Settling in…Settling down…Planning safari…

The flowers in our yard are bountiful. Bougainvilleas are popular in Kenya.
Hesborn, locally referred to as a “house boy.”  In an attempt to be pc, we’d prefer to refer to this kindly gentleman as our “houseman” or “house-person.”

One of the main reasons we decided to come to Kenya was the opportunity to see The Great Migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest crossing the river to the plains. We’d seen this on a news program a few years ago and we took out the “bucket” tossing it in.

With literally hundreds of options to see this momentous event requires careful planning and a willingness to pay for a quality experience. We budgeted well for this. We’ll share the details once we book them.  Our hope is to go on both a local safari, a few hour drive from here and go to the point where the wildebeest will be at the time we arrive. Today, now settled in, we can begin the hunt.

Another view of the spiral staircase from the second level, which we’ll seldom use.

Please keep in mind this is a photo taking, not hunting expedition. The animals in the parks are protected against “poaching” and consequences are severe. There are parks for hunting and killing animals that hold no interest for either of us. We love “life,” both human and animal, and take enormous pleasure in seeing any wildlife in their natural habitat, as opposed to zoos.

A common flower, the hibiscus, always appealed to me often growing them in Minnesota’s warm summers.  Plentiful in Hawaii, they grow like weeds, where we’ll be in 13-15 months, depending on future cruises we’re yet to book.

Of course, we have a lot to learn as the tedious process of discovery begins with the same care and diligence we exercised in researching our worldwide travels. Even so, we’ve often found that we have much to learn as we enter a new country to live among their people, their culture, as is the case here in Kenya.

We’re settling in.

These may be African roses.  The smell, amazing.

The bugs and mosquitoes; wear repellent and Africa pants at night. The heat; no problem. The dust and sand on our feet; wear shoes. The lack of TV;  play Gin, talk, read, watch movies on my laptop. Security; feel safe.  Malaria pills; no side effects. The language; English. The sights and sounds; breathtaking.

Tom surprises me. He’s a person entrenched in familiar creature comforts. Witnessing him adapt to the unfamiliar and at times difficult surroundings we’ve experienced in our travels is both refreshing and fulfilling.Staying positive and optimistic as a couple is highly instrumental in our adjusting to a new environment. In this, we excel, always have, more now than ever.

Growing up in California, I recall these flowers but not the name. 

On Tuesday, upon arriving in Diani Beach, we were exhausted from 22 hours of traveling.  Hans had left us enough bottled water to last a day but we had no food except a one pound bag of coffee.  Without cream, neither of us would bother to make coffee. Hans kindly offered to pick us up at the grocery store, arranging a cab to take us. The original plan was to take us both ways but something came up and he offered to pay the cab fare. Of course, we insisted on reimbursing him. 

We had no Kenya Shillings, US $1 equals Kenya Shillings $87.38, we were unprepared to pay cab fare until we went to bank or cash machine. We’ve found that cabs worldwide, thus far, do not accept credit cards as they do in the US.

Lush greenery surrounds us. 

The cab ride to the grocery store was an approximate 12 minute drive. Hans had told us the fare should be negotiated to KES 1200 (Kenya Shillings henceforth), US $13.73 round trip. As it turned out, we’d bought so many groceries that wouldn’t fit in Hans’ small car but he hung around while we shopped to ensure all went well. Good thing, he did!

Hans had to vouch for us when the grocery store cashier refused to accept a credit card without a passport, which we’d failed to bring. Knowing from past experience we weren’t surprised we forgot to bring our passports in our tired state. 

Hans explained to the cashier that he knew us and not to worry. The cashier then accepted Tom’s Nevada driver’s license in place of the passport.  While I shopped, Tom hung out with Hans and a friend in an outdoor bar connected to the grocery store. Thank goodness they were entertained. It took me almost two hours to shop in my frazzled state of mind.

Care must be taken to avoid being hit in the head with falling coconuts from the many trees in the yard.

The shopping? Interesting. Different than Italy and very different from the US. There was no charge for a grocery cart or the cardboard boxes they used to pack our stuff. A VAT tax of 16% was charged on the groceries, except on rice, flour, corn and a few necessities, none of which we purchased. The staff in the store was helpful and friendly as I wandered around aimlessly trying to find items we use. 

Our total bill including the VAT tax was KES $28,835, US $330, which we typically spend the first time we’ve shopped at each new location due to the necessity of purchasing paper products, soaps, repellent for the area, etc. With everything marked in KES, knowing Hans and Tom were waiting for me, I couldn’t price shop. I purchased everything on my list that appeared to be the best quality.

The deli and meat department had the most aggressive yet delightful “salespeople” I’ve met in any grocery store. They freely pushed their products. Hungry from having eaten poorly in the previous 24 hours, I readily fell prey to their sales pitch. Only a few items prompted me to calculate the cost using the currency app on my smartphone. 

One great buy was a three meal for two portion of Fillet Mignon which the butcher carefully trimmed to ensure all fat and tendons were removed, ending up at US $4.50 per serving. Tonight, we’ll make bacon (the bacon here was OK, not great) wrapped Fillet Mignon’s with sautéed mushrooms and onions, side salad and fresh sugar snap peas. 

The produce department was lacking in variety and quality with no green beans (fresh, frozen or canned), and many other familiar fresh items.  Much of the produce looked old and wilted.  Needing some items for our meals, I selected the best I could find. Later, Hans suggested a nearby vegetable stand where we’ll shop in the future.

The remainder of the store? Touch and go. The store was larger than any in Belize, smaller than in Italy with many items we frequently use unavailable. Much to my delight I found unsweetened coconut milk and coconut flour.  

Searching for coconut oil for my teeth cleaning and cooking, they offered me a bottle to which I jumped for joy. 

Tom will move the lawn chairs to a coconut tree free zone and into the sun.Today, we look forward to recovering a little color by spending our typical one hour of sunning and funning. The beach, not as close as we’d hoped, has warnings about peddlers, vendors and possible rough characters, leaving little interest for us at this point.

Returning home, I swished the oil around my teeth for 10 minutes, experiencing a burning sensation that prompted me to spit it out, brushing my teeth over and over with toothpaste and baking soda in an effort to get the awful taste out of my mouth.  Reading the bottle after the bad experience, I noticed the words in tiny print “not fit for human consumption.” 

Oh, good grief. Did I poison myself? It took several hours of repeating brushing and rinsing with purified water to remove to awful taste.  Apparently, this particular coconut oil was intended as a body oil. Into the garbage it went!  In my exhausted state and wearing my blurry contact lenses nonstop for 36 hours, I failed to see the tiny print on the label. I’d never seen inedible coconut oil. Usually, one uses the edible type as a body oil if they so choose.

The gate looking out to the yard from our outdoor living room.

Overall, the prices weren’t outrageous, as I perused the receipt the following day. Without a doubt, we’ll manage to be able to cook healthful and tasty meals while we’re in Kenya especially with freshly picked produce from the farmer’s market.

After grocery shopping, our new cab driver, Alfred, drove us across the street to a bank’s cash machine where we received enough KES to last us a for awhile, getting more cash as needed when we shop. 

We’ve decided to shop once a week negotiating with Alfred for a fee of KES $1000, US $11.44 plus tip for the weekly round trip on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am.

Using the cab for shopping, banking and dining out should be no more than US $30 to US $45 a week, certainly less than the over US $800 a month we paid for a rental car in Italy. Plus, after reading several warnings by the US Department of State that recommended cabs over rental cars with the high risk of carjacking in many areas.  With the reasonable cab fares, we are satisfied with this option.

The locked garage and entranceway to the property.  At night, the guard Jeremiah, walks this area and the perimeter of the property of both ours and Hans’ house.

