You wouldn’t think that after months of strategic planning and drawing up itineraries practically to the minute that something as basic (and, let’s face it, important) as the arrival date in the UK could have been, well to put it mildly – misjudged. I had it fixed in my head that we departed Perth on September 24th (got that part right), and arrived in London on September 25th (WRONG!!) Because we are taking the early morning flight from Australia, and the impact of the time shift in flying east-west, we actually arrive on the evening of the 24th. Of course the accommodation was only booked from the date I thought we were arriving.

Minor panic and quick rebooking via the internet has now, I hope, corrected that one rather important oversight. But you know how it is when you suddenly have to make amendments to bookings. I feel a tad nervous that immediately after I changed the accommodation booking to add an extra night I received three emailed invoices from Travelodge all citing a reversal of a 3 night stay. The web site booking record has the correct details however and 5 night’s accommodation has been debited from my credit card, so it’s fingers crossed.

Another last minute adjustment has been the decision to keep the rental car an extra day so we don’t have to race back from Stratford to return the car on time. Now I just have to hope that this particular amendment goes smoothly…

Spending money certainly seems to come easily in the lead up to a major trip. Suddenly you find all the bits and pieces that you simply must have. Then there are all the advance bookings to be made, simply because it’s easier (and often cheaper) to buy in Australia ahead of time. Hence the Oyster cards, the York Pass, the tickets to the Tower of London, the British Heritage Pass, the theatre tickets for “Elling” and dinner at La Tasca and last but not least, tickets for Cadbury World. Thank goodness for the internet and plastic!

So, just 18 days to go. I’m just hoping that I haven’t made any other faux pas but I guess I’ll soon find out if I have…