Photos from the Panama Canal transit…

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Our ship, the Celebrity Century as in went under the Bridge of the Americas, soon to be demolished in 2014 when the new locks open in 2014. A newer bridge, the Centennial Bridge, will be considerably higher to accommodate huge ships.
Here are our a few of our photos of the Panama Canal. What a day we had! We are humbled by the ingenuity to design and build the canal almost 100 years ago and deeply respect the thousands of lives given and lost for this mind-boggling undertaking.
A container freighter ahead of us in line to enter the first set of locks, the Miraflores Locks
This morning we docked in the city of Colon, Panama.  Soon, we’ll venture off the ship to walk around the charming little town, reporting back later what we’ve seen.
The opening of one of the double set of gates at the locks.
The past five nights, we’ve been dining at group shared tables, meeting new people each night.  We’ve had a blast. It was such fun to share the transit of the canal with many of them up in the Hemisphere Bar, with front row seats for the ten plus hours we maintained our seats. 
Another freighter ahead of us in line at the locks.
Yesterday, we watched the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean and then set in the Atlantic Ocean.  This experience is only possible in a 12-hour time frame or less, by water, at the Panama Canal. 
Here I am perched atop our viewing area at the bow of the ship, in air-conditioned comfort.  We reserved these excellent seats at 5:15 am!
We were exhausted after an early start on the long day of Panama Canal viewing, but joyful and grateful for the experience.  All we needed was a good night’s sleep.

Our transit through the Panama Canal…Watch us live!

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Here’s the link of our passage through the Panama Canal
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

If you’ll go to this site right now, we are currently approaching the Gatun Locks.  By clicking on the webcam view for the High-Resolution Gatun Locks, you may be able to see our ship, the navy blue and white Celebrity Century, approaching the entrance to the Gatun Locks, currently in line behind several humungous ships.  Based on the poor Internet connection aboard ship, I am unable to load our photos now as I post this. However, this webcam view will show you what we’re able to see.

At 5:15 this morning we quickly managed our way to the 12th floor of the Celebrity Century to the Hemisphere Bar, the highest point on the ship except for the navigation bridge.  We wanted to ensure we grabbed two comfy padded front row chairs facing the full glass wall at the bow of the ship, a firsthand view of the upcoming Panama Canal.
In a mere two and a half hours, we’d begin the eight to ten-hour journey through the canal commencing at the Miraflores Locks.
After a fitful night’s sleep of only three hours, we both bolted out of bed at exactly the same moment when the sounds of the ship changed from a familiar purr to a rumbling series of roars indicating we were slowing down. It was 4:00 am.
Over the past two days, we discussed various strategies as to how and where we’d secure an advantageous spot for viewing the transit through the canal, hopefully in air-conditioned comfort at the bow of the ship. 

The air, thick and murky with dense humidity left us glistening and sweaty as the hot wind licked at our faces on the long outdoor walk past the pool to the 12th floor. 

Our trusty coffee mugs, loaded with a mixture of lukewarm regular and decaf would have to last us the few hours until we were willing to leave our seats for fear of losing a moment of the exhilarating view.
Comfortably ensconced in those perfectly positioned chairs provided us with a bird’s eye view of the “road ahead” or shall I say, the “canal ahead.” We were content.
A lively conversation ensued as others, as anxious as us, found their way to nearby seats, they too with fantastic views.  With nary a thought of our exhaustion until hours later, our heightened senses were tuned in for this adventure, the Panama Canal from the best seat in the house, an experience of a lifetime, one of many yet to come. 

Oh my, we’re so grateful. How did this happen to us? How did we manage to unload everything we owned, leaving our family and friends behind, to follow this newly discovered dream of spreading our wings in a much wider expanse than we’d ever imagined, to travel the world, to be free of hearth and home, while carrying “heart and home” with us?

As we entered the first of five locks on our way from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans, Tom with his extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the canal, narrated the process for me, while in the background the voice of Panama’s “Ambassador” and our onboard educator, Uncle Marty blared over the loudspeaker.

With literally no audible sound or sensation, our huge 830-foot long, ship, gently maneuvered through the first three locks, utilizing the power of aquatic gravity along with the use of six low gear locomotives drawing us forward through the Miraflores Locks to 54 feet above sea level. 

Eventually, we made our way through the third and final “raising” lock to a high of 85 feet above sea level and into Gatun Lake, a man-made reservoir that supplies Panama
Canal.

