Internet was down for a day…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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we played Gin, read our books on our phones, and watched the few news channels we’re able to receive in English on the outdated TV. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This translates in Italian to:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Housekeeping for upcoming travel…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updates and tidbits…Fun photos!…

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A photo from guests staying at our upcoming rental house in South Africa.  Doing laundry takes on a whole new meaning!

As we write about the nuances of our days, on occasion we may leave a reader wondering what transpired with a particular situation that we may have mentioned in an earlier post.

The rental car: With no further email from Budget, we are assuming they decided to let us keep the car until we return it to Venice on September 1st.

When they agreed to extend the rental agreement (which we have in writing), they billed our credit card on file for the prorated balance through the return date.  Oddly, when they informed us that the car was sold, they reversed the charge of over $1300, yet to charge us for the balance.  There’s no doubt they’ll charge us for the balance once we return the car.

The bees and the fly’s issues: The coins in the Ziploc bags hanging in the doorways have reduced the influx of bees by 95% and the flies by 75%. Unfortunately, a few flies enter each day. For some peculiar reason, they don’t seem to land long enough to kill them. They are vicious, biting me with a frenzy. As a result, I have no less than 10 fly bites at any given time, that take no less than 5 days to stop itching. 

Can you imagine soaking in the tub with these visitors stopping by to say hello?

At 4:00 am this morning, I was awakened by the itching forcing me to take a Tylenol PM to get back to sleep.  Tylenol PM and other over the counter sleep aids, often contain diphenhydramine, an antihistamine that causes drowsiness and stops the itching. Luckily, I fell back to sleep.

It seems most of the bites occur around dinner time, the smell of food drawing them inside. Instead of feasting on the food, they feast on my arms and legs so fast I can’t shoo them away. Tonight, I am going to wear my Bugs Away long pants during and after dinner, hoping to keep the biting at bay.

The weather: For almost two weeks, we had over 90 degree days. Last week, it was 97 degrees, one day with humidity to match. It cools down nicely at night. On two nights we slept without covers, fortunately, not losing much sleep over the heat. 

Now that it’s beginning to cool down, it was so cool last night that I slept in warmer PJs. With the mosquito netting over one of the master bedroom windows, we can sleep without buzzing around our heads, enjoying the cool breeze. As we sit on the veranda while I write this, it’s no more than 68 degrees, wonderfully comfortable.  We’re hoping it continues to stay cool as we prepare to leave Tuscany soon.

Seat assignment for our upcoming flight: A few days ago, I called Turkish Air able to speak in English to a representative. She informed us that arranging seat assignment wasn’t possible until August 26th, a full week before the flight. I’ve never heard of this before. Most likely, we’ll be charged to sit together which we’ll disdainfully pay. 

Upcoming year’s prescription order.  In early July, we ordered all of our upcoming year’s prescriptions. They were to arrive in 6 boxes.  As of this date, only 4 boxes have arrived.  Now it may be too late for them to send them.  I’ve decided to wait until Monday. If they haven’t arrived, I’ll contact the company having them resend the missing boxes (hopefully, at their expense for expedited shipping). 

A box from our mailing service: The chargers for both of our computers will soon die, based on the difficulty we’ve begun to experience. Thus, it made sense before we leave for Africa, to order two new chargers, in the event either or both of them entirely fail. The replacement cost was US $9.95 each with free shipping in the US only. Also, I needed a few cosmetic items I’d be unable to find in Italy. 

We put together an order from Amazon, all with free shipping to be shipped to our mailing service in Nevada.  The chargers, along with my few cosmetic items were all shipped in one small box at a cost of US $50. Of course, they included the few pieces of mail we hadn’t received as yet, most of which we look at online at a cost of $2 per scan. The box arrived in 18 days from the shipping date via USPS international, coming directly to the door here.

Overpayment on credit card: When we saw the charge on the credit card for the prorated balance (as described above) on the rental car, I immediately paid the bill off in full.  Our goal is to keep all of our credit cards at a zero balance in the event of an emergency. When Budget reversed the charge (go figure) a few days later, we ended up with a credit on Master Card. Wouldn’t one assume, they’d just leave it there until additional purchases we made? Oh no! They mailed a check to our mailing service. How inconvenient!

Fortunately, we’d left dozens of envelope and deposit slips with our mailing service before we left Nevada, in the event we received any checks. Contacting our rep at the mailing service by email, I requested they deposit the check. Looking each day to confirm the deposit was made, it finally came through, taking a full week from the date it was mailed for the deposit to show in online banking.  Good to know. 

Staying on top of situations and tasks such as these, however small they may be, is thought-provoking and time-consuming. Luckily, Tom and I both prefer to avoid tasks hanging over our heads, so we strive to be diligent in getting tasks out of the way as quickly and painlessly as possible.

We’d rather save our time and energy over that which we have no control, the surprises, the unexpected. 

Now, I’ll go make a baking soda paste to see if that will help with the itching. I checked today to discover that both houses, in Kenya and in South Africa have screens. Yeah for screens!

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

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

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

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

Here’s our flight itinerary:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On high alert…Traveler’s warnings…What’s our plan?…In 30 days, off to Kenya…

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A kindly reader of our blog posted a comment that we received overnight, inquiring as to our concern over traveling to Kenya with the recent embassy and consulate closings in countries all over the weekend. For the full article, please click here.

Yes, we’re concerned. How could we not be? It’s this level of concern that prompts us to do all we can to ensure our safety to the best of our ability. There are always unknowns.

Looking up stats on various countries worldwide, we see that Belize had a higher homicide rate per capita than Kenya. After spending almost three months living in Belize, aware of the risks, we never let our guard down, never taking our safety for granted.

