It's All Just Talk Until The Ticket Is Bought

"One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time 

to do the things you've always wanted.  Do it now."

- Paulo Coelho

We all know them.  The people who talk about doing stuff and then never seem to.  They never get around to it, or the timing isn't right, or something else comes up, or any of the other myriad excuses.  When it came to my camino, I didn't want to be that person.  I'd talked about doing it for two years so not going was not an option.  Once the flight was booked, I was locked in. There was no going back.

Same for the upcoming UK extravaganza.  I could talk about going all I wanted but it was time to seal the deal and hit PURCHASE on the Air Canada site.  Ordinarily I go to a travel agent.  Usually I'm booking a package, like a trip to Disney including air, hotel and tickets.  For some reason I just feel more confident letting them hit the button.  But hey, this was just a flight and there was a seat sale.  A seat sale that I have since found out can last mere seconds on line.  Trust me, they can disappear that fast.  I know.  It happened to me.  Twice.

So I checked my dates and times, my departure and arrival airports.  Twice. Three times.  Okay, maybe four or five times before I hit BOOK THIS.  And then I checked it all again -- because even the best editors and proofreaders miss stuff -- before hitting the all important PURCHASE button.  Don't know why, but that part freaks me out just a little bit.  And that could be the reason some people just talk about doing stuff.  Fear of commitment.  Fear of fucking up.

Talk is cheap.  Airline tickets are not.  But I'm pretty sure I got a good price. At least I'm happy with the price I got.  It was several hundred dollars cheaper than the amount I'd budgeted.  But I always highball so when I get something for less I feel like I've got a good deal.  Mind games.

It's only just a shade over five months away.  Seems so much longer but that's probably because I still have to say I'm going next year.  But in less than two months it'll be this year.  Going on the Camino was exciting but I was also scared shitless.  I am beyond excited for this trip.  The line up for our itinerary is amazing and I want to share it all now.  But I also don't want to ruin the fun of blogging about it as it happens. 

And so the ticket is bought -- it's not all just talk.


Book Reviews:  A departure from my usual reading genres, The Illegal by Lawrence Hill is the story of Keita, a marathon runner fleeing the corrupt murderous government in his fictional homeland, Zantoroland, to live and run illegally in the fictional country of Freedom State.  It seemed a very timely tale given the current situation with refugees fleeing Syria, but I'm sure any of them would be happy to trade places with Keita.  He just didn't seem to have it that rough, comparatively speaking.  Regardless, I enjoyed the book (although not nearly as much as Hill's previous novel, The Book of Negroes), especially the character of enterprising young John Falconer.  The ending, however, was so wrapped up in a feel good great big bow that I felt ripped off.

I finally got The Last Town, the final book in the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch.  (The first two are Pines and Wayward.)  I haven't reviewed any of them as I wanted to wait until I'd finished reading the series.  The mistake I made was watching the series on TV whilst reading the first two. While generally sticking to the story line, the televised version differed somewhat -- as they all do (just don't get me started on Under the Dome) -- and things started to get confused in my poor little brain.  I'm happy I read the finale long after the show finished.  It was definitely the best of three and the ending was major kick-ass.  I love it when the ending of a book (or trilogy) surpasses my greatest expectations.