Only A Week To Go

This time in just one week I will be getting ready to go to the Airport to commence my very long trip to yet another far distant corner of the Earth, this time being Cancun. Yes I know planet Earth is not a very big planet. In fact in the grand scheme of the cosmos, planet Earth is one of the smallest planet. The planet at Taygeta is five times bigger. But when it comes to taking three long flights totalling 32 hours just to get to the other side of the planet, well it might as well be the size of Antares - a star so large that it would take a jet airliner 11000 years to fly around it. Well when stuck on a plane on a 15 hour flight from Sydney to LA it SEEMS like 11000 years!!!!!!

Let the truth be know, I am more nervous than excited. So many people are saying Mexico is crawling with crims and drug lords with a crime rate so high that it would make Perth seem more like a country village. I am sure it is not THAT bad, and people do tend to exaggerate and overstate things, but I did acquire a theft-proof backpack at great expense, and I hope the security features will never be tested, but as we Virgos are fond of saying, better safe than sorry. To be sure the govt "travel smart" website does give a map of Mexico showing "no go" areas for tourists, and fortunately where I will be is nowhere near these no go areas. Indeed it is said that Cancun and the Yucatan area is relatively one of the safest areas of Mexico. But being in a foreign country, well this intrepid soul is being very intrepid!!!!!!

Not to mention all those earthquakes!!!! In fact there has been THREE "severe" earthquakes (ie 6 or more on the ritcher scale" in just the past two weeks!!!! Fortunately all of them were far enough away to not affect the Yucatan area but they still would have felt them!!! And I am not sure if I would relish being in an earthquake even a relatively slight one. It was bad enough in Bali when during my stay there I did feel one slight tremor!!!! I do lead a sheltered life, we don't get earthquakes in Perth..... well the Meckering quake of 1968 notwithstanding. I don't remember much about that one but one thing I do remember is the floor suddenly beginning to shake and hearing a roar that sounded like the wind and rain. So for the next few years of my childhood I would freak out whenever there is heavy rain with wind, I would stand at the window and cry each time it rained heavily, and no one understood why. Mother would have just thought it was one of my silly childhood fears. But it wasn't the rain or even the wind that I was afraid of, it was that the house might shake again just like it did with the roaring sound that sounded like the wind and rain. Many years later I was shocked to learn that on the day of the earthquake it didn't actually rain, in fact it was quite a calm day!!!! And then it tweaked!!! The wind and rain doesn't cause the house to shake, at least not in Perth anyway!!!! Maybe a hurricane or tornado, but we don't have those in Perth!!!! The roaring sound was caused by the earthquake which shook the house. And I was no longer afraid of the weather - except when I went to America and got caught in a storm with tornados!!!!

Speaking of Bali.....

This volcano was actually the one which I went on my hike to the top of it during my trip last year!!!! It was active then with steam vents and hot springs all about the place, and I did note that it last erupted in 1963 - when I came to this planet. When I was there last year I remember looking down into the crater from the edge, there were several steam vents in the vicinity, indeed it was quite steamy all around. And I was wondering what would happen if it erupts again. Then going to the solidified lava flows from the 1963 eruption and thinking, sheeze those rocks are as old as I am!!!! I am not sure which way I should look at this, being as old and ancient as those rocks....... or those rocks are really young compared to the surrounding outcrops. There are volcanos in Mexico but none anywhere near the Yucatan area!!

In getting ready for my trip, I thought of ways of getting to the Airport. My car battery is on its way out, indeed the windscreen wipers now takes a while before it starts up as if there's not enough power getting to them until after the engine is running, another classic sign of a battery in its death throes. The only reason why I am still able to use the car is cos I use it often enough to keep the battery charged up sufficiently. But during my trip the car will be idle for the best part of three weeks, this is likely to seal the fate of my battery. During my trips I usually book long secure term parking at the Airport and just drive in to leave my car there. However I don't relish the idea of returning from the long flights only to contend with a dead battery upon my return at an Airport parking lot!!! So pondering on alternative ways of getting to the Airport.

Enter Uber..... me being of Virgoan energies, I spent time checking out Uber, and studying exactly how it works. And then just a couple of days ago I put Uber to the test. And here is my test report......


My Virgoan Report on my first Uber ride

We Virgos does have a reputation of being very hard to please. Well it's not that we're nit picky nor fussy, we just give great attention to details. Keep that in mind as I report on my first Uber ride, a test ride to judge whether I will be taking this transportation option to the Airport next weekend.

