AstroDispatch.com

I’ve been meaning to post this personal Mercury Rx travel experience story for a while, well – since Mercury was last retrograde!

Back in August, I was getting ready to travel to Australia, as I do a couple of times a year, for work and to catch up with friends and family.

(In case that seems confusing, in a nutshell I’m an Aussie, who fell in love with a French Canadian, and so moved half way round the world, sacrificing heat, sun and extended summers on the altar of love – which has been more than worth it! You can read more about me via my bio page here.)

I already knew I would be travelling whilst Mercury was retrograde, but since this was an airfare that had been originally booked for a trip in 2009, for a trip which was then delayed and thus been rebooked more than once, the energy of Mercury Rx – ie the re-doing/second chances concept - was already in play.

That said, even astrologers aren’t immune to the effects of the planets.

Having boarded on time in Toronto, the plane sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour, due to some delay or another. By the time we took off, my layover time to get through LAX had been slashed, leaving me wondering whether I’d even make my connecting flight out to Sydney.

After finally reaching LAX, we were held in a holding pattern for about half an hour, awaiting a landing slot. Eventually the plane touched down with about 30mins till the flight to Sydney was due to leave. A mad dash through LAX’s various terminals ensued, including a tarmac ride in an airport buggy to get myself and other passengers onto this flight.

We made it into the boarding area with 10mins to spare and not a moment to stock up on snacks or magazines for the 14 hr flight ahead. Thank yea gods/goddesses for personal screens + on demand inflight entertainment.

Upon landing in Sydney, a bunch of names were called over the PA system, alerting a select group of passengers to the need to see ground staff on arrival. Of course, my name was one of those called, and the need to see ground staff had to do with my bags not making the speedy connection in LAX.

This meant a line up at Baggage Services, but lead to a $100 gift voucher for clothing and a promise that the bag would arrive within 24 hours and be delivered to where I was staying.

And so it was. Thankfully, I was staying with my parents, and was able to borrow necessities for the short time I was without my bags.

All in all a classic Mercury Rx story, filled with delays and mad dashes to make plane connections. (Really, that’s the best kind of Mercury Rx story – worse would be missing the flight!!)

Was travelling through Mercury Rx a bit more dramatic than usual. Absolutely. Did it have a material impact on my trip? Not at all. As I wasn’t staying in a hotel, being without bags for 24 hours wasn’t a huge concern, and I ended up with an extra $100 shopping money as a result of the baggage delay.

All in all, being flexible and knowing extra time might be needed is the key to surviving Mercury retrograde. It’s not a fatal kind of astro influence, more one that simply causes a bit of irritation.

So, what are your Mercury Rx stories?

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