Such will be the case when living in Kenya for a few days short of three months from September 3, 2013, to November 30, 2013, when we depart for South Africa. We’ll be exercising extreme caution, none of which is a guaranty of our safety but reduces the risks.

Having registered for the Smart Traveler Program at the US Department of State we’ll be receiving any warnings via email that may require us to leave Kenya or later South Africa if the tension in our area escalates.

A few portions of our travel plans to Kenya give rise to added concern; our arrival at the Mombasa Airport in the middle of the night and, the subsequent over one hour ride to our vacation rental in the middle of the night.  Most crime occurs in the dark in these high-risk areas.  Yes, we’ll be nervous until firmly ensconced in our new location. 

Have we considered changing our plans?  Yes, we have. But we’ll continue to carefully watch the world news, reports from the State Department, online posts and comments. Should these next few weeks bring rise to added concerns in the areas we plan to travel with warnings from the State Department to cancel travel plans, we’ll do so. 

We realize that doing so will cost us around $6000 from loss of paid-in-advance rent and non-refundable airfare. This is a big loss to incur but our safety supersedes money, doesn’t it?

What plans do we have in place to ensure our safety, the reader inquired?  Here are what we have thus far:

1.  Destination contact:  We’ve established a plan with my sister that we will notify her by email when we depart any area and immediately when we arrive, having provided her with the address, contact person’s name, phone, and email plus travel arrangement information for our destination. If she doesn’t hear from us within 12 hours of our estimated arrival time, she is to begin the process of finding out what’s happened to us, contacting the embassy, state department, etc.  (if we have airport delays we will contact her as they occur).
2.  No rental car. We’ve been made well aware that driving in Kenya can be risky, even in the tourist area we’ll be living. Once arriving, we’ll make arrangements with a driver for weekly trips for shopping, daytime dining out and any touring.
3.  Deciding on safari trips based on safety in a specific area, airports, etc.  The property owner suggested we wait until we arrive to decide on safaris as he will assist us in making arrangements with people he knows and trusts.
4.  News updates: With no TV at the property (as we have here in Italy with a few English speaking news stations:  BBC, France 24, and CNBC, we’ll be watching news updates on our computers on a daily basis.
5.  No venturing out after dark. Period. 
6.  No wearing of jewelry, watches, any items that may attract attention. 
7.  Dressing “down” when out during the day, jeans, shorts, tee shirts, no clothing that attracts attention.
8.  Keeping money and documents secure at all times. We carry very little cash, mostly using credit cards.
9.  Staying together at all times when out and about.
10. Never, ever, loosening our guidelines for what appears to be “special circumstances.” Neither of us is naïve.  It is unlikely that we’d fall prey to some “scammer” attempting to divert our attention. Keep walking, don’t make eye contact, be guarded with confidence and astuteness.

There is nothing anyone can do to be exempt from danger. Where we lived in Minnesota it was only a 30-minute drive to an area where one wouldn’t dare get out of their car at night, let alone during the day.  Tom’s mother’s home in a less desirable area in North Minneapolis had bullet holes in it when it was finally taken by the city by eminent domain. 

Over the years, while she still lived in the house, he and the family worried that she could fall prey to drive-by shootings occurring all over the neighborhood. Luckily, she got out in time, living to be a healthy 98 years old. 

There are risks wherever one may be at any given moment; a movie theatre in Colorado, a train in France, or running a marathon in Boston, MA.  We can only hope and pray for safety, exercising caution to the best of our ability while allowing ourselves the privilege of reveling in every moment of our world travels

No seat assignment available for us on Turkish air…A letter from Expedia.com…

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With the midsummer heat, few flowers remain in the gardens.
With our upcoming flight from Venice, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya on September 2nd, arriving 17 hours later on September 3rd, we’d expected to be able to sit together.

When booking the flight several weeks ago, trying to choose our seats for the three legs of the flight, a message popped up stating that seat assignment will be available at a later date, unknown at this point.

As I walked through the gardens, the bees swarmed around me.

The thought of the possibility of that long flight without being able to sit next to one another was frustrating for us both.  Playing Gin and dining together (yes, they serve meals) makes the time pass quickly, an excellent diversion.

Knowing little about Turkish Air other than reviews we read online, we have no idea what to expect.  The reviews varied from “hate them” to “loved the flight” more on the favorable side.  There were few flight options to Kenya.

The honey bees love the lavender, still in its full glory.

Yesterday, concerned about the lack of seat assignments, I contacted Expedia.com from whom we purchased our tickets.  With the usual good customer service, I expected a response within 24 hours.  Within hours, they responded to our request with the following:

"Dear Expedia Customer,  
Thank you for contacting us about your seat requests for your flight reservation. The airline has not made seats available for a pre-assigned seat request at  this time. The airline will assign seats for you when you check in.
Meanwhile, your seat assignment requests have been sent to the airline. Please be advised, that the airline ultimately controls, seat assignments and we cannot guarantee every request will be honored. Confirm your specific requests with the airline before departure.   If this does not answer your question or solve your problem, feel free to reply to this message or  call us at 1-800-EXPEDIA (1-800-397-3342) or 1-404-728-8787 (for callers outside United States and Canada) and reference case ID: ????? Thank you for choosing Expedia.  Dennise Expedia Customer Service Team"

All we can determine from this message is that when checking in at the airport, we’ll have to stand in line, hopefully, early enough to get seats together, which may or may not be possible. Why? Why do it this way?

The shade of the overhanging vines creates a pleasant patio area in our yard.

