Change in weekend plans…Getting things done…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 10, 2023 with 0 Comment

A waterbuck on the riverbank with her calf.

Today’s photos are from five years ago today from this post…

Our plans for this upcoming weekend have changed. Originally, we’d planned to have Karen pick us up on Friday for a weekend at their new home two hours from here and then drive us back to The Villages on Monday. The more we thought about this, the more it bothered us that with Karen still working, this was ridiculous to have her drive all this way and back.

We considered renting a car to drive ourselves to their home, but at the cost of about $100 per day, plus transportation costs to the Orlando Airport to get and return the car (one hour each way), plus dining out while we’re there, the cost was prohibitive for us right now. We are on a tight budget with all of the travel we have coming up and hadn’t planned on these additional expenses.

We have to maintain our budgetary goals as much as possible. We’ve allowed dining out twice a week and a generous amount for groceries and miscellaneous items, but we try very hard not to deviate from our plan.

We’ve rarely observed this many waterbucks lying down.

As it turns out, Karen and Rich had planned to visit her mother, Donna, who lives about 20 minutes from here, so instead of us going there, they will visit Donna and then come here Friday afternoon and stay for dinner. This works for us. I will make a gluten-free, low-carb chicken, mushroom, cauliflower, and sausage dish with a salad for an easy dinner.

Thus, we may go out on Thursday night and then again on Saturday as we wind down our time in The Villages. However, if it doesn’t storm on Wednesday, we’ll go out on Wednesday night to play bingo at 3:00 pm at City Fire. We’ve been trying to do this for weeks, but there have been wild storms every Wednesday for the past several weeks.

This morning, I sent everything off to the accountant for our taxes. We’d had him prepare an extension for us when we were getting ready to leave South Africa, which gave us until October 15 this year to get it done. Getting everything ready has been hanging over my head. Finally, after a few finishing touches, after working on it yesterday, this morning I emailed our accountant the tax prep spreadsheet and requested the tax documents be sent to him from our mailing service in Nevada.

What a relief to have this off my mind! I was anticipating doing it while we were in Nevada or Minnesota in September, and that would have created stress during this time when we want to spend time with family and friends.

From this site: “The waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. The thirteen subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or Ellisprymnus waterbuck and the Defassa waterbuck. The head-and-body length is typically between 177–235 cm (70–93 in), and the average height is between 120 and 136 cm (47 and 54 in). A sexually dimorphic antelope, males are taller as well as heavier than females. Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in). Males typically weigh 198–262 kg (437–578 lb), and females 161–214 kg (355–472 lb). The coat color varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward, then forward and are 55–99 cm (22–39 in) long.”

Now, I’m thinking in terms of what toiletries we’ll need to get us through the few months until we get to Minnesota on September 9, when we will have a car and can easily go to the store whenever we need something for the upcoming extended period we’ll spend in Ecuador.

When I go for my pedicure appointment on July 26, we’ll head to Walmart to fill up the fuel tank on the golf cart and go into the store to get the remaining items we’ll need, enough to last until September 9 when we arrive in Minnesota.

Today will be another quiet day for us. We’re making a great dinner and don’t have any household tasks we haven’t yet accomplished. The laundry is done, the floors are clean, and this morning, I cleaned the bathrooms. Before Karen and Rich arrive on Friday, we’ll do a thorough cleaning, but at the moment, everything is clean.

Yesterday, we put some slivered almonds on the lawn outside the lanai. There’s been a mating pair of cardinals hanging around the garden the past week, and this morning, we saw the female pecking on the nuts. That was our wildlife fix of the week. Hopefully, soon, we’ll see the more colorful male doing the same.

The sky looks ominous right now. It’s uncanny how hard it will rain, and then moments later, the clouds have moved on, and the sky is clear, very typical weather for Florida this time of year.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a great week, and we’ll be back with you soon.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 10, 2013:

Never much of a gardener, I think these flowers in Tuscany were hydrangeas. For more photos, please click here.

Passport renewal issue!!!..Yikes!!!…Photos from ten years ago today…Mykonos, Greece…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 10, 2023 with 0 Comment

Although we were out last night at Brownwood Paddock Square, we don’t have any new photos to share. We’d already posted photos of this fun location, although we looked for photo ops throughout the evening. Thus, we’re sharing photos from our visit to the island of Mykonos, Greece, ten years ago today. We will never forget this special day as we walked for hours through the fascinating island of stark white and blue buildings, friendly people, and local charm. It couldn’t have been more exciting and fun.

Mykonos, as we walked along the shoreline.

We enjoyed being with a lovely couple we met from Quebec, Canada, Gerry, and Nicole, both with thick French accents, and they also spoke English quite well. We’d met them on the ship and spent much time with them, engaging in fun activities. It’s always special to meet new people on cruises, some of whom we’ve stayed in touch with over the years.

As for today’s headline, a few days ago, it received an email from the U.S. State Department about our renewal passport application that read as follows:

(Please excuse the line spacing. Since I copied and pasted this, I was unable to format it properly).

