Packing and prep day…

Tomorrow morning at 6:15 am, our property manager in Dubai will take us to the airport for our 8:15 am flight on Emirates Airline. Being sick, these past few weeks, we stayed in bed until 7:00 or 7:30 each day trying to get a little more rest.

Getting up at 5:00 am tomorrow is the cause of my angst. Sure, I’ll set the alarm on my phone to awaken me so I can get a head start before I awaken Tom. By tonight, we’ll be completely packed except for the clothing we’ll wear tomorrow to fly away.

Checking our baggage restriction online for the zillionth time, we’re allowed a total of 66 pounds per person of checked baggage plus one carry on and laptop bag. With one large suitcase, one rolling carry on and one laptop bag, we’ll be as trim as possible. 

We’re expecting that we’ll have to pay overweight fees which we’ll know later today when we weigh everything prior to printing our boarding passes.  If we pay online there is a 30% discount, not at the airport. 

Today, I’ll probably ditch my handbag using the laptop bag as a handbag. I’ve been practicing not carrying a purse for the past few months and I think I can manage. It’s odd to give up carrying a handbag after doing so for the past 50 years, but then again, we gave up having a home after a lifetime. So what’s the big deal without a purse? None, I guess.

Our food supply will be depleted as planned after dinner tonight, leaving little to toss. With no time for breakfast in the morning, we’re bringing some nuts to munch on.  If no food is available on the flight, we’ll be fine.  Tomorrow night, we’ll have dinner in our hotel as we did on our last layover.

Dubai has left us with mixed feelings, more due to being sick while here than anything. For the first time since we left Minnesota seven months ago, Tom admitted to feeling trapped while here, with no way to walk around with the road construction around our building, my being sick and no other restaurants within walking distance.  Had we rented a car from the onset, we’d have been frustrated, unable to use it anyway.

If you’re a “city person” Dubai is the ultimate city to visit. A rental car is a must with easy, fast moving freeways and signs also in English. Hotels are expensive, most starting at $225 a night for a basic room, upwards to the moon from there.

Dining out for dinner is pricey, from the menus we’ve seen online but breakfast or lunch can be had for under US $60 without cocktails. Groceries are a steal, at least 30% less than in the US for most foods, making it sensible if on a budget, to get a place to stay with cooking facilities. 

Servers and support staff are friendly, anxious to help. The general population appears mostly under 50, keeping to themselves, from what we can see, but are courteous and polite. We haven’t seen anyone older than us since we arrived. Most likely Dubai is not known as a retirement city with few facilities available for seniors, although facilities are available for disabled individuals.

As mentioned in an earlier post, it appears seniors are cared for by their adult children in their homes, not in assisted living or senior centers.

Would we come back? With so much world left to see, I doubt we’ll return to any city/country we’ve already visited unless it’s a port of call on a future cruise. 

Would we recommend Dubai to other travelers? Absolutely! It’s an interesting, safe, meticulous, well-planned metropolis filled with lovely people, great hotels and restaurants. There’s a plethora of profound sights to see.  Its rich history offers museums, libraries, art and historical centers. One would never be bored with adequate transportation and money to spend.  Also, Abu Dhabi is a must, ideally splitting one’s time between the two amazing cities.

Pausing while writing this, we started doing some packing.  In the process, our little vacuum used to suck the Space Bags died.  Died.  Gone. Now what?  My stuff is sucked.  Tom’s is not.  Hopefully, we can figure a way to fit everything into the luggage without sucking.  Tomorrow, when we arrive in Barcelona, we’ll have the cab driver take us to a Home Depot equivalent to purchase a new one, we hope.  Oh, good grief. 

We’ll be back after we’re situated onboard the Norwegian Spirit, hopefully in 48 hours.  Stay tune

Part 1…Off to Abu Dhabi, then Dubai…Photos…

As we sped along the freeway to Abu Dhabi, a 90 minute drive, we encountered numerous mosques.

Abu Dhabi, the capitol city of United Arab Emirates was hovering in my mind after arriving here more than a week ago. How could we possibly leave Dubai not having seen the world-renowned, most opulent city in the world?

Each mosque had its own unique architecture.

Dubai, in itself, is a wealthy city of perfection, cleanliness, low crime rate, strict laws and a gentle demeanor by its occupants. How could yet another city in this country be more in excess than Dubai? We were compelled to find out.

Umer our trusty tour guide and driver, was waiting outside the parking ramp for us when we arrived 10 minutes before our scheduled time of 8:00. Still feeling ill and hesitant about going, I was determined to make it through the day of sightseeing that we had arranged and rescheduled once already. 

As we entered Abu Dhabi, our mouths were agape at the world’s first round skyscraper, AIDer HQ.
As we neared the mosque.

Much to our delight, Umer arrived a brand spanking new Lexus, comfortable, smooth and well equipped for our day’s outing. As he explained he spent most of his days driving travelers about to see the various treasure of Abu Dhabi (and Dubai), a 90 minutes drive on a flawless, seemingly no-speed-limit freeway. His vast knowledge and experience were astounding, ensuring us we’d made the right choice in a driver.