If their online system is not sophisticated enough to allow seat selection? If that’s the case, are their planes updated and maintained to meet modern standards?

Each time we encounter a possible stress-inducing situation, we develop a back-up plan to ease us through the scenario. In this case, very early arrival at the gate in Venice is our best option. 

However, when we were departing on our last ship, the Norwegian Spirit in Venice, we were warned not to arrive at the airport over three hours before a flight’s departure.  One would not be allowed into the terminal if earlier.

We’ve noted our calendar:  arrive at Marco Polo airport in Venice at 7:30 am on September 2nd, considering our 10:30 am flight. 

A good soaking rain would bring all of the vegetation back to life.  It rains a little a few times a week but not enough during the summer heat in the 90’s each of the past several days.

Also, checking online for information about that airport, we discovered that they have a technology kiosk where we’ll be able to recharge our laptops and smartphones prior to departure.  At this point, we’re unable to determine if any of the three planes we’ll be flying have “plugins” at our seats (what seats?) for recharging digital equipment. 

Having our equipment charged will enable us to read Kindle app books, play games, and of course, write about our travel experience as it transpires, posting it on the blog in real-time.  If the plane doesn’t have plug-ins, we’ll recharge our equipment at kiosks at the two other airports along the way, Istanbul, Turkey, and Nairobi, Kenya, at each of which we’ll have layovers and plane changes.

Plan in place.  Stress reduced. 

The next flight stress inducer is overweight luggage, especially since we don’t want to pay the extra $700 in fees when we flew from Dubai, UAE to Barcelona, Spain. The process of reducing our load has already begun as we’ve disposed of more and more items each week, including making a pile of items we may ship to Kenya, after all. 

In checking with the owner of the house in Diani Beach, he’s agreed to accept a box of items for us.  It will be insured. If it’s stolen, we’ll be covered. We shall see how this rolls out.

More evidence of a need for rain.  This grass was lush green only a few weeks ago.

Tom has expressed his desire to drop off whatever rental car we have at the Venice airport the day before our departure. With the two hours it took to originally pick up the car, he feels more at ease doing it this way. 

At first, I disagreed with him.  Why bear the expense of transportation back to the hotel the previous day? With the hotel offering a complimentary shuttle to the airport, we’d have to pay the one way.  As these other concerns have materialized, I agree with him.  

In any case, we would have done it “his way” whether I agreed or not. To avoid arguing over any such item, we always acquiesce when one of us is adamant about a particular issue. Thus, we don’t argue, making the assumption that either of us is smart enough to make reasonable decisions.

The ongoing process of planning to reduce stress and surprises well in advance takes time and careful thought.  With that in mind, surprise, often occurs, forcing us to ditch our best-laid plans to begin again. I guess that is the way life is in general for all of us:  “Expect the unexpected.”

Road trip tomorrow!  To heck with waiting for the rental car agency to let us know where and when to swap out the rental car. Not a word from them. Off we go, back later in the day with photos and the story of our expedition.

A little bit of history of Boveglio, Villa Basilica, Lucca, Toscano, Italy..Flight booked for Kenya…No more tremors during the night…

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On our hilly, heart pounding walk this morning, the simplest views caught our attention.

Our automated emails sent to those of you have signed up to receive daily messages of the latest post in your inbox still appears to be having a problem. Many have sent us email messages and inquires in Facebook.  Our web designer had assumed that the problem with Blogger was fixed but apparently not yet.  She continues to work on this and we will notify you as soon as it is repaired so once again you will find the daily posts in your inbox.

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Our MiFi isn’t working in Boveglio. The Internet connection provided by the gracious property owners of our temporary home have WiFi but it is slow and unpredictable, requiring us to either be outside for a good connection.  Most likely the issue is due to the three foot stone walls in this lovely property.

Thank you for your patience.  We appreciate the notifications and give this the utmost concern.  Please continue to enjoy our posts in the interim via this link.

Last night, close to sunset, we discovered this village of Colognora beyond the mountains.
As the sun was about to set, the moon began to peek out.  Surely in the next few nights it will be full, definitely inspiring us to get more shots. 

Luckily, there were no more aftershocks yesterday although we’d made a plan before bed that if there were during the night as to where we dash to safety. Also, Luca the owner wrote to us yesterday explaining that the house had been retrofitted for earthquakes when it had recently been remodeled, putting our minds at ease allowing us both to get a good night’s sleep.

Its interesting to observe the change in colors as the night falls while the cloud create shadows on the hillside.
As the sun goes down.

With all of our adapting and adjusting this past week, we’ve determined that we love it here.  We’ve accepted that the long winding drive to a larger village is a part of its Boveglio’s charm and beauty.  The house with it few quirks and challenges has, in this short period, become home for us. 

Last night, after dinner and watching the movie on my laptop, “Under the Tuscan Sun” we couldn’t stop smiling, as we sat on the veranda watching the sun go down, knowing full well that this is the place for us. With over two months in front of us, we are peaceful and content. The owners couldn’t be more helpful and kind, responding to our every whim with dignity and grace, as we strive to do the same.

____________________________________________
Finding historical information about the 700 AD village of Boveglio was more challenging to accomplish than we’d anticipated. These villages, many of them still existing in a lifestyle reminiscent of earlier centuries, have yet to transfer information from their historical books to the Internet.  How foolish we are to assume that we can find everything online?

Butterflies are everywhere here in Toscana, a rarity in the US with the rampant use of pesticides killing them off.  The US uses 80% of the world’s pesticides.  (OK, I’ll get off my soapbox!)