With little storage space in the kitchen and the necessity of no nonperishable items on the counter (monkey risk), putting everything away was a challenge. The galley kitchen requires that the kitchen door be shut in order to get into the undersized refrigerator.Tom offered to help but I threw him out, shut the door and got it done in no time.

Hesborn washed all the floors yesterday but our feet are still getting black. It may take several washings to get the soot-like dust off the floors.  He explained that recently the wrought iron gates surrounding the house had been sanded, resulting in the black soot. It was a relief to know that its not a permanent situation.

Once we find safaris that appeal to us, we’ll share the links and information. The search is almost as much fun for us as the experience.

Be back tomorrow with fun photos we took yesterday!

Internet was down for a day…

We sure have plenty of tomatoes (pomodori) to last through our remaining eight days of cooking before we leave to travel to Africa. Yesterday, I had none and today, we have more than we can use.  After Santina left this morning, I discovered this glass bowl filled with tomatoes in the kitchen.  With the substantial batch, Lisa picked for us yesterday in the steep yard, we’re well stocked with tomatoes. 

It’s amazing how lost we are without the Internet, bringing to mind our dependency on technology to assist us through our days.  Would we ever have ventured out on this year’s long journey? I doubt it.

Tom is more wrapped up in being able to get online these days than I. Other than writing and posting photos here, banking and paying credit card bills, and responding to email, hours of being online is less important to me.

My interest began to lessen after leaving Minnesota on Halloween last year, after spending 8 to 10 hours a day for nearly a year researching our upcoming travels, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. In the future, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it again as the time nears to arrange the next leg of our journey.

For Tom, he busies himself looking up possible future cruises, reading stock information, managing our inventory, and reading an endless array of emails from old friends; some political, some funny, some disgusting and heartwarming, only a few of which he shares with me. I don’t care to read passed along jokes and stories unless they really touch a nerve. Tom knows which is worth sharing with me.

Most of my email consists of family and friends, readers asking questions, or making comments or statements from various financial institutions. With little junk mail these days, after unsubscribing on 100’s of sites, each email I receive warrants reviewing.

Yesterday while literally cut off from the world with the Internet, we played Gin, read our books on our phones, and watched the few news channels we’re able to receive in English on the outdated TV. 

Need I say again that Tom is slaying me at Gin?  Always priding myself on being a competent Gin player, I’ve suffered greatly in his hands (literally and figuratively). I can’t stand to lose! 

He’s so ahead of me at this point that I can’t possibly catch up. Thoughtfully, he’s agreed to start a new tally when we arrive in Kenya which hopefully will begin on our upcoming flight, providing we’ll be able to sit next to one another. (We’ll find out on the 26th when we call as instructed).

Yesterday, I packed a little, disposing of no less than 25 pounds of stuff I’m willing to say goodbye to, much to my surprise.  We’ll give it to our “people” here to keep for themselves, to donate, or to share with their family and friends. Tom will do the same over the weekend. The rest? We’ve decided to pay the excess baggage fees and be done with it. After all, we’ve spent so little money while in Italy, our budget’s slush fund is overflowing in the $100’s.

Yesterday, in perusing the budget, I determined that the cost of food in Italy has been the lowest anywhere.  Choosing the finest ingredients, much organic, we’ve spent an average of $22 per day during the 75 days in Boveglio. In the US, we usually spent anywhere from $800 to $900 per month at the grocery store, again seldom dining out.

We’d budgeted $30.66 a day for the time in Italy including dining out. This difference, to our benefit, should cover the excess baggage fees.  The savings are a result of not dining out and the excellent prices on food in Italy.  For groceries alone, we spent from $100 to $200 per month less than in the US.

With the distance traveling on the steep winding road without guardrails, the time it takes to reach any restaurants, along with my food restrictions inspired us to dine in. Enjoying each of our homemade meals caused us to realize how impractical it would have been to dine out in Italy, based on the high carb pasta, grains, starches, sugar, and the bread that comprise most meals in restaurants. 

In Kenya, based on the restaurant menus we’ve been able to find online, the food is more “continental” consisting of a portion of meat, fish or poultry, vegetables, and salads, all easier for us to enjoy. Of course, we’ll leave out the potatoes or starchy side dishes, bread and desserts. We shall see how that goes, reporting back as to what we’ll soon discover.

At this point, we’re ready to move on. Oddly, we don’t feel as if we’re going on yet another vacation as we prepare to head to a new location. Long ago, we anticipated that we’d experience the giddy excitement of an upcoming vacation.  With the experience of the potential for unknown events, we feel a bit anxious about getting the traveling part completed. 

Leaving on September 1st (with one overnight at a hotel in Venice) and scheduled to arrive at our house in Kenya around 6:00 am on September 3rd, it’s a very long haul. 

Traveling at night has always been hard for me, unable to sleep well sitting up while despising the feeling of lack of sleep as we must maneuver through three separate flights over 17 plus hours. It will be equally trying when we leave Kenya almost three months later to go to South Africa and again, three months later to fly to Morocco, all very long overnight flights. There’s no need to think about that at this point.
 
Reminding myself that this is the life we chose and that, once we’re settled these thoughts will waft away, allowing us the total immersion into our new lives in a new location.

This morning when Santina arrived to clean the house for the second to last time, I wrote the following in English to translate into Italian in Google Translate:

“Thank you so much for such a wonderful job you have done for us. Your kindness will stay in our minds and hearts forever. Next Friday will be the last time and then we will say goodbye.”

This translates in Italian to:

“Grazie mille per un lavoro meraviglioso che hai fatto per noi. La tua gentilezza rimarrà nella mente e nel cuore per sempre. Venerdì prossimo sarà l’ultima volta e poi ci dirà addio.”

She read my note while leaning over my computer at the kitchen table, smiling from ear to ear.  When done she placed her fingers to her lips for a kiss to toss through the air to me. I caught it, immediately returning it to her. 

As she left today and each past week we’ve kissed goodbye, one cheek, then the other with a heartfelt, “arrivederci” wishing we could speak to understand one another. 

Yesterday, when the produce truck hadn’t arrived at its usual 3:30 time and place, I was frustrating wondering where I’d get tomatoes for our planned Mexican dinner this weekend. I’d bought a few at the grocery store on Wednesday which we’ve since used. What was I thinking only buying a few tomatoes when I knew we’d need more? 

Would we have to forego tomatoes or once again make the 70 minute round trip up and down the treacherous mountain roads?

As I looked around the parking lot for the truck I ran into Lisa, the wife of the delightful owner pair of Lisa and Luca, as she spoke to a neighbor. Noticing my inquisitive look, she approached me inquiring as to my dilemma.  Asking her where I could get a few tomatoes (Pomodoro) nearby since ours on the patio have yet to mature.

Grabbing my hand she steered me to the backyard, asking me “quanti?” for “how many?” I held up my fingers for “two” while saying “due,” Italian for two.  She shrugged her shoulders, looking at me raising her eyebrows, asking “due?”

(Only two?)  I shrugged holding up four fingers while saying “quattro,” sensing she thought I was foolish for asking for only two.(As it turned out many of the tomatoes were rather small. No wonder she flinched at my request for only two or four).

At this point, I knew she was to find our tomatoes in the massive garden down several tiers which I hadn’t yet tackled with the uneven steps and no handrail. I handed her the cloth bag I still had in my hands when hoping to buy the tomatoes from the now missing produce truck.

Off she went (she’s 35 years younger than I) flying down the uneven steep steps to return minutes later with a bounty of ripe tomatoes nearly filling my bag. I couldn’t have said “grazie” with more enthusiasm. Here again, I wished we could have somehow carried on a conversation. Her warmth and thoughtful demeanor left me longing to understand her.

