My procrastination skills save me again!

As much as Bub will hate this post, because he usually has to clean up after my procrastinating (case in point: he just had to give me Southwest credits to fly to Stanford for his graduation because I didn't book it in time - I'm now insisting he take my True Blue flight in return), even he will have to acknowledge that sometimes they really save my butt. Such as....my dad has been on me to book Malta, and about a week ago we browsed sidestep.com and all the websites looking for a good deal. While we found a sale on Air Malta to get me from Heathrow to Luqa for $200, the UK flights were not cheap. We finally settled on a British Airways r/t for $1200. So my dad and mom went to the Berkshires this weekend after pop's instruction to please book this flight.

And of course, with studying and hemming and hawing and rising annoyance at a $1200 British Airways flight, I didn't. Okay, it slipped my mind. The phone rings about 30 minutes ago and it's my parents from home and I know my dad's calling to make sure I booked. So I hustle over to 'puter - and the flight in question is now $500 more. And I'm cursing my stupidity (Bub is right now nodding his head in sympathy with my pops, I know) and thinking of a way to scheme myself out of this. So it looks like if I leave a full day earlier, in the morning, no less (who flies from the east coast to London in the AM?), it'll only be $200 more expensive. Oy.

In a last minute act of desperation as I'm about to click "purchase" I open another tab and check out sidestep one last time. You know this never works, the flights are even more expensive than the ridiculous one you're about to shell out for...and THEN. AND THEN. $756 bucks round trip to Heathrow on American!!*#&#)%&_%*#(*_#(*%#^*$( ^%^ (this is the dance I was doing)

So, being the total sneak I am, I ring up pops and crow about my shrewdness in not booking the flight because I wanted to "shop around" a little and doncha know, I'm saving 400 smackers. He was suitably impressed with my carefully-thought-out strategy. So I am on my way to Malta! And Bub is shaking his head and rolling his eyes...

Some adorable photos of my grandfather with Joseph Calleja last winter backstage at the Met - I have no idea who the little Sopranos-looking-guy in brown is, he was another Maltese groupie:

Tuesdays with (Maltese) Morrie

Lest I let my tan begin to fade, it looks like I will be on the road again soon (fingers, toes, and eyes crossed)... my 87-year-old Maltese grandfather, who like me is a huge opera buff and an all-around cool guy, calls me the other day to let me know this up-and-coming Maltese tenor, Joseph Calleja (who we saw at the Met in Rigoletto in January and he ended up coming to dinner at our house - we did not make him sing for his supper, which I thought I was nice of us) is singing in Mdina, Malta in early July and do I want to go? Oh, and, gee, Jose Carreras is giving a concert, too and we're going to go to that. So then my dad calls and asks me to do him a favor and go to Malta for two weeks with my grandfather. I guess everyone is worried about my grandfather getting around at his age, although I have to say (knock on wood), the guy's a champ for 87, he's probably going to beat me on the swim out to St. Paul's Island. Also, my cousin Charlie (70+ year old cousin at that) who is the most fun will be hanging out with us, so it'll be all the people I love there and I'll have them all to myself.

Full disclosure - there is no full disclosure, there is no question that I am going to be in Malta faster than you can say old guys who love La Traviata. Oh, and I'm driving.

I'm so excited, I dug out these pictures from our trip last year: