The spatio-temporal dynamics of purchasing travel tickets

Continuing my past adventures in arranging my travel, I managed to be off by one day in my departure and return train tickets that I purchased for my trip to Durham to give a seminar.

I also added to my headaches by doing this, as it will probably take a month to get reimbursed for the old tickets (the process doesn't start until I send the old tickets back, which won't happen until I actually receive them). I lose 10 pounds in an administration fee, and depending on whether this morning's registers in my bank account before my transaction, I may also go negative very briefly and possibly incur a small charge for doing so. I am such a champ.

My other really "awesome" traveling adventure was when I accidently booked a flight to the wrong city in January 2002 (I didn't realize that the College Park crowd was holding their conference in Baltimore and I flew to a DC airport because I had had a bad experience at the Baltimore airport the previous year).

Well, at least I have always been correct in at least one of space and time for every plane and train ticket I've purchased. (I was going to write 'one of the space and time variables', but I've basically gotten all three spatial variables right when I've gotten any of them right.)

Somehow, I feel that there must be an analogy with spatio-temporal chaos lurking in here somewhere...