Planning

Our travel plans are still not confirmed. It has been a bit of ring-a-ring-o'-roses lately! First of all, it was taking our doctor a while to decide whether or not he was going to sign the medical forms for us. Then I decided to look up prices and decide which airline we would fly - and we decided to fly a different airline to the one whose forms I had given to the doctor, so I sent him the new forms only for him to inform me he'd just filled out the ones for the other airline! After that, it took him another few days or so to fill out the form to the correct airline - at which point I felt confident making a tentative booking and submitting the paperwork to them. I initially was told that we could only hold the tickets for three days without paying but the medical clearance wouldn't be approved for another week at least - but after a bit of complaining and then talking to the right person, they decided to extend that for me so that I'm not having to pay for non-refundable tickets that the airline could potentially tell us that we are unable to use. After clearing the ticket issues up and submitting the medical clearance forms into them, it turns out that the doctor had filled something in incorrectly and we had to get him to fill it out again! He changed and signed his error and I resubmitted it, but the airline has told me that "(the) last email ... requested the Dr to fill a new one instead of correcting the old form. In case they don't accept this, I will request you to fill a new one."

All this back and forthing is a bit frustrating. I haven't yet asked the doctor to fill in a new form as I figure that I should have heard by now if the form actually was unacceptable - the first time around, I heard back in a matter of an hour, so fingers crossed! Our tickets are currently being held until Thursday, and the sale price is only valid until then, so I am hoping and praying that we hear back tomorrow or the next day! The airline may be able to hold the tickets for longer but I am unsure if they can keep the price the same for us - and if I compare to other airlines, they could go up by 40% after this sale! 

I am fairly confident that in the end, everything will go as planned. Bernard has already put in his leave from work and I'm already planning what to pack and the logistics of it all.

So we SHOULD be back in Australia from Easter until the end of May! About six weeks in total. We all really need this break, so please help us pray that all the paperwork lines up and that Maddy will be able to fly safely :)