Using the app on my tablet to book my ride was a breeze as it uses the GPS to see where I was currently located which they correctly figured to be my abode, having previously entered details of my home address when I set up the app. I then began to type in my destination, being the Mends Street jetty in South Perth, and the location came up on the list after I typed four or five characters. It then gave the route and the price, the map also gives the real time locations of current Uber vehicles.

The first snag came up when it came to the payment. I had entered Paypal as my payment option. Alas!! Paypal knocked back the payment request from Uber!! Apparently I needed to add Uber to the approved merchants list on Paypal, which I spent the next 20 minutes trying to do on the Paypal site but for the life of me I could not find any options that would allow me to add someone to the approved list!! So after being frustrated to the max, I ended up just adding one of my credit cards as a payment option on the Uber app. No reflection on Uber, just Paypal being paranoid over automated payments from an app.

Once I was able to add my credit card, the whole process of requesting a ride went very smoothly. Once the payment was successfully processed, the app gave me the make and colour of the vehicle which would be collecting me, the license plate number, and driver name with user rating which I was glad to see it was very high!! It also gave the approximate time until arrival, which was about 6 minutes or so, and I was able to follow the progress of the vehicle on the map, allowing me to relax a bit until the vehicle turned onto my street.

I recognized the vehicle immediately from the license plate, so I waved as he came into the visitors parking lot. He asked me "Uber?", I think just to make sure I was the one he was meant to be collecting. I got into the back seat as I always deliberately done so back in the days of catching a taxi. Drivers tends not to chat so much when in the back seat, and so I was able to peruse FaceBook on my device in peace while he took me to my destination.

Before we left, he confirmed with me my destination, the Mends Street Jetty. Then he asked me where it was? He first asked, is it in the city? I corrected him, South Perth. But once he checked on his GPS system, he was able to take me to Mends Street via the quickest route without any further assistance from me. Being prepaid up front and paid to the company rather than directly to the driver, they're not like the taxis who often takes you the long way around, sometimes feigning being "lost" just for the extra fares.

Once we reached the shopping strip that is Mends Street, he confirmed with me if this is where I wanted to go. And me in my Virgoan ways I just said, drop me anywhere along here. So he parked at the petrol (gasoline) station on the corner and I was about to get out, when he stopped me and asked if I wanted to be taken down to the Jetty? It was a matter of only 2 minutes walking, Mends Street is not a long street, it takes literally just two minutes to walk from one end to the other. So normally I would have just said, no need to bother! But I think Niandarah (my Goddess from Sirius, my current spirit guide) was on my case, and the driver was simply trying to do the right thing as I did specifically request my destination to be the Jetty by the river, not just "anywhere along the street". So I took up on his offer, and he drove me the short distance down to the jetty. I thanked him, and I was on my merry way without any fuss whatsoever.

So it all went very well and so much easier than catching a taxi, especially when it comes to the payment which was up front via the app, once I gotten over the Paypal issue, so no fumbling around for the change or being charged extra for daring to use a card, nor dealing with the bother of paying the driver at the end of the journey. Also it was a very late model vehicle, very clean and in excellent condition. And when a Virgo says something is very clean, then it IS very clean!!!!

My rating is 9.5 with half a point taken off cos he didn't initially know where Mends Street was located. OK he got me there without a problem once he consulted the GPS system, but hey, a Virgo wouldn't be a Virgo if he wasn't so nit picky nor fussy about things!!!!

Uber will be my transportation of choice next Sunday in getting to the Airport to catch my flights.

So that's my transportation to the Airport now all stitched up. I've gotten my last few supplies this week for my trip, and finally took out travel insurance after deciding who to go with on the insurance. It turned out to be cheaper than usual cos this one gives the option of opting out of certain coverage that I wouldn't be needing, such as car rental excess that one has to pay if involved in a car wreck. However I won't be renting a car in Cancun, I will be getting around on public transport or via tours, so I don't need the excess cover. Most insurance companies doesn't allow you to opt out of certain covers so give a flat premium rate. But being able to opt out of the car rental excess cover which I won't be needing, this makes the premium much cheaper. I do take out comprehensive insurance which covers medical expenses, emergencies, flight cancellations, lost luggage, and most of the other calamities that may befall the intrepid world traveller.

