Making Plans

It is always a lot of planning at work to ensure that everything is tied up before you travel so the team can carry on. You also need to check for conflicts of calendars and a million other details before you decide to go. Add to that a complicated situation at home with old parents needing supervision and care, the decision to travel is never easy. There are times I swear that Generals have perhaps plotted war strategies that require less coordination than the arrangements that had to be made to travel.

I had to talk to the battery of care givers ensuring there would be no leave requirements at the time and if there were, that suitable substitutes were available.  As all this was six months ahead of time, no clear answers were available. Then it required coordinating with doctors to ensure that my travel did not clash with their travel plans, so I had emergency help at home.

I had to put in place fail safes for every emergency. Complicated flow charts and plans were analysed to identify the weak spots and how best to shore them up.

Of course, you get greedy when you get a chance to travel to a country like Spain. You start trying to squeeze in a holiday. That of course means trying to coordinate the times and dates with your spouse as well as trying to figure out flights, places to visit and more – something easier said than done.

And just when you think that everything is sorted out or that you are at least getting there, something goes wrong.  I stopped thinking about it for a couple of months, but the conference organisers needed an answer.

So, I revisited the plans again. But no matter which way I looked at it, it could not be done… unless……

Yup. The holiday was dropped, and the spouse was cajoled to stay home and hold fort, which he willingly did.

Now it was definite. I was going.