With less than twenty four hours to go before departure … time to print off boarding passes. We were ready to go… or were we? Something caught my eye. I was neatly folding the two pieces of paper … Each into three … I felt my heart sink. What did i see? Oh no! The travel agent had made both our flight bookings with the same surname. While we might be a couple we still have our different identities … and there is no way the airline would let one of us board with the wrong surname on their system. Our whole Round the World trip could now be thrown into disarray by this one, small mistake … anxiety levels creeping up …

British Airways offer good support when they are able to … And in this case they were able to. It took over half an hour for the helpline agent to sort the problem … Long periods on hold … short bursts of connection … conversation … and the dull clack clack clack of a computer keyboard working in the background. My heart raced and my breathing became erratic as I fought to contain the anger that could, so easily, be misdirected at this helpful person. Finally it was done and my bodily systems came down from high alert to relaxation … I needed sugar …

Some hours later, sitting on an American Airlines plane bound for Boston, there was time to reflect. Relationships of trust can be broken by small matters. It’s often the small things in life that cause much grief.

Note to self: don’t make assumptions and always check the details.

"A journey of a thousand li starts beneath one’s feet" … and just now my feet are itching … I feel ready to go. My bags ain't packed and I feel the process of finally letting go grinding slowly on. Letting go of what? My attachment to home and safe surroundings – of all the things, places and people I know so well? Probably … but there are many questions, too … like "Why would I want to go on a journey of a thousand li?" Well, I guess I have to find out … to look and experience the world for myself. So, deep breath … just four more days before departure.