Just need to start packing and figuring out what to take with me aside from my crystals and Goddess figurines. Cancun is a tropical paradise where it is always warm, from a night low of 26 degrees to highs of 32 to 34 degrees, and the humidity to match, so safe to say I won't be needing any of my winter woollies which will leave me extra room in my luggage for other items without going over the airline weight limit!!!! Getting all my travel documentations together. And getting stuff together to prepare for those very long flights, such as music with headphones, my tablet with movies uploaded, and reading materials. Of course they do have the personal entertainment systems on the planes with vid screens on each seat but usually not the kind of movies that I like to watch, my weird sci fi movies or star seeds videos. I usually end up watching the flight tracker which tracks the progress of the current flight on a map, a twist on the classic question "Are we there yet!!!????"..... only that following the progress of the little plane icon on that very long red line representing the flight path is like watching grass grows, especially on the Sydney to LA leg of my flights!!!!!! It's that long leg of about 14-15 hours I am NOT looking forward to. I don't mind so much the 4-5 hours flight to Sydney, albeit the "red-eye" flight leaving just before midnight and arriving at dawn in Sydney, and the 7 hour flight from LA to Cancun which thankfully will be during the day, arriving in Cancun by about 6pm local time, giving me enough time to settle into my lodging prior to going to bed. Just that long flight across the Pacific will be like murder!!!! Such is life in living in the most isolated city on Earth!!!!

One of my stopovers to Cancun..... getting rather familiar with this place in recent times......

Now a public holiday tomorrow in Western Australia..... then four more days at work..... then the weekend, and by about 11PM Sunday night I will be on my merry way to the land of the Mayans.....

Follow my weird musings with pixs during my trip here.......

My Cancun Mexico Trip

Weevil Reality Check

Oh I love it when Weevils are given a good dose of a reality check. A ten goal thrashing, you can't get any more of a reality check than that!!! LOVE IT!!! Probably even better than the Maggies winning a premiership, well that doesn't happen very often so probably forgotten what it felt like for the Maggies to win a premiership!! But the Weevils getting thrashed by 10 goals really made my day!!!! Especially having to listen to everyone here so crowing about the Weevils after their lucky fluke win last week!! Yeah you can only pay the umpires so much, you just can't pay them forever!!! But everyone here, especially in the biased media, were saying how the Weevils could win the premiership and be Giant's killers - pardon the pun!!! They were saying the bookies were worried they could lose a lot of money cos so many deluded Weevils supporters here were putting money on them winning the premiership!!!! All I could say is..... Nah, don't worry bookies, believe me, you have nothing to worry about!!!!!! The Weevils didn't even deserve to be in the Finals, they should get rid of the Top 8 thingy, this past week proved that 8th level teams just doesn't have what it takes to win Finals!!! It's more like a phrase from a well known fairy tale, paraphrased - "Fee Fi Fo Fum!!!! I smell the blood of a Weevil"!!!!!

Here with extreme trepidation I stare mortality in the face as I reach the point when the Sun reaches 26 degrees of Virgo, the time I came onto this planet. Those first cries I would have let out when I entered into the cold hard dense reality of this planet could be interpreted as "What in Hell's name was I bloody well thinking!!!!!", here having just come from the 8D paradise of Taygeta. And now this planet has gone around the Sun so many times since then that it makes me dizzy, being faced with the uncomfortable reality that I have less time to spend on this planet than I have already spent!!!! True enough it be great to go back to Taygeta, but what if someone stops me and saying "Uh huh!! You haven't done enough work on planet Earth, you need to go back!!!!!!"...... so having to spend another lifetime here, a fate worse than Hell !!!!!! Regardless of one's faith or strength of one's belief's, there is always a certain nagging doubt and fear of the unknown. Afterall, no one has experienced death and lived to tell the tale!!!! This is why devout Christians who says they are 100% certain they're going to Heaven still invests in every effort to remain alive when staring death in the face, such as, a terminal illness. We all have this survival instinct, this deep seated aversion to death, to want to avoid it at all costs. Religion exists in an attempt to explain death but with so many different religions about, they can't all be right? What gives us the right to say the Christians are right, or the Jews are right, or Islam, or Hindus, Buddhists, while they all claim all the others are wrong?? What seems doubtless is that a part of us do live on after our existence on this planet ceases, and reincarnation seems best fitting to anecdotal evidence, and many of us are destined for the stars...... but beyond that..... well..... none of us are ever 100% ready to face our 3D mortality on this planet..... and this week I move one more year closer to facing this question of mortality..... I never did care for much about birthdays..... but I suppose if I was born on planet Mars I'd be about half my age, cos the planet takes about twice as long as Earth to go around the Sun, so twice the time for the Sun to reach 26 degrees Virgo!!!!!!!