Amazing!  Purely amazing!  Simple gravity coupled with a small amount of motorized assistance is still working almost 100 years later. That feat, in itself, is mind-boggling.

Soon, we were traveling through Gaylord Cut, the nine-mile winding section of the canal at a snail’s pace, passing tankers, cargo ships, and container ships, one after another during the nine-mile crossing through the lake.

We passed by Gold Hill, the continental divide on our long journey to the remaining three lowering locks to eventually take us out to the sea, the Atlantic/Caribbean Sea. It’s all so hard to believe. 

This morning the sun came up over the Pacific but due to our location, we had a sense that the sun was rising in the west.  This evening, the sun will set in the Atlantic, again perceived as setting in the east as opposed to the west.  An odd phenomenon, for sure.

Soon, we’ll enter the locks and finally be back out to sea.  We’d love to post photos, but our Internet connection is barely able to post the text.

Exhausted? Yes!  Exhilarated? Yes!

Ah, our amazing world yet to be discovered by us as we continue on

Watch us live via webcam as we go through the Panama Canal…

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http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
Above is the link to watch live as we go through the Panama Canal beginning at 6:30 am Eastern time, Sunday morning.  Follow us live through the various locks using this link progressively as indicated.
Tomorrow morning at 6:30 am Eastern time our ship will arrive at the entrance of the Miraflores Locks at the beginning of the Panama Canal.  We’ll transit the canal in an 8 to 10 hour period, going through a variety of locks and dams and also the man-made Gatun Lake that facilitates the millions of gallons of water supporting the canal. 
The Panama Canal’s rich history is highlighted on numerous websites, including the above live webcam site at:  www.pancanal.com, also on www.visitpanama.com.
Over the past week, Tom and I have attended five fascinating seminars outlining the history of the canal presented by “Uncle Marty” a diplomatic representative for the country of Panama.
Tomorrow morning at 6:30 am, we’ll be firmly planted in an ideal spot for viewing the transition through the canal along with the other 1816 Celebrity Century passengers.
Today, Saturday, January 12th, we’ll roam about the ship searching for the most advantageous viewing spot we can find. Hopefully, we’ll park ourselves in that spot early enough to ensure we can watch from the starboard (right) side of the ship, which appears to be most advantageous.
Since we’ll be close to land, we’ll be able to use our XcomGlobal Mi-Fi device to upload some photos along the way.  Especially interesting to us is the fact that our ship at times, will have less than 24″ of space between the ship and the canal’s sidewalls. Certainly, we’ll upload photos of this surprising scenario.

The canal is being renovated to be completed in December 2014 to allow larger ships to transit from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans (and vise versa) to avoid the over 7500-mile journey around the horn of South America transitioning from the one ocean to the other, an engineering
feat, that opened on August 15, 1914.

The estimated cost for our ship, the Celebrity Century, to go through the canal is approximately  US $350,000, the exact amount to be determined by the canal authorities after our transition.

Please stay tuned for facts and photos as we experience this passage, for which we are both so grateful to include in our year’s long adventures.

Walmart in Mexico?…What?…

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Last night’s view from the deck of our ship, the Celebrity Century, overlooking another ship in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Over the years, we’ve chuckled that we aren’t the best photographers. Our subjects are usually off-center, blurry, and often unrecognizable. Laughing about our lack of photo-taking skills over the years, we’ve depended upon family members taking photos of memorable occasions, storing them helter-skelter on our computers, marveling at the fact that they are actually exist.

