Laundry and football day…

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Saturnalia, a Sculptural group by Italian artist Ernesto Biondi at the botanical garden Buenos Aires in 2018. For more photos, please click here.

This morning while it was still dark, Tom bolted out of bed at 6:30, gathered up most of the laundry, and headed to the laundry room. With many RV patrons here, most without laundry facilities in their units, lately, we’ve had a hard time finding available washers and dryers.

I got up shortly after he left, stripped the bed, and gathered more dirty items, and between the two of us, we had it all done by 9:00 am. We made breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausages upon returning, re-making the bed, and putting everything away. 

With the Viking game not starting until 2:30 pm, we may not have dinner until close to 7:00 pm when we get back to our place from watching the game with Eugene at Colleen and Gene’s house. It appears the sisters will be getting together with neighbors in Margie’s home to play the popular Dominos game, Mexican Train. I prefer to watch the game with the boys since I am very interested in what transpires today.

Yesterday, I spent considerable time reorganizing my suitcase and the supplies bag, including new items we’d recently purchased. I decided against shipping any warm clothing to be stored in our large mailbox at the mailing service. 

I’d purchased all the warm clothing I’ve been wearing at excellent prices at TJ Maxx (average $12.99 per item), and it’s not worth incurring additional baggage fees when flying or bearing the cost of shipping the items back and forth. 

I can always purchase additional items along the way, which won’t be too difficult once we arrive in Europe in the spring. Also, it might be fun to buy a few cotton items while in India.

Today, Tom was reading the suggestions made by the Maharajas Express train as to what clothing we’ll need for the six-day journey. The weather is very cool in the mornings and evenings this time of year, and they suggest warm items for these periods.

It’s hard to believe we’ll be on our way to India in only 18 days. We still have a lot to do to be ready to leave. But, overall, my packing is almost complete, barring the addition of some of the warm clothing I’ve been wearing lately and a few more items I need to purchase. The same goes for Tom.

We’ve been in the US for over two months. We’ve accomplished our objectives and spent quality time with family (and some of our friends), our primary aim in returning to the US. We may not return for another two years, hoping to stay in close touch with those we love while we’re traveling.

Are we excited about heading out on the next leg of our journey? Of course, we are, very much so. And although there may be a little trepidation due to the events of the past year, we’re emotionally and physically ready to continue. 

Let’s face it, regardless of how we live our lives. There are always challenges. This nomadic life is no different. Although it may seem ideal always to be traveling with a sense of abandonment and freedom, there are always responsibilities, tasks, and unexpected events that may impede the quality of our experiences from time to time.

Nonetheless, we are in awe of the world around us and perpetually grateful to be able to live this life, with its ups and downs, with its peculiar nuances, all combined with our passion and commitment to continue to live “outside the box.”

Happy day to all!

Photo from two years ago on this date: (We hadn’t posted one year ago today due to illness):

Cactus garden at a botanical garden in Buenos Aires. For more photos, please click here.

Latest package arrived…Finding errors…

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These Hornbill mates are often very noisy around us, asking for seeds. They sure have us trained, says Tom. For more photos, please click here.

Over the past several months, we have been accumulating supplies to travel with us that have been waiting to be shipped to us in Arizona. While doing so, we don’t have the opportunity to inspect each item, each piece of mail, or each article of clothing we purchase when it arrives at the mailing service. Returns are an unlikely possibility.

As a result, we’re meticulous in what we choose to buy online, ensuring the quality of products, proper sizing, and receipt of the items. In the process, it may be challenging to determine what has arrived and what hasn’t.
 
Our mailing service enters receipt of items as they arrived by such comments in their online app, such as “Amazon, small gray bag.” They have 100’s of customers receiving packages. Opening the item itself and taking a photo would be a time-consuming process they do not offer.

However, they will open mail, scan it and place it in the system to see at the cost of $2.00 per page. We request this service on occasion. We can tell, based on who the sender is, if we need to have it scanned.

We had a good idea of what should have been in the 40-pound box but weren’t sure about some items. It’s the nature of our lifestyle, and we comfortably live with it as we continue on our travels.Last night when the package finally arrived at 7:00 pm by UPS, we couldn’t open it fast enough, especially when I suspected a few items wouldn’t be there.