Meanwhile...... now just two weeks away, indeed this time in exactly two weeks from now I be at the Airport waiting to board the overnight flight to Sydney, the first leg of my very long long journey to Cancun to solve the mysteries of those Mayan pyramids, or at least take in the energies of those pyramids!!

This week I am at work for just the first three days. I am off work for Thursday and Friday. Thursday is Rosh HaShanah the Jewish New Year, and it is also Ostara the Spring Equinox. Two holidays for the price of one!! Then the following Monday is a public holiday at least in Western Australia anyway. Not sure if the rest of Australia has a public holiday on Monday, but it is in Western Australia. So in total a 5-day weekend. Then just four more days at work the following week. Saturday week on the 30th is Yom Kippur, then Sunday night of October 1st is when I yet again leave the isolated shores of Perth to another world destination.......

Prep for my Cancun trip is still ongoing even at this late stage. I still have no idea exactly what I am going to do once I get there, only that I be visiting those Mayan pyramids. The actual logistics for getting to those sites are yet to be determined. All I have at this time are my flight tickets and my motel bookings. Bit like when I went to Bali, I had no idea what I was going to do once I got to Bali, but it all fell into place once I got there. And so it will be so when I get to Cancun.

One thing for certain was I needed a new backpack for my Cancun trip. My backpack from previous trips, the one I use for transporting my items to and from work each day, is very much worse for wear. So a new backpack was in order. Meanwhile I came across the "thief proof" backpacks that prevents pick pockets or other thieves, an ever present hazard for intrepid travellers like me visiting all these exotic countries. So me being of Virgoan tendencies decided to check these out, afterall, we Virgos like to mitigate against all circumstances. And everyone is saying Mexico is crawling with crims!! Well can't be any worse than Perth!!!! But anyway...... these backpacks are made of materials that prevents it being cut by knives, the zippers being secured, and with special secure compartments for phones, tablets, etc. Of course they are expensive, but my Virgoan nature dictated that this is worth the expense. So I ordered one, and now just waiting for it to arrive, which it should arrive this week.... hopefully..... via those carrier pigeons from the east coast !!!!

Next thing is getting to the Airport on Sunday week. Normally I book long term parking, so I just drive in, park my car in secure long term parking, then catch my flight. Me being a fiercely independent Virgo!!! We Virgos are fiercely independent creatures!!!! However my car battery is slowly but surely dying. It has reached the stage where when I turn on the windscreen wipers it doesn't kick in immediately, it takes about half a minute before they start working, as if there is not enough power getting to them. That is another classic sign of a slowly dying battery. I think the only reason why I can still use my car is because I use it often with never more than two days inbetween use of the car, which effectively keeps the battery sufficiently charged up so it lives for another day.

However when I am in Cancun my car will be idle for nearly three weeks. This is likely to seal the fate of my battery. And I hate to be returning from a long flight back home only to find my car battery as dead as a doornail at an Airport parking lot. So I am faced with the uncomfortable Virgo truth - I have to depend on someone else to take me to and from the Airport.

Enter Uber!!! We all hear so much about Uber, the alternative to taxis. I never liked the idea of catching a taxi, and me with the adventurous Uranus located in Virgo in my chart, I was always attracted to alternatives. Of course being a Virgo I check out every information I could about Uber, about how it works, going through their website with a fine tooth comb. Then after that I decided I would give them a try. So I downloaded the Uber app onto my tablet and set up my account. So when you need a ride, you just use the app to enter the details, then the system automatically send a Uber car to come pick you up, and the fare is automatically deducted from either your credit/debit card or bank account, so no need to carry money around. So basically the Uber come to pick you up and they already know your destination cos you entered it on the app, so they simply deliver you there, and you just say thanks and goodbye!! So much easier it seems than catching a taxi.

But of course being a Virgo I have to test them out first BEFORE needing to go to the Airport. So this is just what I am going to do sometimes this week, probably on my days off work. I will do a test run with a Uber, that is, use Uber to run one of my errands, probably to go to the Post Office to pick up my mail. This will give me the chance to get a feel for Uber and how it really works, and more importantly, to see just how quickly they come once you sent the request through the app. You don't book in advance for a Uber, they say they come within a few minutes when you send the request on the app. So I will see if this is really so, and just how I feel about using Uber. We Virgos are such cautious creatures, we like to test things beforehand.

And so when I come back from Cancun and find my car battery as dead as a doornail, at least it will be at home in my apartment complex, and of course being a gated complex my car will be secure there anyway. So I can take my own sweet time to get over the jet lag before calling for the RAC and arrange to have the battery replaced which the RAC does on site as part of the perks of my membership!!