As an otherwise digitally adept person, I’ve always accepted that my lack of photo-taking skills was purely a result of a lack of interest as to how a camera works.  Tom, not particularly handy with digital equipment in general, followed suit.
As our blog has grown, we’ve both agreed that we must make an attempt at photo taking and editing photos as needed. Mistakenly, we have assumed that our new digital phones could suffice as a photo-taking medium for our travels, having taken a number of reasonable photos here and there.
Live and learn. With poor Internet connections on the cruise, XCOM Global wasn’t always working close to land as hoped, the former ease we’d experienced uploading photos from our phones to our laptops, we realized that we needed to buy a camera now as opposed to waiting until we get to Europe, our original plan.
As our ship, the Celebrity Century, an under 2000 passenger ship small enough to fit in the Panama Canal, makes its way from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean via the Panama Canal six days from today, the scenery will be worth sharing. 
Yesterday, as we neared the pier in  Puerto Vallarta, we saw a Wal-Mart!  Ha! Here we are on the first leg of our worldwide adventure on our first outing off of the ship and they’re within walking distance was a Walmart. Good grief!
Not Wal-Mart shoppers in general, we were suddenly excited about the prospect of walking to the store, about 1/2 mile from the pier to purchase a new camera.  Surely, they’d have familiar brands and, it would be a good experience for us to make a
purchase in a non-English speaking country.
No English indeed. Not a word. The busy store, jammed with locals and few tourists had price signs in pesos.  Oh, oh, I didn’t bring my phone with my money conversion app.  We found a bank inside the store asking the conversion rate to discover that about 12 pesos were equivalent to a US $1. 
The camera selection was limited.  My brain was scanning through my memory of the hundreds of cameras I had researched online and their prices. 
We decided to buy a familiar brand at a low price. If we didn’t like it, we’d replace it when we
arrive in Europe in April.  Our purchase, a 16.2 mp Samsung ST66, digital, 5x zoom, 4.5-22.5mm, 1:2.5-6.3, 25 mm. I have no clue what some of these numbers mean. We’ll learn. We have all of the time in the world. 
Walking around Puerto Vallarta wasn’t ideal.  The cab drivers continually barked at us to take a taxi downtown to the shopping area. With no interest in shopping in general, let alone after the hour spent in Walmart waiting for the camera to be rousted up from their “warehouse,” we were ready to walk back to the ship with unruly traffic whizzing past us as we walked the narrow sidewalk.
Thirsty and unable to find a cold drink without ice (we were skeptical of the local water), we made our way back to our ship, sweaty from the heat, and anxious to cool off with a cold icy drink in the air-conditioned comfort of our cabin. We charged the new camera, took a few photos, showered, and dressed for dinner.
In any case, we were glad that we’d ventured out, proud of our purchase at US $102, pleased to find the familiar USB and electric plugs in the box along with instructions in English.
Again last night, Tom ventured into foods unknown and tried the shrimp and scallops risotto.
Having heard Chef Ramsey extol the virtues of a well-made risotto, he was ready to give it a try.  I had made it a few times over the years with him thumbing his nose at the prospect of a single taste. Last night, he marveled at the exquisite taste. I bear no resentment. He’s stepping outside the box.  I’m thrilled.
Tom’s risotto.  He loved it!

After the delightful dinner in the Grand Dining Room, at 10:00 PM we attended a hilarious comedy show in the Celebrity Theatre as the ship rolled from side to side. 

After dining on a big meal of Caprice salad, braised lamb shank, wedge salad, and Tom’s uneaten Brussels sprouts, I felt queasy for the first time since boarding the ship, resting my head on Tom’s shoulder from time to time during the show.    
My Caprese salad.
We both had a fitful night’s sleep.  By 6:30 am Tom was showered and dressed ready to head to breakfast in the Island’s Cafe while I languished in bed trying to muster the energy to get up.  How could I be so tired? 

I haven’t exerted much energy these past four days, other than two high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions in the ship’s health club and the approximate 10,000 steps we walk daily according to my FitBit pedometer.

It must be the winding down after many months of preparing to leave, both the physical and emotional toll, or perhaps, just a poor night’s sleep after all.

Forcing myself to get up after Tom left for the restaurant for coffee and to read his online daily newspaper, I managed to meet up with him a short while later, still sluggish but ready to enjoy the next two days at sea.
By 1:00 PM, we’d managed to attend two classes, the second in a series of five informative and well-presented sessions on the history and culture of the country of Panama and the building of the Panama Canal.  Our second course was by geology/paleontology professor, Dr. Connie Soja on the Coral Reefs of the Mexican Riviera. 
How enriching, during this time of new discoveries in our lives to be learning more about our world? Our mutual interest in these and other such topics all become relevant to our travels.  We couldn’t be more content.
With yet another 12 days on this cruise followed by another 8-day cruise to Belize, we are comfortably settling in, not into a cocoon so prevalent in our past but into a wider scope of wonder, experimentation, and new experiences.
It’s good. It’s very good. Photos will follow.

Cruising right along…4th day aboard ship…

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I’ve started drinking coffee again after a six-month hiatus. Honesty, I don’t know why I ever stopped drinking coffee. I just did.