As we approached Sheikh Zayed Mosque.  It was difficult, based on its size and location to get a full shot of the mosque’s enormous expanse.  This link will depict a full range.

With three hours of driving time to arrive in Abu Dhabi, we were left with five hours of actual sightseeing to include both cities.  Would I last that long?  My head still pounding, along with a feeling of exhaustion and weakness, I felt determined to do push myself as hard as I could. 

Real gold, everywhere!

The three hour drive was pleasant and uneventful, as we chatted on endlessly with Umer learning the many ways of Muslim life. Our preconceived notions and prejudices are often far removed from reality. 

The crispness of the white exterior was astounding!

This has been an eye opening experience that will remain in our hearts forever. A particular area of interest to me when speaking with Umer was the attention of one’s physical and emotional health, as well as spiritual well being. The work ethic is embedded in centuries of taught disciplines. Respect and care for one’s elders, arranged marriages and family life are the core of their existence. 

Almost to the entrance!

And, of most curiosity while here in Dubai and then yesterday in Abu Dhabi was the five times a day loud speaker chanting announcing prayer time, during which everything stops for those of the Muslim faith while they commit to prayer. Many times, we’ve heard the sounds, more so when we’ve been out to the pool at precisely 12:20 pm, less so when inside.

Umer insisted we stop for a photo op, taking this of us.

The first place we visited upon arrival in Abu Dhabi was the 8th largest mosque in the world and the largest in UAE, Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Before getting out of the car, Umer explained we’d be required to change into a black full coverage abaya for me and a white long thobe for Tom which would be provided for us upon entry into the mosque. As a result we wouldn’t need to wear the long pants we’d brought with us nor the long black scarf I had in our bag.

Definitely not my most flattering photo.  Tom looks great!  We’re standing in front of the architectural scale model. After we posed for this picture, a security guard rushed over telling us we are not allowed to touch one another in the mosque.  Of course, we complied.
The beauty continued at every step.
Hand cut granite floors.
This chandelier, one of three, was made entirely with gold and jewels.

The long walk from the parking lot to the mosque, in the heat with no breeze, was almost unbearable in my weakened condition. Tom and Umer’s patience with my slow and unsteady gait was appreciated but the longer I was in the heat, the worse I felt. 

Handmade carpeting.

By the time I reached the ladies open air changing room I was beside myself wondering if I could go on. The thought of donning the long dark garment in the heat was overwhelming. There was still quite a walk to reach the mosque.

More eloquent beauty…

The attendant looked about trying to find a garment tall enough for me with the requirement that the ankles are covered. She handed me a jumble black ball.. I struggled trying to figure out how to put on the silky one piece garment, finally requesting her help.

One of several areas for display of the Koran.

The sleeves to the abaya were inside out making it impossible to put on. I felt as if I had a tight turtleneck sweater caught on my head while trying to pull it off. Add, my bad shoulder and how I was feeling and I nearly panicked.

Standing among the gilded elegance left us in awe.

Alas, she helped untangle it and minutes later I walked out of the changing room to find Tom standing proudly in his white collarless one piece thobe looking at ease and quite dapper. In looking back at our photos I felt as if I looked more like the “grim reaper” than a respectful tourist.

Hand crafted prayer time clock…

With yet another stop outside in the heat to remove our shoes placing them in little bins, I couldn’t wait to get inside the air conditioned comfort of the mosque. Moments later, the blast of cold air filling us with relief, our eyes beheld a plethora of sights no word can describe. 

It was difficult to decide which way to look. The jewel encrusted accouterments were not only breathtaking but tastefully designed eliminated any sensation of gaudiness one might expect in such a lavish, opulent environment.

Umer suggested this traditional photo op in this designated prayer area.

For a period of time, I almost forgot how awful I was feeling becoming enraptured by this experience. All along, both Tom and I have said that we are more interested in people and culture throughout our travels than we are in visiting buildings. 

Every nook and cranny beheld another work of art.

The more buildings we see, we find that they bespeak their people and cultures, the finest workmanship, the creative minds and the often profound messages they are striving to convey in their work. The mosque was a fine example of this message and we felt honored to share in its glory and gift to the world.

Tom, as we’re nearing the turn toward the end of our tour through the mosque.

Let our photos depict the elegance and grace surrounding us as we slowly walked through this memorable spiritual place, Sheikh Zayed Mosque.

Our personal tour guide, Umer, couldn’t have been more helpful. Should you decide to come to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, whether vacationing or on business, you can feel comfortable having him provide not only your transportation needs but as a tour guide as well. At approximately US $250, AED $900 (plus tip) for the day, it was well spent. His personal email is listed here at this link.

Tomorrow we’ll post Part 2 of our day trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai and also photos of Tom’s visit to the 124th floor observation deck of the famed tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. Unable to join him, I was thrilled with the excellent photos he was able to take while Umer and I waited in a café at the Mall of the Emirates in  Dubai, the largest mall in the world. 

They do “largest” here in UAE.  Interesting.

Only steps from the door to exit the mosque, Umer again grabbed the camera insisting we take one more shot of us, pressing me to smile. The experience, worthy of great smile. My headache, not so much.

