Yesterday I said goodbye to my A4 Avant, as I went ahead and completed the transaction on the Q5. I was really feeling nervous about waiting until I was less than a week from leaving to complete the paperwork and do the deal. In this kind of deal, you're not in a particularly strong negotiating position, especially when dealing with a trade. I felt that by waiting until the last minute, that I was providing the proverbial barrel over which to be bent, since I really would have no choice at that point but to take what the dealer was offering me for my trade-in. By initiating the deal yesterday, I still had time to aggressively try to sell my car on my own if I felt the dealer would not offer me a fair trade value.
Fortunately, all worked out well. I felt like I was treated fairly by the dealer and I think it was a win-win for both of us. I got a decent (not great, but decent) deal on my trade, and they got a good car to put on their lot.
Now that we're getting down to crunch time (we leave two weeks from tomorrow), I've begun to take care of some of the little details that needed to wait until about now. Yesterday I called my credit card companies to let them know I would be traveling overseas. They all made notes on my account, so I'm hoping that will eliminate any issues using my cards overseas. I also put all the contact information on paper and in my phone, so if for some reason the cards or lost or stolen, I have the phone numbers handy so I can report the cards.
I likewise called Verizon and got my phone enabled to use in Europe. I have one of the few Verizon phones that will work in Europe, so setting it up was fairly easy. The plan costs $3.95 and I can call for 99 cents a minute. That's pricey, but I need to be reachable while I'm gone and this will allow anyone to reach me on my normal number. I also have another phone we will use to make regular calls there. It's a cheapie T-mobile flip phone I purchased for $35. I've bought a prepaid European SIM card to use, and it's actually cheaper to call back to the U.S. with that phone than it will be with my Verizon phone. My XCom Global MiFi should be here soon, and that will give us unlimited 3G data access while we're there. That will allow us to hook up our smartphones my tablet and laptop to the internet.
This weekend, we are trying to make any final purchases we need to make. It's kind of difficult to find cool weather clothes. It's still in the mid-80s every day here, but when we get to Germany, it will be a good 20 degrees cooler. Trying to find a light jacket for sale anywhere this time of year is difficult. But we'll keep looking. I mean, come on...Halloween decorations are out in the stores, you'd think you'd be able to find a jacket somewhere.
There are only a couple of things left to do. I need to reserve the airport shuttle and I need to get my final paperwork from Audi, which I expect to get this week.
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