Part 2…Costs for streaming services…Part 2, tomorrow…Shows we’re watching…

The ostrich has the enormous eyes of any land animal.  The giant squid has the massive eyes of a marine animal.

Yesterday in “Part 1, Costs for streaming services,” we posted our total costs for belonging to various streaming services, such as HBO, Acorn TV (BBC), and Netflix, including also Amazon Prime and Express VPN. 

Suppose you are living in the US and other countries. In that case, you can use these streaming services without using a VNP (a virtual private network) that allows your device to appear online from the US, as opposed to the country you are currently in, described in more detail as below.

One of our favorite experiences in Marloth Park in the past 15 months is this mom and single chick looking for dad.

“A Virtual Private Network is a connection method that adds security and privacy to private and public networks. For instance, WiFi Hotspots and the Internet. Corporations use Virtual Private Networks to protect sensitive data. However, using a personal VPN is increasingly becoming more popular as more interactions that were previously face-to-face transition to the Internet. Increase privacy with a Virtual Private Network because the user’s initial IP address is replaced with one from the Virtual Private Network provider. Subscribers can obtain an IP address from any gateway city the VPN service provides. For instance, you may live in San Francisco, but with a Virtual Private Network, you can appear to live in Amsterdam, New York, or any number of gateway cities.”

Based on our situation in traveling the world, we must use a VPN, or we may receive a message when attempting to stream from these and other streaming services that states in one way or another: “This video is not available outside the US (or another country).

They began to hike down the road at the corner of Olifant (meaning elephant) and Volstruis (which means ostrich). Go figure. Ostriches are often found on this road.

We also use a VPN for an additional layer of security, especially when we live in certain countries. The drawback to using a VPN is that, on occasion, certain websites are impossible to access without logging off the VPN and then logging back on once done with that particular site. Also, using a VPN can slow down browsing at certain times, based on internet traffic.

Today’s post, as mentioned, centers around sharing a few of the TV shows we’ve been watching from the US, UK, Australia, and other countries at times, from HBO, Netflix, Acorn TV, and Prime Video. Of course, other streaming services, such as Hulu, Showtime, and countless others, are not being represented here at this time.

Mom stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted him a long distance down the road.  Look closely to see him.

Suppose you are a binge-watcher, especially now during the lockdown. In that case, some streaming services offer a one-week or one-month free trial during which you could complete viewing an entire series and then cancel the service unless there are other shows you are interested in seeing. 

They all picked up the pace as they got closer.

A credit card is required even for the trial periods, and if you cancel on time before you are billed when the trial period ends, you won’t ever be charged. If I know I’ll be canceling before my credit card is charged, I place a note on my online calendar to remind me to cancel before making the payment.

The chick was anxiously heading right for dad.

Most of these services make finding the place to cancel tricky, requiring you to click over many pages to find the “cancel my membership” button. If you fail to cancel, your credit card will be charged, and you’ll have a complicated process to get a refund.

After streaming for many years, we’ve become familiar with finding the “cancel” buttons. But, it’s not a bad idea to see where it is located before you sign up by using “Frequently asked questions.”

Look closely to see the chick next to him in this photo.

The following is not in any particular order. You can easily search online for detailed descriptions of all of these series. There are many older series that we could include here, but these are the most recently watched series.

Showtime
1. Billions
2. The Affair 
3. Ray Donovan
4. HomelandHBO (re-joined a few days ago)
1. Game of Thrones
2. The New Pope/The Young Pope
3. Succession (we are watching this addictive series now)

Amazon Prime Originals (or included with Prime)
1. Upload
2. Bosch
3. Jack Ryan
4. Goliath
5. Tin Star
6. Luther
7. The Night Manager
8. Poldark
9. Vikings
10. Bloodline (additional charge)

Acorn TV (new to us)
1. Doc Martin
2. Deadwater Fell
3. Blood
4. Line of Duty

Netflix (new to us)
1. McMillions (documentary)
2. Peaky Blinders (use closed caption-accent can be challenging but worth watching)
3. Tiger King
4. Making a Murderer
Use this link for new shows on Netflix here.

As for today’s photos… We couldn’t stop smiling when we ran across these photos we’d posted one year ago today that were included in our “favorite photos” as we wound down our time in Marloth Park, leaving in May after 90 days following my heart surgery.

Please enjoy the photos once again, as we have today. We still ask ourselves the question regarding these photos: How did they know they would be walking toward one another at this date, at this time? This is one of many reasons we can’t wait to get back to Marloth Park, South Africa!!!

Escape from the mundane aspects of lockdown. Watch a few shows!