and on my way.  I’d forgotten just how uncomfortable airline seats are – they defy sleep.

And so I arrived in London – tired, dazed and still harboring concerns about tasks not yet completed.   Things like setting up accounts at a new bank, sending out proper confirmations,  adding insurance to a booking , sending the May newsletter &mailing a congratulations card to a new high school graduate (the card is in my purse, addressed & stamped, but there were no mailboxes on Concourse F in Atlanta).  Lawson, I am going to send it from the ship – might be late, but it was well intended and will probably have a German postmark.

Starting writing the blog on the motor coach from London to Southampton, but spent too much time talking to a lovely couple from Missouri.

The ship is beautiful, the weather in Southampton (the English one, not the New York one) is clear, sunny and warm, to everyone’s great delight and surprise, and the sail-away was stunning.  So picture perfect it was like stepping out of a painting.  The only thing missing is Sailor. 

Hope he is getting lots of walks and lots of treats.

As they say on the Queen Victoria … Keep Calm and Sail On.  Guess I’ll have to buy the T-shirt.

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