Running for my Disney - Now a PTR!

[zanzibar138]

The only difference is that Zanzibar is competing to book something healthy, while we're racing for food

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for the registrations. Congrats.

 

[zanzibar138]

YAY for the registrations. Congrats.

Thanks!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Wow - how stressy so early in the am. Congrats - sounds like you are in!

 

[FireflyFi]

Congrats on the registration! Did you even bother going back to bed after all that? Lol

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow - how stressy so early in the am. Congrats - sounds like you are in!

Congrats on the registration! Did you even bother going back to bed after all that? Lol

Yep, definitely in

I actually wasn't planning on going back to bed, figured I'd be too wide awake and excited!

Turns out I wasn't finished registering until after 5am anyway, and was completely wired after all that stress! So no point going back to bed for an hour or so.

Red Bull got me through the day.

 

[FireflyFi]

Turns out I wasn't finished registering until after 5am anyway, and was completely wired after all that stress!

Hehe I would have expected as much. Well, you got what you wanted so it was all worth it

 

[Fairy Floss]

Well done!
Wishing you all the best for your training

 

[zanzibar138]

Hehe I would have expected as much. Well, you got what you wanted so it was all worth it

Just I can't imagine how I would have felt if I'd have gone through all that and then missed out by one minute

Well done!
Wishing you all the best for your training

Thanks

 

[zanzibar138]

OMG I am BEYOND excited about the airfares DH has just booked for us with Etihad

Getting there:

Tue 26 Aug
Colombo (Sri Lanka) - Abu Dhabi
Business Class

Wed 27 Aug
Abu Dhabi - JFK (New York)
Wait for it... FIRST CLASS!

Wed 27 Aug
JFK - Dallas Fort Worth
First Class Domestic

And returning:

Tue 16 Sep
Dallas Fort Worth - Chicago
First Class Domestic

Tue 16 Sep
Chicago - Abu Dhabi
Business Class

Wed 17 Sep
Abu Dhabi - Colombo (Sri Lanka again)
Business Class

This was so ridiculously priced it HAD to be a mistake fare!

So now we just need our Melbourne-Colombo-Melbourne and Dallas-Anaheim-Dallas

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wow! What an exciting and interesting way of getting to your destination! Do all these flights add to your airpoints?

You've got me really curious about the cost of those airfares. Am I allowed to ask?

Will you spend a few days in Sri Lanka?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic! That's an interesting route; but I guess if you're travelling Business and First, you might as well go for it!

Well done to you and your DH.

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow! What an exciting and interesting way of getting to your destination! Do all these flights add to your airpoints?

You've got me really curious about the cost of those airfares. Am I allowed to ask?

Will you spend a few days in Sri Lanka?

It was about $2800 return from Sri Lanka - total for both of us

DH isn't interested in Sri Lanka, and it's never really been on my radar either. But as we are passing through, I'll have to do some research and see if there's anything we might be interested in over there.

Unfortunately we don't get any AA points for these ones, but the points we do get will earn one of us platinum status with Virgin, so still good

 

[zanzibar138]

Fantastic! That's an interesting route; but I guess if you're travelling Business and First, you might as well go for it!

Well done to you and your DH.

Hmmm interesting... yes. I never would have considered going that way in economy, but to go first class, I was pretty happy to go the roundabout way

Check it out!



We were originally looking at return flights that would give us a day in Paris and a day in Abu Dhabi, but we weren't quick enough for those

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Congratulations - brilliant price for first and business class though I am afraid all that extra flying time, even in first class or business class, isn't our cup of tea, we just don't like flying that much - which is why we'll never make clever FF!! but I enjoy the armchair ride with someone else so will be looking forward to reading all about it! Sri Lanka seems to be one of the trendy places to visit at the moment - at least with the 20 something set so I expect there are lots of interesting things to see. The only thing I know about it is what Dad tells me from the time he was based there at the end of the war-a bit different now! If you do get a future opp for a stopover in Abu Dhabi grab it as I have a friend who lives in the Middle East and she has posted some amazing pics from there.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wow, that is cheap. I wonder if it's a mistake or if it's just priced according to the market it's serving? I know very little about Sri Lanka, but I'm guessing it's GDP is considerably smaller than ours.

Note to self: Check out flights from and to Sri Lanka when booking my next trip to Europe.

How many hours are your overnight stopovers in Abu Dhabi? I really enjoyed my time in the UAE, it's such an interesting part of the world.
If nothing else, you might be able to splash out for a night in one of their amazing hotels.