After considerable research, we’ve found this link is the best we could share  with you regarding the history of this area. As we’ve discovered, the village of Boveglio is a part of the larger village of Villa Basilica, which is a village in the Lucca region, which is located in the region of Toscana, aka Tuscany. 

In this area, as one leaves a village, a diagonal line crosses the name of the village. Notice the hairpin sign, one of many on our ride down the mountains to Collodi, the village large enough to find groceries, a pharmacy, supplies and sundries, roughly a 30 minute drive from Boveglio.
This Bed and Breakfast is a few hundred feet from our door.
Originally researching Boveglio, we were excited that this bar and restaurant was within walking distance.  Unfortunately, we never asked the owners of our house, Lisa and Luca, if it still was in operation.  It has closed down as a public facility, now occupied by its owners.  The economy has spared no small businesses in Italy as we discover as we travel the world.

Rather than copy and paste gobs of information here, we’ve provided this link that you may find interesting as we did.
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/toscana/lucca_villabasilica_boveglio.html

Tonight, we’ll have our “date night” (goodness, every night is date night these days), heading to Benabbio to Il Cavallino for dinner, to pay our bill for last Sunday’s dinner when we had no Euros (we now are stocked with enough for our remaining time here) and to pay Vivienne for the few supplies we’d purchased on Monday prior to our outing to Collodi on Tuesday to the larger store.

A house in our neighborhood appearing to be occupied.

In the interim, we’re running out of Prosciutto, an Italian substitute for Amerian bacon. Hopefully, we’ll find Vivienne serving at the restaurant again and she’ll run across the street, open her tiny shop and bring us back a supply to last us until we go back to Collodi in 10 days. 

This morning on our walk, we encountered the owner of this property which is next door to us, making a feeble attempt to introduce ourselves.  She spoke no English.

Bacon, which we love and is allowed in moderation on our way of eating, has been somewhat of an issue in our travels.  In Belize, they called it “butt bacon” and like butts, it was too fatty.  On some of the cruise ships, the fatty bacon was palatable only when very well done but still too fatty. 

In Dubai, there was no bacon at all due to pork avoidance by Muslims. Instead they sell a beefy substitute that although palatable, didn’t taste like bacon.

The houses across the street from us.

Now, in Italy, there is no bacon at all as we know it, only Prosciutto which doesn’t taste like bacon but does have a pleasing salty flavor when cooked with a touch of olive oil in a stainless steel skillet. 

Drawing in stone of the Virgin Mary inside the stone wall across the street from our house.

This morning’s breakfast consisted of scrambled free range eggs, with sautéed organic onions infused with tiny cubes (no shredded cheese here) of locally made cheese. Add the perfect Italian coffee, Lavazza and we were content until we savor Alessandro’s perfectly prepared dinner tonight at his restaurant.

Tomorrow we’ll include photos of the village of Benabbio and also our meals at Il Cavallino, prices and comments.

Now for the details of our upcoming flight to Kenya.

Planning for the next step in our journey never ceases. As much as we’d like to plan and book every form of transportation well in advance, we find it make more sense to continue to research and lock it in as we go.  

Planning a flight two to three months in advance is often adequate, although we’ve continued to check pricing as many as 300 days in advance (one can’t book a flight more than 330 days in advance with most airlines). 

If we had our way, we’d never fly, taking ships and trains to our locations. But, at this point in our travels with our burgeoning bucket lists, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and go to our most desired areas of the world first.  Thus, we fly.

Actually, our first flight wasn’t until we were almost eight months into our travels, when we fly from Dubai, UAE to Barcelona, Spain to go on our 8th cruise.  As mentioned in a prior post, we loved Emirates Airlines (except for the excess baggage fees and the confiscation of two power cords). 

Unfortunately, Emirates doesn’t fly all the way to Mombasa, Kenya which would force us to take an flight on Ethiopian Airlines part of the way which has many horrible reviews.  I can picture cows and chickens on their flights while passengers sit in seats lined up against the side walls.  Perhaps, an exaggeration but I can’t get this image out of my head.

Small houses appearing abandoned are actually often occupied.

Here is our one way flight from Venice, Italy, where’s we’ll return the rental car to the Marco Polo Airport, which forbids passengers from arriving any more than three hours before departure. 

This flight will require us to drive from Bogevlio on September 1, 2013 to Venice staying in a hotel near the airport, which is a half hour drive from the area of Venice we visited last Saturday.  Flight departs the next morning, is an partial overnight flight with us arriving in Mombasa at 3:10 am. 

Total duration: 15h 25mArrives next day

    • Venice
    • VCE 10:45am
    • Istanbul
    • IST 2:10pm
    • Terminal I
 2h 25m 
902 mi
  • Turkish Airlines 1868
  • Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview
  • Airbus A321 |  Meal
Layover:  4h 5m
    • Istanbul
    • IST 6:15pm
    • Terminal I
    • Kilimanjaro
    • JRO 1:10am + 1 day
    • Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013
 6h 55m 
3,108 mi
  • Turkish Airlines 673
  • Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview
  • Boeing 737-900 |  Meal
Layover:  1h 0m
    • Kilimanjaro
    • JRO 2:10am
    • Departs on Tue Sep/3/2013
    • Mombasa
    • MBA 3:10am
    • Terminal 1
    • Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013
 1h 0m 
180 mi
Price for two, one way:  US $1468.66 (taxes and fees included).

What do we like about this flight:
1.  Many of the available flights took upwards of 32 hours.  This arrives in 15 hours, 25 minutes.
2.  The airlines, Turkish Air, overall had good to excellent reviews.
3.  The layover times were shorter than other flights.
4.  By using the same airlines all the way through, it’s less likely our luggage will be lost.