One was the Cardiac Watch, which I’d ordered a few months ago. It wasn’t in the box. Immediately, I contacted the company, and they apologized that the order got “screwed up,” and it was never sent. They promised it would go out in today’s mail. Hmm, I’m suspicious of this one. We’ll see if it arrives.

I noted it on my calendar, and if it doesn’t arrive within a week, I will ask for a refund and, if that’s a problem, I’ll contact the credit card company to resolve the issue. They are very good at handling such matters.

Also, the two sets of earpieces we’d ordered from Google were missing from the box or our phones. The wireless versions were “out of stock” for months to come, and with the $100 credit we had at Google, we went ahead and ordered the wired versions, which also weren’t in the box. I’ll check on this today.Then, the most annoying news of all was from the state department. They didn’t like the photos we’d included with our four-year passport applications, which we’d processed in Minnesota in December.

This morning we headed to Walgreens and started over, having new photos done, heeding their comments in the included letters, hoping the new photos would be satisfactory.

After grocery shopping at Safeway, we drove to the closest post office in Apache Junction and mailed the photos in the provided envelopes with the letters. Whether the passports arrive at our mailing service before we leave the US remains to be seen. 

If they don’t arrive on time, we’ll have them mailed to us once we arrive in the UK in a few months. Sending them to India would be impossible for several reasons.

Then, a bill for $157.50 from the Urgent Care facility we visited in Minnesota shortly after we arrived when the cough and virus I had was becoming unmanageable. We’d paid in full for the services at the time.

Since we had no US insurance that covered such care, they required we pay the entire bill in advance of $189 to be seen. This morning I called their billing department, and they acknowledged the bill was an error. They removed it from their system.

Speaking of medical bills, today, after receiving the invoice, I paid for my visit to the Minneapolis Heart Institute. We suspected it would be as high as $800, but much to our surprise, the hour-long appointment with a highly competent cardiologist, was $449. 

After doing considerable research from equally competent cardiologists and medical centers worldwide, I discovered that those patients not taking statins do well with a litany of supplements that have been found to aid in cardiovascular disease.

I ordered the supplements online from Puritan’s Pride when they were having a sale, “buy two, get four free.” Oh my goodness, there were dozens of bottles of supplements in the box.

Last night Tom and I consolidated the bottles when often the bottles were only filled one-quarter full. We narrowed it down considerably, and this morning we loaded them into the third supply suitcase, and they fit well. 

You would not believe the trash generated as we opened the box of items. It practically refilled the entire box the items were shipped in. Whew!  All I have left to do today is go through the many packages containing the three prescribed medications I take and reduce that to a minimum. 

We’re staying at the same hotel in Mumbai on both ends of our two months in India. We’ll likely have them hold some of our luggage until we return to board the cruise in April.

Today, we’ll work on a few remaining projects and financial matters and stay in tonight for a great dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes (for Tom), veggies and salad. There are no big plans for the weekend other than watching the Minnesota Vikings game tomorrow. We’re rather excited about that!

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, January 10, 2019:

This is Basket, the Bully, who scares off all the other warthogs, including Little and Little’s Friend. For more photos, please click here.

The cost of our upcoming 55 day private tour in India…

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A dazzle of zebras in an open field, from one year ago post. For more, please click here.
Yesterday, we paid the balance of India’s upcoming 55-night private tour, which begins in Delhi immediately after the six-night tour on the Maharajas Express. This luxury train travels from Mumbai to Dehli.

Of course, the cost of this tour is daunting, along with the cost of the train excursion. We thought long and hard deciding if these decisions made sense considering our budget.

But, one thing we knew for sure. We had 55 days to spend in India until the cruise from Mumbai to London on April 3, 2020. There was no way it made sense to attempt to book this extended period when we knew nothing about the country.

Having a professional, highly experienced company making arrangements for all the hotel reservations, flights, and tour guides, made all the sense in the world. 

We specified what we wanted to see and do. The tour was arranged, including all those requests, such a staying in the beautiful lake town of Udaipur and embarking on a few tiger safaris in different national parks. 

