I was rudely awoken yesterday at 6:30am. Although, it was for a good cause. Nicki is off to Tobago for a week to see her father who lives there. Her sister and brother-in-law, not too mention our niece and nephew, are also going to be there! Nicki is not one to panic about things like packing, I like to be ready at the night before down to point where all I need to pack is my toothbrush. Most times I don’t bother taking it and buy a new one at the airport…
Of course packing for Tobago was quite easy, there were a few quotes of all I need is a bikini and a sarong heard during the week before. So as early as it was yesterday morning, it being a Sunday and all, Nicki calmly got her stuff together and five minutes before she was due to go out the door decided that she would like to talk the iPod. A not unreasonable request. But she decided that she would like to choose the 30GB of songs that she would like to take with her.
Ever since I can remember I have always worried about being late for things. On my first flight (which didn’t actually happen until I was 21), I was three hours early for the flight. The flight was internal. Hey, you just never know! Three hours is a long time to wait in any airport, especially when you have a 20 kg rucksack on your pack and you can’t check it in because the check in desk doesn’t open for another hour. But this slightly crazy part of me that craves to be early for flights has never let up. Even when I calm about running late, inside I am screaming.
I have learned that being early has its advantages. My luggage is always overweight but I can usually get away with this using one of two methods.
- Be as nice as possible and flirt like hell with the girl that is checking me in (this can usually work with the a guy that is checking me in as well, although it is more risky) or;
- Be early enough so that you are one of the first people checking in luggage. Although with easyjet (known for being the scum of the universe) I developed a technique for having the lip of my bag hanging just of the end of the scales and keeping my foot under it to bring the wieght down to 20kg
So after my near heart failure at Nicki’s request to change all the music on the iPod, I tried to stay calm and inform her that this was not really possible 5 MINUTES BEFORE YOU ARE DUE TO LEAVE!
I have only heard a tweet since she left yesterday saying something about the airport staff riding bikes at Frankfurt, but nothing since. I am sure that she has arrived safely in Tobago and is now sunning herself on a beach while totally forgetting about the dreary cold weather in The Hague. Amazingly she actually succumbed to setting up a twitter account before she left, you can view her updates here.
All in all without Nicki being here, I expect this week to be rather quiet!
P.S. Having just visited the Visit Trinidad and Tobago tourism website I have just seen the weather outlook for the next few days, it is to be cloudy today, showers tomorrow and a rather large thunderstorm on Wednesday…oh dear, I do hope the forecaster of gloom are wrong!