What we don’t like about this flight:
1.  Too long, in any case.
2.  Unable to arrange seat assignments until closer to flight time. (It on our calendar to check back 30 days out).
3.  The cost.  There were cheaper flights, none of which were well reviewed airlines.
4.  Unable to clearly define the baggage allowance in advance.  We are considering shipping half of each of our belongings to Kenya, even with the risk of it not arriving.  (We’ll insure it). First, we must check with the owner of the property in Kenya which we will do shortly.

Booking through Expedia.com where we have an account earning points, we feel confident in our decision.

Our rental in Kenya begins on September 1st.  Arriving on the September 3rd results in our paying for two days rent and not yet moving in.  Kenya has a 90 day visa provided at the airport upon entrance. 

Flowers blooming near our exterior door.

By arriving a few days late, we avoid the necessity of obtaining an additional visa with our rental ending on November 30, 2013. We save on visa fees, travel costs to the closest immigration office and a tremendous amount of inconvenience. The loss of two day’s rent is well worth it.

There it is folks, our story for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more news.

Is boredom an issue when we’re situated in one place? Dangerous roads…

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Note:  A small number of our readers have chosen to receive daily email of our posts, which arrive 24 hours after we’ve uploaded a new post.  Since we’ve arrived in Tuscany, the daily email hasn’t arrived for some readers.  We have reported this to our web designer and she is working on discovering the issue and correcting it. 

In the interim, if you bookmark our page:  www.WorldWideWaftage.com when you open it, the newest post will be presented immediately and you can scroll down to see the prior day’s post.

Thanks for your patience and know that we’ve given this technological problem our utmost attention.  Once resolved, we will note it here on the next daily posting. Thanks for sharing our travels with us!   Jess & Tom

See the two blue chaise lounges at a distance?  That is another patio for our one hour of sunning time every few days.  Due to the greenery, there’s a fair number of bees buzzing about.  Tom and I both have allergies to bees, thus limiting our time in that spot.

We never expected that traveling the world would be a continual flow of one glorious experience after another. Without a doubt, we’ve enjoyed a multitude of outstanding experiences, many back to back, many day after day. 

Then, there are the days in between where daily life, as in the lives of all of us,  are simple, uneventful, frustrating and downright disappointing. Although, neither Tom nor I ever suffer from boredom. 

We’ve learned at our advancing age how to easily entertain ourselves, sitting quietly in restful repose, engaging in idle chatter or picking up our smart phones to read our latest book in our Kindle app. Even now, without a solitary English speaking TV channel, we find ways to make our days and evenings, special in some way.

The view to our left.

Recently, we’ve been able to download and watch the entire 3rd season of Downton Abbey by Instant Video, setting up my laptop on the kitchen table, watching one episode per night, savoring the pleasure while we’ve dined on our homemade dinner, pausing only to do dishes.

Tonight, we’ll watch the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun” by Tom’s suggestion as it was the movie that inspired me to want to visit in Tuscany, as is the case for many that enjoyed the popular “chick flick.” For a mere US $1.99 we’ll watch the almost two hour movie. 

At 3:45 pm, our view from the veranda where we spend most of our lounging time.

While in Scottsdale, Arizona in November and December, 2012, as we prepared our final paperwork, we downloaded a few hundred movies on our two terabyte external hard drive, mainly to save for the nine month period we’ll be in Africa, here again with no TV and for other reasons, dangerous to go out at night. (Its hard to believe that in two months and twelve days we’ll be on our way to Kenya).

In Boveglio, one is wise not to travel the winding mountainous roads after dark, with no guardrails, no street lights and endless hairpin turns. When we dine out, we’ll make a point to return while still light, before 9:00 pm. 

Tom will hardly be able to enjoy a few cocktails, since I don’t trust my driving skill to be the designated driver for such occasions and one wouldn’t dare drive the road after a few drinks. If I fussed over the dangerous road in Belize, it was nothing compared to the roads here.  Nothing at all! 

The view to our right.

I made Tom promise me that we’ll never drive on the scariest road in the world in Bolivia, listed as #1 in the top 25. (A few years ago, we watched a show about this dangerous road and it has stuck in my brain).  See this link for the 25 scariest roads on the planet.  Notice the two in Italy, very similar to the roads where we are located in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany.

The hazy view is not a photo taking issue.  The vegetation produces massive amounts of humidity clearly visible in the far shots, although it is a bright sunny day.

Unquestionably, the long drive down has a bearing on how often we’ll venture out.  Driving to Collodi yesterday certainly inspired us to grocery shop for two weeks at a time, planning any errands for the same time. 

Yes, we do plan to do some exploring in other parts of Italy, but not as often as we’d originally hoped due to how far away we’re located.  In any case, when we do travel, we’ll have to stay overnight in a hotel, adding an unplanned expense. 

For the moment, we’re content staying put for the next few weeks after the last hectic two months since leaving Belize; hauling our heavy luggage, paying extra for our heavy luggage, waiting in lines, dealing with security, and on and on.

As we sit on the veranda writing, high above the roads, we’re find ourselves fully engaged in the view and the simple activities occurring below; the sound of a dog barking, the appearance of a tractor, a biker out for a hilly ride, a truck delivering goods and supplies and the endless chirping of birds.

Tomorrow, we’ll post the information about the flight we booked today from Venice, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya departing on September 2, 2013, a 17 plus hour journey with three plane changes.  Plus we’ll share photos of the nuances, annoyances and obstacles we’ve encountered while living in 300 year old house.