“Dear Ms. Lyman:
Thank you for your recent passport application. To continue processing your request, please provide the
The following information: Please submit your valid passport book. Our records indicate that you applied for a passport book in 2020. If you do not have that passport book and/or passport card in your possession, please complete, in detail, the
enclosed Form DS-64, Statement Regarding Lost or Stolen Passport, and mail the signed form to the address on this
letter. It is the policy of Passport Services to return any expired passport book and/or passport card to the
customer unless it is damaged or mutilated. To assist with processing your application, we must receive the requested information within ninety (90) days of the date shown in this letter. Please be advised that you may receive this information via email and a postal letter. Please respond to one request only. If the information is not received or is insufficient to establish your entitlement to a U.S. passport, your application may be denied, and your citizenship evidence will be returned. By law, the passport execution and application fees are non-refundable. For general passport information or to check the status of your passport application, please visit us online at travel.state.gov.

PLEASE RETURN A COPY OF THIS LETTER, ALONG WITH ALL REQUESTED INFORMATION, TO
THE ADDRESS LISTED ABOVE INCLUDES THE +4 ZIP CODE.”

The narrow walkways through the shops and houses were enchanting at every turn.

Of course, as I breezed through this text, I panicked a little and then slowed down and read it more thoroughly before I said anything to Tom.

Upon applying for the passport renewal, we called CIBT, the company we’re using, and explained that:

a. Our ten-year passports expired in 2022.

b. Our four-year second passports were going to expire in January 2024.

Gerry, Nicole, our Canadian French-speaking new friends, and Tom outside this quaint little church.

Since we began traveling in 2012, we’ve had three passports so far:

Our first 10-year passport – expired
A second 2-year passport – expired
A third 4-year year passport – expires in January 2024

As we’ve explained in the past, we got second passports to enable us to mail in one of the passports when applying for visas (when required) and still have a valid passport in our possession which should always be the case. One should never be in a foreign country without a valid passport in their possession.

When we initially spoke to the online rep, we asked which passport we should mail to them; the expired ten-year or the active four-year. We were each applying for a 10-year renewal. They instructed us to send in the expired ten-year passports, which we did, which our multiple required documents.

We can’t wait to buy fresh produce in Tuscany in one week as we prepare to cook for ourselves! Mykonos didn’t disappoint.

Later, we were assigned a new rep, Arturo, and he assumed we had everything needed to apply for the renewal. This was incorrect. We should have sent in our active four-year passports with the application documents. I called Arturo immediately, and he apologized for the misunderstanding.

He sent me an email with a new FedEx paid label, which we needed to get to the FedEx store as soon as possible and mail him the four-year passport we did on Friday morning. He will receive them on Monday and will continue with the application process, assuring us we shouldn’t worry.

We’ll wait and see when we’ll get the new passports within a few weeks. We are glad we started this process so much earlier than our June 20 appointment. We feel confident, in any case, we’ll have the passports in plenty of time for our departure on July 28.

Tonight we’re going to the Havana Country Club for dinner. It looks like a great place to go on a Saturday night, and the menu looks good for both of us. Tomorrow, we’ll share photos.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 10, 2013:

An occasional stop was relaxing after the steep walk up the hilly roads. For more photos, please click here.

US conveniences…More houseguests coming…More food photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 2, 2023 with 0 Comment

Tom has been enjoying the food in the US. Look at his breakfast at Bob Evans yesterday morning! He was so full; he didn’t have dinner.

For some odd reason, I feel lazy today. Perhaps, it’s a result of a lack of sleep. I awoke at 3:15 am and had an awful time getting back to sleep. Finally, around 5:00 am, I dozed off for another hour, and that was it for the day. Once up, showered, and dressed for the day, we embarked on our usual walk. Upon our return, I worked on this post before I eventually made scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon for breakfast.

Now, I am sitting on the leather loveseat in the living room while Tom works on his computer on the matching leather sofa. It’s all very comfortable. The house is cool since the owner told us we could leave the central aircon running day and night. It is preset for days at 78° and 72° at night.

I forgot to tell the waitress to cook my omelet in butter instead of gobs of oil. I didn’t enjoy it.

These preset temps are perfect for us. As it heats up as the summer progresses, we may have to change it. But, for now, it’s working well. Also, there are ceiling fans in the bedroom and living room which, when added to the aircon, provide additional cooling.

It’s so easy here. The clothes dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal, and big TV in the living room, where we can stream shows from my laptop using our HDMI cord, make life convenient. Having a chest of drawers for each of us and a large walk-in closet is a bonus. It’s nice being able to hang all of our clothes in the roomy closet, whereas in the past, in many holiday homes, we had small closets with only enough room to hang jackets.

The drive to Colony Plaza was pleasant riding in the golf cart. It’s the closest shopping area to us and takes about 15 minutes.

Many holiday homes have “cubbies” to keep clothes, but they tend to get messy when digging through them looking for something specific. The abundance of electric outlets we can use with our digital equipment is also a huge plus. Most often, in other countries, we’re using converters and adapters.