Now, as I sit overlooking the sea, the gentle sensation of the ship rolling my chair to and fro, my big mug filled to the brim with a slightly too strong brew, I am content. 
Tom reminds me, “We are not on vacation. This is now our lives.”
A smile planted on my face, I try to grasp this reality. This is our lives. Right now, until the end of January except for a short few days respite in Boca Raton Florida with friend Carol, we’ll live at sea, 23 days aboard ship in January 2013. We’ll always remember this.
Or perhaps, we won’t remember if over time this new life of ours has days blending into one another as we did in the past. We remember tidbits. We remember special occasions.  We remember sorrowful events. We remember laughing so hard we snorted and cried. Do we
remember all of the days in between? Not so much.
So, how do we ensure that these days, simple in their nature, stay alive and meaningful in years to come?  Live in the moment.  Document them here.
Yesterday, we anchored in Cabo San Lucas.  We didn’t go ashore on the tiny tendered
boats in choppy waters to be dropped off at a mile-long stretch of one shop after another, luring tourists, beaconing passengers to spend, spend, spend. That’s not us. No trinkets, we agreed. No jewelry to attract attention.  No home for which to bring baskets, artwork, handmade rugs, and pottery. 

We stayed onboard when perhaps 70% of the passengers went ashore. The average cost of an excursion off the ship was $200 per couple at each port of call.  There were six such events on this cruise.  We did the math. Our eight cruises with an average of six excursions would total $9600, not in our budget. We’ll wander, if we so chose to the various ports-of-call on our
own.

We are cruising as a means of transportation, to do exactly what appeals to us. Today, we’ll go to church at 10 am, have an assessment by a personal trainer/physical therapist at 11 am, have lunch at the fabulous buffet, attend another class on the Panama Canal (coming up in our itinerary in a few days), spend one hour in the sun as we did yesterday building a base tan without burning.   

By then, it will be almost 4 PM.  We’ll relax in our cabin, catching up on email and Facebook, shower, and go to dinner whenever we’re hungry. We’ll dine in the fancy included-in-our-fare
dining room, once again trying new foods.

Last night, we watched the disappointing Minnesota Vikings game in our cabin with dinner on our laps. On Friday night, Tom enjoyed two appetizers; Carpaccio and gluten-free fried frogs legs. He liked them. He’s trying new things. Outside the box. I’d already made these items at different times in our old lives, Tom always turning up his nose. But, I didn’t complain when he tried them on the ship enjoying each item.

Soon, we’re getting off the ship to wander about Puerto Vallarta on our own. We’ll report back what we’ve discovered.
This is our lives. No expectations. Our only stress is moving from one means of travel to another, the bags, not so bad now, definitely to be reduced in the future. We’re OK for now.
This is our lives.

Goodbye, Arizona!…Hello, World!…A New Year. A new life.

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Early Sunday morning while rummaging through the food-sparse kitchen in our Scottsdale condo, I realized we had little time to go out to eat with packing, the utmost in our minds.  Having given away most of our food supplies, we had few ingredients on hand to make breakfast.

With a plan to go to Tom’s sister’s birthday party in Apache Junction, I started cooking a rack of baby back ribs I had taken out of the freezer the night before in an effort to wipe out the remnants of any unused food. 

With a bottle of barbecue sauce on hand (no time to make homemade) I could make the ribs to bring to the party, along with additional chicken and ribs we had promptly frozen, leftovers from Christmas.  Perfect!  Any easy dinner for all!

Breakfast was another matter. Scrounging through the fridge, I found a package of organic grass-fed hamburger I had also thrown in the refrigerator to defrost the night before. With no ketchup, no salad, and of course, no buns and only hamburger patties and cheese it could be a hearty, albeit boring, breakfast.

As the ribs cooked, I fashioned three uneven hamburger patties adding only salt and pepper (the only seasonings left on hand) tossing them into the pan with the ribs.

Fifteen minutes later, Tom and I sat at the dining room table overlooking the pool, with a paltry single burger laden with three squares of unknown cheese for me and two for Tom. We looked at each other, then our plates, then back at each other again. We smiled at the exact same moment, improvise, we most certainly thought at exactly the same moment.

We knew we were getting “it” under control, “it” is the ability to make do with what we have on hand, a process we surely will master in time.  We started it two months ago when we came here and the low profile toilets became plugged every other day and we came to discover that drinking the tap water was at “one’s own risk.” 

