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| Nothing is as beautiful as a sunny day at the beach. |
Alive and well after three years without having a physical exam, I am relieved most of it is over. Aside from a few remaining tests that we expect to be fine, I am thrilled its almost over and all is well.
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| A huge contemporary house near the beach. |
On Monday, Tom begins the process, with his first appointment at the clinic. When all is said and done, including all tests the cost will be under US $800, AUD $1031 for both of us, not bad considering all is paid out of pocket when we only have major medical/hospitalization insurance.
Actually, our fixed monthly budget included a monthly estimate for medical of US $50, AUD $68 which we’ve never used except for the trip to urgent care in Kauai. When all is said and done all of these appointments and expenses are covered by that estimate, almost to the penny.
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| A contemporary house at Holloways Beach. |
With continued good health, we plan to wait for another check-up in three years from wherever we may be at the time. Most likely, it won’t be in the US when we’re there in the summer of 2017.
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| Another large home at Holloways Beach. |
Costs of medical care are approximately four times higher in the US (out of pocket) as compared to what we’ve paid in Australia. There are good medical facilities in most areas of the world where we’ll be living in the next three years so we have no concern at this point.
Yesterday, when we arrived for my 3:00 pm appointment at Apple Tree Medical in Smithfield, I was disappointed to discover my last physician Dr. Natasha was out sick. Instead, I met with Dr. Konny Komlovari whom I found to be equally competent, warm, and friendly. Their onsite lab makes blood tests easy to arrange and process.
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| A small park at Holloway’s Beach. |
Next month, we’ll make our dental appointments leaving all of this medical stuff behind. Thanks to all of our readers who encouraged us to get all of these done and out of the way. It was good advice.
As for the three cruises we reserved over the weekend, last night at 10 pm we spoke to our new rep at Vacationstogo.com, Brooklyn Earnhardt, who is highly experienced and capable. We both felt comfortable and assured that she’ll do a great job for us for these three cruises and all future bookings.
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| Double Island makes us curious as to what it would be like to visit. Here are details of visiting Double Island. |
We’d gone ahead and reserved the three cruises with Royal Caribbean over the weekend. Now, we’re in the process of transferring them over to our new agent, Brooklyn which can be done within 60 days of booking with the cruise line.
In transferring the cruises to VTG we are able to use our own agent and agency for receiving various cabin credits that the cruise line itself may not offer. Plus, they receive their usual commissions. This type of loyalty is important to us. Relationship building is vital to our success in booking various aspects of our travels.
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| Tom looking out the sea undercover at the beach. |
In yesterday’s post, we mentioned sharing a little info on our itinerary for these three new cruises which we’re summarizing here. Soon, as we’ve mentioned we’ll include our new updated itinerary
1. Sydney to Perth: October 31, 2016, 16 days
2. Perth to Sydney: November 16, 2016 (back to back above the same cruise, same cabin number) 17 days
The above 33-day back-to-back cruise circles the entire continent of Australia, with multiple ports of call enabling us to see considerable sites along the way.
3. Sydney to Seattle: September 22, 2017, 24 days, crossing back over the International Dateline, arriving in the US on May 15, 2017
During these above three cruises, we’ll visit such new cities as:
- Brisbane, Australia
- Darwin, Australia
- Benoa, Bali
- Geraldton, Australia
- Perth, Australia
- Esperance, Australia
- Adelaide, Australia
- Melbourne, Australia
- Dunedin (Port Chalmers) New Zealand
- Akaroa, New Zealand
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Picton, New Zealand
- Il Des Pines, New Calendonia (we missed visiting this port on our recent cruise due to rough seas)
- Noumea, New Calendonia
- Mystery Island, Vanuatu
- Cross the International Dateline (getting our lost day back)
The last of the three cruises breezes through Hawaii on the way to Seattle, Washington, USA, stopping at Kona (Big Island, Hawaii), Lahaina (Maui), and Honolulu (Oahu). By that time, it will have been almost two years since we lived in Hawaii.
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| Park at the beach with a covered area. |
Besides these three above new cruises we booked in the past few days, we previously booked three other cruises in Australia, details of which we’ve shared online in past posts. A few of the ports of call are repeated on these other cruises but here are some of the highlights of the new locations we’ll have yet to see:
- Hobart, Tasmania
- Tauranga, New Zealand
- Bay of Islands, New Zealand
- Auckland, New Zealand (where we stay for 90 days in a nearby village)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- Lifou, New Caledonia
- Lautoka, Fiji
These 23 ports of call plus some repeats of others we’ll have previously visited (not listed here today) are all new to us in our world travels. This gives us an additional opportunity to see as much as we wanted to see in the South Pacific in almost two years including this relatively short period of time of 97 days aboard ship on these six cruises.
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| This house near the beach could be anywhere in the world, utilizing the benefits of solar power. |
During these periods we’ll be housed, fed, and entertained aboard the various ships with the opportunity to socialize each and every day. By the time we head to Seattle, we’ll feel confident we’ve thoroughly scoured the South Pacific to our liking.
Over the next year, we’ll be deciding on how much time we’ll spend during our relatively short visit to the US in 2017 and begin booking vacation homes and cruises for our next foray to an upcoming new continent.
As always, we’re excited as to our future choices while we’re thoroughly “loving the one we’re with!”
Happy Monday or Tuesday to all!
Photo from one year ago today, July 14, 2014:
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| Colorful steps at an elementary school in Campanario, Madeira, Portugal, one year ago today. For details and more photos, please click here. |
Our bougainvillea is not nearly that beautiful this year, great photo! Thank you for sharing your future plans and daily adventures! Hope to see you onboard in a mere 16 months!
Staci, I was so busy checking out the solar panels I failed to pay much attention to the bougainvillea at that house. We, too, look forward to seeing you both onboard the ship!
And thank you for reading our daily adventures. You have no idea how much that means to us.
Hugs,
Jess & Tom
Oh, what a pity the cruise through Hawaii doesn't include a stop in Kaua‘i! 🙁 We will be sorry not to see you guys as you pass through next time.
Aloha – Louise
Aloha, Louise! How we would have loved a stop in Kauai to see you and all of our Kauai friends we miss so much! It was a wonderful and highly social four months we'll always remember, living in paradise with some of the most amazing people in the world.
Thanks for taking the time to write and do write again.
Mahalo,
Jess & Tom