Booking Made, Deposit Paid ...

Yesterday started off as a very ordinary day with a plan for lots of things that needed to be done, but I kept having to overcome obstacles. The first obstacle was to find a Solicitor or Commissioner of Oaths to get our Marriage Affidavits signed, the first place I stopped in Ranelagh, the Commissioner was out, okay so where do I go now, I was not going to wait for an hour for her to get back. So eventually I parked the car in Mespil road, armed with all my documentation, I fed the meter and then walked up Baggott street into town, I was sure to find something.

After walking about 2 blocks I came across the first office that had solicitor on the door and rang the doorbell. Thank goodness they were very obliging but of course would not sign D's because he was not there, which was fine. I paid my 10 Euro and left, walked the two blocks back to the car. My next stop was Trailfinders to get another quote for our holiday, just to make sure that we were not being taken for a ride. The problem with finding parking in Dublin is that it is either very expensive or you just get stuck in traffic jams, so because I had to pick up Em at 2 I decided to go and park down on the quays as I had seen parking near the Sean O'Cassey walk bridge for 1.50 and hour which is very cheap, little did I realise what I walk I had.

Anyway walked up to Dawson street, saw the travel agent - gave me exactly the same quote so I was happy and would go with my first agent as they had been so helpful. I had a sort of idea where they were but somehow went to the North side of O'Connell bridge where as they were on the South side, I told Bob I would meet him for lunch down at CHQ, so when I could not find them I thought I can just as well do everything over the phone or by email and headed down to the CHQ building, a bit early but armed with plenty of Trailfinders brochures to look at our trip.

Had a very brief lunch with Bob and then headed over the bridge to fetch my car and Em from school and then home. I eventually got hold of the Travel agent after 5 and gave her the go ahead to make the booking, once she had done everything I could not tell who was more excited the travel agent or me.

D came home while I was making the bookings and we probably chatted for about 3 hours about our trip, something we have not done in a very very long time.

So here are the details: - We leave on the 2nd of July and Fly - Dublin-London-Los Angeles-Tahiti-Auckland-Sydney-Perth-Johannesburg-London-Dublin and arrive home on the 24th of August.