Quilt Con Fully On

Almost four months ago (wait, what?!), I booked my QuiltCon tickets. It was one of the most nervous nights of my life – all that adrenaline waiting for registration to open and the race to select the classes and lectures and events and pay for them… Only those who experienced it can really understand what it was like! I am still so grateful for Japan’s super speed internet for helping me get into everything I wanted!

With my accommodation sorted (I’m staying with Melissa at her best friend’s place), it was time to focus on getting the flights. The whole reason this trip is possible was that my husband’s work unexpectedly reimbursed him for part of his trip back to Australia in June as he was giving some talks at his old lab. So we had to wait for this payment to come through, but thanks to the bureaucracy that is Japanese paperwork, it took a very, very long time. Because they couldn’t just reimburse him the amount on the receipt, oh no! He paid with his Australian credit card, which meant that even though the airfare was in yen, he had currency exchange involved. And not just any exchange rate, that particular day’s rate. But we got there eventually, at the start of September.

He then went away again mid-September for work, so it just made sense to wait until he was back to not have to try and work out dates and flights and money transfers before he left. Which worked out very much in our favour! Because on his flight home from San Francisco, his United flight was delayed and then cancelled for 24 hours, which meant a $200 travel voucher. And his Japanese colleagues got one too, which they gave to him in thanks for all his work sorting out new flights, a hotel, etc. Score!

The third (fourth?) step to this process was his suggestion that we make the most of the vouchers, that can only be used one per transaction/flight, and I fly to Dallas/Melissa via somewhere else. Somewhere else that United flies direct from Tokyo. New York or Washington DC or LA… My mind raced with possibilities!! I am dying to visit New York, and hey! It’s only a train trip away from Kate Spain! But to be honest, the idea of doing NYC by myself is rather daunting!! I have a couple of friends in Washington DC that would be cool to meet up with, but it was really awkward trying to work out return flights to Dallas. But in LA, I have quilty friends! And flights are much more convenient! In particular, Janice from Better Off Thread, whom I’ve gotten to know pretty well online and who’s played mail forwarding courier several times for me. So I popped her an email, and I’ve booked her guest room for a few days in February!

The final stage in this saga was big troubles trying to book flights online from Japan with a US travel voucher and paying the remainder with an Australian credit card. Nope, does not work. And they took a few days to reply to our email! But last night, we Skyped United and booked all my flights and they even took off the $25 phone booking fee from each transaction. Best bit? My LA-Dallas return flights cost AUD$5.80 thanks to the voucher! Well, that plus whatever the luggage fee is at the airport… Oh man, there was celebrating in this house last night to finally have my trip all booked in place! So much so, I already started having nightmares about flight issues last night…

Let the packing and shopping lists begin!