Planning for our arrival in Tuscany begins…Also, tomorrow’s a big day…

Tomorrow, we’ll be gone the entire day visiting many exciting places of interest in Dubai. Of course, the cameras will be clicking, hopefully getting great shots of the sights this unique area has to offer. Please check back on Tuesday when we’ll post the story and photos of our private day trip with our cab driver Umer, as we travel in air-conditioned comfort in a newer SUV.

How far ahead we plan our means of transportation from ships and airports to vacation homes is determined by several factors; the availability of transportation to our final destination, the accessibility to the location, the likelihood of a string of cabs ready to transport passengers, the time of day of our arrival and, the urgency of our desire for peace of mind.

In our case, peace of mind is at the top of the list. Tom, worrier than he can be, finds comfort in planning well in advance with directions and a map in hand. I’m perfectly comfortable planning a few weeks in advance, rationalizing that “last-minute deals” might be the way to go. However, my ultimate goal is to keep Tom from worrying and get us to our location with the least stress. 

We plan to get to the airport in Dubai the following Monday for our flight to Barcelona, where we’ll stay for one night at the Hotel Grums again. The next day, we’ll grab a cab to take us to the port of Barcelona to board our eighth cruise since January 3, 2013, on a 12-day trip through the Mediterranean with almost daily stops in unique ports. (This will be our last cruise in 2013, with our next cruises scheduled in 2014 as we work our way to Hawaii to meet up with our kids for the holidays).

On June 16, we’ll disembark the Norwegian Spirit (I hope we like it!) in Venice, Italy, where we’ll have spent two days perusing this romantic city. 

The challenge: finding our way from Venice to our renovated 17th-century stone farmhouse in Tuscany, where we’ll spend the summer, a three-plus hour car ride. After the summer in Tuscany, we’ll fly to Mombasa, Kenya, a long flight away.

Over a year ago, when planning this leg of our journey, we accepted that a rental car for the entire two and a half months is vital, allowing us to take day excursions to other parts of Italy from this convenient location. 

With no nearby grocery stores and only a few restaurants, there is no way we are willing to feel trapped for the entire summer. The cost of renting a car, however small or economical, is outrageous. People have said, “Oh, I went to Italy and rented a car for $350 a week.” Well, let’s do the math. We’ll be there for ten weeks. We budgeted this expense, having checked on the pricing over a year ago.

Contemplating numerous options, we’ve come to the most stress-free solution to accomplish our goals: When our ship disembarks at the port in Venice, we’ll take a cab to Marco Polo Airport, a mere four miles, to pick up our awaiting rental car and drive ourselves to our awaiting property in Tuscany.

When we’re ready to fly to Kenya, we’ll drive the rental car back to Venice (it appears most flights to Mombasa depart later in the day), drop it off at the airport, and off we go to our awaiting flight.

We’d also considered; taking a train to Tuscany from Venice to rent a car in Florence, but then we’d have to get to a bigger airport to fly to Kenya. Returning to Venice is our most straightforward, least costly, stress-reducing option.

Today, we rented the car. We’ve heard horror stories about renting cars in Italy. Good grief. If you go online, you can find horrible stories about everything we’ve done so far. Refusing to spoil our experiences with needless speculation about “what ifs, would haves, and could haves” is pointless, sucking the life out of a potentially great opportunity.

As we know, things do go wrong. After all, I still have major sinus problems from that annoying ship-borne illness. After all, we’re practically trapped in our condo from construction at every turn, making walking outdoors nearly impossible. 

After all, is said and done, it’s all going to be OK as we continue to have the times of our lives, living on the roads, the seas, the skies, the mountains, the valleys, the canals, the deserts, and on and on.

More on Dubai…Great deals and not so great deals…

This AED $282.45 translates to US $76.91. For details on everything we’d purchased today, see the list of items on at the end of this post.

Still laying low while I recover, we must admit to being a little “housebound.”  Add to it the massive amount of road construction around our building, making a casual walk nearly impossible, we’re looking forward to getting out.

Currently, we’re in the process of making arrangements with our newly found cab driver, Umer, to take us on a few excursions to see the highlights of this amazing city next week.  By Monday, I should be close to back to normal and ready to explore.  After a full 10 days of this illness, I’m ready to get back in the groove. 

How Tom ever made that excruciating three-hour walk to Petra while he was sick baffles me. Must be a “tough guy” thing. He never complained.

Staying in these past four days since we arrived in Dubai, except for dining out, a few short walks and a several trips to the grocery store, has not been unlike our old life when one of us was under the weather, low key with simple tasks and minimal expectations.

In the short time we’ve been here and been out, we’ve observed a few astounding aspects of Dubai. It is the cleanest, safest, most friendly city we’ve visited. The attention to detail in very way is beyond description.

Our building, Elite Residence, is a newer building, mostly occupied by sophisticated young professionals with what appear to be few tourists. We’ve yet to speak to an American, not surprising, being half way around the world.

Today, we ventured out to the pool to soak up the warm sun for our usual one hour.  Surprisingly, all the padded chaise lounges were taken.  The tall buildings prevent sun by the pool until afternoon, not an uncommon scenario with the tall buildings shrouding the sun, block after block, in this highly developed city.