OK enough of my ramblings for a little while yet....... here as I face a very intense and busy week this week.........

Another Intense Week

September is always an intense month being the month of my Solar Return, when I came from Heaven to Hell, or more specifically, from the paradise of 8D Taygeta down to Planet Earth which fits all biblical descriptions of Hell. The Sun is currently transiting my Uranus Pluto config in my chart being opposite to Chiron (also known as "The Wounded Healer", the Greek god who was a healer but was permanently wounded himself and could never heal himself) in my Ascendant sign. It's amazing how my life is marked by these planetary alignments. Chiron was at 11 degrees Pisces when I came to this planet in 1963, and Chiron remained in Pisces until 1968 when the 8 years of Hell began. Chiron's 8-year transit through Aries coincides almost exactly with the 8 years of Hell which ended about 1976 when Chiron moved into Taurus...... indeed Chiron's transit through the zodiac signs over the 50 years of my life coincided with significant events and challenges in my life, until finally Chiron returned to Pisces in 2010 when Mother was in the last year of her life, passing away January 2011. Indeed Chiron entered Pisces early 2010, then it retrograded back into Aquarius by late 2010, then re-entered Pisces early February 2011 so Mother's death took place just prior to this. Then by March 2013 Chiron was back to 11 degrees Pisces, exactly where it was on my birth, so known astrologically as my "Chiron Return". Of course it was that fateful day on March 2013 when my wife passed away!!!!! Yes she passed away on my Chiron Return!!! Chiron is due to leave Pisces next year in 2018 to enter Aries, so I wonder what will happen then, I am not going to speculate, I do not make specific predictions only that SOMETHING is likely to happen then!!!!! Hopefully not another 8 years of Hell!!!! I don't think so. We learn lessons since then so we can mitigate against any repeats. The 8 years of Hell was my karma from another lifetime, and I well and truly served that karma, so I don't think it will happen again. Maybe other challenges but we have grown spiritually since then!!!

Anyway...... last week with the Sun activating my Uranus Pluto opposite Chiron config.... last Wednesday I experienced quite an intense dizzy spell. I get them occasionally, usually anxiety attacks as being Virgo I am a very anxious soul. Anxiety is hard wired into the DNA of Virgos. And it's what my GP says, well not the "Virgo" bit but that these are anxiety attacks. Last Wednesday was particularly intense. I was driving when it hit, and it was fortunately I was able to pull over cos I do get warning when it hits, like I get tingles and feel myself getting light headed, so giving me time to stop what I am doing, rest and breath....... so here on the side of the road, I had to get out of the car for fresh air, and I honestly thought I was about to pass out. Indeed I used all my Virgo determination and my breathing techniques to just barely prevent myself from passing out. Then I recovered......

Next day I began to get nausea and was generally unwell so I took the day of work, and hardly ate a thing. Next day the symptoms subsided enough to enable me to return to work, being now Friday, but still didn't eat very much. By Saturday I had pretty well recovered so was able to go for my morning walk albeit half the distance - 10kms instead of 20kms. The symptoms returned Sunday even if not very intense, I still was able to eat but was careful what I ate. Today the symptoms are gone..... so hopefully...... it will stay away.

I'm going to see my GP this week anyway. I need a note from her regarding my medications in case customs in Mexico asks about my medications. You have to declare your meds when entering other countries, but generally speaking, if you have the scripts then you don't get any trouble. Some countries are however more strict than others, and I hear Mexico is particularly strict on drugs, so a note from the GP would be advisable. So anyway, I will tell her about the dizzy spell and nausea symptoms, then she will check my vitals and as always will say all is fine, so is likely to be anxiety-related. Dizzy spells and nausea are also side effects of my meds, but my GP seems to think its anxiety rather than the side effects, probably cos I get them only occasionally, it doesn't happen all the time, and my GP knows me well !!!!!!!

Probably a good idea to get a checkup before going overseas anyway, I don't usually do so, but probably should this time anyway.

Now just waiting for the Weevils to get booted out of the Finals this weekend....... 8th indeed!! Teams in the 7th and 8th spot don't deserve to be in the Finals, and as far as I know, there never have been any Premiership winners from 7th or 8th spot. The Finals should be among only the top 4 or perhaps top 6, definitely not top 8. But then the AFL won't make as much money if the finals series were only among the 4 or 6 teams. I say no more.......

Until next time.............