D Day
March 26, 2008
Well, tomorrow has gone and become a rather interesting day for a number of reasons.
The plan was to work half the day and then go and get a haircut in the afternoon. Nothing too out of the ordinary, my haircut will be a bit exciting because it’s the first time I will get a new style in a while, not to mention the first time I’ll have a completely bare neck in ages. However, a haircut is just a haircut. Work is just work.
What is out of the ordinary, however, is going to a travel agent and booking a return flight to London. That will be something new. I was chatting to Best this afternoon and she asked if I booked my ticket yet. This is a question I get asked frequently, but seeing as September is a long ways off I normally just brush it off and not really give it another thought. Turns out September isn’t really that far away and Best demanded I book my ticket immediately. So I’m going to. Clearly Best made a wise choice in becoming a lawyer, when she talks, people listen.
I don’t have a lazy two grand to drop on a flight, which was part of my hesitation in booking flights. I had a few hundred in saving but my enormous Virgin bill that I couldn’t get out of paying, plus a number of weeks of very scarce employment has seen me unwillingly dip into the account for a few things leaving me with just over $500. Best advised me that you can pay off tickets, so I don’t need to have all of the cash right this second for it. Which is awesome, because I don’t.
*vom*
I am dealing with all of this stuff, but only just. It still feels incredibly surreal. I leave for two months in just a couple of weeks, I am booking a ticket that lets me hop on a plane and fly far, far away. Have you ever had a really crazy head cold and been so high on medicine that even though you are aware of what is happening around you, it all seems crazy and dream like? That’s how I feel at the moment. Like I am floating a few inches off the ground and I desperately want to come back down, just to make sense of it all. I understand it all on paper, I understand that it is costing me tonnes, I understand that I will be a graduate. I totally get all of that. I cannot, however, wrap my head around packing to go out to the bush, not seeing my friends or family, or anyone I know and love for two months. I cannot understand being an hour’s drive from the nearest mini supermarket or six hours from the nearest shopping center. I really can’t fathom that.
You’ll have to pay a deposit on your ticket, which for STA I think is a flat $250, regardless of the price of your ticket. BUT, and this could be important, the time you have to pay the balance will vary between airlines. If you get a good price, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay the balance soon- my Royal Brunei flight had to be paid within 6 days. So you may save a little by booking now, but you also might not. You’re going at a time when the high season is finishing, so you might do okay if you have to put it off- just make sure you check as the travel agent is booking the flight when you have to pay the balance, mine only told me towards the end of the process… by then it was reversable, but it would have been annoying.
Anyway. You’ll be fine. The Bush is not that bad, I’ve lived there.
Oh, forgot to say… I think most airlines you have until 28 days before you fly to pay the balance.
Downhomegirl, thank you for the advice. Because the fare season ends soon most of the tickets did have to be paid by the 31st…um, no. However, I didn find a fare that doesn’t require payment until the end of July, and is also a price I am quite happy with and an airline I would like to fly.
Win, win, win, really.
I am not fussed about the bus, what is two months in the scheme of things??