Personal exposé…

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Revealing one’s inner self is intimidating. Some of us are an open book, some of us never reveal anything about ourselves, and most of us, like myself, only reveal their truest feelings, deepest thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams of those we know, trust and love.

As a lurker in Facebook, various blogs and web sites, and has been an obsessed Internet user since the early ’90s, (hence the name of my most recently lost beloved little dog, WorldWideWillie), I have preferred anonymity as opposed to notoriety.
Over the years my younger sister, Julie, a TV producer in Los Angeles, has asked me to appear in one of her many shows. In life, I am lively and animated. In front of a camera, I somehow turn into a stone statue with a curious forced smile that makes me (and others) cringe.  
Twenty years ago, she talked me into appearing on an episode of a gardening show she was producing. With sweaty palms, heart racing, and voice quivering I got through it. I was so inept as a performer that I was unable to watch myself on the video she sent a few weeks later, hiding it from Tom, throwing it away a few months later. With angst, I awaited its broadcasting, fearing friends and acquaintances would see it and call, pretending to enjoy my “performance.” Thank goodness, no one called.

Us lurkers tend to enjoy the quiet seclusion of our non-public lives, preferring to spend our social time with long time friends, neighbors, and family. Oh yes, at times, we can be quite the social butterflies, preferring to flutter among the familiar garden we have harvested over a lifetime.
So, here I am, writing for anyone in the world to see, about a very personal dream, its adjunct expenses (discussing money was always a “no-no” in my little world), my relationship with my more popular and outgoing husband, my fears (zip lines, vaccinations, bungees, bats, guano, being trapped on an airplane on the tarmac, stuck on a chairlift or tram and on and on). 
Also, I will be compelled to deal with the vulnerability of exposing the many mistakes we’ll make along the way, which invariably will fall upon me, as the “official world travel planner” in this pairing.
Reveal, I will. As hard as it will be to say here, that when we showed up at the supposedly lovely stone house we rented for a month in France, for which we paid in advance, is actually a freestanding 300 square foot vacuum repair shop in the industrial district, next to a chlorine processing plant. We’ll take the hit and we’ll take it here. Stay tuned.

Not many vacations…

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Last August, Tom and I went to Hollywood, Florida for a work-related convention for six days. He was to be in meetings all day. My plan was to relax by the pool, read books on my Kindle, and soak up the warmth of the sun, none of which occurred. It was either windy, rainy, or cold.  

I spent each of the six days, going back inside, going up the elevator to our room on the 34th floor to get out of my bathing suit and into warm clothes. An hour later, I did the reverse, the sky would clear to a sunny 80 degrees.  

I worked out twice a day in the well-equipped hotel health club, reading four books and at times, wandered aimlessly around the hotel, hoping to strike up a conversation with another bored soul, such as myself.

The sound of the plastic card in the slot of the hotel room door made me squeal with delight as Tom opened the door at the end of each day, a wide grin on his face, his blue eyes twinkling. I couldn’t have been happier to see him.  

Our evenings were spent talking and people watching at various convention festivities, gabbing over candlelight in cozy local restaurants, or walking along the well-lit boardwalk on the inter-coastal waterway, conveniently located outside of our plush hotel.

This trip was a vacation for me, but unfortunately, work for Tom. We seldom went on vacation these past 21 years together, so content at our lakeside home, enjoying our vacation days as “staycation days” mulling around the house, moseying in our yard, fixing this and that, preparing for the upcoming season, entertaining our family and friends and providing a safe haven for our little dogs, who never once saw the inside of “doggy daycare” (Willie, the last of our little dogs, went to “doggie heaven” four months before this trip).

When we returned from Hollywood, Florida we both sighed, relieved to be back home, immediately nestling back into our familiar routines, our comfy chairs, our favorite TV shows, and our homemade meals, always prepared with the utmost of love. We were quite content to be back and to be together.  

No need to wander around the house looking for someone to entertain me. He came home each night after a hard day’s work. No need to change back and forth from bathing suit to clothes. I just leave the suit on.  No need to ride an elevator to the 34th floor, although I do walk down a flight of stairs and back up again while doing laundry or, up a flight and back down to prepare a guest room for company. Cozy candlelight dinners are had right in our own well-appointed kitchen.

I unpacked our overly stuffed suitcases, observing that over half the items we had packed were never worn; the extra shoes, the snacks we never ate, the toiletries we never opened. A day later, the dirty clothes were clean and back in the closet, the suitcases back up in the attic, the snacks back in the kitchen drawers. We were at home. We were happy.

How in the world, how on this planet, how in heaven’s name will we get rid of all of our “stuff,” pack all of our clothes in a maximum of 44 pounds each, be gone for 946 days (so far), have no permanent home, no TV shows in English, no comfy stuffed chair. Are we crazy or what?

926 days and counting…

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Big Island Rental

Tom and I have often talked about going to Hawaii together. I had been there many times before we met and have anxiously awaited the day when he and I could share this glorious experience together.

Houseplants here in Minnesota are huge flowering bushes and trees in Hawaii, the lush greenery and colors mesmerizing along with the roaring surf on the world’s best beaches and a tropical climate that only fluctuates a few degrees year-round.

Big Island rental interior

I could write for days about the reasons why one must experience this remote collective of islands, each with its own history and personality, each appealing to travelers for their own personal reasons.  

As we have planned our now 926 days beginning Halloween 2012, Hawaii was definitely in the mix, although not conveniently located to accommodate our lofty itinerary. We grabbed a pricier ocean view house on the Big Island  (outside of our budget for the first time) for one month to bring our family together for Christmas 2014.  

Big Island Rental Master Bedroom

To compensate for the increased cost of the Big Island rental, we decided we must find a home in which to stay put for two to three months earlier in the year at a rate that would compensate for the increased cost of the Big Island house. We were able to accomplish this seemingly impossible scenario by renting a fabulous house on the remote island of Madeira off the coast of Portugal.  

Madeira, Portugal view from the veranda.

Upon researching vacation homes all over the world, we have discovered that both Hawaii and Alaska are some of the most expensive places to visit. An 800 square foot vacation cabin in Alaska typically rents for over $3000 a month for both winter and summer. Hawaii is slightly less at about $2500 a month for the same size condo running around 20% higher during the high season of US winter months. All vacation rentals in Hawaii are subject to a 13.42% state tax.

As we continue to post information about properties we have booked, the theme is consistent, beautiful homes with distinct personality and style, whether a 17th-century farmhouse in Tuscany or an aptly named 14th century “Stone House” on a quaint cobblestone street in Cajarc, France.

Madeira, Portugal interior view

As we’ve come to the realization that it makes sense to stay in Hawaii after the family Christmas gathering to keep costs under control, we realize that Hawaii is an unlikely state to visit with the intent of controlling costs. The islands require most products to be imported with the exception of bananas, pineapple, coffee, ginger root, guavas, macadamia nuts, papayas, and taro. About 90% of Hawaii’s gross product is produced in the service industries.

Our long-term goal has been cruising to Alaska in May 2015 to spend the summer living one month at a time in three different locations providing us with the opportunity to experience its beauty, its people, and its diverse wildlife.  

Madeira, Portugal exterior view

This objective left us with the difficult task of finding an affordable property on any one of the Hawaiian islands for a period of four months. Perhaps we’d island-hop, spending a month in Maui, Kauai, Oahu, and Molokai.  

After spending no less than 40 hours looking online at hundreds of rentals we came to the conclusion that island hopping was not realistic for our budgetary concerns due to the high costs of one-month rentals during peak season and the cost of travel from island to island. Nor did we want to sacrifice quality or location.  
We knew we’d have a better opportunity to negotiate a four-month stay. Preparing a property after one and two-week stays is time-consuming and costly for landlords.  

With the new goal of finding one location for this extended stay, we were able to stay within our monthly budget with a fabulous two-bedroom ocean-view condo in breathtaking Princeville on the north shore of Kauai, a highly sought-after location in the islands.  

By adding this booking to our already packed itinerary, we find we are now booked for a total of 926 days beyond October 31, 2012. Will we continue to book well into the future? Yes, based on prices in Alaska, we will continue to look for the ideal properties. Also, the cruises for 2015 from Hawaii to Alaska are not posted as yet.  It could be another year before they’ll be available. In the interim, we’ll wing it! Yes, we’ll wing it!

Last Easter with the family for awhile…

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Family life is often filled with traditions, the traditions we created for our children when they were young, that we adapted as they matured and those that we’ve rekindled for their children, our six grandchildren, years later. 

The comfort and familiarity of reenacting holiday traditions, each year filled Tom and me with guarded anticipation. Over these past years, we have come to accept, although at times painfully so, that our adult children have the right to build their own traditions that may at times, not include us.  

We recall the struggle and oftentimes, the guilt we felt when the first Christmas morning came when we chose to stay home as opposed to going to our parents’ homes. We wanted to savor Santa’s bounty with our own children, their eyes wide with delight as they anxiously ripped open package after package, them in their cartoon character pajamas, us with big coffee mugs warming our hands, all with the ease and comfort of spending this special time cozy at home.

And now, as their families have grown, their own traditions firmly rooted in their lives, in their own homes, we especially find ourselves reeling with the anticipation of all of them breaking away to spend special time with us once again, this Easter Sunday.

Practically dancing on my tiptoes, around our ten-foot-long dining room table, my arms were laden with gifts of every variety, candies carefully selected for special diets and preferences, I gleefully fill the 17 Easter baskets (including four pet baskets). I swap out one Thomas toy train for a Transformer truck from one basket to another, stepping back, visualizing the correctness of my decision, and smile. Each year, we always say, “this is the best year yet.” And it is.

Oh, good grief! I’d better improve my photo taking skills before we leave!

The meaning of Easter is not lost on our abundance of baskets, the colored eggs, the homemade bunny rabbit cake, the carefully planned and executed brunch, and of course, the painstakingly thought out game and Easter egg hunt. No, it’s not lost. It’s for forgiveness. It’s for thankfulness and, most of all, it’s for love.

This year is no different, the traditions are all here, the pile of fuzzy bunny rabbit ears everyone will place on their heads when they enter the door, the laughter over the rambunctious silly games, the glee in the voices of the little ones when they discover yet another plastic egg filled with candy, a small toy or a dollar bill.  It’s all the same. It’s all predictable. Laughter fills the air. It’s all heartwarming.

Tom and I will look at each other from across the room, our faces hurting from too much smiling, our eyes glistening with too many tears, as we enjoyed this last Easter tradition, knowing full well that we and they, will be building new traditions in the time to come.

Why so long???…

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Our family and friends are asking, why so long? Why 880 days (so far)?

There are only a few answers to this question. Aging is one. By the time we leave the US, I will be 65 years old and although physically fit as a result of healthy eating, healthy living, and daily exercise, the ravages of “old man time” (darn him!) can be felt every morning as I step out of bed.

Tom will be 60 years old (“They,” say I robbed the cradle!), but after 42 years on the railroad, his knees and other joints are worn to the bone and he too feels the aches and pains upon awakening.   

There is no doubt that down the road, when and if we tire of traveling, we’ll hunker down to a warm climate and into the predictable senior citizen condo complex. We’ll get a little dog, play some bingo, hang out with guys whose pants are pulled up six inches above their waists, and with the ladies with the purple permanents wearing silky flowered print blouses. That will be us, as well.  

We have traveled very little these past years, always preferring to stay home to enjoy Minnesota’s short summers and our lake home. It often felt as if we were on a vacation on the warm summer days with the fish jumpin’ and the birds’ singin’, while we lounged in the comfy white lawn chairs.  

We didn’t have a care in the world other than to fire up the grill, pour ourselves a cold glass of something good, or to haul some wood to the fire pit for a roaring fire when the sunset (and the mosquitoes came out to indulge in our tasty flesh).  

We had traveled in our minds, a few years ago when we recorded every episode of the TV show, House Hunters International. We dreamed while we discussed the possibility of owning a home in an exotic location. As time has neared, (7 months and 2 days), we knew that staying in one place was the opposite of what we really wanted. We want to be “free” to explore the world.  

Tom believes that the state of the economy and that hyperinflation will take hold in the entire world. We will travel before the effects of such inflation will prevent us from being able to do so.  

Our last reason is simple. Tom and I both had our children when we were teenagers. We spent our 20’s making every effort, with a certain level of immaturity, to be responsible parents. In some ways we were successful. In other ways, we weren’t. 

As our family has grown with the addition of significant others, and six precious grandchildren, we feel their lives and their traditions are established and we can let go, with the love, with the hope and, the dream to share a piece of our adventure with all of them in times to come and to build new memories to cherish together, forever

Missing…

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Last Saturday as I was getting ready to head out the door to a family member’s baby shower, Tom said, “Move slowly and look out the window to your right.”

As usual and to our delight, there was one of Mother Nature’s delectable morsels in our yard. I moved gingerly toward the window to my right. 

A wild turkey lumbered around the stone patio with eyes darting fervently for a possible intruder. As I moved to grab my phone’s camera, which proved to be too quickly, he spotted me and scurried away. A wave of sadness came over me, not over missing the shot, but after missing the frequent sightings of God’s precious creatures, abundant here in Minnesota, abundant here on the lake.
I will miss the coyotes, their grace, their piercing eyes, their hunger for the little dogs here at the point, along with the caution we’ve exercised all these years to avert their consumption of own little wonders. I will miss the eagle that swooped into our yard to settle high up on a favorite tree, the glaring stance, the perfectly poised talons, easily able to grab a fifteen-pound unsuspecting furry pet in seconds.
Early spring this year, the loons appeared. With their pointy beaks, banded throats, and musical calls they flirt with one another primping for the prospect of little chicks yet to come, who will somehow know that shyness is quite appropriate in this land of predators and humans. I will miss that sound.

We will miss the adventure of the one-day event of baby wood ducks being mercilessly tossed from the wood duck house by their parents, hoping they’ll survive the long fluttery jump to the ground, the short trek to the water.
They scurry about the yard frantically, unsure of which way to go, a few wanderers ending near the house, only to be coached along with us humans, careful not to touch and leave our scent. The cheep, cheep, cheep of the fluffy little puff balls will be hard to forget in the days to come.  

The heron, so playfully referred to as “Big Bird” by my husband, to our long lost WorldWideWillie who enthusiastically ran to the end of the dock to chase this leggy character, unfazed by its disgruntled roar as it flew away. With the utmost curiosity, he’d sniff its remains. I will miss “Big Bird.”  

Of course, I will continue to miss Willie. No longer will we be able to stand by his little grave marker in the yard. Willie inspired me to write my first blog, a blog that will end on April 9, 2012, the one year anniversary of the day he died. Each night after writing that blog, I’d read aloud the day’s writings to Tom holding back the tears. 

It’s sad and ironic that when losing a beloved pet, we not only cry for the loss of their companionship, we cry for the loss of their peculiar habits, their tricks, their ticks, their characteristics, and their rituals all of which bring us humor, familiarity, and comfort.  

And sometimes, when we cry for the loss of our pet, we cry for all the losses of our lives at the same time; the loss of people, the loss of relationships, the loss of meaningful work, the loss of success, the loss of hope, the loss of health and the loss of a dream, whatever that dream may be.

Yes, we will miss Mother Nature’s gifts here in Minnesota, but the nice thing about her is, she goes wherever we go, even if we only stop for only a moment to we breathe in the fresh air, to look and to listen. She will be there. 

Finally, the itinerary…

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Admittedly, I have procrastinated about posting the itinerary. Procrastination is not my style. I am a “get-it-done” kind of person who contemplates a task in advance, sorts out the details, and then fires away. Why, the procrastination?

There are a few reasons. One, as indicated in today’s earlier post, I was definitely preoccupied with the pending immunization appointment, and two, I’ve been wrapped in the details of the rental house in France, which is now complete.  

We have yet to book a portion of the time in Europe and in Hawaii (primarily due to the hesitancy of property owners committing so far out). In addition, the last three cruises, although upcoming and available, have not yet posted for bookings.

Will we continue traveling after experiencing this itinerary?  

Yes, we will if the following prevail as planned: Are we healthy? Did we follow the budget? And of course, do we want to?

Location Days  
11/2/2012-11/4/2014
Minnesota drive to Scottsdale AZ		 3
11/4/2012-1/2/2013
Scottsdale Condo Rental 		 61  
(included in the above)
Scottsdale to Las Vegas-hotel		 5  
12/30/2012-1/3/2013
Scottsdale to San Diego – stay with family
4		  
1/3/2013-1/18/2013
San Diego to Fort Lauderdale – Panama Canal Cruise		 15  
1/18/2013-1/20/2013
Fort
Lauderdale to Boca Raton- stay with a friend		 2  
1/21/2013-1/29/2013
Fort Lauderdale to Belize – Cruise		 8  
1/29/2013-4/8/2013
Belize Rental-House on beach		 70  
4/9/2013-4/13/2013
Belize to Miami Cruise		 3  
4/13/2013-4/20/2013Miami
Visit friends in Boca, Bonita Springs		 7  
4/20/2013-5/1/2013
Miami to Barcelona – Cruise		 11  
5/1/2013
Barcelona to Majorca (RT) – ferry		 0  
5/1/2013-6/3/2013
Majorca Oceanview
Condo Rental 		 33  
6/3/2013
Majorca to Barcelona-Ferry 		 0  
6/4/2013-6/16/2013
Barcelona to Venice- Mediterranean Cruise		 12  
6/16/2013
Venice to Tuscany-Train		 0  
6/16/2013-8/31/2013
Tuscany Rental-17th century villa		 76  
8/31/2013
Tuscany to Rome-Train		 0  
9/1/2013
Rome to Kenya-Flight		 2  
9/1/2013-11/30/2013
Kenya Rental- Diani Beach house		 90  
11/30/2013
Kenya to South Africa-Flight		 1  
12/1/2013-3/26/2014
South Africa Rental-Kruger National Park – House		 115  
3/26/2014
Kruger National Park to Durban, South Africa-driver		 0  
3/26/2014-3/30/2014
Durban to Cape Town-Cruise		 4  
3/30/2014-4/17/2014
Cape Town to Genoa- Cruise                             		 18  
4/17/2014-4/18/2014
Drive to Genoa, Italy along
French Riveria, to Hotel in Cannes		 1  
4/18/2014-5/17/2014
Cannes to 16th Century
Stone House, Cajarc, France		 30  
5/17/2014-9/17/2014
Spain, Portugal, London (take the Chunnel under the ocean) rentals		 123  
9/17/2014-10/1/2014
London to Fort Lauderdale-Cruise		 14  
10/1/2014-10/5/2014
Fort Lauderdale to Boca-stay with friend		 5  
10/5/2014-10/19/2014
Fort
Lauderdale to
San Diego Cruise		 14  
10/19/2014-10/22/2014
San Diego to Baja CA
-Hotel		 3  
10/22/2014
Baja CA
to Ensenada,
Mexico		 0  
10/22/2014-11/2/2014
Ensenada Mexico to
Honolulu Cruise		 11  
11/2/2014-3/31/2015
Hawaii – Home Rentals-Island Hopping (Christmas booked with family on Big Island during this period)		 150  
Total
Days Booked to Date (more will follow)		 880

Photos of rental properties will be coming soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Ouch!…Plunge, twist and release…

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After two hours of being terrified at the prospect of contracting one of many horrifying diseases throughout the world, I left the Park Nicollet Travel Immunization Clinic with my head swimming. WHAT ARE WE DOING????

If we don’t die from the side effects of the Yellow Fever or Typhoid shots, we might die from one of the many diseases for which there is no immunization or treatment! Why tell me, overly efficient, profoundly knowledgeable, delightfully warm Travel Nurse Marcia, who hugged me when I left, that we could die?  

On information overload and losing my competency to make reasonable decisions, I agreed to our taking $10 a day malaria pills (fewer side effects) that we’ll need to take for eight-plus months, $700 rabies shots, $80 for tuberculosis tests, and also, an array of 10 or more other vaccines that will total in the $1000’s. We sure hope the insurance company will pay for these. I hadn’t budgeted $300 a month for malaria pills!

I felt as if I were buying a car from a persuasive, albeit highly competent “salesperson” who was trying to sell me safety features that invoked so much guilt that I couldn’t resist buying. I signed up for everything. Oh, I did hesitate on one thing, flu shots. Why would we need flu shots that are derived from viruses only prevalent in the US? Go figure! What if we went out to dinner with an American couple we meet on a cruise ship who currently has the flu? We signed up for that too!  

The dreaded Yellow Fever shot will be on May 1. I am terrified. Four people died from the vaccine alone (OK, four deaths of out one million, not quite a high risk). I said to Travel Nurse Marcia, trying to reassure myself, “Those four people could have died that day anyway, right?” She reassuringly nodded her head. On May 1, please pray for me. Later, for Tom.

Tom has yet to go to his two-hour appointment. I suggested that Travel Nurse Marcia not tell Tom everything she told me for three reasons: 1. He gets bored listening to medical stuff. 2. He’ll pretend to be listening when he isn’t. 3. He’ll refuse the shots and tell her to take a hike.   

Oh good grief, I can picture my dear husband, sick with some dreadful disease, ensconced inside a mosquito net, with me at his side, frantically trying to nurse him back to health. Sounds like a scene in a movie! No, thank you. PLEASE my dear handsome, charming, funny, adorable, “best husband in-the-world,” agree to get your shots, take your $5 pills with food and SHUT UP about it!

So, lovely Travel Nurse Marcia left the room after handing me my stack of 100 CDC documents to read, moments later returning with a tray loaded up with four, that’s right four, giant syringes on a sterilized stainless steel tray. She gently set the tray down on the counter, leaving the room again. I stared at the tray, my heart pounding so hard, I could hear it in my head. Minutes later, she returned instructing me to get up on the exam table.  

The rest is a blur, rolling up my sleeves, taking a deep breath, feeling the brutal violation of my pale winter skin while each of four syringes plunges deep into the tender flesh of my upper arms. OUCH!!! It felt as if she “plunged, twisted, and released” those horse-sized syringes. Then,  it was over, for now at least. I waited for something to happen. Nothing happened.

After sleeping fitfully all night, unable to lay on either side. My arms hurt as anticipated from the warning by Travel Nurse Marcia. After two huge cups of coffee this morning I’m back to my “old” self, dressed in workout clothes, off to the gym and then to the bank to transfer the 25% deposit in 1481 francs (today’s going rate, which is about $300 US dollars) to the owner of the charming “Stone House” in Cajarc, France for one month beginning April 18, 2014 (yes, 2 years from now). Nothing like planning ahead!

BTW, the itinerary will follow later today. 

The final criteria, lots more to follow…

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Here we go! We’re wrapping up the all-important criteria today, allowing us to proceed to the equally important itinerary in the next post. As I mentioned earlier, listing these vital “rules” again and again is certainly tedious. 

Seeing them over and over, reading them aloud to Tom each time I write, is exactly what we’ve needed to be reminded of the importance of following these guidelines. Without them, the temptation to book expensive vacation rentals, overpriced cruises, and the occasional exorbitant hotel rooms would throw our financial plan out of whack.  

The goal of avoiding the necessity of tapping into our savings or investments is a huge motivator. Fear, the infinite motivator. Fear, being forced to stop this adventure due to financial constraints. Fear, canceling future travel due to health issues. Fear, the caves with the bats, the guano. Fear, the zip line.

Friends and family have asked, “What happens if you get bored?” We didn’t get bored living in our home together for the past 21 years, in the comfy chairs, enjoying lounging in a lawn chair in the summer, eating homemade meals, watching episodes of our favorite TV shows, chatting, laughing, and socializing.  

They also ask, “What if you get tired of traveling?” We’ll stop. We’ll cancel future plans, maybe lose a deposit or two but we’ll stop. We’ve agreed that if one of us wants to stop, the other will agree. Knowing this, comforts us. Knowing this, removes the fear. 

So, the remaining criteria:

Criteria #7:  Never stay in a vacation rental for less than one month. The rationale behind this rule is simple. Staying in one location not only reduces transportation expenses, but provides us with the opportunity to negotiate better rates when staying a month or more.  

Many of the property owners allow a stay of as little as three or four days, requiring added paperwork, liability, and cleaning. Their piece of mind is a substantial motivator for them to accept a lower rent for their property. As each month’s stay is extended in the negotiations, the price goes down proportionately. This will be illustrated by the rental amounts we will post with the itinerary.

Criteria #8:  No trinkets!  As tempting as “bargains,” “souvenirs” and local “handicrafts” appeal to us during our travels, we will resist the temptation. The cost of excess baggage along with the horror of hauling some heavy wooden objects all over the world is preposterous!

We will make a list of the items we encounter that tempt us. Once we settle someday, we will easily be able to find similar items online or in some cases, purchase them from the actual vendor’s web site. Often these tempting artifacts can be found for half the price on eBay, from sellers who found they were tempted during their travels. Most often, when we look back at such a wish list at a later date, we’ll find that we have lost interest anyway.

Criteria #9:  The availability of Internet/cellphone access with us at all times. This was a tough one. I’ve spent no less than an entire week researching various options. We now have discovered solutions (of course, subject to technology changes over the next several months). For Internet access, 24/7, in our rental, on the road, and part-time on cruises, we’ll use MiFi Rental with XCom Global. In a future post, I will write about the cost and how this works.  

As for cellphone service, we will be buying an Unlocked International cell phone into which we can purchase and install a local SIM card using the available local network (which is what most cell phone users in many countries use for service). SIM cards result in considerably lower rates, all without the use of a contract. Here again, I will write an entire post on this subject.

Criteria #10:  Cook and eat in! Due to health concerns we live a low carb, wheat-free, starch-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free lifestyle. Occasionally Tom will indulge along the way! He won’t be able to resist pasta in Italy or a baguette in France. But, for me, my ongoing health from this way of eating it a huge motivator. Cooking and eating in the kitchen of our vacation rental will save us $1000’s along the way.  

We currently spend about $800 a month on food (all organic produce with grass-fed meat, free-range poultry, and eggs, organic dairy). This may sound like a huge sum for two people, but that totals only $26.67 a day. After considerable research, we feel confident that we’ll be able to maintain this budget and our food requirements. I currently pack 3 meals a day for Tom’s long 12 hour workdays.

We could never eat two to three meals a day in a restaurant in any of the countries we are visiting for a mere $26.67 for both of us! We have budgeted the cost of enjoying a dinner out in a nice restaurant, once or twice a week depending upon local prices.  

That one dinner a week may cost $25 in Belize including tax and tip, but could be $125 in Tuscany, resulting in an expenditure of $6500 a year, enough to pay for a vacation rental for 4.3 months or 8.6 months, if eating out twice a week. It’s a matter of trade-offs.  

I don’t think we’ll mind grilling a steak on the veranda in Majorca, Spain while overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

In review, here is a complete list of all the criteria:

Criteria #1: Do not have a permanent home!
Criteria #2: Do not own cars!
Criteria #3: Do not stay in hotels unless absolutely necessary!
Criteria #4: Do not pay more than that which we were willing to pay for rent in our chosen retirement community!
Criteria #5: Use the cruise!
Criteria #6: Bag the excess baggage!
Criteria #7: Never stay in a vacation rental for less than one month!
Criteria #8: No trinkets!
Criteria #9: The availability of Internet/cellphone access with us, at all times!
Criteria#10: Cook and eat in!

Sure, all of the above is subject to change. We don’t know what we don’t know. It’s a work in progress. By the time we are ready to leave in seven months and ten days, we may laugh or even cringe at what we “thought” we knew and posted here, this early in the process. In any case, we learn as we go, on a perpetual mission of gaining knowledge, reducing fear, and ultimately, having the time of our lives.  

Bag the bags!…

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Writing a blog about upcoming travel is very different than writing after traveling has occurred. Although we both have traveled extensively in the past, long before we met and little after we met, we know full well that predicting the outcome of future travel, its level of enjoyment and personal enrichment is highly speculative.

There is no doubt that later on, as we roll out each leg of our endless itinerary, that we may change our minds and subsequently change or add to these criteria that we have determined as important for financial success (staying in the budget) and security (of traveling exclusively utilizing our monthly income as opposed to using investments/saved funds).

The process of explaining this is a bit tedious for a writer such as me, preferring a more “flowery” and “expressive” type of writing, as opposed to the more “clinical” aspect of describing this process. 

Undoubtedly, as we move along, traveling and writing, there will be a 50/50 ratio between technical details and the emotionally enlightening experiences such as cruising through the Panama Canal during its extensive renovation, catching our first king salmon in Alaska, and feeding a giraffe through the window of our temporary home in South Africa. The first 571 days of the itinerary will follow soon.

Here are our “rules” so far…

Criteria #1: Do not have a permanent home! Criteria #2: Do not own cars! 
Criteria #3: Do not stay in hotels unless absolutely necessary!
Criteria #4: Do not pay more than that which we were willing to pay for rent in our chosen retirement community!
Criteria #5: Use the cruise!
Criteria #6: Bag the excess baggage! Cruise lines are more liberal on the number and weight of bags than airlines. In the first 10 months of our itinerary, we won’t step foot on an airplane. The temptation is to load up our two suitcases each and our carry on bags. 

Upon investigating baggage fees, for example, for the possible airlines that can fly us to Africa, the fees are astounding. Some only allow 44 pounds in checked baggage per person! When we flew to Florida for 7 days last fall, we each had two bags totaling 100 pounds! I calculated that we would have had to pay an additional $800 each for overweight baggage, more than the cost of the flight per person from Rome to Kenya!

How will we pack lightly? Can’t imagine! Even Tom has a penchant for packing everything he owns when we’ve traveled in the past. Later on, we will write about how this preposterous scenario will unfold.  

How will a woman, such as myself, pack lightly, one who insists upon using a wide array of cosmetics, having a fresh change of clothes daily, likes a certain tea, a certain coffee bean, a certain low carb sweetener, a certain baking pan and an endless array of gadgets? 

What about workout clothes and the requisite rotating tennis shoes? What about the 20 different bottles of vitamins and supplements we each take in what may prove to be a futile effort to stave off “old man time?”  What about heavy jeans, jackets, rainwear, hiking boots, Tom’s suit, and my evening dress (dresses) for “dress up” dinners aboard the cruise? I’ve spent hours reading about how to pack for travels; two pairs of casual pants, four tee shirts, one dress shirt, one pair of dressy shoes, one pair of walking shoes, a raincoat, an umbrella, and la la la.  

Last week I bought a travel scale. I weighed it on the kitchen scale. It was advertised at 1.5 pounds, but in fact, weighed 2.3 pounds. I am already using 0.052% of my allotment (44 pounds) on the scale itself! Oh, dear, packing is almost as frightening as the zip line in Belize!

Criteria #7 to follow next time. Please come back!