We muddled through when the frying pan was too small to make a decent breakfast so I learned to “bake” omelets in a glass pie pan covered with no-stick foil along with a giant single baked coconut flour pancake to-die-for baked in a 9 x 11 Pyrex glass baking pan. 

Eventually, I purchased a lightweight frying pan that now feels like a burden when trying to find a place to pack it today.  There’s simply no room in our bags for a frying pan.  Bye, bye, frying pan.  No more of this foolishness.  We’ll make do with what we have.  We’ve learned our lesson.

After eating the cheesy burger balls, we returned to the repacking of our stuff, sucking the air out of the space bags finding we needed to use the seventh bag, an older black Samsonite we had brought along for the warmer clothing we needed while here. 

It would have been great to fit everything into the six orange bags.  We mutually agreed that we’ll ditch the black bag as we learn to pack leaner along the way, a necessary evil for homeless travelers such as ourselves.  We’ll get better at this. 

Later in the day, we were out the door to the party a mere half-hour drive to Apache Junction, leftovers in tow, a little tired, a little anxious, and definitely a little preoccupied.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, we leave for San Diego.  Two days later, we board the Celebrity Century to begin our worldwide journey.

After an enjoyable evening with Tom’s three sisters and two brothers-in-law, ending with a heartfelt round of goodbyes, we headed back to our condo for the last time. These two months proved to be valuable, to gather and learn our digital equipment, to organize financial matters, to prepare and execute our wills and living wills, to prepare our taxes, and to arrange our insurance.

More than anything, these two months were used to prepare our hearts and souls for this life-changing and mind and heart-wrenching experience of a lifetime that we enter cautiously optimistic, with a little fear, a lot of hope, and a wild sense of adventure.

So, we say goodbye Arizona.  We don’t know when we’ll see you again.  We say hello world, we’re on our way.  We’ll see you soon! 

May all of our readers have a very happy New Year filled with opportunities for personal growth and discovery.  We’re never too old to learn.

Six days to departure…more details…a little angst…

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After a fitful night with my painful shoulder, I awoke with a sense of uncertainty. The departure date is looming.  Why am I feeling this way?  It should be a joyful time full of wonder and excitement and yet this morning I found Tom in the living room long before I ambled out of bed, not well rested at 7:30 am, quietly perusing his online newspaper. He, too, seems a little out of sorts.

This will pass.  When we’re standing on the deck of the ship waving goodbye to loving family members who insisted they are coming to see us off at the pier to hug and then wave a genuine “Bon Voyage,” we’ll feel better, I’m sure.  This is to be expected. 

After all, we are leaving everyone we know and love behind to selfishly go on the adventure of our lives, leaving us with a legacy of stories to tell our grandchildren while hopefully seeing them along the way, adding to their own life experiences. My emotions grasp at this morsel of wisdom filling my soul with hope and anticipation.

While on the return five-hour drive back to Scottsdale on Thursday, leaving the Henderson house spotless and in tip-top condition, we made a new ‘to-do” list of items we need to address in the few remaining days until we head for San Diego where on January 3, we’ll board the first cruise ship for our many year’s long adventures.

Having decided we wouldn’t do any further cooking with only four days to go we made our way to one of our favorite breakfast, restaurants, US EGG after I worked out at the local LA Fitness where I joined as a temporary member for the two months here. Lately, we’ve been eating one big healthy meal early in the day with a lighter meal in the evening.

Tom devoured his scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage while I feasted on their fluffy three egg, chicken, bacon, avocado, and cheese omelet. After several cups of coffee, we headed out to begin knocking off our long list of ‘to do’s”.

Our first task was yet another trip to our bank, one of many in preparing for our world travels.  We had opened two new “travel accounts” not linked to our regular accounts that our bank had suggested provides additional security.  Keeping lesser amounts in the travel accounts to use as needed, we keep our basic funds, secure in separate accounts. 

Then off to the tailor shop to pick up Tom’s three pairs of pants for the cruise, that were swimming on him after his recent weight loss. 

The day zoomed by as we made one stop after another, reveling in the satisfying feeling of getting the mundane tasks completed, including shopping for last-minute toiletries, a trip to the post office, a short visit to Costco. 

Back at the condo, Tom busily worked on insurance paperwork while I became preoccupied with sorting and consolidating our lofty two year supply of vitamins and supplements, all the while wondering how they’d all fit into our luggage. 