We realize the possibility of actually seeing a tiger is relatively slim when there are only 3000 tigers in the entire country. But, we were willing to take that chance. Perhaps safari luck will prevail. Besides, there is other wildlife we’ll see in the national parks such as:

“Indian safaris are anything but tame. Elephants, rhinos, reptiles, bears, and wild dogs roam the lush rainforests, while snow leopards make lonely footprints in the Himalayan snow. Of course, the holy grail of any safari is in seeing the big cats, and in India, that means the elusive wild tiger.”

No doubt, we’ll be posting many photos along the way, not only of wildlife but also the sites we tour; the culture; the architecture; historic and significant buildings; exquisite scenery; local food, and of course, its people.

The magnitude of this tour is daunting. We never imagined being on a private tour for so many days and nights, staying in many hotels, flying on many flights to get from place to place. We’ll undoubtedly be busy and hopefully treasuring every moment.
 
Subsequently, the cost of the 55-nights tour is as follows:
US Dollars $9,765 Per Person US Dollars $19,530
Total US Dollars $19,530
Amount Paid US Dollars $9,765
Balance due 10 January 2020 US Dollars $9,765 (we paid this balance yesterday)The average daily cost is $355.09, $121.75 more per day than what we usually spend to travel each month, not including cruises. Keep in mind; this also included being picked up at the Mumbai Airport when we arrived, a hotel two nights before the train, and transportation.
Most dinners, cocktails, and tips are not included. Breakfasts are included at all of the hotels. We don’t know what the cost of dinners will be and the tips will be paid based on performance.

In all, these expenses could result in an additional $4,000 to $5,000 for the entire period, which we’ll pay as we go. We have already paid in full for the train and will only incur additional tips and drinks.

We realize this is expensive, but, in essence, it’s no more costly than a typical cruise and, in many cases, less. It’s all relative. After the trials of this past year, we decided to take advantage of as many opportunities that appeal to us that we can afford. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Yes, we’ve said this before, the “once in a lifetime” thing. But, then again, our entire lives are a “once in a lifetime experience.” We are grateful, more than words can express, and humbled by the world and its people, places, and wildlife.

In a mere 20 days, the journey continues. Stay with us as you have during this quiet time. The adventure is soon to begin again.

May your day be purposeful and fulfilling!

Photo from one year ago today, January 9, 2019:

A hippo on a bit of island in the Crocodile River. For more photos, please click here.

The challenges of dining out in Arizona…Ultimately, weather-related reasons…

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When we visited friends Kathy and Don in Pretoria, South Africa, one year ago, we visited this monument, the Voortrekker Monument, an unusual-looking structure located in Pretoria, South Africa. When I walked up all these steps (not all steps we tackled are shown in the photo) without getting out of breath or having any health issues. A little over a month later, I had open-heart surgery with three main arteries 100% blocked. Who knew? For more photos from this date, please click here.

Let’s face it, many of the patrons of restaurants in the area are seniors, based on varying stats online from several sites, none of which I will quote based on this variable.

But, overall, it appears approximately 25% or more of the population of Arizona consists of “snowbirds,” those who migrate to the state during the colder winter months from other parts of the US and other countries.


Some have moved here to live year-round, even with the sweltering summers in the Arizona desert. Some have chosen to live in cooler summer temperatures, such as stated here from this news article at this site:

“When the temperatures heat up in the Valley, many head north to escape the heat, but where is the coolest place to go?

Let’s start with a popular destination, Flagstaff. On average, in July, the afternoon high temperatures are 25 degrees cooler compared to Phoenix. In perspective, the average high temperature in Phoenix during July is 106 degrees, while Flagstaff comes in at a cool 81 degrees. 

While Sedona is also a popular place to escape the heat in the Valley of the Sun, it is on average only about 10 degrees cooler compared to Phoenix.
So where is one of the coolest places in Arizona to go to escape the heat? That would be Greer, coming in with an average high temperature for July of only 76 degrees! 