A travel day from hell in parts…A travel day in heaven for the balance….

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The menu we were each handed after taking our seats on the Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai to Barcelona.

We live and learn. 

In our “old lives” we assumed we had a moderate amount travel experience as a result of various vacations over many years, seldom if ever, encountering the trials and tribulations that we now encounter as nomads. This is especially the case for those of us who don’t go “home” to repack subsequently hauling everything we own with us every single day.

It’s somewhat similar to the turtle carrying his “house” on his back. If he/she flips over, his/her whole world is literally and figuratively upside down. That was us yesterday morning as we left Dubai, United Arab Emirates to fly to Barcelona, Spain, to stay overnight in a hotel, leaving today to board our 8th cruise since January 3, 2013.

Actually, it will be our final cruise over the next 15 to 16 months with us staying on land through July 2014:  Tuscany, Italy (beginning in less than two weeks); Diani Beach, Kenya; Kruger Park, South Africa;  Marrakesh, Morocco and Madeira, Portugal, all of which we’ll be living in single family homes from two to three months.  

Photos were taken with my phone.  Our cameras were too hard to get to when on the plane. Who knew I’d want photos of the inside of the plane anyway? This is the removable remote control that is tethered with a retractable cord, in each of our personal command stations.  The button on the right releases it from the console.
As much as we loved our two and a half months in Placencia, Belize, we also look forward to settling in to our new locations savoring the unique and varied cultural differences we will behold and cherish in our hearts, in our minds, in our photos and our writing.

Yesterday,we took our first flight since we left Minnesota on Halloween, 2012. All other transportation since leaving the US has been by way of car and cruise ship. 

This is Al Pacino playing Phil Specter in the HBO movie of the same name we both watch simultaneously on our own screens.  I watched two scary movies after this and Tom watched Lincoln, failing to remember the second of the three. 
The limitations of refusing to fly could invariably prevent us from the opportunity to experience many parts of the world. 

Thus, we booked this first flight to Barcelona, to “get our feet wet” with the realities of baggage restrictions, one way fares, time constraints, tiny airplane seats and in most cases, no meal on board.

Let’s get the yucky part over with first. The property manager arranged for our ride to the Dubai airport. With our flight at 8:15 am, Ignacio picked us up at our Dubai condo at 6:00 am sharp. If I slept three hours Sunday night, I’d be stretching it. 

Our remote in place, revealing the many options on the screen.

My phone’s alarm was set for 5:00 am. I still didn’t fall asleep until after 2:00 am having the usual “moving anxiety” that Tom and I both seem to struggle with. 

After an excruciating day on Sunday, tossing yet more “stuff” to further shrink the load, we knew our baggage was overweight. Our one large bag and carry-on bag each were stuffed to the gills, now down to one large suitcase each for clothing.

I don’t know why we got such a kick out of the remote, taking so many photos, but here it is again outside the console.  Quite nifty.  Then again, its the small things….
Our menu for the flight on Emirates Airlines. 
With the intent of facing the excess baggage reality after weighing our bags on our portable travel scale Sunday afternoon, we prepaid $415 which allowed us an included 30% discount for paying online in advance. This allowed us an extra 20 kg, which translated to 44 pounds. Our checked bags included two large suitcases and one duffel bag.
 

We knew this wasn’t enough, but hoped as we’ve done on flights in our “old lives” that perhaps we might skate through at this airport.

Ha!  No skating in Dubai!  We were required to place all of our checked luggage on a scale only to discover that we still were short, resulting in yet another payment for $240.Ouch!  Now we were in for US $655 for excess baggage fees. If we’d left the two carry on bags we’d hoped to check, we’d have had to pay yet another US $300. Tom stacked them on the wheelie cart.

If you can see this clearly, notice the verbiage at the bottom of the page where it mentions the free drinks.
Exhausted from the trying experience, including a little diplomatic pleading, we allowed ourselves a moment to sit down to catch our breath, only to look at each other simultaneously, standing knowing full well that we had better be on our way. It was already 7:10 am. We had to keep moving with the looming security check facing us. 
 

After removing our bulky boots, jackets, watches and all the carry on luggage on our carts, multiple gray plastic bins began going through the x-ray machines.  After our awful experience with the knife placed in our bin in Barcelona, we kept a watchful eye as it all went through the conveyor.

Confident that we had nothing to worry about, we stood by prepared to gather our stuff and be on our way.

No such luck.  Showing us an x-ray of one of the carry on bags, the security guard insisted we remove everything in one of the orange carry on bags to find an object that appeared to be a pair of pliers or large tweezers.   Neither of us recognized the item. 

This was Tom’s lunch.  I was so hungry I started eating my deli plate before remembering
to take the photos.  Tom ate twice, me only once, still full from breakfast. Real silverware, food wasn’t bad at all. 
One by one, still in our compression stocking feet, we started pulling every carefully packed item out the overly stuffed bag. I kept asking to see the x-ray again and again. It looked as if the item was located in the upper right hand corner of the bag. As Tom and I reviewed the x-ray over and over, we both realized simultaneously, that this wasn’t an x-ray of our bag! It was an x-ray of someone else’s bag who was now long gone.

Embarrassed by their error, needing to justify the delay, they ended up confiscating one of our extension cords and an old surge protector, leaving us with two smaller items, neither of which were in the bag in question. What? At this point, we had little energy left to argue as we repacked up our bag, put on our boots and began to make our way to Gate 36.

It was now 7:32 am. Our plane was scheduled to depart at 8:15. All we had to do was get to the gate and somehow convince the flight attendants to allow us to bring on the six carry-on items in our possession, as opposed to the allowable one item per person.