Our only choice was to select two of the wicker chaise lounges without pads and cover them with our two beach towels. After plopping down, we discovered the chaises weren’t particularly uncomfortable, so we settled in, content to enjoy the hot air diminished by the strong winds. 

Within minutes, two pool attendants having noticed our dilemma, appeared beside us carrying a stack of pads anxious to place them on our chairs.  That, is indicative of the quality of service not only in our building, but in the restaurants, the stores and at the port as we waited for transportation.

To say there isn’t a piece of trash on the streets, is no exaggeration.  Our condo, is literally perfect, everything works flawlessly and is in impeccable condition.  In the bathroom, there is a spray hose, beautifully plumbed, to spray the toilet bowl after each use.  I don’t recall ever seeing such an item. 

In the grocery store, attendants are everywhere, quick to answer questions and find products, bag our groceries.  Nothing is spared.  In the restaurants, no less than three servers attend to our needs, gracefully without hovering.  At each table, we found a perfectly wrapped special logo envelope containing a floss pick. 

A few have asked us if Dubai is as expensive as they’ve heard.  In many aspects, we see that it is.  Dining out in a nice restaurant for dinner, may cost as much a $300 for two. We looked online for the menus for nearby restaurants only to confirm this fact. Instead, we choose to cook our dinners, dining out for breakfast or lunch.

Today, as indicated above, we made a trip to the grocery store next door to our building, purchasing the following items for only US $76.91!

  • 1 pound fillet Mignon
  • 1 pound sirloin steak
  • 1 pound mussels
  • 1 pound cleaned calamari
  • 1 pound shrimp
  • 1 pound beef bacon
  • 2 pounds shredded cabbage
  • 1 pound sliced carrots
  • 2 pounds sliced cheddar cheese
  • 1 package imported blue cheese
  • 2 organic peppers
  • 1 organic Japanese eggplant
  • 5 organic yellow onions
  • 1 shaker garlic powder
  • 30 organic free range eggs
  • 1 jar mayonnaise
  • 2 pounds organic fresh green beans
  • 1 organic avocado
  • 2 liters diet 7 up (for Tom’s cocktails)
  • 1 4 pk. paper towels
  • 1 14 oz bag raw cashews

This amount of food will feed us both for no less than three full days at an average cost of $25.64 per day.  For us, dining in has always been preferred, especially now with my restricted diet of “fresh, organic food, in its natural state.”

Traveling the world is costly. Keeping our foods costs reasonable, allows us to continue traveling over the long haul. 

This coming week, we’ll visit the observation deck of the tallest building in the world, the Buj Khalifa, 124 stories.  The cost for a ticket is US $50 per person.  I guess we’d rather spend $100 for such an experience, as opposed to devouring a meal in a restaurant, which is literally consumed in less than 10 minutes, that may cost from US $100-$300.

Cooking and enjoying a seafood stir fry, based on the above ingredients, for one night’s dinner, grass fed filet Mignon for another and sirloin steak for yet another is not too shabby by our standards, especially when the company is so enjoyable, we’re dressed in comfy clothes and “the Flying Nun” is playing on the TV in Arabic.

Oh, Madeira!…We can’t wait to see you…

The ship’s morning arrival to the island of Madeira, Portugal was cloudy and cool, later to clear and warm up.

This morning at 9:00 am our ship, the Norwegian Epic, entered the port of Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, situated 350 miles from the coast of Morocco (where we’ll be living one year from now) offering us one of the most breathtaking views of our lives.

Birds flutter around our ship, searching for a meal as the thrusters stir up the ocean floor, bringing fresh schools of fish to the surface.

The vistas of this mountainous island with peaks at high at 6100 feet is a mere 35 miles long and 13 miles wide.  The hillside is liberally ensconced in one architecturally interesting white building after another.

As the ship, the Norwegian Epic, approached the pier in Funchal, Madeira.

On May 15, 2014, we’ll return to Madeira to a nearby coastal village, Ribiera Brava, where a magnificent home awaits us to enjoy until July 31, 2014, a full two and a half months.  We’ll be arriving to Madeira after spending nearly three months in Marrakesh, Morocco.  At this point we haven’t planned our mode of transportation for this short journey, preferably a ferry or ship but most likely by air.

Our bellies full of a good breakfast in the Garden Café, we are currently situated in our favorite booth, to ensure our most advantageous views while we wait to disembark the ship to meet Gina, the owner of the house we’re renting here next year, to give us a tour of the house and the island. We couldn’t be more excited!

What awaits us today is a similar feeling of adventure we felt upon entering Belize the months ago, almost to the day. Neophytes when we left the US only four months ago, we now have a little experience under our belts with mounting opinions and ideas as to our present and future as world travelers.   

It would have taken eight years of two-week vacations to experience what we’ve done thus far in these four months. With five cruises behind us, we begin to get a “lay of the land” in cruising as well as the experience of living among the locals in a remote underdeveloped country. Our feet are “officially wet” with so much more awaiting us in the future, especially today as we explore this magnificent island.

Our MiFi is working here allowing us to upload photos we’ll take when with Gina today as we explore this tiny island and our future home for 2½ months.

We’ll be back later this afternoon with photos before the ship sails at 6:00 PM while our connection stay in tact. 

Grand Turks and Caicos…Last port of call before Miami tomorrow…

The beach at Grand Turks and Caicos.

Today, as we spend our last full day aboard the Carnival Liberty, we’re unable to use our WiFi device while out to sea. With only minutes left on the Internet package we purchased on the ship, I’d contemplated not posting
today. Yesterday, we burned up 70 minutes trying to post the  blog and the photos with the ship’s poor signal.

If we were to purchase more Internet time from the ship, we’d pay $.75 a minute, outrageous considering it takes about four times longer to load anything than when using our MiFi when available. For one additional hour we’d pay $45. 
As mentioned in prior posts, Xcom Global MiFi works when we are close to land in most of the countries we’ll visit. The small island country of Grand Turks and Caicos was not one of them. We spotted a few towers but their signal was not sufficient for us to get online. 
The cruise line owned beach set-up with “pay for” cabanas.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll arrive in Miami at 8:00 am.  Once in port, we’ll be able to use our MiFi as we wait for our turn to disembark the Carnival Liberty. Our goal is to be among the last passengers to leave the ship.  Most passengers will have already gone through customs and the lines resulting in shorter lines.

With our next ship, the Norwegian Epic, docked at the pier next door, we won’t be able to get on board until noon, leaving us to carefully time the move from one ship to the other. Refusing to be left standing at the pier for hours with our remaining pile of luggage in tow, careful timing is in order.
 Many passengers got off the ship to bake in the sun. We opted to stay behind and enjoy the quiet time on the ship.

Once we’re situated on board, unpack, attend  the required emergency procedures meeting at our designated Muster station, and sign up for their largest Internet package, we’ll post again. 

Once the ship sails, we’ll only be able to use the ship’s Internet package for the crossing of the Atlantic ocean for a 15 day cruise ending in Barcelona, Spain (one eleven day cruise plus one four day cruise resulting in another back-to-back, same-cabin cruise).
With only one port of call in the first leg of this upcoming cruise in Madeira, Portugal, on April 28, 2013, we’ll have little use of our MiFi. While in Madeira for eight hours on April 28th, we plan to meet with the owner of the house we’ll be renting in Madeira beginning May 15, 2014, when we’ll return for a 2 1/2 month stay in her gorgeous house overlooking the ocean. Gina will give us a tour of the house and the island, a wonderful way to spend our day in port.
 The dock at the beach set-up.

Overall, the two Carnival cruises were fine, although not memorable. The two downsides were the issue with our vitamins and the need to move to a quieter cabin. The upsides, excellent service, extraordinary food at Diamonds Steakhouse, clean environment, no Norovirus and a smooth sailing ship.

Would we book Carnival in the future? Probably not, unless we needed to use it as a means of transportation when no other cruise line was available. Would we recommend it to others? If a party cruise is your style, this cruise line is ideal.  For us, we prefer a more mature crowd and more quiet environment.
Various boats that passenger charter for a number of activities.

Stop back tomorrow to read about our move to the Norwegian Epic, a bigger ship than we’ve experienced thus far, cruise #5 since January 3, 2013.

Photos from a walk…Living life on our terms…Our anniversary was yesterday on the 7th…

Our waiter took our anniversary photo last night after dinner. 

As we’ve mentioned in past posts, we don’t have transportation while in Placencia Belize. We made a hard decision when we moved to Laru Beya on February 5, 2013. With the cost of our rental doubling for two remaining months that we’re here and a budget staring us in the face, we opted to only rent a vehicle as needed.

Palm fronds we discovered on a walk yesterday.
So far, other than the one week in early February that we buzzed around in a rented golf cart at $350 per week, we’ve managed just fine much to our mutual surprise. We thought we’d feel trapped. We don’t.
These are obviously fake cactus used to light the road at night. See the orange one on the left.
Our resort has golf carts, motorbikes and cars available if we need one on a moment’s notice. Most likely, later in the month, we’ll rent a car to explore some of the surrounding villages after heading to the capital city of Belmopan where we’ll extend our visas for the final time.  Its an hour and a half drive north of us.
Local sculpture.  We often see variations of this style.
Without a doubt, there is a huge temptation as one travels the world (from our limited experience thus far) to splurge to fuel one’s perception of what a “vacation” looks like with frequent siteseeing expeditions.  Most of these outings in this remote area require guides resulting in fees upwards of $300 for the two us for a five to six hour day trip.  Some are more.
Another lighted fake cactus next to another local sculpture.
We’re not on vacation. We’re living in foreign lands. When we lived in Minnesota, we seldom visited any of the local “tourist” attractions after our kids grew up. Who does unless one has out of town company or on an outing with grandchildren?
Sculpture of cactus plant.
When we designed our budget, a process that continued over a period of many months, we created a plan that, health providing could last us for the remainder of our lives leaving our investments and savings in tact.  Should we vary from the plan, everything changes.  Suddenly, we could begin depleting our resources. 
Locally crafted painted working fountain.
Remembering our motto, “Wafting Through Our Worldwide Travels with Ease, Joy and Simplicity” we carefully map out our finances to stay within the budget, compensating from one month to the next should we unintentionally vary as we did when making a decision to move to Laru Beya
Locally painted sign advertising Sweet Mama’s Restaurant.  Notice the wood French fries
in the in the wood basket on the upper left side of the sign.  Cute.
We only dine out twice a week now (ordering whatever we’d like), cooking in the remainder of the time.  We don’t get massages and spa treatments.  I do my own manicures and pedicures and now Tom is considering having me cut his hair. Yikes. We don’t have to go that far!
We’ve learned to re-use items we may have tossed in our old lives.  We hand wash our underwear, bathing suits and tee shirts.  We don’t order beverages when we sit by the pool.  When cooking we increase our bang for the buck by making enough to last another night, thus reducing our cost.
We don’t dine in the “extra charge” restaurants while on cruises or purchase beverage packages that can run up to $800 per person per cruise.  The only beverages we purchased aboard ship are those with our dinner, one or two cocktails for Tom, iced tea for me (for which there’s no charge). 
We had a small 3″ cactus plant like this in Minnesota in a south window. 
grew 1″ in 26 years. This plant is about 3-4 feet in diameter. 
If we purchased the cruise beverage packages with an average of eight cruises per year, we’d spend an extra $10,000 per year or more.  If we purchased the excursions on the cruises, we’d spend another $10,000 per year.  It changes everything.  It takes out the “ease, joy and simplicity” we so much relish in our new way of living.  We’d rather spend our money on no less than a balcony stateroom for extra space and comfort than on extra charges we don’t really need.
Is this mindfulness difficult?  Do we feel deprived?  Not at all. Especially when its attached to the reality that we can go on forever if our health holds up and if we so choose. 
We’d rather generously tip our maid Gloria, our server, our cab driver and all the Gloria’s and Estevan’s we’ve yet to meet than take a one day outing where all the tourists rightfully go while on their much deserved once or twice a year vacation.
Living our lives on our terms. Everyday may not be an exciting adventure. It may be only a walk along the road, enjoying the local art and culture.
It truly is a splendid life.                          

A walk on the beach…Changing our ways…

This photo of Tom clearly depicts our quiet, contemplative, uncomplicated lives, relatively free of stress. 

Tom always jokes that he never imagined that his retirement would include walking other the necessary steps from his comfy chair to the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedroom, and the yard.  Yes, he was quite the handyman, fixing and fussing as needed, walking about the house.  We never took a walk together in our neighborhood.

As I began planning our worldwide travels over a year ago I budgeted for rental cars for most locations fearing that Tom would seldom want to walk to nearby restaurants, shops, and pubs.

Living in Belize for an extended period, the cost of a rental car or even a golf cart was prohibitive.  After all, we are on the secluded peninsula of Placencia, a four-hour drive from Belize City where our ship arrived. 

Upon arriving, we resigned ourselves to occasionally renting a golf cart as needed.  Much to our liking, we now have our own cab driver Estevan, whom I’ve mentioned here, who will take us anywhere we’d like to go for reasonable rates during daylight hours leaving us to “hoof it” for dinners out at night.

With multiple good restaurants nearby requiring no more than a 10-minute walk each way, our transportation needs are fulfilled.  We dine out two or three times a week and love rotating our favorites, especially on the nights they offer their stupendous buffets.  If we go on an adventure, transportation is provided.  So, we walk.  Tom walks.

After moving to Laru Beya on February 5th with a massive expanse of white sand beach in front of our villa, Tom surprised me when within a few days of arriving he suggested we walk the beach, a popular tourist outing.  I always treasured walking in our old neighborhood with our precious little dogs to their favorite spot, Poop Park, often walking with our equally wonderful neighbors and their little dogs. 

As long as the temperature was above 10 degrees we walked. The pads of their little feet would quickly freeze at lower temperatures.  Often, our World Wide Willie would stop dead in his tracks looking up at me with sorrowful eyes that asked me to carry him home when he’d had enough and of course, I did.  In the snow, on the ice, I carried him home, all 22 pounds of him, often as much as a 1/2 mile.  I loved walking.  Tom, not so much, having never walked the neighborhood with me once in 22 years.

Each day we began to walk along the beach at a lofty pace, in the water or on the sand, carefully watching for stray rocks, shells and bits of glass, engaged in idle chatter or in quiet contemplation. 

We can change, can’t we?  Life circumstances often unplanned, force us to look at our often rigid ways, leaving us open to change, to grow and to learn.  Some take advantage of the opportunity, others do not.  We revel in watching each other depart from that which we knew as familiar and comfortable, to the new people we are fast becoming. 

The chairs here aren’t comfy, the kitchen supplies are limited, finding foods for our way of eating is challenging, not owning cars is peculiar and no Walgreen’s is daunting. But we change to accept the differences, growing and learning in the process, all the while reveling in our personal ability to adapt. 

As I over-packed for almost a year in Minnesota all the things that “I couldn’t live without” much of which is now packed to be shipped to my sister in Los Angeles when we get to Miami on April 13th, I realized that I too could let go of things, learning to live without the comfortable and the familiar.

All the kind and generous advice others gave us regarding our excess luggage could only have meaning to us when we discovered it on our own, in our own time, on our own terms.  We’ve changed.  We’ll continue to change.