That is, on average, 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix.
Here are a few other northern Arizona locations, along with their average high temperatures during the month of July:

Grand Canyon: 86°
Holbrook: 93°
Payson: 91°
Prescott: 89°
Show Low: 86°
Williams: 83°
Winslow: 95°”

Here are the average temperatures in Apache Junction during the summer months:

“Apache Junction, AZ
Month High / Low
June 103° / 71
July 105° / 78°
August 103° / 76° “
It’s no wonder that most seniors who purchase or rent homes live in Arizona during the cooler winter months. Subsequently, a tremendous number of seniors dining out on any given day/night of the week.
Since we arrived here a month ago (as of tomorrow), we’ve only dined out during lunchtime or by 3:00 pm. These times were busy but not outrageously so.
At 4:30 pm, the seven of us arrived at a popular Italian restaurant, Babbo, located about 10 minutes from here in Mesa. As soon as we walked in the door, we knew we’d have a long wait. People were lined up outside, 90% of whom were seniors, dining out early as most seniors seem to prefer.
Also, seating a table of seven would be tricky when tables would have to be set up specifically to accommodate our small group when most tables and booths were for four diners.
It made no sense to leave to go to another restaurant, since, if the food was good as it is at Babbo, we’d encounter the same scenario at other restaurants mostly attended by seniors. (No reservations are allowed unless made 24 hours in advance which we hadn’t done).
We waited patiently for 45 minutes until we were seated, with our eyes on a table of eight that were eating, hoping they’d leave soon. At such a busy place, it appeared patrons dine and leave shortly thereafter rather than remain in idle conversation.
The smells in the restaurant of freshly baked bread and Italian spices sent me to the moon. But, ahead of time, I’d scoured their online menu to find they had many suitable full meal dinner salads that would work for me.
I ordered a steak and blue cheese salad with walnuts, roasted peppers, and mushrooms. It was delicious. Tom had spaghetti and meatballs, which he seemed to enjoy, along with the warm crusty bread served with dipping oil. The sisters and spouses enjoyed their meals as well.
As busy as the restaurant was, the service was excellent. In no time at all, we forgot about our long wait. By 6:00 pm, we were out the door heading back to the resort.
We spent the evening back at our place, watching a few downloaded shows, relaxing, and later getting a good night’s sleep.
This morning, after receiving a few email messages from the law firm in South Africa, we reviewed the documents, signed as indicated, and asked how we’ll pay for the guaranteed maximum fees. With the time difference, we won’t hear back until tomorrow.
Today is another low-key day. I’ll do my usual walk, and this evening, we’ll cook bone-in chicken breasts on the grill. Yesterday was a blissfully 72-degree day but today, it’s in the 50s and 60s, a little cool to spend much time outdoors.
May your day be blissfully comfortable!

Photo from one year ago today, January 8, 2019:

Exquisite paintings and tapestries lined a number of walls at The Voortrekker Museum. For more photos, please click here.

Time flies…Emotions remain…Visa waiver attorney located…

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One year ago today, we continued to have such a fantastic weekend celebrating Don’s birthday while staying at their gorgeous home in Pretoria. This photo was taken at a Mexican restaurant with 10 of us in attendance, again celebrating Don’s birthday. For more photos, please click here.

Time flies. It’s mind-boggling when we refer back to an event from one year ago when in actuality, it seems as if it was only yesterday. I often wonder if it felt the same years ago when we were younger. It’s easy to remember events. It’s not always easy to remember how we felt during “ordinary” times.

During periods of sorrow, worry and stress, we can easily recall our feelings many years back. During periods when life was relatively uneventful, we struggle to remember how we felt at the time. It’s ironic. 

It’s no wonder any of us can fall prey to becoming emotionally engaged in less desirable-times-past, carrying them as baggage into the future. This past year will be decorated in my mind for years to come, regardless of how well I’m feeling physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

The only baggage I want to carry with me into the future is our single suitcases filled with clothing and shoes, our third bag of supplies, and three miscellaneous carry-on bags.

No doubt, my level of ease, comfort, and happiness has been tempered. Will I ever return to those carefree days? By no means am I down or depressed? I feel optimistic about the future. There’s so much ahead of us, bringing both of us a powerful sense of anticipation, joy, and contentment.

But, the facts remain. Can we visit some of the highly remote areas we’d considered in the past, far from quality medical care? Are we at risk during month-long cruises or during extended periods in rural areas in countries where medical care is questionable?

We wish we had an easy answer. As we plan the over six months, we have to fill in and around Europe before the cruise ends in Cape Town, South Africa. We considered many facts on December 2, 2020.

Hanging over our heads is the visa waiver issue in South Africa (resulting from overstaying our visas due to my heart surgery in February, requiring us to stay an additional almost three months). 

