Vacation nit-pick-ing

So I've been stressing out about my vacation.

Yep, that's right. I'm a complete-and-utter-moron for doing it, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. It's like a little scab. If I were wise (and listened to mommy) I would just leave the bloody thing (ha-ha) alone. But no. I'm a turd. So I pick-pick-pick.

Okay, it's not QUITE like picking at a scab. Stressing about my vacation planning doesn't make me bleed (yet). But it's totally not necessary. The vacation would have been fine if I didn't start nit-picking. But I did, and so I got all stressed, and had to start writing down an "agenda" for my 9-hour stay in Edmonton.

Yep. I've lost it.

Okay, but here's the deal. I arrive in Edmonton at 8am (assuming Canadian North takes off and arrives on time) and then take off for Mexico at 17:50. I want to do some running around town (hair cut and general "southern transformation" activities - come on, you know we all do it. We wear ratty sweats in the North, then pretty shoes, blazers and cashmere scarves once we reach "civilization" once more) so I rented a car. No biggie. 30 bucks. I can handle that. That's how much it would cost me to take the shuttle into town and then back to the airport - not to mention the misc. running around, that would probably have to be done in cabs. I pat myself on the back for the wise choice.

But then I get to thinking. I don't have a lot of time. And I have a lot of things on my to-do list. And I've never been to Edmonton. And I HATE getting lost. Maybe I'll rent a GPS unit. But then I thought some more (yep, burnin' rubber all around). There have been MANY occasions recently where a GPS would come in handy. The UK trip comes to mind. As well my Winnipeg visits. I seem to be spending a lot of time in unfamiliar cities as of late. And renting adds up. We didn't get one in the UK because it was going to cost more than the rental did. Ridiculous. And post-Christmas sales were good... so I started (just this week) looking into them.

Okay long, (boring shopping) story short: Futureshit doesn't let you pick up in store. Bestbuy didn't have any of the ones I wanted in stock. The Source was being a turd. Amazon only had ones that were more than 300 bucks. There was no guarantee I'd be able to find a reasonably-priced GPS by just driving around the Edmonton outskirts (probably getting lost and missing appointments on the way). So time was ticking. I start plugging in random key words like "gps, canada, fast, ship, PLEASE!" and hit the jackpot. Expresspost shipping. On sale. And more than enough time for it to get here.

So that's good.

In the end, I think I have it all figured out. One appointment at 10. Another at 2. Hit Shopper's Drug Mart before appointment. McDonald's in-between, Walmart on the way back (maybe). And little Tom-Tom to get me there seamlessly.

Now I just have to decide what the hell I'm packing for clothes(Canadian North and Air Transat have VERY DIFFERENT baggage allowances), what books I'm going to bring (probably the hardest decision... got to have the right "mood" and I'm a big reader, so who knows how many I'll go through, sitting on the beach)... and I have to figure out what I'm doing with the dog...

And CRAP. I have to get my keyboard repaired on my laptop too. Yeesh. Apparently the stressing out has only just begun...

:)