It’s easy dining out. The US is familiar with keto diets, and they have several options on the menus that can work for me. Also, it’s easy in the grocery stores to find most products we use for my way of eating. Plus, the wine options are many, and now that I can drink regular wine, it’s easy to choose a favorite at each location.

We entered two tunnels via golf cart to Colony Plaza, where we dropped off the packet of documents for the passport agent to complete our file and went to breakfast.

Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying William Hill North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon. I am not experiencing any Afib issues drinking a maximum of two glasses on any evening when we’re out and about. Once I got off the allergy meds, I haven’t had any signs of Afib, which has been an enormous relief. I check my blood pressure every few days and can see my pulse on my Fitbit at any time. Whew!

We heard from friends Lea Ann and Chuck, whom we met on a cruise from Sydney to Seattle in 2017 and hit it off the moment we met. They own a home in Florida over five hours from here. They will be staying with us for one night on June 19. They’ve been traveling extensively since we met, and it will be fun to hear about their travels.

Tom and I laugh that riding in the golf carts is similar to driving those noisy cars at Disneyland and Disney World.

We’ve all agreed to go out to dinner when Lea Ann and Chuck arrive since going to one of the restaurants in the unique town squares will be fun. This way, I won’t have to cook a big meal but will make a dessert when we return to the house. It will be lovely, we’re sure, as it’s been with all of the other houseguests we’ve had so far.

Today, we’re working on projects on our laptops. With the house cleaned yesterday, it’s a breeze today. All we had to do was make the bed, cook breakfast, and clean up afterward. Later today, we’ll freshen up and get ready to go out tonight. We’re heading to Brownwood Paddock Square around 4:00 pm for drinks and dinner, returning to the house while it’s still light outside.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 2, 2013:

No photos were posted on this date ten years ago. At that point in time, we weren’t as diligent in posting photos as we are now. A post was uploaded on this date. In a short period, you’ll see more photos in this feature. Please click here.

Issues with our passport applications…Photos from recent visit to Spanish Springs Town Square

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 1, 2023 with 0 Comment

Beer is very popular in The Villages to warrant a beer store, as shown in Spanish Springs Town Square.

Yesterday afternoon, we received an email from Arturo, a representative from CIBT, that our paperwork had been received and there were some issues, as shown below:

“Flight itinerary must be confirmed and up to date with your name on the form showing that you are the passenger for the State Department to process your passport in a rush time frame. ( dates, country traveling to with dates within 14 days of travel. )
Please upload a photo. The photo must be taken facing forward with a neutral expression and from the waist up (this will help me adjust the photo to fit the State Department criteria ). Please take the photo against a white wall or background and upload it so I can work with it.
The Letter of Authorization is a legal government document, and the courier company you wrote down is not what is in the top right corner. You wrote FEDEX, and it should be VISA SERVICES OF HOUSTON, as is posted in the upper right corner of the letter.”

Of course, we panicked, thinking we would have problems promptly correcting these issues. Immediately we got to work and fixed #3, which meant we had to reprint the blank document, fill it out and sign it, scan it, and print one copy of the original document.

Previously shown photo in Spanish Springs Town Square.

Thank goodness we had a good scanner app on my phone, Mobile Scanner, which I downloaded a few months ago. If a scan is slightly lopsided, the app will adjust it and make it straight. It’s pretty easy to use after a few minutes of figuring it out. We got the forms redone and then realized I had written the date wrong on my form by not showing the year as 2023 but instead writing 5/31/23. This wouldn’t be good enough, so I did the entire process all over again. There’s no margin for error on these forms.

As for #1, that was an issue. When we prepared the original documents, we booked a flight, but the requirements stated our travel dates had to be within two weeks of filing for the renewals. We submitted that flight schedule but recently canceled it when our dates changed.

The busy bar in Amerikana Bar & Grill in Spanish Springs. We like this restaurant and bar, but it’s a long drive in the golf cart. We’ll probably try it one day soon.

Then, when CIBT received the flight schedule, they tried to verify the booking, and when it wasn’t verifiable, Arturo sent us this requirement in the objections to our file. Only yesterday, we booked a flight and hotel for our departure from Florida to Scotland on July 28, which didn’t comply with the two-week requirement.

It was too risky for us to have a new appointment with CIBT to finalize our documents. With the US State Department backed up with passports and renewals for months, we worried something could go wrong and we wouldn’t get the passports back in time for our departure. We’d be in big trouble then!

This guy with his arms spread had a thick accent, was from Tunisia, and was very friendly to us. He’s lived in The Villages for years.

After speaking to Arturo yesterday afternoon after receiving his email with the required changes, he assured us that he’d get everything processed immediately and not to worry about the two-week requirement. Whew! We could breathe easily.

For point #2, the passport photos we had taken at a Walgreen store in the US during our last visit were blurry and wouldn’t work. Using my phone, we took new photos. I have never seen such awful images of either of us, but once we submitted them to Arturo, he said they were fine, and he’d get them to work to the satisfaction of the US State Department.

