Highs and Lows of August

highs and lows of august

August has been a roller-coaster month of real highs and lows!

Highs

1) Went on a seven-night Mediterranean cruise to the Greek Islands with my friend — and it was fantastic! We visited Venice, Montenegro, Santorinti (Greece), Katakolon (Greece) and Athens. (See blog posts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for details.)

Mediterranean cruise: Venice bridge from cruise ship2) The cruise started and ended in Venice, and we stayed an extra night there at the end of the cruise in a hotel on the Grand Canal. Now Venice is my new favorite city in the world (right after Charleston, S.C., where I live)!

3) My dad, who broke his hip at my house May 6, played 18 holes of golf — with no pain — 3 months and 11 days after hip surgery! It’s amazing!

4) The concierge on Celebrity Constellation was so, so helpful when my luggage never arrived (see #1 Low below). She was really good at customer service.

5) Planted 75 pieces of sod in the front yard, and it seems to be doing well with the rain we’ve had. sod_august2015

Lows

1) United Airlines lost my luggage for the cruise trip, so I was gone for 10 days with only two sets of clothes (two pairs of black capris and two sleeveless tops) and a bathing suit. That was a REAL experience. The upside is I now realize I can travel light!

2) Had to sit in the middle of a four-person row for an 8-hour flight home from Venice. It was a real trick eating dinner with your elbows glued to your side — yikes — but at least there weren’t two big men on either side.

3) Had to file a lost luggage claim, which was a little tricky, because you had to list every single item in your suitcase, its size, color, where it was bought, and the cost. Sent it two weeks ago and haven’t heard anything yet.

Called to see if they got the claim, and the man from India told me to expect to wait 8-10 weeks for settlement. And that I may call once a month to inquire about it. Also started the claim process with my credit card company and the travel trip insurance company. This is not fun.

By my tally, the contents, plus the few replacement items I had to buy on the cruise ship and in Europe,  were conservatively worth $1,750+ — but doubt if the airline will see it that way!

staph_infection_elbow24) Got a staph infection in my right arm, from a scrape on my elbow (when I laid sod the weekend after returning from Europe). My elbow and lower arm was swollen and red, and moving my arm at all hurt like crazy!

Got massive doses of antibiotics and the doc told me to take the first two days off work and lie on the couch with a heating pad on my arm, so I did that and slept nearly all day and all night for those days. Seems to be getting much better now.

Hope you had a good, drama-free month!

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1 Response to Highs and Lows of August

  1. Pingback: Highs and Lows of January — Thoughts, Tips and TalesThoughts, Tips and Tales

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