Lisa and Luca couldn’t have been more helpful during our time in Boveglio, responsive, and kind. They’ve literally jumped to our every need. Of course, we’ve never attempted to take advantage in any manner, as in my request for such a small number of tomatoes or our inquiry to stay one more night beyond our contract (for which they refused to accept payment when we offered to pay on multiple occasions).  So gracious, they have been!  Most assuredly, we’ll be leaving five-star reviews on their listing in Homeaway.

Our two missing boxes of prescriptions haven’t arrived. The company has agreed to replace them at no charge sending them to our mailing service in Nevada. When we can receive mail somewhere down the road, the mailing service will forward them to us. For now, we have an ample supply for the next 10 to 11 months.

Late yesterday afternoon, almost 24 hours later, the Internet signal returned. Almost time to make dinner while still entrenched in a fierce game of Gin, I decided to wait until today to write. Yes, he won again! 

Stay tuned folks. Thanks for reading our mindless drivel. Hopefully, soon, we’ll step it up a notch or two when we arrive in Kenya. 

Writing our blog…What it takes…What it does for us…What our readers mean to us…The interesting and the mundane…

Lizard in the house.

Writing this blog began on March 15, 2012, almost 18 months ago.  You can read the first post by searching the archives on the right side of the page.  This requires about three clicks as you go further back to that date.

As we put “pen to paper” on that date, we had no idea that it would grow beyond the scope of our own sphere of influence; family, friends, and co-workers.  Little did we imagine that we’d have unique visitors worldwide, including such countries as Uzbekistan, Croatia, and Taiwan.

How did they find us?  Most likely it was the keywords we’ve used that you see at the bottom of each post that are the words users enter in search engines, such as Google, Bing, etc.  Suddenly our webpage appears.

For example:  If right now, you go to Google.com and search the word:  “Boveglio, retiree” you’ll find that our blog pops up as the first five entries.  (This changes by the minute, so if it’s not at the top, scroll down and you’ll find it). Type the word “waftage” and you’ll discover the same phenomenon. In essence, in many cases that is how worldwide readers find us or find any site they research.

Another way others find us, is by sending the link, by copying and pasting, www.worldwidewaftage.com to a few friends or to their entire contact list.  Their contact reads the blog once or not and if it appeals to their interests they either sign up to receive an automatic email each time we post (few people seem to do this in fear of being bombarded with other emails, which is not the case) or they bookmark our site and visit it each day or from time to time to read the latest posts at their leisure.

For some, reading the details of the lives of a retired couple that they don’t know, traveling the world for years, is of little interest. Many people don’t travel and have little interest in traveling. That was us only a few short years ago. My, how we’ve changed!

Some readers have asked us how we manage to sit down and write almost every day. Actually, when we have interesting experiences, the words flow easily. When it’s quiet and we’re feeling a need to stay put, it becomes more difficult, similar to the times when we lived in the US when life was fine but not necessarily interesting each day. 

Let’s face it, none of us are interesting all the time. We all have periods where life is comfortable but mundane; enjoyable for us, dull to others. That’s how life is, giving us each the opportunity to experience pleasure with more gusto and passion as the mundane subsides for a period of time.

During quiet times, as these have been by our choice lately, we’ve continued to share those mundane details that we all experience. Some readers, based on our appreciated and continually growing readership, enjoy small details. It reminds us of the small details we tend to share with those in our household:  we visited a store, we went for a walk, we read the mail, we stubbed our toe, all minuscule in the realm of things.

Here in Italy most days, as we sit on the veranda, I write while Tom does research in the background, to hopefully ensure any facts that we share are from reliable sources and as accurate as possible.  At times, we falter in this area. Let’s face it; if we find information online, it’s certainly no guarantee that it’s accurate, even if found at reliable sites. 

How long does it take to write?  Without photos, usually under two hours.  With 12 photos or more, over two hours since photos are time-consuming to insert into the blog.  At times, when we’ve had over 20 photos, we’ve posted over a few days as Part 1 and Part 2.

Do we enjoy posting or does it feel like a “job?” It’s always enjoyable. My fingers literally fly across the keyboard, often with one of those sh_ _ eating grins on my face, difficult to stop.

In reality, we have added advertisers to hopefully defray some of the costs of maintaining this site over the long haul. Clicking on any of our links if you so choose, rewards us in tiny increments, more like small change than in dollars.  The price a reader would pay for any products they purchase through our site is the same price they’d pay going directly to that site on their own.  Readers can still use any coupon codes they’ve otherwise discovered online.

Photos?  We realize that readers love seeing photos and we appreciate this as we observe that readership skyrockets when we do.  Unfortunately, in this remote location, high in the mountains, it is unsafe to walk on the narrow roads (let alone drive) leading in and out of Boveglio. 

Our only photo opportunities while staying put, are any scenes we find appealing in the confines of our immediate neighborhood, some of which we’ve posted more than once.  Normally, we only post newly taken photos rather than those from past posts, although the scenery may be familiar.

What does it mean to us?  There are several layers to this answer.  Knowing that our family members always know where we are and can Skype us at any time, gives us peace of mind.  Knowing that our friends, old and new, can see what we’re “up to” avoids the writing of endless descriptive email messages about our travels when all are described here in detail. 

However, we love hearing from family and friends.  For example, Bruce, a co-worker and friend of Tom’s whom he’s known for over 40 years, sent an email yesterday, suggesting they Skype last night.  Tom couldn’t have been more thrilled when last night, he and Bruce connected on Skype, chatting for some time.  With the time difference of 7 hours, he was calling around 1:00 pm his time in Minnesota, which was 8:00 pm our time in Italy.

Nothing in the world thrills us more than seeing our family and friends on  Skype.  But, if we can’t connect, they can easily find our most recent posts for an update.  For us, the greatest benefit of the Skype call is that we get an opportunity to hear how they are doing while seeing their faces as well.  What a treat!

To look at the stats each day to see how many readers worldwide are visiting our site each day, each month, and collectively is a reward that nothing can describe. Honestly, it adds so much to our experience that I can’t imagine traveling without it. 

Every few days, a reader will post a comment by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of each day’s post.  At times, it is a question. At other times, it’s a suggestion or an observation. At other times, a weirdo makes inappropriate comments. Luckily, we have control over posting comments or deleting them. We see no reason to subject our readers to inappropriate or malicious comments. All others we do post, responding to the posted comments within 24 hours.

For this, we thank each and every reader for taking the time to share this journey with us whether family, friends, acquaintances, the many readers, we’ve met aboard our eight cruises and the thousands of readers worldwide who have stumbled across our site. 

So bear with us folks, the mundane will only continue for a short period and then, in 11 days, we’ll begin the adventure of our lives as we head to Africa, where we’ll live for almost a year, for me, a dream come true. 

Tom’s also excited about Africa as long as I don’t let any warthogs into the house or any zebras visit to watch him take a shower or swim in the pool.  We shall see…

Housekeeping for upcoming travel…

Definitely, not as much “stuff” on the bed when we originally packed almost a year ago.

Two weeks from today, we’ll drive the five-hour journey from Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy to Venice Italy, where we’ll stay overnight in a hotel close to the airport.  Planning to drop off the rental car after we’ve checked into the hotel upon arrival was a plan I’d originally resisted, thinking it made more sense to drop it off in the morning before our flight. 

Tom was adamant that we drop off the car on the day of arrival in Venice and take the hotel’s shuttle to the airport in the morning. He felt that the time spent returning the car, from past experience when we picked it up on June 16th, would impose upon the time necessary to board the plane.

Those darn vitamins! This is only a portion of the supply!

After thinking about this premise for a few days, I saw his point.  With the free airport shuttle offered by the hotel, it was one less stressful task to perform before boarding the plane. 

The Marco Polo Airport in Venice imposes a strict rule that passengers may not appear at the airport more than three hours before their scheduled flight.  This small airport doesn’t have adequate space to accommodate travelers for longer periods. Thus, careful planning is a must. Otherwise, passengers can be refused entry with their bags into the terminal. That could be stressful!

