Plans

Having spent part of the week deciding what I should do, I finally booked tickets to travel back to Australia after visiting Michele in Tokyo. It Michele's birthday on October 2 and a very special one that we have planned to share together for ages. But because Maddy's treatment for lung cancer hasn't been as successful as hoped she (Maddy) is feeling much more fragile. Although she is at home by herself and managing quite well, I have decided that a 10-11 hour flight from Tokyo is much shorter and more doable than one from NYC. Trying to book the intricacies of a flight from NYC to Tokyo then a flight to Melbourne then back to NYC with as few changes, as fast as possible and as cheap was possible was way beyond my searching skills on Expedia so I settled for using a travel agent recommended by Anne. Wasn't that a good idea! Call on the experts! I did so and needed to pay for the ticket by Friday.

Given that I was supposed to work Friday a trip to Forest Hills in Queens was on the agenda for the day.
It is a lovely area with the timbered look. The strip of shops has a combination of chain stores like Victoria's Secret and Bolton's as well as smaller stores that give the shopping area a much smaller town feel.
I'd received advice from the travel agent to take the "F" train as it runs express and I was there in less than 30 minutes.
While there I also booked my ticket for another quick trip to Australia at Christmas which hopefully I won't need to change to an earlier time in the year and can have a trip home to family for the first time at Christmas in about 6 years.