Confirm - Reconfirm

Work is now only a distraction. As I write there are only two half days to go but my mind is elsewhere. Just received an email from Coops confirming my room at the Ibis Hotel in Bangkok. At first glance I thought that we were sharing the room and there was just one double bed. I thought this may be a sign of the dangers to come but I was relieved to see that the room is mine only. Phew.

As with any major trip there are quite a few things to do before you can relax. I have bought a new suitcase, with wheels. It's good that I have finally caught up on the suitcase wheels thing. Now I too can be one of those annoying people that traipse up the road pulling a suitcase with noisy wheels. One tip I saw about luggage was to tie a ribbon around the handle so that you can spot it straight away at the luggage retrieval area in the airport. What if everyone did that? And what if everyone had a cheapo Dunlop suitcase with wheels from Sports Direct? I'm going to tie a used snot rag around my case handle, no one would touch it then and it would be immediately noticeable as it came around the conveyor belt with the bogies snagging against the belt.

I have bought some books for the trip; some to read, some for information. The two books I have bought to read while hanging around airports or while flying are by Richard Dawkins. So I will be gathering even more reasons to be anti-religion. Strangely enough I have bought his first book 'The Selfish Gene' and also his most recent book 'The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution'.

One thing I had to do as far as flights are concerned was to reconfirm my outward flight to Bangkok. I actually don't get this. I have bought a flight and paid for it and yet if I don't reconfirm with the airline more than 72 hours to go before the flight, my seat may be cancelled. The chances are that it will probably not be cancelled but is seems there is slight chance it could be. OK, I go to the bike shop and order a bike and pay for it. Two days later I go and collect it but the bike shop says "Ah, but you didn't phone us to reconfirm that you want the bike". Anyway, it's done now but I still have to do it again for all subsequent flights.