Today is the day to begin the repacking of all the clothing, shoes, swimwear, cruisewear including dressy clothes, formal nights, Africa clothing, boots, hats, special gear, gadgets, electronics, and every other item we’ve mentioned in this blog over the past 10 months as necessary for us homeless travelers. 

Our handy little suction vacuum in tow, the process will begin shortly.  The goal is to complete the packing today with our plans to leave Scottsdale on Tuesday, driving to San Diego for our final two days staying with family not far from the pier.  Tomorrow, Tom will find a sports bar so he can watch the Minnesota Vikings game, and later we’ll head to Apache Junction for Tom’s sister Colleen’s birthday party.

Once we close our bags in the next few days they won’t be opened again until we are aboard the Celebrity Century for our 15-day cruise through the Panama Canal.  We’ll keep aside two days of clothing to wear in San Diego in addition to that which we’ll wear on boarding day. 

Oh, it’s getting close, so close. It’s hard for us to believe after all the planning.  There’s still much to do before the 3rd.  We’ve made it this far. We’ll muddle our way through the rest. Stay tuned. More will follow.

We survived it all..December 21 and MIFI rental for world travel…

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As Tom’s three sisters and two brothers-in-law walked out the door yesterday, the day after Christmas, they asked us of we were getting excited. 

Tom, not giving me a chance to answer, chimed in, “You know what?  Jess planned all of our world travels.  And I just went along with it, figuring that the world was gonna’ end on December 21st and it wouldn’t matter.  So now, it does matter, and it’s time to start getting excited.”

We all roared with loud bursts of laughter. I had nothing more to say after that.  They were all headed back to their winter homes in Apache Junction, Arizona, and us, today back to our awaiting vacation home in Scottsdale to hook up with them again on December 30th for final goodbyes and sister Colleen’s birthday party.

Yesterday morning, we met up with my dear sister Julie and her significant other at son Richard‘s office in Henderson to have our wills and health care directives witnessed and notarized which will be secured in the family member’s hands while we travel. Yes, it was morbid doing this, but a necessary element of our travels and life itself.

Handing Julie our complete medical files put our minds at ease that should we ever need anything she’ll have it readily available. Julie like me, embroils herself in the details, making her a logical choice.  Of course, she would immediately notify all of our children if anything happened to us.

In addition, we have designated Julie as our contact person.  We will report to her with the contact information, phone numbers, and email for property owners prior to departure and arrival at each location. For instance, if we are due to arrive in France on a certain date and Julie doesn’t hear from us within 24 hours, she will immediately notify our adult children and begin the process of finding out what has transpired.  This is important.

We’ve all heard stories of travelers being kidnapped, lost in a jungle, or any other possible scenarios. It’s unlikely any of this will occur to us. In the event, an unforeseen situation does occur Julie will be highly diligent in tracking us down.

This provides all of our families with a sense of security. Although a little time consuming, it’s also a comfort to Tom and me to know that a nearly immediate effort would be instituted to “find us” if we’re missing. Julie, a TV producer, is an experienced world traveler with many worldwide contacts.  It’s logical for her to be assigned this task.  Thanks, sis!

Yesterday, we ordered our MIFI from XCOM GLOBAL that provides us with global wireless Internet access for up to five devices from a small wallet-sized device.  I’ve mentioned this many times on this blog finally placing our first order.  Pricier than we anticipated at $538 for the first month, we bit the bullet. 

The usual cost for using the device in one country is $399 a month plus shipping which may be as much as $100 each time it is shipped to us, with the high cost of international shipping.  We refused the $3.95 a month insurance for the device, at another $120 a month. 

The reason this particular first month’s rental was so high is due to the fact that we chose to try the device while cruising through the Panama Canal, which including it being set to work not only in Panama but also Mexico, Columbia, and the US while we’re in ports of call.  While at sea, it won’t work being too far from a cell tower. 

During those periods of time, we’ll use the ship’s Internet access at $395 which provides us each with one hour online per day for each of the 15 days for this first cruise.  This is expensive at $26.33 at roughly $13.17 apiece per day. 

MIFI from XCOM GLOBAL, although represented on their website that they offer unlimited access, will not allow more than 750 megabytes in any three day period.  If we do, they will turn off the system.  This allows us each 100’s of email messages per day, many more than either of us currently receive. 

