I'm not the author Alan Glynn (click here for him) but fully recommend his novels Winterland & Darkfields

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Final Ticket Payment & Hidden Charges

Since we are now insured for cancellation I decided I'd pay off the remainder on the tickets. Of course the final price has risen by €50 each due to an "increase in global oil prices". These are the hidden charges they don't tell you about. In total we paid an extra €€204 each above the advertised amount of the ticket. Hmmm not impressed considering airlines are supposed to hedge the price of oil on an annual basis but what can you do and besides on the grand scale of things the ticket price isn't a big portion of the overall cost.

Insured

I finally got our travel insurance sorted out. What a nightmare. Finding a reputable company and then reading through all the fine print to make sure "that it does exactly what it says on the tin". There are a surprisingly large number of Irish companies that do Backpacker insurance.

If you are interested I drew up this spreadsheet of Irish and UK Travel insurance providers and the cost of the policy plus a breakdown of the cover. I eventually went with gohop, they offered a middle of the road package with ski cover for 30 days for €289 per person compare that to Trailfinders' €680.I would also recommend Usits insurance but you have to book the trip through them to avail of it.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Car Sold

This time it really is sold. No messing like the last time.

I had mixed emotions seeing the car being driven off, sparkling after a good will wash. I really grew attached to the bloody thing but then there is the relief of not having to worry about it anymore. The money is safely in the bank and I made a healthy 20% return on my orginal investment which ain't bad with interest rates as low as they are.

Yet another item I can cross off the to do list. I'm gradually getting through the list, next travel insurance!

Monday, June 21, 2004

F**king Students

Had a bit of a set back selling the car. A student from DCU who agreed to buy the car a week ago basically kept stalling when it came to actually coughing up the cash. I stupidly told other potential buyers the car was gone. I was very suspicious but he gave me his word he wasn't f**king me around and he'd take it off me at the weekend which has just passed with out as much as a call to say he wasn't going to take it off me. Very rude. The jumped up little shit has no manners. Anyway the car is back on the market as of today. I've learned not to say its sold until the reddies are in my paw and not to be so trusting.

Packed Up

I bought a rucksack/backpack at the weekend. €€135 for a 60ltr Berghaus Silhouette. It's a travel pack rather than a hicking pack, with a large front loading zip for easy access to the contents. It also has a shoulder strap cover, useful to save the straps for baggage handler death. It comes with a i-trak tracking system which just seems to be a glorified address label, but heh it was free so complaining. It's also got one of those detachable day packs which I thought I wouldn't want but reckon it could be handy esp. when you can't or don't want to bring the larger pack with you.

Sally opted for a similar design but by a lesser known brand and at half the price it'll be interesting to see if lasts. Sal's is a 70ltrer which I think is big but its better than the 100ltr wheelie one she initially wanted. At least if I end up carrying her pack its not going to be massively different to mine. Phew ;-P

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Jabs of Joy

Just got me jabs, oh what a delight, honestly. After a quite a bit of shopping around I decided to go with the Albany Clinic on Fitzwilliam St. because most places charge the same thing and the Albany Clinic is right beside my work.

They are extremely nice people in there and took a lot of time over the consultation (no rushing you out the door mentality) mainly working out the best Malaria drug to take. The jabs themselves were painless.

Another thing off the to-do list. Rucksack and travel insurance next.

For those interested the Jabs cost €145 including consultation.

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Resignation Time

After my sole workmate beat me to the post about two weeks ago I've been mulling over when to hand in my resignation and I after careful consideration and consultation with various people I thought the most honourable thing was to give Ed, my Taiwanese boss who lives in Taipei, as much notice as possible.

Whatever way he takes it it's going to take a while to either shut down the office here in Dublin or train up someone to carry the torch further. So I emailed Ed and awaited his phone call yesterday and when it came it was soon apparent he hadn't read his mail so I had to tell him over the phone, which was interesting. Ed is a compulsive talker and after telling him I was off around the world for a year in two months he was silent for the longest period I have every experienced. He now thinks there is something under hand going on because both Paddy and myself have left to go travelling but I assured him there wasn't.

Any way we decided to shut the office buy the end of July and try and recruit someone to keep things ticking over from a smaller venue most preferably an ex-employee.

So last night it dawned on me how much shite I've to do to get this office back into the shape it was in before we moved in. It might be possible to do a deal with the landlady considering we've turned this basement office into a fully serviced modern office it would be a shame and a waste to lose it all.

Well the relief of not living a lie anymore is great but that has being quickly replaced with panic that I won't get everything sown up by the end of July. I really want the beginning of August to chill out at home with the folks and not have to worry about work!