Change of Plan

As I'm writing this post, I actually *should* be roaming the streets of London, visiting my favourite shops and enjoying a sandwich at Pret. Well, I am in Klagenfurt as I decided to skip the London part of my Two Cities Weekend with the Empress (which makes me a Eurostar-virgin a little longer). 

The reason is that my Dad got ill (my Mum is on vacation in Japan this week) and as I am an only child and no other relatives live nearby I didn't want to leave him on his own until my Mum comes back. I actually drove to KLU on Saturday night and took him to hospital on Monday. He's much better now and so I settled for a compromise and bought a train(!)-ticket to Paris. I'll arrive not much later on Friday night than I would have on the original Eurostar booking and still have a weekend with the Empress as planned. There are no direct flights from Klagenfurt and at short notice all flights are horrendously expensive anyway. After a 20-hours-flight to Sydney in Economy, the idea of spending 12 hours on a train (there is one stopover in Mannheim where I get to stretch my legs) is not that shocking to me, actually.

To be honest, part of me really loves trying to work out a solution for logistic and other problems and I give myself a pat on the shoulder for coming up with a master plan to salvage part of my mini-vacation and not completely neglect my Dad at the same time.