My entree was a Greek salad with grilled chicken and pepperoncini. It was delicious.

This morning, after breakfast at Bob Evans Restaurant in Colony Square, we headed to the FedEx store in the golf cart and sent in the replacement documents as required, and we should be good to go. Now, we are waiting to hear if everything is OK once Arturo receives the packet of documents in the next 24 hours.

We stopped for petrol for the golf cart. We’ve used the golf cart many times, and gosh, it doesn’t use much fuel! The gas gauge isn’t working, so we had no idea how much fuel we’d need other than looking down the hole. As it turned out, we only needed to add a little over one gallon for $4.00.

Tom’s Rueben sandwich had a side of potato salad and a pickle. He enjoyed it.

After the pleasant drive this morning, we have no doubt we’ll be able to head to any of the town squares, even the furthest from us at Spanish Springs, which appears to be a 40 minutes drive, according to the app for the golf cart driving directions on my phone.

The once-monthly cleaner, Jennifer, arrived today to clean the house while we were out. By the time we returned, she was almost done, and the house, although perfectly tidy when she arrived, felt fresh and clean. We’ve kept everything organized and clean, but a deep cleaning was welcome. She spent almost three hours here.

After our huge breakfast, we’ll have a light dinner tonight and enjoy our evening at the house; with peace of mind, we’ve completed the passport renewal applications as required.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 1, 2013:

No photos were posted on this date, but we posted a story about the imminent danger of visiting the Pyramids from the US State Department. See the post here.

Part 2…Boating day, Lake Harris and Dora Canal…Note, please, two ten year ago photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 30, 2023 with 2 Comments

Now that Memorial Day has passed, we’re continuing with photos from our boating day this past Saturday with new friends Linda and Burt and their friends Claudette and Jay.

We had a busy morning today, finishing the documents for our passport renewals that we dropped off at the local FedEx store since today is the last day we’ll have a car. No words can express the relief of having our passport renewal applications in the mail today. It was quite a task to complete all the paperwork.

Fortunately, we’re using a company, CIBT, that states they can get the new passports back to us in the mail within ten days of their receipt of the package we sent today. Here is the cost, per person, through this company for the fees to process the passports quickly:

SERVICE AND PROCESSING FEES (per person for expedited service)

Renew Passport
CIBTvisas Service Fees	$499.00
Government Agency Fees	$190.00
UPS Next Day Air	$53.00
Inbound Shipping Label	$57.00
Passport Replacement Coverage	$43.00
Fees Summary	$842.00

If we didn’t require expedited service, we could have applied directly to the US State Department for passport renewals, avoiding the $499.00 fee for each of us. This is the fourth passport we’ll have received during our over ten years of world travel: ten years, two years, and later four years, and now another ten-year passport.

We applied for and received the shorter-term additional passports of two and four years to enable us to mail in a passport when we needed visas for various countries to have a valid passport in our possession while the other was in the mail. We never wanted to be in a foreign country without a passport in our possession while another was being processed. For now, we aren’t ordering second passports for this purpose unless we see a need that we don’t foresee in the near future.

Today, Tom will pick up our friend Karen’s husband, Rich, at the Orlando airport at 6:00 pm. Karen traveled to Seattle from Minneapolis after her son Jack’s wedding to be with a friend going through cancer treatment. That’s just the kind of friend she is!

It was exciting to see alligators which are overall smaller than crocodiles.

Tonight, Rich will have dinner with us and then spend the night. Tomorrow, he’ll drive back to their new home in Bradenton, and we’ll return to using the golf cart for all of our transportation. We’ll do fine with groceries delivered weekly from Kroger and two nights out per week for dinner. The closest village square is Brownwood Paddock Square which takes about 20 minutes to use the golf cart.

As it rolls into summer in Florida, which is in the Northern Hemisphere, it stays light a few minutes more each day until we reach the summer solstice on June 21. We plan to go to dinner early and return while it’s still light. For example, the sun sets tonight at 8:07 pm. This will work well for us. If we’re with people and don’t leave by 8:00 pm, we will be fine driving on the golf cart paths indicated on an app on my phone.

The pier at a restaurant, Hurricane Dockside Grill, is situated near Lake Harris.

Other than Rich coming tonight and a get-together with readers next week, we are ready to start contacting readers who contacted us to get together. If you haven’t contacted us for a get-together, please feel free to contact us soon. We are trying to meet all the readers who’ve reached out who live in The Villages or nearby. We’ve been very busy so far, but we’re enjoying all the social time.

A beautiful view as we maneuvered through the narrow Dora Canal.

Many people approach us and are very friendly and welcoming. It reminds us of Jabula, although nothing will compare to Dawn, Leon, and David welcoming us two nights a week and all the wonderful friends we’ve made in the bush. Plus, we’re having so much fun hanging out with locals at the outdoor bars at many good restaurants.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more photos tomorrow!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 30, 2013:

Umer, our driver, insisted we stop for a photo op in front of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque., also known as the White Mosque. For more photos, please click here

Not my most flattering photo. Tom looked great! We’re standing in front of the architectural scale model of the White Mosque. After we posed for this picture, a security guard rushed over, telling us we could not touch one another in the mosque. Of course, we complied. For more photos, please click here.

