"What's the NATO for U?"

First major mishap of the adventure. Claire and I were having a booking session. We'd got a trip to Milford Sound booked and then a whale-watching trip at Kaikoura. Aside from a few issues telling each other booking references over Skype, including a failed attempt to remember the NATO phonetic alphabet, everything was going well. Just as I move on to get a hostel booked for our second night on the North Island, we have a run through of what's been booked on what dates so we know who owes each other money.

Idiocy has struck. I've managed to book the whale-watching for the wrong day. Indeed, I've booked it for a day when we're just driving from one place to another. All day. Horror.

A frantic email is pinged off to the whale-watching company, begging (but not begging, because I'm English and it all came out very polite) for them to please change our booking to the day after the one I've booked. Please?

Claire takes the piss out of the situation and refuses to take any responsibility for my idiocy, which is perfectly understandable. I, on the other hand, am glued to my inbox after remembering that it must be sometime in the morning in New Zealand and therefore it's perfectly feasible that they'll get back to me before I go to bed. I am overly concerned about the whole thing.

A little while later, a very short email appears in my inbox. It simply says that my booking has been amended as requested. It gives me the impression that they're not all that impressed with my stupid error, but I think a thank you for the speedy response of the nice lady at Whale Watch Kaikoura is needed.

On a side note, here's the sightings blog from said whale-watch company – so excited! Sperm whales and orca and dolphins and SQUEE!

Note to self – in future, triple check all dates before booking anything.