With only two weeks left, we’ve begun planning for all the tasks we must accomplish before leaving Italy.  No, we don’t have household goods and furniture to move, but in a way, it’s comparable to moving after the moving van has removed the household goods and furniture, a monumental task in itself.,

Its not easy keeping a cupboard tidy with clothing as opposed to dresser drawers, none of which we available in this extra bedroom.

Not only do we have to ensure we’ve collected all of our belongings scattered about the house, but also the following tasks to complete over the next two weeks:
1.  Carefully pack all of our luggage including careful planning for the carry on bags to avoid further delays at the airport when going through security.
2.  Weigh all of our luggage to ensure we’re prepared for any excess baggage fees which we fully expect, although not as costly as on our flight from Dubai,  UAE on our way to Barcelona, Spain to board our last cruise.
3.  Hold back clothing and toiletries for overnight in the hotel to avoid opening the packed luggage, using only a duffel bag.
4.  Ensure we have comfortable clothing and shoes to wear for the long flight, prescriptions, toiletries (especially toothbrushes and toothpaste) considering the almost 24 hours from the time we arrive at the airport in Venice, to the rental house in Kenya.
5.  Grocery shop tomorrow, purchasing enough food to last through our final night here on Saturday, August 31st, while using any items that are frozen, refrigerated, and in the cupboards.  (We’ve already planned a menu for each of the 13 remaining nights with an accompanying grocery list, utilizing our on-hand supplies).
6.  Scan and store all of the receipts we’ve accumulated while living in Italy, tossing the actual paper.
7.  Clean and reorganize our laptops’ bags of any superfluous materials.
8.  Ensure that our digital equipment is fully charged with the hope that the three planes we’ll be flying will have plugins at our seats. If plugins are not available on the planes we’ll locate and use “digital kiosks,” available at most airports during our two layovers.
9.  Return the house to its original condition as we received it upon arrival over two and a half months here, replacing any items we moved about to facilitate our personal needs.
10. Clean, leaving only the towels and bedding we used on that last day. Santina will clean on our last Friday, two days before our departure. With no paid deposit, we are none the less committed to leaving everything in excellent order, as we’ve done at each of our prior rental homes.
11.  Write a glowing review on Homeaway extolling the virtues of our lovely owners, Lisa and Luca, her parents, Cici and Dano, and the overall comfort of this well-stocked and maintained home, which without a doubt we’ve fully appreciated.
12.  Update the budget with any last-minute expenses, including gas for the long drive, rental car fees, hotel and dining, taxi and tips, etc.  Doing so leaves us a clean slate to begin anew in the first of three upcoming homes in Africa:  Kenya, South Africa, and Morocco.

Need I say more?  There’s plenty to keep us busy over the next few weeks with little time for frivolity.  Yes, someday we’ll return to Italy, most likely by ship, allowing us an opportunity to explore further.  But for now, we’re ready to move on, feeling no disappointment in leaving with plenty of enthusiasm for our upcoming adventures.

Tom has kept all of his clothing in the master bedroom where we sleep. Mine have been scattered among three rooms, the master, the above guest room, and the huge main bathroom where I’ve kept fresh clothing for dressing after showering each morning.

Tom just reminded me of one more thing.  We’ll have to empty the Ziploc bags hung in the doorways and windows in order to recover the Euros we’d placed inside with the intent to repel flying insects which, as we’ve mentioned, does seem to work to a degree, although not entirely.  With screens on the windows in Kenya, we’re hopeful that the biting flies won’t be such a bother. 

Lately, in the evening, I’ve been wearing my BugAway long pants for a few hours which have totally protected me from receiving a single fly bite.  Although lightweight they’re too warm to wear all day, during which time I’ve taken on two or three new bites per day, continuing to itch for days.  The cumulative effect is the most annoying, new bites, old bites, all itching at once!

Yesterday, I finally washed my BugsAway pants for the first time. Having worn them to the Pyramids in Egypt, Petra in Jordan, and a few other excursions, they didn’t appear dirty nor did they smell. Most likely they were covered in fine dust.

With the embedded insect repellent Permethrin in the fabric, they’re good for 70 washings of which I’m now down to 69.  That should be enough to see me through our upcoming time in Africa which, dear readers, will begin, sooner than later.

Twenty days…Leaving Boveglio…Future travel plans…

The archway in our yard that ventures out to the winding, hilly roads, kept locked for privacy.   these small villages in Tuscany it is difficult to determine where a house and yard begins and ends with most houses “stuck together.”

It’s hard to believe in less than three weeks we’ll be leaving Boveglio to drive to Venice to fly to Kenya the next day, the 3rd. 

We’re reminded that fall is near, by the pumpkins and gourds in our yard.

It will be the beginning of almost a year of living in Africa, ending with two and a half months in Madeira, Portugal, an island located off the northwestern coast of Africa.

A pepper plant growing in the lower garden. These are most likely too hot for our taste buds.
With an open space in time from August 1, 2014, until November 30, 2014, Tom has been busy searching as to how we’ll fill this gap in our travels. At this point, the biggest challenge we have in booking this gap period is the result of a few crucial factors:

1.  What are the most enjoyable and sensible means of us traveling back across the Atlantic Ocean toward Hawaii when we’ll be getting together with our adult kids and grandchildren at our upcoming rental house in Kona, Hawaii at Christmas time in 2014?
2.  With the added expense of airfare for 13 family members, how can we spend this period most economically to perhaps offset a portion of the cost?
3.  Do we want to stay in Europe until December 1st when our rental begins in Hawaii, as we end the upcoming one year stint from Portugal?
4.  Are there cruises available to use as a means of travel, which we prefer?

The doorway and patio of a house below us where we heard cheerful Italian chatter last night.

Tom has been spending considerable time at Vacations to Go and Cruise Critic in an effort to determine our best options. Once we pin down possible cruises, we’ll contact our representative, Joaquin at Vacations to Go to book our chosen cruises. 

How dry and brown the yard is becoming with a lack of regular rain.

The further we continue into our world travels, we’ve determined that we love cruising for several reasons:
1.  Cost-effective in many cases with housing and meals included.
2.  No enforced luggage restrictions.
3.  Ease of living:  no cooking, no cleaning, no laundry (although it does pile up)
4.  Meeting new people almost every day while meandering on the ship and during meals.
5.  Date night every night with the option of ordering included room service. (After eight cruises, we’ve yet to order room service).
6.  Opportunity to visit many countries in a short period of time with the numerous scheduled ports of call.
7.  Movies on board. 
8.  Exercise facilities on board.
9.  Often interesting classes on board.
10. Chefs on cruise ships make every effort to accommodate my restrictive diet. Although boring and bland at times, it’s much easier than trying to communicate my restrictions in a new restaurant with possible language barriers.

The herb garden in the yard, separate from our patio garden.

After extensive research these past days, we’ve finally come to the conclusion that we’ll wait until the 90-day ticker begins (until sail date) with discounted cruise fares for 2014. In reviewing the ticker for cruises in the next 90 days we’ve seen how beneficial it is to wait with discounts as high as 82%. 

Impatiens growing in an old wooden barrel in the yard.

Yes, by waiting we run the risk of a particular cruise being sold out. Willing to take this risk, we accept the reality that if our means of transportation by cruise is sold out, we can always fly to our next preferred location.  In a rare position for this flexibility, it makes sense for us to proceed in this manner.

A cozy corner of one of the covered garden areas.

With most of our first two and a half years traveling well planned in advance, we now feel experienced and confident enough, after almost a year to attempt last-minute planning. Doing so opens the opportunity for us to experience cruises normally priced beyond our budget, at suddenly lower pricing.

The morning sun filtered through the covered garden.