Part 3…Photos and info about our temporary home in The Villages, Florida….Easy living in the US compared to life in many other countries…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 4, 2023 with 0 Comment

The comfortable leather furniture in the lounge area. The house isn’t huge but has everything we could possibly need.

Finally, I am starting to feel better. Only out of the hospital for eight days, during which I didn’t sleep more than a few hours each day with all the noise and interruptions in ICU, and then the 35 hours journey, only four days later, I was exhausted. Last night, I slept through the night and feel much better today.

My Fitbit showed I slept straight through the night for eight hours and nine minutes, and I feel like a new person today. Then, of course, the Afib bout on the plane set me back after the six-hour ordeal. Since we arrived here four days ago, and after unpacking, organizing, grocery shopping, cooking meals, and doing the daily posts, I was wiped out by yesterday afternoon. I fell asleep several times during the day and evening.

The computer station is located in the third bedroom. The thoughtful owner has ordered a new computer which will be delivered and installed next Tuesday. That works for us! The computer wasn’t working for us to print documents.

Waking up today, I felt like a new person. As soon as I was showered and dressed, I asked Tom if he was up to going for a walk, and he was happy to do so. We were out the door in minutes for easy walking on the smooth pavement to the end of the road and then turning around. It wasn’t very far, but the round trip was a start as we’ll continue to walk each day.

When we returned, we made coffee and sat at the table on the lanai while planning the food for the arrival of friends Karen and Rich, who’ll be here next Friday. We plan to make a few Chinese stir-fry dishes which is an easy meal to make once all the chopping and dicing is done.

The third bedroom is set up as a den with a pull-out sofa and is where we store our empty luggage.

We must purchase groceries online in the future, as is the case for many residents. The golf carts don’t hold much, as mentioned, plus it’s a lot easier to have groceries delivered to the house than the time-consuming grocery shopping process.

We’d used Instacart a few days ago, but the shipping and delivery fees were high and didn’t make sense to us. Instead, we found Kroger with a monthly cost of $7.95 instead of over $30 in fees for Instacart plus a required $95 a-year membership. Plus, the first 30 days at Kroger are free.

The second bedroom is where our guests will stay. The full bathroom is only a few steps outside the bedroom door.

Result? We’ll pay Kroger a total of $15.90 in delivery fees for the remaining almost two months we’ll be here. This made sense to us. Plus, the prices at Kroger seemed lower than those we paid for Publix grocery delivery when many prices were marked up for delivery purposes.

We’ll plan to socialize and get out for dinner tomorrow and Saturday. Once our friends Karen and Rich leave, we’ll begin contacting the many people who contacted us that would like to meet us. Then, our even more active social life will begin. Surely, we’ll enjoy it.

Also, we’re especially enjoying all the conveniences we’re experiencing now. Not only is this house more well-equipped than any holiday home we’ve rented, but the simple convenience of temperature control during the day and night, throughout the house, the tap water we can drink, the massive inventory of household products available for our use and being able to watch local news are delightful.

The view from the entry to the kitchen and lounge. It’s all the room we need.

In holiday homes throughout the world, we never turn on the TV. But here, it’s fun to flick through channels and see what we’d like to watch while we’re busy working on our laptops. The WiFi is steady, the power stays on, and the weather is perfect. We spend several hours a day on the lanai, enjoying the nesting birds who’ve found a home in the perfectly trimmed bushes and shrubs.

No, there are no animals around. Today is trash pickup day, when all the residents leave their large, sturdy garbage bags at the end of their driveway. When we walked this morning, seeing all the garbage bags in driveways, we couldn’t believe that no animals would get into the bags. But, not a single bag had been ransacked for its contents. How unusual this is to us!

None of these differences encourage us to rethink our plans to visit remote locations and countries with fewer conveniences than we’re experiencing here. We didn’t plan our world travels under the premise that life would be easy. We planned to explore new horizons, which we hope to continue in times to come.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 4, 2013:

Palais de Longchamp in Marseilles, France, is not a palace but a tribute to the importance of the water supply in Marseilles. Please click here for historical significance. For more photos, please click here.

Notice from attorneys…What???…Makes no sense…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 30, 2023 with 0 Comment

Two hornbills take turns eating seeds from the feeder ledge.

Late yesterday, we received this letter from our attorney handling the visa extensions. It reads as follows:

We hope this finds you well.

“This email is to inform you of the attached Circular, which was published today.
The Circular as published does not appear to uniformly apply to all categories of applicants, nor is it clear with respect to the abandonment of applications on departure.
Since the declaration of a national State of Disaster in 2020, various Directions, Directives, and Circulars have been published, often requiring careful interpretation of their language as applicable to individual circumstances. In some instances, as in the current case, interpretation must be deferred until after we obtain specific clarifications from the DHA.
While we always invite all our clients to communicate with us directly should any query arise in terms of delays, their status and/or ability to travel out of SA rather than relying on hearsay and information distributed on social media and/or unverified sources we anticipate and acknowledge in advance that some questions will not be answerable by 31 March 2023.”