If this issue isn’t resolved by the time the ship is ready to set sail, we won’t board or. We’d have significant problems at the end of the cruise. Of course, we won’t take that risk.

Instead, in the past 24 hours, we have contacted an immigration attorney in South Africa who is working on our file. The firm has a 98% success rate of resolving immigration issues such as these. The fee for services is ZAR (Rand) 30000, which translates to US $2,101. 

We’ve decided to move forward rather than be banned from South Africa until 2024. Plus, we don’t want an “undesirable” status to be a part of our passport records.

The law firm estimates it will take eight to twelve weeks to get the issue resolved. It will be fantastic to have this behind us. We’ve provided the law firm with all of the necessary documents, and they will send us a contract with a statement for services which we’ll handle this week to proceed with the process.

There’s no such thing as a “free lunch,” as the saying goes. Everything in life has its pluses and minuses, its rewards, and its consequences. But, how we choose to handle the challenges ultimately determines the quality of our lives.

As we move forward into this next phase of our lives, of our world travels, we strive to do so with the determination, the hope, and the joy we so much enjoyed in the past, long before we were faced with these challenges.

In a mere 22 days, we’ll continue on our long and fruitful journey, hopefully with many more years to come.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 7, 2019:

Last year on this date, our party of 10 consisted of (from left to right) Kathy, Linda, Tom,  Don, Keith, Ken, Cynthia, Robin and Karen with me taking the photo. For more photos, please click here.

Knocking down the “to do” list…Contacted an immigration attorney in South Africa…

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One year ago today… Tom and I hid in the bedroom, and once the others arrived for Don’s birthday, we suddenly appeared to be surprising everyone.  In the background are Keith (Don’s brother) and Ken, with Don and Linda in the center and Robin and Karen in the foreground.  It was a fun surprise. We had a fantastic stay with Kathy and Don. For more photos, please click here.

It was a quiet but good weekend. We had a happy hour party here on Friday night and attended a party by the pool on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings won their game, making Sunday special.

Last night, we laid back and watched a few shows, including Jack Ryan on Amazon and a good show we’d downloaded on Graboid, The Resident, a medical series we’d missed along the way. 

The Resident would be a tremendous binge-watching series, but right now, we don’t want to take the time to be watching too many shows. We have other “fish to fry” while also participating in a multitude of social events with the sisters and other locals.

When I finish the daily posts and respond to any email messages from our readers/friends, the day passes quickly. Then, there’s dinner to prepare each day, our almost daily walks, cleaning and laundry (every four days), financial matters to attend to, leaving little time for research and planning for the future.

As far as research goes, we’ve made some headway in the past few days. So far, it appears Scotland, like Spain and Portugal, has some beautiful holiday homes within our budget. We’ve enjoyed doing the research and need to focus on this in the next several weeks.

Today, I ordered the shipment of our accumulating supplies at our mailing service in Nevada. It should arrive by the end of the week. Once it comes, we’ll assess any additional items we may need and have them shipped to us in Apache Junction, or in the worst case, I’ll head out shopping.

I don’t enjoy shopping in stores, although I didn’t always feel that way in my old life. The varied selections and the abundance of items can be daunting, making the process somewhat unpleasant. I don’t think that way about grocery shopping which has always been enjoyable.

This morning, after researching online and reading many reviews, I found a South African immigration attorney to whom I wrote an inquiry explaining our situation, asking if they could assist and their fees for such services. 

The time difference makes it difficult to call during their regular business hours from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. We’re hoping they will assist in expediting this immigration issue, enabling us to sail on the cruise arriving in Cape Town on December 2, 2020. We’ll report back what we hear.

Once we arrive in India, the time difference will only be three hours making any necessary phone calls more practical time-wise than now while in the US. 

Today, I sent another email requesting an update from Home Affairs in South Africa, the department which handles immigration issues for locals and foreigners. We’ll see if they respond.

The research will continue after we clean the house. The kitchen and bathroom are done. All that’s left is vacuuming the floors (Tom does this) and washing them with the mop (my job). It didn’t make sense to hire a cleaner for this small place, and now that I’m feeling well, I can share in the process.

However, in future full-sized vacation homes, we’ll hire a once-a-week cleaner as we had in the past when such a service wasn’t included in the rent. Heavy-duty cleaning is not something either of us cares to do in our retirement.