As we’ve mentioned in the past, Vacations to Go has a policy whereby they will honor price reductions on cruises up to 90 days before sailing. If one watches the pricing on their pre-booked cruises, one can request the reduction which becomes effective immediately which will be guaranteed through sailing. However, neither the cruise lines nor Vacations to Go will watch this for a customer.  One must do this on their own.

Few roses remain as summer winds down.  Often, I wanted to make a bouquet for the kitchen table, deciding against it, knowing it would attract bees indoors.

Learning the nuances of enhancing the quality of our travels is an ongoing process. Many have asked us why we booked so much in advance for the first two and a half years. The answer is simple. 

Last year, we left Minnesota to begin our travels on Halloween.  It seems so long ago.

As neophytes, if we weren’t able to find and book the next desired leg in our travels, we may have become frustrated questioning why we ever took this enormous life-changing challenge.  With bookings planned and deposits paid, we were committed which proved to bring us comfort, excitement, and peace of mind as we learned the ropes.

These variegated green and white leaves are vinca vine, always a favorite of mine when planted to hang over a rock wall.


This planted shoe could easily have been in this yard for over 100 years.

Now, it is becoming clear to us that we can patiently wait.  Unless, of course, some amazing opportunity presents itself that we cannot turn down. 

After all, the world is a big place.

Winning Powerball…What would we do?…

Santina brought us more vegetables when arriving to clean the house on Friday that we’ll be using tonight in our homemade taco salads (minus the shells).

No, we didn’t win nor did we purchase any Powerball tickets, although Tom was an avid weekly player while we lived in Minnesota. I’d always shrugged, somewhat disinterested, having watched a few reality shows depicting how winning destroyed many people’s lives.

“Money is the root of all evil,” so they say.  Without enough to survive, our lives are wrought with misery and sorrow. With the sudden acquisition of too much money, life may also be equally unhappy.

As we read the news story about the Powerball winner in Minnesota this week, who lives a mere 35 minutes from our former area, we wondered what would eventually become of this winner and other winners making the news this week. Would they wisely invest to secure their future or would they become like many past winners, bankrupt a few years later, after lavish wasteful spending?

Yesterday, Tom asked the question, “How would we change our current lives traveling the world if we won the Powerball with money suddenly to became no object?” 

We chuckled over the prospect as many couples do, fantasizing over winning tens of millions of dollars. Yea, yea, yea, we’d give money to family, donate to our favorite charities, set up investments for our future. La la la.  The usual. 

But, the big question remains…would we continue in our travels? Our definitive answer is “yes,” with some changes, of course. 

Zucchini we picked from our small garden on the patio. Soon we’ll have Pomodoro (tomatoes).

Here’s our combined list of 10 factors we’d be inclined to change:

Tom
1.  Flying:  First Class airline tickets
2.  Cruising: Select the best cabins and services or all-inclusive smaller luxury cruises.
3.  Bring the family to visit more often
4.  Buy all new clothes and personal items each time we’d arrive at a new location, to be donated when departing, carrying only our laptop bags with digital equipment.  No checked luggage.

Jess (in addition to Tom’s above four items)
5.  Ship favorite food items to our current location enabling me to cook more varied meals.
6.  Pay the extra weight checked luggage fees without concern.
7.  Hire a maid to clean, twice a week as opposed to once.
8.  Maintain the availability of a driver with an air-conditioned roomy vehicle to transport us at any time, to locations of our choosing.
9.  Maintain our budget while increasing spending in most categories.
10. Purchase clothing and personal effects online to be shipped to our current location.

To some degree, we are able to do a portion of the above, except for the opportunity to fly first class or cruising on $1000 per day/per person cruises.

However, reviewing the above list doesn’t leave us drooling over what we wish we could do differently.

When one has a massive amount of money, their “job” becomes managing it and ensuring that the professionals they’ve hired aren’t making bad decisions on their behalf. At that point, one would have a life consisting of “working.” We’re living this life we choose to avoid feeling as if we’re working. I wouldn’t change that for anything!

Does the fire at the Nairobi airport have an effect upcoming flight to Kenya?

As reported in the today’s news, a fire at Kenya’s main airport in Nairobi has shut down the airport. 

Watching the news on TV on the few English speaking channels we have access to in Boveglio, Italy, inspired us to consider how this may have an effect on our upcoming flight to Kenya on September 2, 2013, only 26 days from today.

Departing from the Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy, we’ll have two layovers on our flight, luckily none of which are at the Nairobi International Airport. 

Here’s our flight itinerary:

9/2/13 – Departure   2 stops
Total travel time: 15 h 25 m
custom air icon
Venice
Istanbul
2 h 25 m 
VCE  10:45am
IST  2:10pm
Terminal I
 
Turkish
Airlines 1868
Economy/Coach (S)
| Confirm seats with the airline *
Layover: 4 h 5 m
custom air icon
Istanbul
Kilimanjaro
6 h 55 m   3,110miles
IST  6:15pm
JRO  1:10am
+1 day  
 
Turkish
Airlines 673
Economy/Coach (S)
| Confirm seats with the airline *
Layover: 1 h 0 m
custom air icon
Kilimanjaro
Mombasa
1 h 0 m   180miles
JRO  2:10am
MBA  3:10am
, Arrives on 9/3/13
 
Turkish
Airlines 673
Economy/Coach (S)
| Confirm seats with the airline *

In a prior post I had mistakenly quoted our flight as being 17 hours long (please excuse the error) when in fact it is only 15 hours and 25 minutes. That’s good news! 

Reviewing our itinerary once more, it makes me cringe at the long wait, we’ll have on the second layover. How in the world will we stay awake, waiting at the Kilimanjaro airport for almost 7 hours?  Yikes.  If we were on the plane, we could sleep.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

The only issue for us could be any delay when we arrive in Mombasa, Kenya at 3:10 am if flights are still being diverted to other airports. As it is we’ve read online that any arrivals in Kenya may result in long waits going though customs and acquiring visas for our extended stay. 

Bottom line, if we arrive in Mombasa safely, subsequently to arrive at our rental house, however many hours later, we’ll be grateful.

With all the embassies and consulates closing in various parts of the world, there is no doubt cause for concern for travelers. Kenya was not included in these closings, which provided us with a little peace of mind.

The world is a scary place.  We don’t take any of our travels lightly. With neither of us fans of flying, preferring cruise ships as a means of transportation, the less commotion, the better.

Hopefully, less than a month from now we’ll be comfortably situated in our vacation rental in Diani Beach, the ocean a mere 300 steps from our door, feeling content, and looking forward to arranging a safari to see the Great Migration, our major motivator for visiting Kenya.

Potential car rental nightmare…

While in Dubai from May 21, 2013 to June 4, 2013 the time had arrived to arrange the rental of a car for the summer in Italy.   Our objective was to pick up the car at the Marco Polo Airport once we arrived in Venice, Italy by cruise ship.  Once in our possession, we’d drive the five hour journey to our awaiting home for the summer in Boveglio.

Although we weren’t particularly concerned about renting a car, we had several factors to consider:

  1. When it was time to leave Italy on September 2, 2013 to fly to Mombasa Kenya, which airport would provide us with the best fares, best flights along easy access to return the car? 
  2. Which car rental companies would we feel most comfortable after reading reviews as to renting a car in Italy?
  3. The total cost for the lengthy period from June 16 to September 2, 2013, any potential “hidden” costs. (Renting a car for two and a half months isn’t typical. This is a totally different scenario that the usual one or two week rental while on vacation).
  4. Which types of available cars that would allow enough room for our over sized luggage?
  5. Which cars were most economical in regards to gasoline usage, priced at roughly US $8.50 per gallon in the Tuscan region of Italy?
  6. With us no longer owning a car with it subsequent insurance that typically provides coverage for rental cars, what would we do when the average cost for the “extra” insurance is US $10 per day.
  7. The time of day we’d pick up the car and reserve it to ensure we didn’t have to pay extra fees for a late drop-off or in some case, an entire extra day.

Shopping online at several familiar sites, comparing prices, reading  reviews and conditions of the rental agreements, it proved to take a lot longer than we’d expected.  Since quite ill while in Dubai, I left most of the research up to Tom.  He went at it with gusto.

While conducting this research, we also had to shop for the best airline prices to get us from Italy to Mombasa, Kenya from the several options in Italy which proved to be a huge factor in determining where we’d drop off the car in the end.   Would it be Venice, Rome, or Florence, all within a five hour drive of our summer home in Boveglio?

It took several days of reviewing all of these factors until, until we found the best overall conditions, considering the above factors. 

We ultimately decided that we’d pick up the car in Venice at the Marco Polo Airport with the goal of eventually flying out of the Marco Polo Airport to Mombasa, Kenya on September 2, 2013. 

Of course, with the five hour drive from Boveglio, we’d have no alternative but to spend one night in a hotel in Venice close to the airport.  (A week later we booked a nearby hotel, offering free shuttle service to the airport, allowing us to drop off the car a day early, if we so chose, to reduce the stress at the airport on our flight day).  Good plan.  

As we continued on in the booking process from RentalCars.com, a site more user friendly for Italy, we discovered a fact that threw us for a loop:

Based on the lengthy period of time for the contract, the rental car company, in this case, Budget, would require two and a half times the cost of the long term rental, to be held on our credit card for the entire duration. 

Upon realizing this fact, we jumped to other rental companies to discover that these circumstances were common, especially in well known rental car companies, such as Budget, Avis and Hertz.  We’d decided that under no circumstances, would we use a small local company after we’d read many negative reviews describing nightmarish circumstances for long term rentals.  The more well-known companies were definitely the way to go but, as it turned out, all of them required this credit card “hold.”

At the rate of US $830.00 per month over the summer in Italy, our total rental would be roughly US $2075.  None our credit cards charge an exchange rate for paying in Euros and, they offered “free” insurance when using the card to pay for the rental, which in itself saved us a small fortune.

However, there was nothing the credit card company could do to avert the necessity of the Budget (which had the best pricing) “holding” two and a half times of the funds for the entire rental period which would total US $5187.50!   

We weren’t thrilled with the concept of Budget “holding” funds against one of our cards in this amount for this extended period.  Although we use several credit cards for our travels, with future expenses, hotels, flights and rentals required to pay in advance, we were against any of our cards being tied up for this amount for almost three months.

Our only option was clear to both of us:  Rent the car for one month allowing them to “hold” over $2000 which appeared to be their concern over two factors for any long term rentals; one the credit card may become maxed out during an extended period resulting in insufficient funds to pay at the end of the rental period and two, to cover the cost in the event of damage to the vehicle not covered by insurance.  This is a sensible policy from their perspective, protecting their interests only.  For us, quite annoying.

On June 16th, we rented the car at the Marco Polo airport for one month until July 15, 2013 which ends this upcoming Monday, with the plan to contact them on July 8, a week earlier to extend it. 

At Budget rental office, we inquired as to the procedure to extend the rental with assurance that the process was simple;  either call or process the extension online within 24 hours of the end of the rental period.

Here’s how it went beginning this past Monday, one week before the car was to be returned:

  • Sent an email to Budget confirming the procedure to extend the rental when we couldn’t find a place on their international website to extend it
  • They sent an email back, after they charged us $2 for the online inquiry, informing us we’d have to call the Budget desk at the Marco Polo Airport where we got the car.  This had to be done over the phone.
  • Called the number for Budget at Marco Polo Airport, asking to speak to an English speaking representative.  After being on hold, while paying for the call (no toll-free number to the location), for no less than 10 minutes, someone came back on the line, saying “No English” and hung up on me.

Add to that, the rental agreement itself was all in Italian.  Using Google Translate we became further frustrated in an effort to translate the many numbers, codes and notations that could or couldn’t be our reservation number, customer number, booking number and contract number.  It was nearly impossible to decipher which was which.

Hoping if we waited a day to call back, they may have an English speaking representative on duty. 

  • Again, called the Budget desk at the Marco Polo Airport.  A woman spoke poor English asking me for the reservation number.  There were four numbers on the “written in Italian” form.  I read all of them to her. They were lengthy, numbers and letters.  I spoke clearly.  She kept getting them wrong.  I explained our goal to extend the contract.  She said we’d get a confirmation email before the end of the day.
  • Two days later, no response, no email, no confirmation.  Called again. Again, no one spoke English. The representative yelled at me and hung up.
  • Looking online for Budget’s International Customer Service, we found a number in the UK.  We called, speaking to a nice guy.  He couldn’t do anything since he didn’t have access to the files for Italy, suggesting we try calling the Marco Polo location once again.  I did.  Again, no one spoke English. Our frustration factor continued to grow as each day passed adding a certain amount of worry to the mix.

Need I say this process continued over five days?  Calling back the UK office on Thursday, we were given a private email address for the Marco Polo location. Sending an email to this “unpublished” email address, copying the international corporate headquarters, within hours we received an email that stated, “We extended the contract for you.”

Of course, I immediately stored the response into the “Car Rental Italy 2013” folder in Outlook for future reference.  As of this date, they’ve yet to bill us for the remaining six and a half weeks.  Hopefully, they’ll prorate the balance based on the original cost and not some arbitrary amount.  I’ll keep checking the balance on the credit card, knowing whatever amount they’ll charge will include the “holding” amount for the remainder of the period. 

I wish I could say that we’ve learned something from this annoying experience.  Is it “shut up and pay?” Possibly.  On the other hand, it may well be a by-product of the nature of our lives…to expect these types of situations to occur from time to time.

Surely, the language barrier played a role in preventing us from easily accomplishing an otherwise simple objective.  

Long ago while still in the US, I recall spending hours and eventually days, on the phone, in English, with our past cable company in an attempt to resolve an issue with the operation of our service which ultimately wasn’t resolved for over a year.  With no other options available in the area, we were a captive audience, as in this case…in possession of Budget’s little navy blue Fiat, not interested in driving back to Venice in a few days to stand in line for two more hours, only to turn around and drive the five hours back to Boveglio.  

Now this issue behind us, we’re back to the freedom of spirit and peace of mind in which we strive to languish each and everyday.  Tonight’s “taco salad night,” minus the chips, minus the shell “bowl” but with all the fixins’ will be a treat, even in Italy. Add a downloaded movie and we’re content as we could be!

Visit to little villages…A great day out and about…Photos…

Wildflowers growing in the little village of Colognora, the smaller of two villages with the same name. At night beyond the mountains, we can see a scattering of lights in the distance. That is the location of the other Colognora that we may visit someday. 
 
Today was a great day! I don’t know why Tom’s haircut days are such fun, but they consistently prove memorable. Tomorrow, we’ll share his haircut story and photos, a delightful experience.
As we mentioned, staying put in our cozy surroundings in Boveglio is easy. At our fingertips are all the distractions we love; good books to read, Internet access, favorite TV shows and movies downloaded on our laptops, amazing views, mouth-watering food, and of course, the companionship of one another. Why go anywhere? We’re relatively comfortable.
The proverbial laundry basket (we have the same style) in front of a house in the village of Colognora, filled with wet clothes. “Where shall we hang them today?” the owner of this house may ask. “Why not leave them on the road until we decide?”  We love the casual attitude of the Italians. Can you imagine placing your laundry basket filled with wet clothes on the road in front of your house? The neighbors would wonder about you!

Why go anywhere? We’re relatively comfortable in our now familiar surroundings. Alas, it’s the food thing. With few restaurants nearby plus my peculiar way of eating, dining out is more of a chore than a relaxing experience. 

Even with the use of my printed list in Italian of my “can have” and “can’t have,” it becomes stressful and challenging for the chefs in this country, in particular, to create a meal in which they feel proud of their skills and quality ingredients. And chefs in Italy indeed take pride in every plate of food that is placed in front of a guest. We get it.

Throw a juicy rare steak or a piece of grilled fish, a side of steamed veggies, and a big salad in front of me, and I’m thrilled. But for a chef, this offers little satisfaction. As a result, we cringe at the thought of dining out often. 

The language barrier makes it impossible to explain the omission of many foods they perceive as “safe” to eat for gluten intolerant individuals. For me, it’s much more that must be restricted.

We couldn’t decide what this tiny building was, with a park bench in front of it. Could it be a bus stop? It doesn’t look like a garage.

As a result of these issues, we’ve wrapped ourselves in the reality of being our chefs, preparing fun and delicious meals, no questions asked. With an abundance of the finest ingredients in the grocery stores in Italy (although many of my everyday ingredients are unavailable), we have been able to adapt most of our favorite meals to provide us with a delightful presentation and a mouth-watering experience.

More steep roads lead to attached and unattached houses.
After our sightseeing excursion today, we headed to our new favorite grocery store in Pescia’s larger (19,851 pop.) town, a 35-minute drive down the winding mountainous road with no less than 50 hairpin turns.
The trip seems less intimidating as we’ve become more at ease with the drive, coupled with Tom’s good driving. Today, we decided to visit several villages along the way. We’d rush to get our groceries back home on the way back.

This looks like “our town” of Boveglio. But it’s not! Are we noticing a similarity in each of these charming little villages, a bell tower?

 
After stopping in these little villages and exploring their nuances and charms, we headed for Pescia to find a barbershop before going to the grocery. Yesterday, we looked up the word for a barber shop in Italian (Barbiere) which I not only wrote in my smartphone’s notes app but locked in my memory banks of yet another Italian word learned (not that many so far).
A view of the mountain from Colognora as more clouds roll in. The day it started sunny and clear. The haze in many of our mountain fountains is due to the massive amount of vegetation in the hills, creating a constant confusion of humidity.
We’d looked online on several sites for any possible Barbiere in Pescia with no luck. Many were either out of business or hadn’t been updated in years. Not in the mood for a wild goose chase, we decided to visit a few strip malls we’d noticed on our past visits. 
As Tom slowly cruised the strip mall parking lot, I yelled out the door to two men sitting outside a shop, “Barbiere?”  They started waving their arms immediately, pointing to a little shop we’d easily missed. More on this story tomorrow, as mentioned above.
An hour later, we were once again on our way to the grocery store, Esselunga in Pescia, forgoing any more trips to Collodi for food at the tiny, grumpy grocery store next door to the tiny grumpy bank where Tom invariably ends up locked inside the theft-proof revolving tube. 
Once again, we drove around with no available parking spots until we located a place in the overflow lot. With my Euro $1, I paid to unlock a grocery cart heading inside the store. Leaving Tom in the car to join me in 45 minutes, he could continue to peek in the rearview mirror at his latest haircut, yet to determine if it suited his liking. 
Parking the car, we walked to explore Colognora. The roads were too narrow and the
 Houses too close not to intrude upon the homeowners, many of whom were either hanging laundry or working in their gardens.

Oddly, I had more fun on this grocery shopping trip than any other since leaving the US. With my usual free grocery shopping app Grocery Tracker on my phone with literally every meal planned for the next two weeks and now familiar with the store’s layout, I felt confident it would be a pleasant experience.

A closer look at the bell tower in Colognora is almost identical to our everyday view.

Indeed it was! At the deli, where we buy meats, cheeses, Prosciutto, and bacon, the deli guy spoke English. Oh, I was in heaven. He was the first English-speaking employee we’ve encountered since arriving here almost four weeks ago. I almost couldn’t stop ordering. 

Euros $33.11 later, Tom had since arrived to help (we waited to order all the meat purchases last), and we were on a roll. Our overflowing cart required an additional handheld basket. Looking at the vast amount of food as we began checking out, I was confident; we’d be near US $400 when all was said and done.

Hundreds of years later, Stone endures to provide excellent insulated housing for generations of homeowners.

As we were presented with a total, we handed over a credit card; I was stunned that Tom was too busy packing the groceries to notice. I saved the news for the ride back, the news being our grocery total for two weeks, every meal, was a paltry Euro $222, translating to US $289!

Many old houses show water damage and wear due to heavy precipitation and humidity in the Tuscan regions.

On the winding ride back, the stick shift jerking to and fro, I read that long receipt from top to bottom, looking for an error attributing to our good fortune. The total of US $289, resulting in a total of US $144.50 per week to eat like queens and kings, was beyond me.

The red paint slashed across the town’s name indicates leaving the village limits.
We’d purchased a half-a-cart full of the freshest organic vegetables, grass-fed meats, locally made exquisite cheeses, and free-range eggs, enough to feed us for 14 days and nights. Why is it so much less than what we paid in the US, never less than $200 per week, using coupons and scrambling to get the most current specials? Who knows?
As we drove through Bagni di Lucca with the car windows opened, we heard the rushing water inspiring us to find a place to park and get out.
After numerous trips up and down the stone steps, emptying one grocery bag after another, washing all the produce, freezing portioned servings into freezer bags, and placing it all in our newly cleaned and defrosted (by Tom a few days ago) refrigerator and freezer, we felt that comfortable sensation of “plenty” one feels when the cupboard is full. Plenty and grateful.
Many years ago, the creek running through the village created an enticing backdrop for the many homes along its banks.
This black rod was placed on the creek’s edge to keep visitors from entering.
After considerable time spent, it’s now time to prepare dinner; tonight, something easy and quick; bread-less “Jimmy John” type club sandwiches, fresh green beans on the side, and of course, our usual giant bowl of coleslaw which we cut up a short time ago. Large Romaine lettuce leaves serve as the bread while we wrap everything tightly in parchment paper to be rolled down as one eats. 
Ingredients: freshly sliced deli ham, fresh sliced turkey, cooked bacon, sliced tomatoes, sliced purple onion, sliced Provolone cheese, and a glob or real mayonnaise, all of which is wrapped tightly as one would wrap an egg roll or sushi roll. 
I should have adjusted the camera in the momentary brightness of the sun better to reflect the poppies on the edge of the creek. I am still learning.

We enjoy yet another episode of The Borgias and Dexter, downloaded from Graboid, and a dinner of our giant “sandwiches” with the windows wide open on another beautiful evening, minus swatting a few flies, bees, and mosquitoes. Who’s to complain? Not us!

Old, abandoned property that most likely burned many ago. In the US, burned-out structures would be required to be demolished. Not so much here in Italy. We’ve seen many of these.
We were looking back from Bagni di Lucca to Colognora as we continued on our journey to Pescia to load up on groceries and find a Barbieri (barbershop) for Tom. He hasn’t had a haircut since March in Belize.
I know. This looks almost identical to the above photo of Colognora, but it’s the bell tower at Villa Basicalla, another village we visited today.
Some areas of Villa Basicalla appeared to have newer homes with apparent new construction in process at this time. This road suddenly was filled with cars, giving us little opportunity to stop and take more photos.

Date night at the pub…Photos..Great website for downloading movies and TV…Adapting our pizza recipe for Italy…

As we walked to the pub, we found new roads to explore.
The neat trim look of many of the homes caught our eye.

There’s no doubt that our social life is lacking in Tuscany. Located in a tiny village at the peak of the mountains of the region of Lucca, we are far removed from contact with English speaking residents and tourists. With few tourist activities within a two-hour drive, we’ve resigned ourselves that making new friends while in Boveglio is unlikely.

For a week, an American mom and her two adult daughters were our neighbors, but with only a one week stay, they crammed in as much sightseeing as possible, attended a cooking class, drove to Pescia taking a train to Florence (which is on our to-do list sometime soon). 

Chatting with them only a few times between their activities, they were wishing they had more time to relax and enjoy the scenery here in Boveglio. They, too, dined in most nights except when they were in Florence, due to the distances to drive to restaurants and the winding road back up the mountain at night.

This was one steep road to walk down, but back up was more challenging.

We’d hoped that stopping at the local pub, Bar Ferrari, a short walk in the neighborhood which we described last week in a post, would give us an opportunity to meet English speaking people, whether local or tourist.

It’s unfortunate that homeowners have to find other areas to park their cars, especially when it snows in the winter.

Arriving at Bar Ferrari last evening at 5:00 pm, we thought that happy hour may begin at 5:00 pm as is common in the US, to later discover that we were wrong. Happy hour apparently begins at 6:00 pm.

Two lookalike cats live here often hovering around the entrance to the home.
With the loud Italian soap opera playing loudly on the TV in the bar, we decided our visit, although pleasant, with the great prices and the extraordinary view, we decided to head home to make dinner, rather than hang around. 
Of course, no more than two minutes after we walked out the door, we noticed a group of people entering the bar.  Maybe with a crowd, the owner would turn off the TV so people could chat among themselves. We never found out. Most likely, we return another night at 6:00 pm to give it another try.
It appears that narrow tractors and trucks can make their way to home to deliver wood and building materials.

In any case, the walk to and from was enjoyable as usual, both of us getting a good share of exercise especially on the return walk.

Another simple but clean looking entrance.

Are we bored with one another? Hardly. But, we’re both social animals and love to meet new people, making what has proved to be lifelong friends along the way, as we did with our wonderful friends in Belize and people we met on our cruises, many of whom we’ve continued to stay in touch with via email.

Tom had an Italian beer. I had the “fizzy” water. Can you believe the price for two drinks at Euro $1.50, US $1.95?  We were the only patrons in the bar. Next Friday, we’ll arrive a little later and perhaps meet some of the locals who were arriving as we left. No food we’d be interested in was served in the bar.

In reality, the issue is more the language barrier than a lack of people around to meet. We adore Lisa and Luca and her parents, Cicci and Dano. Without the language barrier, I’m certain we’d have spent time together building lasting relationships.

Tom enjoyed his beer while I particularly liked the bubbly water. It may be a possible replacement for me when we’re out of our Crystal Light ice tea sometime in the next few weeks.

Although Tom has some reservations about our upcoming three months in Kenya, we’ll be living in a gated community with ample opportunity to socialize. Plus, Kenya, primarily, is an English speaking country is our next stop from there three months later, in South Africa.

Tonight, we plan to drive down a very steep road to this area which includes the larger church bell tower to hear it chime as it does only on Saturday evening, at varying times around 5:00 to 6:00 pm.

I wish I had started learning to speak Italian some time ago, but that wouldn’t have helped Tom. Its conversation with others we’d enjoy and if I could speak it and translate for Tom it still would be awkward and cumbersome.

The road at the bottom on the steep incline that we’ll explore later today.

The next time we’ll be faced with a language issue will be when we arrive in Madeira, Portugal next May for two and a half months where, of course, they speak Portuguese. At least here in Italy with my ability to read and understand French, I can translate most road signs, restaurant menus, and other written notices in part since there are many similarities in the two languages.

 Flowers are in full bloom this time of year in Tuscany.
It was funny when I was negotiating the cleaning job with Santina, I kept responding using French words. My brain was searching for a response and the French language was all I could come up with. I’d studied French for four years in high school. Ironically, it’s all coming back to me now.
Zooming in for a better look from the vantage point of the pub’s patio.
It would make sense for the homeowners to use their tractors to get from the few parking lots to their homes, especially in inclement weather.
While sitting on the patio in the bar we were swarmed by flying things, including, noticed by us for the first time, mosquitoes that were on a feeding frenzy on my bare arms. Several bites later we left.
The house attached to the bar. As we enjoyed our drinks on the patio, the owner had the TV blaring inside while he was watching an Italian soap opera.
Our evenings at “home” are enjoyable for us, friends or no friends. Recently, we signed up again to Graboid, the online download center for TV shows and movies, highly rated by BBB and numerous publications. For $19.95 a month, we can download unlimited shows and movies.
 FYI: Graboid offers a free one month trial period during which one can download and watch several recent movies and TV shows.  We are not associated with Graboid in any manner, other than as a customer paying the monthly $19.95).
It’s difficult to determine which homes are occupied.  None of the homes have window screens or screen doors. Any wide open window or door in a rundown building doesn’t necessarily translate to a vacant property.
More beautiful flowers filling the air with heady scents.

It’s easy to use. If you try it and have difficulty, their customer service is impeccable or, if you’d like to, feel free to contact me on Facebook for instructions.

While in Scottsdale in November and December, we’d signed up for Graboid enabling us to download many movies and TV series to our external hard drive primarily with the intent of watching what we’d saved on the quiet evenings while in Africa, where we’ll have no TV at all. (Here, we can only watch  BBC News and CNBC to stay abreast of what’s transpiring in the world).

One of the few relatively level narrow roads to home, a welcomed relief.

Unfortunately, the Internet signal was weak in Scottsdale requiring us to download the shows during the night with many movies taking several hours to download. Now, we can download most movies in less than a half-hour.

We cannot use Graboid with our portable MiFi. The service doesn’t allow download of videos due to the extensive bandwidth requirements. With the better signal here in the house, we’ve been fortunate to be able to add to our repertoire of shows for Africa, while watching some episodes of our favorite TV shows at night which include:  Dexter and The Borgias. 

Each night we’ve watched one episode of each of these shows, entertaining us for a full two hours. Having missed the last few seasons of each of these, we expect to continue to catch up over the next several weeks.

Having paid little attention to movies in the theatre over the last several years, we’ll look up movies on IMBD, read the synopsis and the reviews to determine if it is a genre appealing to us before taking time to download it.

This house didn’t seem occupied. We wondered how long it may have been vacant.
In old lives, our cable bill was $234 a month.  Paying $19.95 a month for Graboid is a far cry.  Whether using one of our two laptops or our portable HD projector, we enjoy this quiet time to get outside of our heads and become wrapped up in more mindless drivel for a period of time in our day.
Not every moment of world travel is filled with wonder and life changing events. Many hours are spent in the routine and mundane activities that most of us have incorporated into our daily lives. Fortunately, for us, we both enjoy the “routine” and “the mundane” with the same fervor that we enjoy the unique and enriching.
Thus, tonight, we’re having yet another repeat of our homemade pizza, which we haven’t had since Belize almost three months ago  Making our low carb, sugar-free, starch-free, grain-free recipe in Italy was surprisingly a challenge. 
There is no such thing at the grocery stores we visited as “grated or chunk US-style mozzarella cheese” that we always used for the top. Also, there is no such thing as cheddar cheese that we always used for the crust. The mozzarella cheese we purchased is the damp big balls of mozzarella.
I drained the balls on paper towels, replacing the towels every 15 minutes over two hours, resulting in the balls firming up. Then, I was able to cut them into slices to place atop the pizza crust I’d made using highly flavored provolone cheese.
We were fortunate to find a chemical-free, low carb, sugar-free, gluten-free red pasta sauce for the pizza, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, organic onions, and the best green olives we’ve ever had, topping the pizza with all of these after we’d precooked the crust and, precooked and drained the sausage slicing it into bite-sized pieces. (The sausages came tied together with string. Love it)!
An overlook from one of the few parking areas.
 We’ll see how it comes out tonight while we have a “movie night” with pizza.  It’s odd to experience replacing “processed” items with “the real deal” requiring a bit of adaptation in the preparation. I’m anticipating that making pizza this “new” way, will be our method in the future, wherever we may be.
Happy day and evening to all.