From there, the entire attached document from Home Affairs was included, which may be viewed by clicking the link below:

DHA Circular 29 March 2023

What we are supposed to do from here is vague. The question we have now is: Do we have to leave by April 30? Or can we stay until the day our extension may have been approved or longer? The answers are totally unclear. I copied and pasted the sections in question directly from the documents as follows:

“b) Applicants whose visa applications are still pending: Long–term visa holders (Work, Business, Study, Relative, and Accompany spouse) who form part of the 62692 visa backlog applications be granted a temporary extension until 31 December 2023 of the current visa status. Applicants are not allowed to engage in any activity other than what the visa conditions provide for. For those who wish to abandon their visa applications and depart from South Africa when able to do so, they should be allowed to exit at a port of entry before or on 31 December 2023 without being declared undesirable in terms of section 30(1)(h) the Immigration Act, read with regulation 27(3) of the Immigration Regulations. Non–Visa exempted applicants who traveled out of the country with a receipt are required to apply for a visitor’s visa, which will allow them entry into the country to await the outcome of their visa extension.

c) Short-term visa holders whose visa validity was issued for less than 90 days and who have not received their visa extension outcome by 31 March 2023 must please make the necessary arrangements to depart on or before 30 April 2023 to avoid being declared undesirable.”

Little Johnny is such an adorable young male bushbuck.

Leaving by April 30 creates unplanned added travel expenses along with any other issues relative to leaving early. Our rent and rental car are paid until June 8. It’s good that we haven’t prepaid any bookings yet and have been dragging our feet to see what happens before committing to anything.

So, all we do from here is wait to hear back from the law firm as to how this confusing situation applies to us and proceed from there. Whatever the outcome, we will figure out a plan that works for us. Sure, were could go to Scotland and wait it out until the cruise in August.

Little Johnny was standing by the veranda table, waiting for us to come outdoors.

But, we’ve found it to be so expensive there, we’d definitely be stretching our budget. Most tourists who go to the UK and Europe stay for short periods, not months. All we can do from here is “play it by ear” until we hear back from the law firm on their interpretation of these vague and uncertain requirements.

By no means are we stressed about this, but we would like to be able to know where we may be going 30 days from today if that’s the case. If we can stay until December, most likely, we’ll stay until July if Louise has a house for us. We won’t bother her with questions until we know exactly what we must do.

Lilac, of Tulip and Lilac, resting in the garden.

Today, I’m busy with laundry and prepping tonight’s dinner, along with both of us reviewing potential options once we know more about our timetable.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Komatipoort to Doc Theo for our cardiac stress tests. I’ll be glad when this is over, and hopefully, we both get good results, along with Tom’s test results.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 30, 2022:

Another beautiful sunny day in Florida! For more photos, please click here.

Calm amid the chaos…What a wonderful cool and rainy day…More Kruger photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on February 1, 2023 with 0 Comment

We happily stopped to let this adorable, if turtles can be adorable, crossed the road.

The work to install the new inverter system has been a five-day process, with most of the work conducted over the past three days. Fortunately, we were out of the worker’s way on Monday when we went to Kruger National Park and again yesterday when we drove to Nelspruit to drop off our documents at the immigration office.

It’s always a thrill to see the majestic elephants close to the road.

The house has been an upside-down mess, but with Zef here this morning, cleaning around the chaos to somewhat return to normal. Slowly, everything will be back in order. Danie spent time with us explaining the nuances of the new system, which will prevent us from noticing load shedding except for a few things:

If we are running the aircon, we won’t be able to use power grabbers like the oven, the teapot, the toaster, the hair dryer, and the microwave. But, the only time we run the other appliances is during the day, when we don’t run the aircon, other than on a few occasions when we go in the bedroom to cool off for a few minutes when it’s above 42C, 104F. But, if we were in the bedroom to cool off, we wouldn’t use other appliances.
The two refrigerators, chest freezer, lights, WiFi, and recharging of our equipment will always be available to us, regardless of load shedding. Mainly, for us, load shedding caused concern over food spoilage. Now we can grocery shop for two weeks and never worry we’ll lose food.
When there is an area-wide power outage, we will lose power after a day or two if we don’t use the aircon, which drains the most energy from the system. This only happens once or twice a year. In four months, we’ll leave for over a year and return to this same house in 2024.
We will still have water. We’ll have plenty of water using the pump for our JoJo tank, which is located outside. This makes a huge difference when the reservoir runs dry due to load shedding.
Moments later, we spotted this elephant family grazing on the side of the road.

Now, the system is running smoothly, minus a few necessary tweaks over the next few weeks, and we will no longer experience any nuances whatsoever. We are content with this and appreciate the time and expense on Louise and Danie’s part. It’s a costly task. An, it’s set up for the eventual addition of solar panels, another considerable cost.