That’s it for today, folks! We hope you had a fantastic weekend and all is well your way!

Photo from one year ago today, January 6, 2019:

One year ago…Two hippos we spotted when visiting Rita and Gerhard’s temporary condo at Ngwenya in South Africa on Thursday evening. For more photos, please click here.

Football day in the neighborhood…Planning for the future…

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On this date in 2016, we were in Sydney, Australia, about to board our ship for a 14-night cruise to Auckland, New Zealand. Our hearts go out to all of the people of Australia who are dealing with the horrific fires throughout the continent and to all of the firefighters and first responders who sacrifice their lives in an attempt to extinguish the rampant fires. For more photos from this date, please click here.

Yesterday, we attended the 3:00 pm party by the pool. When it started, it was a pleasant 70F (21C), but by 4:30 when the sun was no longer shining on our table of eight, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. 


We’d dressed for the warmer temperature, but when the sun wafted away, and we were left in the shade, we decided to head back to our “park model” (as they call the permanent homes in RV parks). It was simply too cold to sit there the way we were dressed.

Tom picked up Margie at the Mesa airport at around 10:30 pm to return from her granddaughter’s wedding in Minnesota on New Year’s Eve. I stayed behind when he left to pick her up at almost 10:20 (her plane was late) while Eugene accompanied him.

They all met at Colleen’s place to catch up with Margie and eat chicken and coleslaw at 11:00 pm when they returned. Tom returned to our place by 1:00 am, and I awoke immediately to greet him. We both fell asleep in no time.

Today is another Minnesota Vikings football day with the game broadcast on local TV. We won’t get together with everyone today since it’s easier for all of us to watch it, if interested, on our TV. There will be plenty of gathering in the upcoming weeks.

Watching football isn’t my favorite pastime, but I do enjoy watching the Vikings play, perhaps because I know how much Tom wants it and my two sons, Richard and Greg, who both are quite enthusiasts.

Today is an otherwise quiet day for me. Tom will watch other football games for which I have little interest. To keep busy, I’ll continue to work on the new 2020 travel spreadsheet, transferring pertinent data and conducting more research for the six months we’ll spend in Europe this coming spring and summer.

We’ve decided we’ll stay in Spain and Portugal during our last two-plus months and now must decide where we’ll stay in the first four months, most likely in and around the UK, to avoid the Schengen visa requirements.

At this point, the possibilities that appeal to us are Scotland and the island of Jersey, where we could easily spend two months in each location. Today, I’ll begin researching these areas. We’ve already found several great possibilities in Spain and Portugal.

Once we decide on the itinerary and appealing holiday homes, we’ll begin booking the locations. As much as we enjoyed moving every few weeks in England this past fall, we’ll welcome staying put a month or two at a time after the constant moving while in India.

Sunday dinner will be easy today, a spiral sliced ham, rice for Tom, green beans, and salad. To avoid drying out the ham, we’ll only warm small sections at a time since it’s already cooked. Spiral sliced ham may become dry when baked in the oven to reheat. It will be a quiet day, relatively uneventful, which can “change on a dime” and fast become another day of socializing. We’ll see how it all rolls out.

May you have a restful and peaceful Sunday!

Photo from one year ago today, January 5, 2019:

We drove for five hours to Kathy and Don’s home in Pretoria, South Africa. Don, on his birthday, knocked lemons off the tree in their yard for us to take back to Marloth Park. We stayed for four nights at their lovely home. For more details, please click here.

Seven years ago…Accomplishing tasks feels good!…

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On this date in 2014, similar to the main photo in this post of December 14th, once again, we looked toward the driveway to discover giraffes coming our way. What a glorious sight! Click here for the post from this date.

We knew we embarked on a long journey when we left Minnesota to begin our world travel on October 31, 2012. We never imagined we’d be traveling in 2020 or beyond.

We began a road trip to Arizona, where we rented a holiday home for two months, thinking it might be a good idea to stay for future reference. Would we consider Arizona as a possible permanent home when we decided to end our journey? 

We stayed in Old Towne in a condo where we worked on the balance of the tasks we had ahead of us for two months before we could officially leave the US on January 3, 2013, seven years ago. 

