sight

IN JUST 5 WEEKS I WILL cycling in Sicily. Prior to booking the trip, I figured by leaving on the 14th of May I would be at the start of the ride on May 15. I usually do quite a bit of homework prior to a making my flight arrangements because in this case it’s an overnight flight from Chicago to Rome leaving on the 14th of May arriving on May 15, then from Rome to Cania, about an hour air time ,and then a motor coach to the hotel in Noto about 90 minutes away.  As I am reviewing my travel itinerary which I created 6 months ago, I noticed that I was arriving in Noto on May 15, however, the cycling trip starts on the morning of May 15.  Oh no!  I will be missing the first day of riding, I will be missing the complimentary shuttle from Cania airport, and I will be missing the puddle hopper flight from Rome that I paid for separately.  Now I must make some difficult choices—do I change the flight from Chicago and move it up one day, change the flight from Rome to Cania and now take advantage of the free shuttle.  Since I booked this using miles, I call American air and now the trip will cost me 140000 miles instead of the 60000 miles since the air price has escalated.  After calculating the value of miles, (roughly a penny a mile)80000 miles is roughly $800.  Now to modify the Cania flight which initially was $74 round trip, now will coat 225 with the $75 fee to change it and the updated fare.  A private shuttle from Cania to Noto is $200 which previously was included. By changing connecting flight and shuttle is a $400 expenditure vs an $800 expenditure if I change the outgoing flight from Chicago.  So this situation is a perfect example of poor foresight not to properly figure out arrival date, a lack of insight to recognize the difficulties ahead, and now a huge cost to handle as hindsight. 

The bottom line is I have absolutely no sight to make such a foolish, careless, and costly error.

shel