Last night, when we had no WiFi all evening, we wondered if it resulted from the work being done. Later, we discovered the outage was a fiber problem with the grid, and the entire area was out of WiFi all evening. But we didn’t want to bother Danie to come back once again.

This elephant continued walking on the road, preventing us from passing for over 30 minutes.

With no possibility of streaming, we ended up watching a bad Steven Seagal movie on the hard drive, most of which I slept through.

I mentioned yesterday’s post about a challenge we encountered at the immigration office. After the law firm sent us a detailed list of the documents we’d need to bring, in a specific order, to our appointment, we discovered they wanted two more documents, our flight out of South Africa by June 8, the day our visas expire and copies of the last three bank statements. The reason we didn’t have these documents on hand is that the law firm never explained we’d need to bring them.

Occasionally, she’d turn sideways, and we thought she’d enter the bush, but she only continued to graze from the road. She was missing her left tusk.

When we heard we’d need these documents, which I had on my phone, we headed downstairs to a packed Internet Cafe to make copies. The tiny space wasn’t airconditioned and was packed body to body with about five old computers for users who wanted something printed.

Then, she was on the move again, staying on the paved road.

Of course, I didn’t feel comfortable printing our bank statements, but we had no choice. We brought all the documents back upstairs to the immigration office and only had a short wait to submit the final documents. After we were done, I watched the experienced owner/manager of the tiny shop delete them, one by one, from the computer. I didn’t feel 100% sure they were gone, but we had no choice. It had to be done.

Last night, we received confirmation that our documents had been submitted. In the next several weeks, I’ll receive an email stating that we have to return to Nelspruit to their office to open the sealed envelopes to determine if our applications have been approved. If so, we will most likely be able to stay until June 8, 2023. If not, we’ll have to leave on March 9. We’ll play it by ear.

After over 30 minutes, she turned and headed into the bush, and once again, we were on our way.

That’s it for today, folks. Enjoy our photos from Kruger National Park; we’ll be back tomorrow with more.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 1, 2022:

Hal stopped by for a visit as usual. For more photos, please click here.

Whining today…Please bear with me…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 18, 2023 with 4 Comments

This is duiker Derek who visits several times a day.

Note: We couldn’t post more photos today due to a WiFi outage and using my phone’s WiFi as a hotspot.

This morning I spent no less than an hour on the phone with the credit card insurance claim company for our missing bag from November 24. They had sent me several emails requesting more information, such as my relationship with Tom, asking we send in our marriage certificate. Ridiculous!

Why would we carry our marriage certificate with us when we’ve been married for 28 years? Our passports should be all that’s needed to prove we are a married couple. And isn’t that discriminatory to some degree? Would we be unable to file a claim if we weren’t married? Does marital status determine eligibility for anything these days?

With some coercing, I managed to get them to waive that requirement. Next, they insisted on a copy of our homeowner’s insurance policy that may cover the lost bag. How would we have a homeowners insurance policy if we don’t own a house? I’d explained this fact in detail when I filed the claim, but it, too, fell on deaf ears.

Then they wanted proof that Ethiopian Airlines hadn’t already reimbursed us. How do you get evidence that you didn’t get something when they too aren’t responding to our tiny claim, submitted almost two months ago, only allowing for a maximum of US $800 for lost luggage?

Then, they didn’t like the format for which I sent in the 22 receipts via PDF documents. PDF is the universal standard for sending documents by email. How ridiculous is this? I asked what preferred document type she did not know. Oh, good grief.

They are doing everything they can to cause us to give up and not file the claim. We wondered how complicated this process would be for travelers without computer/online experience and no one to help them. Surely, they’d give up in no time at all, saving
the insurance company thousands of dollars in claims each year.

Even as adept as I am in handling this stuff, I was at my wits end this morning, sitting at the dining room table with a fan blowing hot, humid air over me, offering little relief at 92F, 36C with the dew point at 67%, wasps flying in the house with the doors wide open, my eyes itching and nose running from hayfever which I can’t seem to get under control and all the yucky stuff
over the phone, especially when the phone signal keeps going out.

Now, for the past two hours, we’ve had no WiFi signal, and I am typing this post using Notepad, wondering when and if I’ll be able to upload it sometime today. I sent a Whatsapp message to the internet provider, using the pricey WiFi on my phone, but I had to leave it on to get a response from them, costing more money. Hmmm, it’s not my favorite day.

Soon, we’ll receive an email from the law firm with instructions for the online work we need to do to apply for the extension. This requires hours online with one document after another, including bank statements, copies of investments, reason letters explaining why we want to stay, passport-type photos, and on and on. Hopefully, the WiFi will be back soon enough to get
all of these tasks were completed on time.

Last night’s load-shedding lasted from 11:00 pm, 2300 hrs, to 5:30 am, then went off again at 7:00 am until 9:30 am. It got scorching in the bedroom during that long stretch, and I was awake most of that time. I couldn’t do anything on my phone to help the time pass when the WiFi was out most of the night. The internet provider blames the outage on load-shedding when the batteries that supply the lines die.