Yesterday, Tom reminded me of this fact after I’d already uploaded the post. At that time, we didn’t know how to take photos and barely included photos in our posts until later on.
As a result, we decided to write this story today.
During this period, we also rented another holiday home in Henderson, Nevada, where Tom’s sisters and spouses stayed with us during Christmas while other family members came to spend time with us: son Richard from Henderson, cousin Phyllis from Massachusetts, and her two adult daughters, Robin and Wendy and, my sister Julie, all from California. We had a fantastic time.

After the holidays we returned to the condo in Arizona and spent the remainder of December continuing to complete the tasks we had on the agenda including purchasing and setting up new digital equipment.

On New Year’s Day, we headed to San Diego and spent two nights with niece Kely and her husband Dennis at their lovely home in San Diego where our first cruise on the Celebrity Century was sailing away on January 3, 2013.

We’d never been on a cruise, but as boaters in Minnesota, we had no doubt we’d enjoy being on the water. Also, we were confident we’d never be seasick. Our assessment was correct. We love cruising and have never been seasick.

Here’s the link to the day we boarded our first cruise.

Our mouths were agape during the entire cruise. Not only were we in awe of the outstanding itinerary and beautiful ship, but we were also enthralled by the social interactions that continued day after day. 

Those first few days, we were so naive about cruising we booked tables for two at dinner in the main dining room. We were having a great time together, but in only a few days, we got into the groove and started booking “shared dining” in the main dining room, and the good times escalated.

If you’d like to read about this first cruise, please click the above link or visit our archives on the right side of the page beginning January 3, 2013. You will easily be able to read through the excitement of that first cruise which ultimately shaped our opinion of cruises which hasn’t changed much over the years.

As a part of my tasks mentioned in yesterday’s post, I needed to start updating our new 2020 Excel spreadsheet, including a page for cruises only. At this point, we have five cruises booked, including the upcoming cruise from Mumbai, India on April 3, 2020, which ends in London on May 2, 2010, an entire 29-day cruise.

We cringed when it was required to pay for the entire expensive Mumbai cruise fare at the time of the booking, but now, we’re happy to have that behind us. Now, it’s imperative to begin booking holiday homes for the six-months between the Mumbai cruise and the cruise returning to Africa for which we’ve yet to be provided a visa waiver. 

On Monday, with the holiday season over, we’ll start making phone calls to find an immigration lawyer in South Africa to assist us with the issue. That item was on yesterday’s to-do list. The time difference is quite an issue.

As a matter of fact, from the seven items we’d listed in yesterday’s post, we are down to only four things when we immediately got to work accomplishing these tasks. More on this later.

Last night, we had a happy hour get-together at our place with the family and our two new neighbors. Today, there’s a party by the pool at 3:00 pm, which we’ll attend with the family and other locals who’ll gather around our table.

And then, there were nine! Tonight, at 10:00 pm, we’ll pick up Margie from the Mesa airport, and our family group of seven will be complete. However, within the next few weeks, another of Tom’s sisters, Rita, will arrive from South Dakota and, Mary and Eugene’s son Kevin (Tom’s nephew) will also come. The good times continue.

May you be experiencing good times with your family and friends in the New Year!

Photo from one year ago today, January 4, 2019:

One year ago today, we spotted young zebras running around a circular path playfully chasing one another. For more photos, please click here.

Making a list…Checkin’ it twice!…

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On this date in 2016, we posted this photo of a vegetable stand where we purchased most of our produce during the 28-day stay in Pacific Harbour, Fiji. For more from that date, including final expenses for Fiji, please click here.

With the new year upon us and only 26 days remaining until we leave for India, we’ve begun to put the wheels in motion to get everything for our departure.

Last night, I began compiling for our departure, including the following:

1. Compile a box of cold weather clothing and ship it to our mailing service in Nevada to hold until we need it again. We are glad we’d purchased warm items in Minnesota, Nevada, and Arizona with the cold weather. This morning it was 35F (1.7C). It makes no sense to bring these items to India, but we may need them again during the year.
2. Order the box of supplies we have awaiting us at the mailing service in Nevada.
3. Contact an immigration attorney to begin working on our visa waiver for South Africa.
4. Contact United Healthcare Global with questions, and purchase an annual health insurance policy for the two of us.
5. Reorganize our supplies suitcase to lighten the load.
6. Purchase a list of items we’ll need for India and in the future; socks for both of us, a belt for Tom, and cool summery tops for me.
7. Start transferring data from our current Excel spreadsheet to our new workbook that is relevant for 2020 only.

