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| One of the many excursions on the Maharajas Express train includes a visit to the Taj Mahal. (Not our photo). |
“Fascinating Fact of the Day About Ireland”
“Abortion is illegal in Ireland unless keeping the child would put the mother’s life at
risk.”
There’s no doubt we’re tentative about booking into the future, especially when there is no certainty about my health going forward. To date, we haven’t booked anything where we’d lose the entire cost of the venue, just deposits.
Even paying deposits is risky. After we’ve paid out so much in medical bills, our insurance company refuses to pay and to lose so much for prepaid travel events we couldn’t attend, flights we had to cancel, and bookings we had to forgo, it’s not surprising we’re cautious.
The unexpected cardiac bypass surgery could easily put a quick end to our travels, which neither of us wanted to stop. Instead, we strive to continue living life to the fullest.
None of us knows how much time we have on this earth, and yes, my situation may mean I have less time than many. But, it’s no reason to stop living. What would we do if we lived in a condo in the US? Stay home and do nothing?
The travels we have ahead will require some days at the airport, waiting in a long queue to board a ship and lots of walking. Would it be a lot less active if we lived in the US (or some other country)? Besides, being active is the number one prescription for improving one’s health after cardiac bypass surgery.
Walking? Yep. I’m on it every day, keeping track of my fitness watch to ensure I get in enough steps each day. It’s not easy to do, walking around the house all day. Right now, I have a timer set to walk every 30-minutes.
I shake it up every few days. Sometimes, it’s for long periods or several times a day, once every hour. On some days, I do half or more of the walking at one time. Why don’t I walk outside? It’s cold, windy and it rains a lot. Also, there are no sidewalks on the very narrow winding roads. The driveway to the road is rocky and uneven. It defeats the purpose to risk injury.
| Itinerary 2019 – 2020 | ||
| Ireland – Connemara – house rented | 89 | 5/12/2019 – 8/8/2019 |
| Hotel Dublin, Ireland | 1 | 8/8/2019 – 8/9/2019 |
| Hotel Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2 | 8/9/2019 – 8/11/2019 |
| Cruise – Baltic – Amsterdam to Amsterdam |
12 | 8/11/2019 – 8/23/2019 |
| England – Falmouth, Cornwall, UK |
14 | 8/23/2019 -9/6/2019 |
| England – St. Teath, Bodwin, Cornwall, UK |
14 | 9/6/2019 – 9/20/2019 |
| England – Witheridge, Devon, UK |
21 | 9/20/2019 – 10/11/2019 |
| Wales – Chepstow, Monmouthshire, UK |
11 | 10/11/2019 – 10/22/2019 |
| Hotel – Southampton, England | 2 | 10/22/2019 – 10/24/2019 |
| Cruise – Southampton to Fort Lauderdale |
15 | 10/24/2019-11/8/2019 |
| Hotel – Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA | 14 | 11/8/2019 – 11/22/2019 |
| Henderson, Nevada, USA |
9 | 11/22/2019 – 12/1/2019 |
| Holiday Rental – Apache Junction, Arizona USA |
61 | 12/1/2019 – 1/30/2020 |
| Flight Phoenix, Arizona to Mumbai, India* |
2 | 1/30/2020 – 2/1/2020 |
| Hotel – Mumbai, India |
1 | 2/1/2020 – 2/2/2020 |
| Train – Maharajas Express -Mumbai to Dehli |
6 | 2/2/2020 – 2/8/2020 |
| Safari – India |
5 | 2/8/2020 – 2/13/2020 |
| Hotels Udaipur, India |
30 | 2/13/2020 – 3/13/2020 |
| India – to be booked |
21 | 3/13/2020 – 4/3/2020 |
| Cruise – Mumbai to London |
29 | 4/3/2020 – 5/2/2020 |
| Total days planned | 359 | 5/12/2020 – 5/2/2020 |
| It does not include cruises beyond this date in the event we make some changes. * All distant locations include flights – the only flight more than a day is from Phoenix to Mumbai. |
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Walking around the house at a good clip is not that bad. I have a route I vary every few minutes rather than stick to one path. Boredom is the biggest problem. My cheap South African-purchased smartphone doesn’t have enough memory to add a podcast app which would help tremendously.
At one point, I added an SD card, but it couldn’t store any data. It’s the phone. Nothing I can do about that until we purchase new phones in the US when we arrive in November, a mere four months from now.
We’ve already selected the phones we’d like but won’t order them until closer to the time of our arrival in the US. In four months, newer models could hit the market, and prices may change.
In preparing the itinerary we’ve included today, we didn’t include the cruise we’ve booked to Cape Town, South Africa, long before my illness, based on hearing from immigration as to our “undesirable” status after overstaying for three months my recovery. As mentioned a few days ago, we’ve applied, re-applied, and called several times, requesting a response. None yet. We’ll continue trying.
Also, as mentioned, we have a few more cruises we’ve booked and may not take. These are not shown in the itinerary. We’re able to move the deposits at any time with no losses. Having chosen a few costly cruises, considering our budget, we won’t be cruising as often as we had in the early part of our travels.
Cruises are highlighted in the itinerary in turquoise. We’ll be taking the cruises listed on the itinerary. Everything we do in life is subject to good health. For some oddball reason, I wrongfully thought that saying “health providing” in dozens, if not hundreds of other posts, as if provided some insurance, nothing terrible would happen. It did happen anyway. I am done saying that!
After further research and comments from kindly readers who’ve been to India, it appears we can stay up to 180 days. That’s great! We didn’t want to deal with more immigration problems.
Gotta go! My timer just went off for my next round of walking.
Enjoy your day!
Photo from one year ago today, July 1, 2018:
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| One year ago today, we attended the Honorary Ranger’s Annual Fair in Marloth Park. Artist’s renditions of wildlife along with an array of skulls, horns, and tusks. For more photos, please click here. |