Suddenly, we look at one another with new eyes, with a new interest, knowing that wherever we maybe we’ll learn new ways of life, we’ll release old ways that don’t work in a new environment and, without a doubt,  we’ll walk, we’ll walk and we’ll walk. 

On April 9th we board a Carnival ship…Should we be worried?…

This is the Carnival Liberty, the ship  on which we’ll embark on April 9th.

With the influx of news regarding the horrifying nightmare for over 4000 passengers on the Carnival Triumph, we watched intently, wondering what we should do.

The likelihood of another such incident on the two back to back Carnival Liberty Cruises we’ve booked is unlikely.  We’ll be staying in the same cabin on both cruises, sailing from April 9, 2013 until April 20, 2013.  Upon disembarking the Liberty around 10:00 am, we’ll change ships at the same pier, on the same day, to board the Norwegian Epic at 4:00 PM to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Barcelona on our first transatlantic cruise.

For the heck of it, we contacted our cruise guy, Joaquin at Vacations to Go inquiring as to what options are available, if and only if, a passenger wants to “jump ship” to another cruise line.  (Keeping in mind we’re cruising as a means of transportation as much as possible. Plus we love it as opposed to flying). 

Not to our surprise, Carnival is not offering refunds for future cruise passengers on other ships.  This would bankrupt them.  Based on the fact that we can’t get a full refund within 90 days of a cruise departure, diminishing on a scale the closer it gets as taken directly from our Cruise Confirmation documents.

Cancellation Charges If you cancel, the following charges will be assessed by the cruise line (per guest):

Cruise Length Days Prior To Sailing Cancellation Charge
2, 3, 4 & 5 nights 61 days or more

60 to 46 days
45 to 30 days
29 to 15 days
14 days or less

None (except for Early Saver, Easy Saver* and
Super Saver fares**)
Entire deposit
50% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
75% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
100% of total fare
6 nights and longer (including Alaska & Hawaii) 76 days or more

75 to 56 days
55 to 30 days
29 to 15 days
14 days or less

None (except for Early Saver, Easy Saver*
and Super Saver fares**)
Entire deposit
50% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
75% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
100% of total fare
Europe, Panama Canal and Transpacific sailings 7, 9 & 12, 14 and 17 nights in length 91 days or more

90 to 56 days
55 to 30 days
29 to 15 days
14 days or less

None (except for Early Saver, Easy Saver*
and Super Saver fares**)
Entire deposit
50% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
75% of total fare or deposit, whichever is greater
100% of total fare
All cruises purchased under the Instant Saver Fare Any time after booking 100% of total fare

Timetables and rates are subject to change, and exceptions may apply for holiday sailings. *Early Saver & Easy Saver fares: The deposit on bookings made using the Early Saver & Easy Saver Fares program is non-refundable/non-transferable. No name changes will be permitted. There is a $50 service fee per person applicable on ship and/or sail date changes outside standard penalties.**Super Saver fares: The deposit is non-refundable.

With 51 days until we sail, we’d lose our deposits, in these cases, over $1000.  Thus, the question posed:  Are we willing to lose $1000 in deposits to cancel these cruises?  Secondly, there are no specific dates that coincide with our planned dates of departure which would result in losing money leaving here early and paying for hotels and meals on the other end.  it makes no sense monetarily.

Does it make sense emotionally?  Not really.  When we decided to travel the world we knew there would be risks and bumps along the way.  Here we are, almost five months since leaving Minnesota and without a doubt, we’ve already had a few bumps.

1.  Our luggage going on the wrong van when we arrived in Belize City on January 29, 2013, to be recovered an hour later, after a lot of foot stomping after we had specifically stated several times that they ensure the luggage goes on the tender boat with us, not ahead of us.
2.  The ineptness of guest services on the Celebrity Equinox when they only arranged a one week visa for our stay in Belize when we needed 30 days (to be renewed soon when we have to go by boat to immigration in Mango Creek).  It was straightened out but again, only with observation of the error and persistence in getting it resolved.  Had I not checked our passports when the on board immigration officer handed them back to us, we’d have been forced to go to Mango Creek while we were living in that unsanitary water-free zone only 12 days ago.
3.  The water-free house down the road, Little Cottage, with an occasional dribble of cold running water, cold dribbling showers and a mostly non flushable toilet resulting in a horrible unsanitary situation.  Hot water and soap is a great sanitizer.  We had soap but no hot water.  We boiled it as often as we could accumulate it at a dribble’s pace in a huge pot on the dangerous gas smelling stove.  (Oh, listen to me go on!).

Yes, we are uninjured.  Yes, we are now safe from disease.  We ask ourselves, what have we learned? 
From comments above in order:
1.  Incompetency prevails
2.  Incompetency prevails
3.  Don’t rent a marginal house with only two reviews on the website, both of which were outdated and one of which referred to another property the owner rented.  I should have been more suspicious when booking the property.  Lesson learned.  (Bless Tom’s heart.  He never blamed me!)

