12 Jan... You can't flutter your eyelashes over the phone!... from Meg

I'm sitting on the plane feeling very surreal. Not just because I'm finally (already?!) on my way there, but because the elusive Ash isn't even with me! The last day and night have been very weird and I've got to admit stressful. Last night at Rhiannon and Pats house Ash said to me,
"You won't believe it I checked my passport and it's just valid until May!" in a sort of, 'isn't that lucky' sort of way... This would be fine since we're coming back in April, but the thing is your passport needs to be valid for 6 months after your return date!

So after convincing Ash and Stef I really wasn't joking, we checked to see if I was just wrong (I wasn't, dammit) and the next few hours was a frantic rush of hectic phonecalls and computer research.

Ash spoke to the nasty passport lady who said there's absolutely no chance you can get in, and absolutely no chance you can get a new passport in time either. So we tried to find out if we could change our flight so close to leaving, but couldn't get through to the airline at all as it was late by now. But we found out she could get a new passport (at a price) within 4 hours of an appointment at the passport office, which opened at 7:45am! So we were counting on our fingers trying to work out if, if they got an appointment straight away they had 2 hours to get across London to the airport and check in.

Inbetween the fuzz of mild but rising panic I did take a moment to be grateful i was travelling with Ash, because despite the stress, the feeling was more "At least we realised this now" rather than plain old "Shit shit shit oh no!"
At least the bad stuff's been chucked at us early on so the rest of the trip should go smoothly. Touch wood! If I can find any, on the plane.

So... we figured we'd done all we could until places started to open, so we packed in our research and I just put a few more songs on my ipod for our travels, before going to sleep. Ash and Stef set their alarms for 6:30 so that they could go and queue at the passport place nice and early, because I had a suspicion these places do have queues (I'm so glad I thought of that...)
Ash lent me some of the reais that Dutchy gave her so I've got something to arrive with, in case they don't make it in time in which case as long as we can change the flight I'll have to go before her! If we can't change the flight then we can't go.

This morning Ash and Stef set off really early, I lay in a bit and had plenty of time to have a shower and some breakfast, and it was nice to see Rhiannon before she had to go to work as well. I felt relieved to get a text off Ash saying that they were at the front of a very long queue at the passpot office, and gave my intuition a pat on the back!

Very soon I was on my way to the tube, looking crazy without a coat, and saw grey drizzly London for (fingers crossed) thew last time in a while. Nice to see the weather at its most miserable and to walk past the forced and pallid fruits at the grocers! Sorry to be smug...
Ash called to say the passport would be 4 hours max, at 9ish, and all felt fine. It was just a matter of waiting and then them rushing over to Heathrow, and go!

But since our whole holiday rested on them getting to the airport on time, I felt it was a bit of a gamble and couldn't quite relax, so when I got to the airport I asked the man what he thought we should do, and after I explained our situation he was so kind and helpful, and booked Ash a seat in tomorrow's flight as a 'just in case' measure.

When I called Ash to let her know, she sounded so grim I really thought someone else had answered her phone, I didn't recognise her! She told me the passport people hadn't told her that she had to pay beforehand, and this meant it hadn't even begun to be processed. There was almost no chance it would go through in time. She'd also phoned up the airline and they'd told her they couldn't change her flight! She thought I was joking when I said I'd done it already, poor things they must have thought she wouldn't be able to go! It felt really good to be able to say it was going to be fine whether she arrived on time or not.

I was just thinking though, what if I hadn't asked thew man yet?! we would have spoken to some meanie on the phone and probably taken their word for it - same as the passport person! I wouldn't be sitting on the plane right now but crying somewhere in grey London - or probably looking for a nice van to spend my savings on he he.

So today I've learnt that there's something about talking to someone on the phone which means they just won't be half as nice to you as speaking in person.
Anyway Ash got the passport with not quite enough time to get to o aeroporto, so once I was certain I'd got her a place on tomorrow's flight (I had to be certain- I didn't want to be stranded in Sao Paulo by myself!) I checked in my amazing 2 part bag (thanks mum!) and made my way into the maze.

It was really nice to speak to dad, after I'd told him what was happening I asked him to wish me luck, and he told me I didn't need it and that I would be fine, which made mw feel much better. I called mum at work and both of us nearly cried a little bit, I didn't tell her about the complications until they were solved to save her worrying to death.

Today is not a lucky day though, the flight got delayed ironically just enough time to have allowed Ash to get here on time! Ah well. It's going to be an adventure for me doing this on my own, anyway! Like I said to Rhiannon, I've always wanted to go travelling by myself one day. Trouble is I've also always said I'm not ready yet, too!

At least I'll always be able to say I travelled to Sao Paulo by myself once upon a time :)
The only other thing and I really hope it's the only thing, was that while I was sitting in the lounge waiting earlier, I thought- I might as well start listening to some of the music I've spent so long putting onto my ipod for my trip. But it looks like when I plugged it into Rhiannon and Pat's computer yesterday it somehow ruined all of the songs I have except for what I downloaded at Rhiannons- which was unfortunately Beth Orton. I love her music but it isn't the most cheerful, and if it's all I've got to listen to I might weep for the entire journey. Which wouldn't be the best start to my trip!