Are you excited yet?

'Are you excited?' everyone has been asking me about my trip to see my family in Colorado, after 20 months away from them.

And I've been replying - 'Not until I get my Fit to Fly test result on Sunday.'

So when it arrived in my inbox yesterday at 3.30 I did allow my myself to get excited, in a sotto voce way. I say this because until I am sitting on that plane bound for Denver tomorrow morning, I shan't believe it's going to happen.

This morning I got up at 6.15 - fairly excited - because I could check in online and choose my seat.

Not so. First BA suggested it would be easier if I downloaded an app called Verifly.

Nah - don't want to do that, I thought and swerved around it to the bit where you give them your passport details again and choose your seat.

They wouldn't let me choose my seat. Apparently I had not uploaded all my Covid documentation. And in order to do that I had to download the Verifly app, which has a one and a half star rating in the App store, with hundreds of comments that make you want to pull out what remains of your hair. 

So in a state of high stress, I downloaded the app, which wanted to know  everything about me except my bra size, PLUS I had to give them a live selfie. (I was still in pyjamas and had not combed my hair or washed my face and the light was harsh but what the hell? I wanted to check in!)

That done I had a twenty minute wrestle uploading my vaccination certificate until they eventually gave me a green tick. Next up - test result. They wouldn't accept a photo because there wasn't a QR code, so I had to upload a pdf for them to check manually. Apparently I will get an email once they have done that. Do I believe them? No.

I rang Liz, who had flown to Canada in September and had had similar problems, except she reminded me that she had seen the Verifly star rating and comments and steered well clear of it. She turned up at the airport with her paper documents and everything was fine, even though the black ink had run out on her printer and the test result was in terra cotta and orange. I was reassured.

So here I am, blogging. 

Next up, pack, bike ride, make Dave an apple crumble, and then try to untangle some wool I have found in my knitting drawer.

It is VERY soothing untangling wool, and you don't need a QR code to do it.

If that doesn't work I shall sit in the sunshine with a mug of Yorkshire tea and admire our new tree: a Parrotia Persica 'Vanessa.'

When we planted it last week it filled me with hope, and it was a strange and wonderful feeling.

Update at 9.50 a.m. They HAVE checked my document manually and say I can now check in.

I have tried and still cannot check in. Breathe.....

Update at 4pm. Success after I emailed BA and tweeted them and Verifly and I think the tweet to BA is what sorted it. It only took 9 abc a half hours 🙄🤔🧐😬