We walked and walked, seemingly to no end, with our arms loaded with stuff while Tom
amazingly wheeled the precariously stacked cart. Following sign after sign all pointing
to Gates C 1-50, we wondered when we’d ever get close to the gate. First, we had to maneuver past Concourse A 1-50, then Concourse B 1-50 to find our way toward Concourse C. 

In dire frustration, twice we stopped asking uniformed employees if we were going the right direction.They assured us that we were. Time was marching on.  Were we going to miss our flight? Our cruise ship is leaving tomorrow. No refunds. What about our checked bags? Yikes.

Finally, we saw a sign that clearly stated “Gate 36.”  Following a narrow hallway, we ended up at a bus station. Oh, no! A bus to the tarmac? 

Sitting on the bus, still not moving at 8:15, in a near panic, Tom reassured me saying, “There are over 20 passengers on this bus going on this same flight. The plane won’t take off before we get there.” 

Once again, Tom was right. Once the bus started moving it took a full 10 minutes to arrive at the tarmac while the plane waited, cabin attendants eagerly waiting at the open doors beyond movable stairway.
“Oh, no,” I thought, “This bus has taken us to a steep stairway to climb to get into the plane?  How in the world will Tom haul that 100 plus pounds of stuff up such a steep set of steps in the unsteady wheelie cart. Everyone was rushing.
Waiting to be the last getting off, we were hoping that the flight attendants, in a desperate attempt to avoid any further delays, would push our bags through.  Perhaps, that was a good decision. 

In any case, in a matter of minutes, the nature of our day totally flipped when Tom somehow maneuvered the two flights of steep steps, puffing and panting in the 90 degree heat, all the way to the plane, all without a landing to enter the rear door of the plane.  Immediately the gracious flight attendants began to help with our bags with nary a complaint or comment, showing us to our assigned seats and then…the fun began.

Much to our delight, our two assigned seats were in a grouping of three seats with the third seat unoccupied. Keep in mind, we were the last passengers to board the plane thus we felt confident that the extra seat was ours to use. 

In a matter of minutes glasses of cold water were handed to us along with our dining menus.  Tom’s face was pale. It worried me. (Having both been sick for weeks, the strain of the morning wore thin in our weakened condition). Minutes later, we discovered the remotes to our personal monitors, the free current movies and TV shows, our comfy pillows and blankets, the complimentary headset, the complimentary cocktails, beer, wine and beverages.

We looked at each other with the same thought in mind…good thing we had yet to book our future flights yet. At all costs and efforts, we plan to try to fly Emirates Airlines.

 
For the first time ever, we both felt as if we were in first class when in fact it was “coach” which proved to be a pure luxury on Emirates Airlines. Gone was our frustration over the cost of our
excess baggage, gone was the angst over the security error, gone was the tension of the late bus ride to the plane and the fear of missing the flight.
In its place was a profound feeling of pure comfort, the pleasures of impeccable friendly service, cameras shown to us from the perspective of plane’s current views from the cockpit with detailed navigational information, multiple universal plug-ins for our digital equipment, perfect lighting, air-
conditioning and a bonus of spacious restrooms.

For almost seven full hours, we had fun. We talked. We laughed. We watched three movies each.  We recharged our phones in our own universal plug ins.We were served two full meals, breakfast and four hours later, a full lunch with dessert.  They accommodated my way of eating with ease, already on the menu, not too bad tasting.  What an experience!

If we can fly the many hours to Africa on Emirates, we’ll be thrilled. That’s our next challenge.

Exiting the plane in the telescopic tube at the modern Barcelona airport was uneventful. Exchanging US $ to Euros was time consuming but at this point we weren’t rushed.  

For the second time, I’d failed to bring the address to the hotel. When we came to Hotel Grums on May 5th, I hadn’t brought it assuming the cab driver would know the location of this popular boutique hotel, often booked by cruise passengers. When he didn’t know it he only had to plug it into his navigation system with ease. 

This second time as we headed back at the same hotel, I’d let it slip my mind to bring along the
address on my phone. When the cab driver didn’t have a clue where it was, nor did he have a navigation system, he pulled out a map asking our help.  Oh, yeah. A map was going to help us. Duh?

Pulling out my laptop from the tightly packed bag, I looked up the email confirmation that I’d received from Expedia with our hotel confirmation, telling his the address. He then looked on the map locating it and asking me for confirmation. 

Twenty minutes and US $50 later we reached our hotel, checked in and found our way to our room, figured out the plug ins on our own and plopped on the bed to relax until dinner at 7:00 pm.  

With the two hour time loss, sleep would come easily after a light dinner in the dining room and an episode of Downton Abbey on my laptop in  our room.

We’d made a decision to wear the same clothes yesterday and today with only fresh underwear to avoid opening our sucked Space Bags and suitcases at all. With not an inch anywhere in our luggage, it was a wise decision. In my “old life” I’d never wear a shirt more than once with my propensity to spill food on myself. 

This morning after dressing and looking in the mirror, a quarter sized spot adorned the center of my fitted tee shirt.  A little soap and water on a washcloth, a gentle rub, a resulting big wet spot and a while later, before we left the room for coffee, the spot was gone.
The only bags we opened were the computer bags and the single duffel bags filled with our year’s worth of toiletries, cosmetics, and miscellaneous items, some required to shower and freshen up. All we’ll need to repack before we leave the hotel at 10:30 am on our way to the pier, is the duffel and the computer bags.
This morning the reality dawned on me that I’d tossed (to make room) the remainders of my 12 ounce bottle of body lotion and an 8 ounce bottle of facial wash, two brand name items I’ve used for years.  Soap for two weeks won’t kill me plus I’m hoping our cabin steward can roust up a few little bottles of lotion.
Improvise, I remind myself. As long as we’re healthy and safe, the stuff doesn’t matter. Improvise.