We could leave if we wanted to, but after the losses we’ve incurred since Covid, we really feel we need to stay here until we plan to go in June. Each month we stay here, we save thousands of dollars since living here is relatively inexpensive. We looked into staying in and around Europe while we waited for our August cruises, but the cost to do so was two to
three times more than what we pay here.

Besides, on regular days, we’re pretty content. If we weren’t, I assure you, we’d leave, regardless of the cost. We can take the heat, humidity, and insects, but when we have that and no power and no WiFi, plus endless hours required to be online for forms and documents, it’s definitely causing me to do some whining today.

This afternoon at 4:00 pm,1600 hrs, the caterer is coming to help us decide on the menu for my upcoming birthday party on February 25. I changed the date from a week earlier since Lousie and Danie are going to Cape Town, returning on the 20th, the actual day of my birthday. But I wanted to accommodate those guests who work during the week and have the party on a Saturday, which works well for most.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully a little more pleasing to my tastes. Sorry about the whining. Sometimes, life can be challenging for all of us, and a little whining doesn’t hurt anybody.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 18, 2022:

Elephant carrying her trunk on her tusk. Early elephants had tusks, and one idea is that as tusks became longer, it was harder and harder for elephants to get their mouths to the ground to reach the grass. The trunk on their tusk helps them to reach more food and to eat more in a shorter time. For more photos, please click here.

Wow! It was two years ago today that we left India after spending 10 months in lockdown in a hotel room!…Reliving the past two years…

Posted by worldwide-admin on January 11, 2023 with 0 Comment

Notice the genet in this trail cam photo taken at 1:27 am.

We’ve certainly had some ups and downs over the past few years, but that is true for most of us who have survived the pandemic. For many of us, we sadly lost loved ones, while many of us managed to recover from Covid-19, albeit with long-haul symptoms for some. I am grateful to finally recover from an awful bout of Omicron with symptoms that lingered for eight months, from April to December 2022. Whew!

Today, we are reminded that we traveled from Mumbai, India, to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger, South Africa, taking 2½ days. I recall being so grateful to be here that neither of us was very tired when we arrived.

Notice the giraffe bent over in this trail cam photo.

We’ve left several times over the past two years for a new 90-day visa stamp. Here’s what we’ve done in each case since our arrival in January 2021, keeping in mind that each time we go to our “home country,” we can re-enter South Africa without incident.

Two Big Daddies stopped by before we were outdoors, looking for pellets.

January 2021: We started a new 90-day visa. We self-quarantined for 11 days upon our arrival. Louise grocery-shopped for us so we could cook our meals during the quarantine period.

April 2021: We had booked a tour to Kenya for a few weeks, but then Kenya closed its borders, and we had to cancel everything. At that point, South African immigration provided free 90-day extensions without application to travelers already here.

July 2021: Traveled to Minnesota to get vaccinated and see family. We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

October 2021: Traveled to Zambia and Botswana for one week, receiving new 90-day visas upon our return.

January 2022: Visa extensions were applied for and received for a new 90-day period with the law firm’s assistance in Cape Town, South Africa.

March 2022: We traveled to the US, sailed on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton, and got Covid on the ship on April 20, having to cancel the next cruise we’d booked, losing our money. Stayed in the US for several weeks. We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

May 2022: We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

August 2022: Traveled to Zambia and Botswana for a week and received a 90-day visa (with dissatisfaction from the immigration officer that stated, “you are border-hopping.”

November 2022: A failed trip to Seychelles due to government regulations at the last minute resulted in our traveling to the US. Returned to South Africa in December for a new 90-day visa, expiring on March 9, 2023

March 2023: Currently working with the same law firm in Cape Town, hoping to receive another 90-day visa extension. Once received, we’ll be able to stay until early June, when we’ll leave South Africa for about a year to embark on other travels.

A better view of the giraffe in the middle of the night on the trail cam photo.

We had sent the request for the extension process, including the necessary documents to get started on December 22, allowing ample time for the law firm to get our file started. The country now has a requirement that applications for extensions must be submitted within 60 days of the current visa expiration date, but it also states on other sites that it’s 45 days. On some government sites, it says the 60-day period allows ample time for processing. So, now we are waiting to hear from the law firm today that applying will be acceptable.

Trail cam photo. Nina stopped by early in the morning a few days ago.

There’s always a Plan B. In the worst-case scenario, we can fly to Newark, New Jersey, one of the closest US airports, spend three or four days and then fly back here for another 90-day visa. We are prepared to do this if necessary or if our request for an extension is denied for some reason.

My arm continues to improve. Last night, I slept for a much-needed nine hours. It feels good to be rested to this extent, and now without the lingering Covid-19 symptoms, I feel better today than I have since last April before we got Covid. Tom is doing great as usual and is content to spend the better part of each day on the veranda, watching US football and reviewing his other interests.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 11, 2022:

Two years ago today, I was wearing my N-99 mask, face shield, and gloves continuously during the entire 2½ days of travel from Mumbai, India, to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport. The post may be found here. For the year-ago post commemorating this date the previous year, please click here.