Glasses Saga

I recently lost my glasses. An experience I suspect many can relate to. At best it is a frustrating experience. At worst it is debilitating. Fortunately, my experience was more on the scale of exasperating -- a notch up from frustrating, but nowhere nearly as bad as debilitating.

Halfway through my adventures Down Under, I woke up and could not find my glasses. Our schedule called for a full day exploring Christchurch, New Zealand, followed by waking up at 3 am to catch a flight to Melbourne, Australia.

G'night, mate

The first thing you do whenever something like this happens is to retrace your

steps back to where you know you last had them. In my case, I knew I had them while touring the Trolley Garage after dining on a trolley car, a ten-minute walk from our hotel.

The sensible thing to do was to literally retrace our steps. Once we arrived at the Trolley Garage we explained what happened the night before, mindful we did not want to get our after hours tour guide in trouble, but really, really, really wanting the glasses. They said if they were found they would be on a certain table, and nothing was there.

All of the trolleys were out for training

Then we headed to the office where we bought the ticket for dinner on the trolley. They didn't have it, but would keep an eye out and let us know if the turned up.

I spent much time retracing our steps. After a couple of iterations, I started asking other hotels and even the library we passed if anyone brought in a pair of glasses they found. 

I went back to the tourist office. I gave them my cell phone number (but they didn't want to make an international call, nor did they use WhatsApp), so I also gave them my email address. Again, asking they reach out to us that day if they find it.

Having done all we could do to find them, I went into a shop to see how quickly they could make a back up pair using the prescription in my sunglasses. The answer: two weeks. I asked if a shop in Melbourne could be any faster, and they said definitively no because they have to be shipped out to another country to be made. 

Then I texted my house sitter extraordinaire to see if he could mail me my back up glasses, which I keep in my car. He could do that, and did do that.

My vision is okay in bright light, but I need my glasses in dark situations. Don played seeing eye husband at night and when my eyes had to adjust from sunlight to indoor light.

Up at 3 am the next day disappointed to be leaving New Zealand without my
glasses, but confident I did everything I could do.

Twelve hours later I received an excited message from the tourist office -- my glasses were found! I could come and pick them up! 

Giant deep breath.

"Can you ship them to my friend's house in Brisbane? We'll be there in about a week." She quickly and enthusiastically said she could do that! A day later, she asked me for my credit card information to pay for postage. Fair enough. Then it was Thursday, so it would have to wait until next Tuesday to ship. 

Really? Yes, really.

The trip continued in Melbourne before snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef and then meeting up with my friend in Brisbane. All the while, Don and I played the guessing game: which pair will arrive first? The back up pair mailed from the US or the primary pair mailed from New Zealand.

At Jo and Andrew's house the following Friday, Jo said her mail tracker said the package arrived at their post office. She wasn't sure, though, if it would make it to their house on time. We had Monday morning flights -- Don to home, me to Sydney. I really did not want to go to Sydney without either my glasses or my seeing eye husband.

By Friday morning we were beat. Three weeks of traveling. Many flights + Many hotels + Many restaurants + No set plans for what to do in Brisbane = sleeping in and taking it slow.

Procrastination for the win! The package from the United States arrived first! Thank you Bart!

By this point Jo warned us the mail service between New Zealand and Australia is slow. Since they only mailed it on Tuesday, and we were leaving on Monday morning (before the mail would be delivered) and Sunday hardly counts, there just was not enough time. I really should have either had them mail the glasses home or said to toss them, but I was attached to my blue glasses. I left Jo and Andrew money to cover shipping, and left them the box and glasses case Bart used for safe shipping.

I continued on to Sydney. By the time I flew home, the glasses still had not arrived in Brisbane.

A few days later they made it, and Jo mailed them to me.

On October 11, nearly a month after being lost, they made their way back to me. A couple of weeks later I had an eye exam and bought a replacement pair for $12 with insurance. They now sit in my car as my back up glasses. I think I'll move them to Don's car so I have glasses in case I need to drive his car.

What an experience!