It’s all in the details…Four days and counting…

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Natural vegetation around our resort.

Oh, good grief!  Could there be more details to handle before we leave? It’s not as simple as packing our bags and hitting the road.  We knew this going in. 

It’s easy for me to remember how much work it was to handle a single two-week vacation. In 2011, Tom and I went to Hollywood, Florida for a convention. With social events many nights, the packing was challenging. It wasn’t a matter of a few pairs of jeans, shorts, tee shirts, a dress, underwear, and toiletries.

This wooden alligator hand-carved by a local craftsman.  Up close, the detail is riveting with individually hand-carved teeth

Yes, I’ll admit that I like a different outfit and its accompanying accessories every night.  That’s who I am.  People who know me well, get this, teasing me endlessly for my particular nature. However, I’ve tempered my need for a variety of adopting a “mix and match” philosophy, turning one outfit into many.  That seems to work well when traveling. 

Windy, cloudy day today.

So, as of today, my entire travel wardrobe, including shoes, bags, underwear, bathing suits, dress-up and casual wear is situated in two suitcases packed and ready to go.  I did it. I let “stuff” go. Tom has two large equally stuffed bags, packed and ready to go.

Our goal by the time we left Belize, was to have three large bags, packed with the items we’re letting go to send to my sister in Los Angeles to store until we need them. Right now, two of those three bags are packed. The third contains miscellaneous items we can’t let go: prescriptions, medical supplies, steamer, beach towels, etc. 

While sitting at the pool today, we met a lovely newlywed couple, but ran indoors when the skies opened to giant raindrops.

The reality, after days of sorting and resorting, is that we may end up with five large suitcases after we ship two, not three bags to Julie. The rest is carry-on. 

We will fly six times in the next 18 months:  Dubai to Barcelona, Rome to Kenya, Kenya to South Africa, South Africa to Morocco, Morocco to Madeira, Madeira to who knows where? We have 3 1/2 months to “kill” that we haven’t yet planned.) Most of these airlines have recently changed their checked bag policies. 

A few months ago, Emirates Airlines, which we’ll fly on May 21, 2013, from Dubai to Barcelona, allowed two checked bags of 30 kg (66 pounds each). Now it’s down to one bag. The cost for a 2nd bag is in the $100’s if not more depending on the weight. 

We discuss our options such as storage facilities in various locations along the way. We haven’t decided yet, but will soon.

Reading this, I am sure many may think, “GET RID OF MORE STUFF!”  Sounds practical. But, a reality few ever faced, this is everything we own. We have no home to go back to in order to repack. Many world travelers do.  Everything we own is with us in this villa right now.  EVERYTHING!  Oops! Our tax records and documents are stored with son in Nevada. 

The next detail that we finally solved was getting all of our six boarding passes printed. There was some glitch between my sending them via email to the front desk. After several attempts, I contacted our cruise guy, Joaquin, who happened to be on vacation. Alas, our guy came through sending us new PDF documents for all of our cruises.  Tim, at the desk, printed them all.  Now, we’re set all the way through to our cruise on June 4, 2013.

The cruise lines send documents to passengers, which include luggage tags one must print themselves, using sticky paper. Who has sticky paper? Not us. 

Calling the cruise lines using Skype, I verified in each case that we can get luggage tags from the porters when our bags at taken from us at the pier.  On our two earlier cruises this year, they were mailed to us. These cruise lines no longer mail the luggage tags: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, all of which we’ll be on in the next two months. 

Of course, we have our own permanent luggage tags on each of our bags but cruise lines handle so much luggage, they want the pre-printed cabin number and name on each piece of luggage to avoid delays.  Understandable. 

This morning, Tom stated, “Gee, I wonder what passengers older than us, who don’t have printers or even computers at home, manage to print their documents.”  Good point.  As I mentioned yesterday, electronic documents attached to a person’s passport or other ID would be an ideal solution. 

Yesterday, we confirmed our private shuttle for the four-hour drive to Belize City on Tuesday (on the scary road).  I kindly asked if they could have either the windows open (we couldn’t open them) this time or turn on the AC.   It was 90 humid degrees that day, resulting in four hours of hot sweaty bouncing on the rough, winding,  treacherous road. The owner of the shuttle company promised they’d have AC working.

We’re eating all of our remaining food in the freezer. Tonight, bacon cheeseburgers (no bun), pork chops, and coleslaw, an odd combination. Tomorrow, the same and Sunday, we’ve invited our local friends for homemade low carb GF pizza and salad, our favorite staple for which we have all the ingredients.

Winding down.  I keep telling Tom that within six hours of leaving here at 8:00 am Tuesday morning we’ll be on the ship, unpacking in our cabin on the Carnival Liberty (oh, please Carnival, no incidents!). I say this to comfort myself as well as Tom.

At that point, we can relax looking forward to staying put for 11 days until we switch ships at the pier in Miami for the journey across the ocean on the Norwegian Epic, a huge five-star ship.

There is nothing more we can do today. Soon, we’ll venture out to the pool for our hour of lounging in a lawn chair, dipping in the water every 15 minutes to cool off.  We’ll miss the pool, the staff, the people, our friends, the expanse of the ocean at our door, our time on the veranda, our walks along the beach, the sounds of the birds, and the breathtaking vegetation.

Soon, we’ll have a new place to embrace. It’s all good.