The first step

I'm been really stressed the last few weeks. All I've been doing is fretting about my holiday. I've been working and reworking the plan. I've spent countless hours at the travel agent and on the internet. Moishii went MIA for awhile whilst in Tassie so I couldn't consult my plans with him. Just the flights and the tour is 80% of my budget. I have yet to book the 2 weeks worth of accommodation not included in the tour, plus transfer and spending money. Our estimate prices for some flights have almost doubled if not tripled because we're traveling in peak season etc etc.

Over the past few days, I've been calling Moishii non-stop. My mobile is in meltdown with the number of calls I've been making. Not only do I need to charge my mobile every 1-2 days, I'm even charging my mobile at work because theres calls and sms flying back and forth nonstop. Even my poor travel agent is getting confused as to what is happening. I book my flights, Moishii changes his mind, I rebook my flight, we can't find connecting flights, we adjust the dates but then accommodation and other flights triple in price. Luckily, with the power of Google, we manage to find some alternative prices and cut down the price.

Today Moshii calls me up and screams at me to stop calling him. I've got him on speed dial at work. I'm in complete panic mode and I'm practically hyperventilating on the phone. Emails fly back and forth nonstop the whole day. Google is having a meltdown due to me alone! But as of 2 hours ago, we paid for parts of our flights. This is the first payment we've made on the holiday. We even paused before handing the money over "Are you sure? Once we pay, theres no going back". But pay we did.

I feel a bit better. The trip is happening......just in a very chaotic way. I'm still stressed because I am wait listed on a few flights and I need them all the be cleared by Monday afternoon otherwise I lose my earlybird special. If thats the case, I'm going to have rejig my itinerary and possibly purchase more plane tickets. Currently I've got 10 flights for the 5 weeks I am going to be away. TEN FLIGHTS. If my wait list is not cleared, my 10 flights will go up to 12 flights! That's ONE DOZEN! HOLY CRAP! Fingers crossed that its cleared. Otherwise I'll be doing 3 back to back flights on one of the days. I feel exhausted and close to tears just thinking about that.

I've got a lot of payments to make over the next few weeks so I am going to extreme saving mode! Here are a few rules I am setting for myself:

- I must bring lunch to work at least 3 times a week
- No more than 1 DVD or book purchase each month
- Dining out is limited to once a month
- If I go for friday night drinks, no more than 4 drinks if its happy hour ($2.50-$4 range), otherwise 2 drinks at full price (cheap pub food is allowed provided it is $10-15 range)
- Maximum 2 tops/pants a month, and each must be below the $50 mark
- Only 1 pair of shoes allowed between now and the trip

On top of my flights and other travel costs, my yearly train ticket is running out in 2 weeks. Thats more money I need to fork out to buy a quarterly ticket. UGH. MUST. SAVE!

Well, at least we took the first step towards finalising our holiday...