None the less, we are grateful we found LaruBeya by a fluke.   We are grateful to have water and to be in a sanitary environment.  We are grateful that we are able to walk to or be driven to (for only a tip) to a total of five restaurant in our area.  Yes, we are grateful that Estevan picks us up every Wednesday to go to the grocery store for a $10 round trip (plus tip).  In addition, we are grateful that we find food we can eat, although the selection is limited and the fact that its grass fed, free range and organic.

As for the upcoming cruises, we’ll continue on as planned on the Carnival Liberty.  If something does go wrong, we have our portable solar charger that is powerful enough to fully charge our phones.  With our phones charged we’ll be able to use the Blogger app to continue to keep our readers informed.  As for Internet connection (which was not fully functioning on the Carnival Triumph, we’ll have our XCOM Global MiFi with us which works independently of the ship’s data when close to land). 

See…there may be a use for all the gadgets we’ve packed which are consuming space in our bags!

Lightening the load…All moved in…More photos!

I took this photo this morning while standing in front of our veranda.  Gee, maybe there’s hope for me in the picture taking department!

Yesterday, we moved to our new home, an ocean view villa in LaruBeya. Today, I’m unpacking all seven of our large orange and two carry-on Antler suitcases with this plan in mind as mentioned in part in a past post:

1.  Unpack every item in all bags.
2.  While in the process, pack three of the bags to go into storage in Miami, sealing the items in three large space bags per large suitcase. 
3.  Place all the clothes that we’ll keep with us in our continuing travels over the next year, only two large bags and one carry-on each, sorting and hanging items with wrinkles (they’ll look ironed after a few days of the humidity in Belize).

I took this photo while standing on our veranda. This is what we wake up to each morning. No kidding, it’s about 20 feet to the sea. Hope there’s no tsunami!

The end result: We’ll ditch three large suitcases and two duffel bags into the storage facility in Miami for $15 a month and we’ll be able to fly without any additional charges.  Having a travel scale with us, we’ll weigh the bags when we repack in April, ensuring none are over the limit.

On April 9th, we begin a series of cruises taking us all the way to Dubai on May 21st where we’ll stay for two weeks, flying back to Barcelona to board another cruise on June 4, 2013.  With the lighter load, everything will be easier.

Our veranda.  Last night we enjoyed dinner at this table.  This morning we had our coffee while sitting in those lounge chairs.

We’ve had to learn this on our own.  Many people were aghast at the amount of our luggage. We were as well!  Now, almost four months since we left Minnesota, we know exactly which items we won’t need at this time.  When down the road, we go to Antarctica and other colder climate (on our list of places to see), we’ll access our bags containing warmer clothes.

If along the way we encounter cold weather, we’ll each have our two Scottevest multiple pockets jackets, one, a windbreaker with a hood and the other, a warmer jacket.

Another view of our veranda.

In a perfect world, we’d send these excess bags back to a family member or friend to store for us.  But, we understand that space is limited in everyone’s homes. Storing three large filled suitcases requires a fair amount of indoor space since we wouldn’t want them sitting in a garage or a potentially damp basement. So, we’re good with our plan.

As for our new “digs” we couldn’t be happier. As it turned out, they gave us a different unit than we originally toured.  At first, I was disappointed tempted to squawk.  But, after talking to other guests staying here to discover that they were paying over $300 a night for the same villa, our $2500 a month was too good a deal to complain.

Our new living room. 

After rearranging the furniture, putting away our food supplies, and finding a working ice maker in the refrigerator, we were content. Good grief, how dare we complain with this view!

Unfortunately, there is no way to wash our clothes.  The resort provides laundry service (for a fee), twice a week maid service (included), towels, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, soap, and much to our surprise, Belizean (amazing!) coffee, creamer, and sugar. 

Our new kitchen was missing a mixing bowl and vegetable peeler.  The restaurant staff here proudly provided them for our two-month stay.

As I unpacked yesterday, I hand-washed a few items hanging them discretely outside on a chair on the veranda which dried in only a few hours. The remainder, we placed in the provided laundry bag having filled out the form listing the items. The total cost of the laundry for a week’s clothing will be $12.50 US. We can manage that.

Last night, after a busy day with Tom still feeling under the weather, I cooked breakfast for dinner, using ingredients we’d managed to keet refrigerated in our hotel room these past five days. 

Dining on the veranda after dark with a cooling ocean breeze we dined on organic free-range scrambled eggs with cheese and Belizean sausage made with grass-fed meat. To top it off, I made our favorite GF low carb coconut flour pancakes using the sugar-free syrup and coconut oil we’d packed for this special treat.

Tom is feeling well again today, enjoying some leisure time getting caught up on email and reading the Minneapolis St. Paul newspaper which he downloads each morning.  Our cab driver will take us grocery shopping every Wednesday morning.  It looks like we’ll be cooking breakfast again tonight which is all we have on hand; sausage sautéed onion, and cheese omelets. 

Tomorrow night, we’ll go across the road to Habanero, the Mexican Buffet owned by Robert’s Grove, the resort next door.  By Wednesday afternoon, our refrigerator and freezer will be stocked for a week until Estevan returns to take us shopping the following Wednesday.

Now, feeling settled and content, we’ll be able to sign up for a few sightseeing expeditions offered by our resort for which we won’t need transportation.  Most certainly, we’ll share photos and details on these as they occur.  Stay tuned.