Each of these items could take some time, but I must get to work with the days ticking down. The list falls into the categories of tasks that I perform, not Tom. He has “other fish to fry,” and his time will come soon enough to get to work.

Traveling the world isn’t a laid back as some may perceive. Last night while we had Shark Tank on the TV in the background, I scrolled through over 500 listings in Homeaway.com for Portugal. 

With our next cruise departing from Lisbon, it makes sense to spend the last few months near Portugal before we sail away on November 10th. Last night’s research proved fruitful when I found dozens of possibilities in and around Lisbon. Today, Tom and I will go through these together.

With the European Schengen visa restrictions, we have to be very careful not to stay in Europe too long, especially when part of the cruise will be visiting a few ports of call in the Schengen area that count toward our total allowable days.

It was these restrictions that caused us an immigration problem in Australia when we’d been on the continent a few days too long due to being on a cruise. The cruise was considered a “closed-loop” when sailing from Perth to Sydney (with several ports of call in New Zealand), and all the days we were cruising counted toward our maximum time on the continent. We won’t let this happen again.

They are making lists that have always been helpful to me. Although they are hardly New Year’s resolutions, our timing precipitates getting them done.

Today, we’ll work on more research, and I’ll try to knock off a few items on the “to do” list. So far, there are no plans for social activities tonight, but one never knows. They often pop up at the last minute in this senior community.

May your New Year list provides you with a sense of accomplishment we’re looking forward to over the next several days.

Photo from one year ago today, January 3, 2019:

In Marloth Park, one year ago today, one of our two favorite frogs took up residence in this cute little decorative basket near the pool on the veranda. We couldn’t stop laughing! For more photos, please click here.

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!…A new year, a new decade, a new beginning…

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On this date in 2013, this foot-long insect on the wall by the bathroom door in the master bedroom made us cringe.  Sleep didn’t come easy the remainder of that night, fearing that the rains of the previous few days may have brought more of these ugly things indoors. Tom, as always, disposed of it outdoors, but of course, didn’t kill it.  For more photos from that date, please click here.

Many times in the past seven years, we’ve chronicled our year in review on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. In tomorrow’s post, we’ll list where we traveled in 2019 with snippets of what transpired during those travels. 

As our readers know so well, this has been a tough year for us when on February 12th, I had triple coronary bypass surgery with many complications. We won’t get into all of that. 

We’ve said enough and appreciate the patience of our readers who saw us through that difficult time and stayed with us, continuing to read our daily posts. That month I only uploaded 16 posts when I could not prepare posts during the first two weeks after surgery. 

In tomorrow’s post, we‘ll breeze by that period when in May we were “on the move” once again, albeit with a certain amount of trepidation and fear.

Instead, now, we look to the future with hope and optimism that we’ll be able to continue for years to come. But, we’ve both decided over the past few months that we cannot and will not dwell on fear or apprehension of what could happen. 

We could all get caught up in this state of mind, even those in great health. None of us know what the future holds and we can only do our best to maintain good health and a good attitude which ultimately may be instrumental in our quality of life and longevity.

Most of us can look back at our prior year and recall various circumstances causing us to worry and be concerned for ourselves, our loved ones, our circumstances. No one is exempt.

And, most of us choose to move forward, learn from our experiences, good and bad, and continue on the path we’ve chosen for our lives or in some cases choose a new path as we had done over seven years ago. It changed everything.

Rather than New Year’s resolutions, we find it helpful to look back over the past year to determine what we have learned, changes we have made and the changes we need to make going forward. 

It’s highly individual and we cannot imply or suggest that any of our readers/friends follow such a path. But, we find a sense of comfort moving into the New Year knowing we are doing the best we can to maintain a quality of life that brings us both joy and contentment. 

That being said, we wish each and every one of our readers a meaningful and purposeful New Year that fulfills your needs and wishes and brings you joy and contentment as well.

Happy New Year!

Photo from one year ago, December 31, 2019:

Adorable giraffe at rest in Marloth Park. For more photos, please click here