The preparations had been going reasonably well.  I have purchased my ticket from Trailfinders including the excursion in Peru to Machu Picchu in June, only the internal South American flights remain to be sorted out nearer the date.  I managed to get travel and medical insurance far more cheaply than I was expecting, so that's a plus particularly when you are over 65!  Quite apart from a flu jab, I got booster injections for tetanus and typhoid but inoculation for yellow fever will set me back £49 as it is not available on the National Health, if I go for it.  I had successfully got an Australian Visa over the internet, and have even started on my packing. Then came snag no 1;  the doctor could only prescribe me 6 months worth of cholesterol and blood pressure tablets, whereas my trip is set to last 9 months.  So do I simply commit suicide after 6 months and be done with?  But no, the good Dr Ibanez, having elicited that I have sons resident in this country, told me that if one of them would ring her in January and identify himself, she would take a three month prescription over to the chemist and my son could duly pick up all the necessary medications from there and post them to me.  A cunning move, which would be further simplified if Jim Grant joins me in Australia next spring for the second half of the trip, as he could then act as courier.

I had phoned my credit card providers a month or two ago and explained that my Mastercard and Amex were running out in January 2011, at which time I would be on the other side of the world.  As I was going to be principally relying on them to pay my way around the world, as advised by the financial advisor at my local Lloyds TSB bank last week, what could I do to get new ones issued.  I was informed that I could get new ones issued up to three months before the expiry date, namely anytime from the beginning of October.  And so it was that on the first Monday of the month I duly phoned my credit card centre.  Somewhat surprisingly the phone was answered almost immediately, and even more surprisingly I managed to remember all the damned  passwords, memorable words etc that they lumber you with before they can access your account.  I then explained my predicament, which somewhat flustered the young lady I was speaking to, for she told me she would have to consult her supervisor and asked me if I would mind hanging on.  This I did and after a while she returned and thanked me profusely for being so patient and informed me that new cards could only be issued two months prior to expiry date.  When I pointed out that this contradicted the information I had been given earlier, she was very meticulous in assuring me that she would circulate a memo to all staff to ensure that this mistake was not made again.  That really made me feel better!  I pointed out to her that whilst I was not in any way holding her responsible, I did feel that I’d like to point out that I was the customer and I would therefore expect the bank to provide me with a reasonable level of service.  Effectively depriving me of a card for 6 months out of my 9 month trip, I did not really consider to be very good service.   What other options could she offer?  This necessitated another trip to see her supervisor.  I was again thanked for my patience.  They could offer me a new card, but it wouldn’t be a platinum one just a standard one.  But would they still give me the same credit limit, which they had recently raised to £6900, I asked.  Another trip to the supervisor, another thank you for my patience and the answer was “no”.  I then told the young lady that I was frankly appalled at the level of customer service that the bank were offering, and asked if there was anybody more senior I could speak with.  She offered to get her supervisor and I was again put on hold.  However it was my original girl who returned to the phone not the supervisor.  What if I was to contact them at the end of October, maybe they could get the new card out to me?  I pointed out that they would only have three days to get it to me, and what guarantee could they give?  None was the answer.  I thanked her for the offer but declined it and pointed out that they were doing their best to get rid of a customer, and I was seriously contemplating going elsewhere. And hung up.  

  After recounting the tale to my son Mark, he asked me why I didn’t phone the bank up and tell them that I had lost my card and that way I would get a new one.  An option I hadn’t thought of!  I now have to decide what to do:

 a) order a new card at the end of October and hope it arrives before I leave or if it

     doesn’t rely on Mark to bring it out to Australia in December.

 b) phone up and say I’ve lost the card.

 c) check out what my credit card with MBNA Bank is, see if I can find the pin number and

     us that instead.

I understand that Lloyds TSB receive 2000 complaints a day.  I’m seriously thinking of making it 2001 tomorrow.

  On a brighter note I have purchased plug adaptors for South Africa, Australia and South America - don't know if any of those will work in New Zealand - time will tell.  I have also purchased a 640 gig portable external memory to go with my Samsung notebook.  This will enable me to take quite a bit of information from my PC with me, and also carry on working part time for Charly during my trip.  My Arcos is fully loaded with films and TV programmes in case I am not enamoured with the films they show on the flights.  Jim has got about £400 worth of Rand left over from his trip to South Africa earlier this year, so hopefully we can come to a deal and I will relieve him of his South African currency shortly.