 

[zanzibar138]

Congratulations - brilliant price for first and business class though I am afraid all that extra flying time, even in first class or business class, isn't our cup of tea, we just don't like flying that much - which is why we'll never make clever FF!! but I enjoy the armchair ride with someone else so will be looking forward to reading all about it! Sri Lanka seems to be one of the trendy places to visit at the moment - at least with the 20 something set so I expect there are lots of interesting things to see. The only thing I know about it is what Dad tells me from the time he was based there at the end of the war-a bit different now! If you do get a future opp for a stopover in Abu Dhabi grab it as I have a friend who lives in the Middle East and she has posted some amazing pics from there.

Yes, the flying time is a bit horrendous. And the price was a bit more than we were originally going to pay (considering we still have to get ourselves to Sri Lanka and back). But we just couldn't go past those fares, and for first class flights we're looking at it as an experience in itself. We're actually quite looking forward to having 14 hours to experience it all! It would have been much more worth it with a day in Paris and a day in Abu Dhabi, but that's too bad.

We might be able to add a stopover in Abu Dhabi, or perhaps Chicago or even New York on the way over. First class passengers get all the free changes and cancellations they want We just couldn't get the fares to work originally with any stopovers, and don't want to call them to make changes if it WAS a mistake fare

Wow, that is cheap. I wonder if it's a mistake or if it's just priced according to the market it's serving? I know very little about Sri Lanka, but I'm guessing it's GDP is considerably smaller than ours.

Note to self: Check out flights from and to Sri Lanka when booking my next trip to Europe.

How many hours are your overnight stopovers in Abu Dhabi? I really enjoyed my time in the UAE, it's such an interesting part of the world.
If nothing else, you might be able to splash out for a night in one of their amazing hotels.

I suspect that flights originating from Sri Lanka would generally be cheaper than other departure points. However, I don't think that's a normal price for first class, even from there. It is definitely worth playing around with different departure points though - we've got a couple of decent premium economy fares to Singapore that way

Unfortunately we don't get any sort of stopover - not even one night. It is all just one plane to the next. Doesn't really bother me though as I'm expecting to get a full night's sleep on most flights, having an actual bed. The plane leaves from Abu Dhabi after midnight, so hence the difference in dates. However, we do get to experience the first class lounge for a short time If we can manage to get a day in Abu Dhabi I'd love to have a look around.

 

[Caroline NZ]

OMG I am BEYOND excited about the airfares DH has just booked for us with Etihad

Getting there:

Tue 26 Aug
Colombo (Sri Lanka) - Abu Dhabi
Business Class

Wed 27 Aug
Abu Dhabi - JFK (New York)
Wait for it... FIRST CLASS!

Wed 27 Aug
JFK - Dallas Fort Worth
First Class Domestic

And returning:

Tue 16 Sep
Dallas Fort Worth - Chicago
First Class Domestic

Tue 16 Sep
Chicago - Abu Dhabi
Business Class

Wed 17 Sep
Abu Dhabi - Colombo (Sri Lanka again)
Business Class

This was so ridiculously priced it HAD to be a mistake fare!

So now we just need our Melbourne-Colombo-Melbourne and Dallas-Anaheim-Dallas

Wow, you'd have to really enjoying flying to want to do that, good on you
Flying is not my cup of tea ( even with business class I like to get to a destination in as little time as possible). Hope you have fun and find some good prices for the remaining flights

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow, you'd have to really enjoying flying to want to do that, good on you
Flying is not my cup of tea ( even with business class I like to get to a destination in as little time as possible). Hope you have fun and find some good prices for the remaining flights

Yep, I do actually enjoy flying when it's business class, and now that my ears don't give me any trouble I just hope the grommets last until then - they're supposed to stay in for a year, but the doctor said sometimes they'll fall out a couple of months early.

The only one I'm not looking forward to is the Abu Dhabi - Sri Lanka. Even though it's business class, it's only a small plane, so it will be more like premium economy, for 4.5 hrs, arriving at 5am - yuck!

 

[zanzibar138]

Just got a quick leg update for you.

I had my compartment pressure test yesterday, and tested astoundingly positive for compartment syndrome. FWIW the test was not as bad as I was expecting

I called my doctor immediately when I was finished to make a follow up appointment, and he was available yesterday afternoon. I had to hang around in the city for a few hours (and be VERY late to work ), but at least it saved me a separate trip in.

So the doctor is going to ring around the surgeons he knows to see who's available and who's keen to do the surgery. He'll let me know where and when my appointment is (it will before we go away), with a view to having the surgery done as soon as we get back.

I've got a LOT of questions to ask the surgeon, but assuming I'm happy with all the answers, I'll be going ahead with the surgery.

Pretty happy that I've FINALLY got a diagnosis and a plan of attack