We had decided that this would not be sufficient online usage for us.  We have personal business to conduct, ongoing travel research and arrangements, and of course, email messages from family and friends.  Thus, when Internet access if of poor quality or unavailable, we will order the device to be sent to us.  At this point, we anticipate using the MIFI approximately six months of the year since many vacation homes will have high-speed Internet access.

We are asking everyone to please continue to send us an email with text only beginning January 1, 2013, while we’re using the MIFI.  Receiving text-only email messages will mean “the world” to us being so far removed from everyone we know and love. Please keep the communication coming minus the videos and multiple photos.  Posting those videos and photos on Facebook will enable us to see them when we aren’t monitoring our usage.  We love hearing from you.

Today we’re heading back to Scottsdale, after more sorrowful goodbyes, for our final four days before our trip to San Diego for two more days before boarding our cruise to the Panama Canal, taking us away at long last. It’s hard to believe it’s finally only one week away. 

We have to repack all of our bags, clean our condo, finish our insurance planning, go to a birthday party, and brace ourselves for what is yet to come.                                                                                                                     

From couch potato to world traveler…Happy birthday to my husband…

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A hard-working, dedicated man, helper around the house, a supporter of my every whim, compassionate to my every sorrow, and infinitely able to make me laugh when I wanted to cry, my husband Tom has been a rock.

Today, we celebrate his 60th birthday. The world didn’t end of the 21st as he so fervently predicted, leaving us here today to celebrate his special day, the holiday season, and our upcoming world travels beginning in a mere 11 days.

Happy birthday, my love.  I commend you for getting up from your former comfy chair, away from your Minnesota Vikings, out from behind your computer endlessly researching your ancestry and freeing yourself from the constant chatter of mindless drivel on TV in the background.

I admire your courage to make this enormous change, leaving everyone you know and love behind (except me) to venture out into an unknown world of uncertainty, risk, and challenge.

I admire you for leaving behind everything familiar in your world in which you found the cocoon that comforted you after long days of work, the unbearable drive to and from, the smell of diesel fuel, and the wrenching exposure to chemicals around you each day.

Reaching for a purpose beyond that which we currently know, you stretch yourself to the limits, and I, a loyal follower travel with you. What lies ahead of us on the plains of Africa, the shores of southern  France, the Mayan ruins, the Great Pyramids remains to be seen.  Together, holding hands, we reach for the stars in the last decades of our lives, fearless, strong, and in love.

What more could I ask for?  Nothing.  Nothing more.

So today for the first time on your birthday, I have no gift for you to unwrap. You have no room in your luggage for yet the tiniest of trinkets. 

I give you, Tom Lyman, husband, lover, and best friend of mine, ongoing, on growing love and devotion, combined with an unending curiosity to gain further knowledge of this side of you that I have yet to learn.  This in itself, adds an element of adventure that I anxiously await.

Happy birthday, Tom Lyman, for on this day your 60th birthday as we celebrate with family and friends, you embark on this new chapter in your life, with me, my love,  simply writing the words along the way.

I love you.

Green Valley Ranch, Henderson, Nevada check in…

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Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, to our vacation rental in Green Valley Ranch, a newer community with massive amounts of stores, restaurants, gated communities, and a  mere sprinkling of casinos. 

It doesn’t feel like Las Vegas with its slot machines in every gas station or public building.  Instead, it feels welcoming, safe, and low on tourists.

Entering the single-family home for the eight days we reserved over Tom’s birthday and Christmas, we knew immediately that we were “home.” A fresh smell wafted through the air (love that word!), welcoming us as we maneuvered through the door arms laden with “stuff.”

Unloading my arms onto the living room floor, I ran about from room to room squealing with delight. Each room had its own surprise to behold. 

From the stack of perfectly folded crisp white towels and washcloths in each of three bedrooms, two baths, and an ample linen closet, to the full-size bars of new soaps atop each stack, no stone was left unturned.  

The kitchen, fully stocked with every amenity, had a “working” ice machine, ground coffee, cream, some basic ingredients along with every small appliance we could possibly use.  Three flat-screen TVs, a pool table, stereo, and old fashioned boxed games were available for our entertainment.

The pool, although not heated and an extra $100 a day to heat (it’s too cold here now in the 30s!) has a free-use hot tub (forgot my suit) in a well-equipped yard with high top table, chairs, and a huge newer grill. Too bad it’s not 90 degrees!

The rent for the eight days, although much more than we’ll pay outside the US for most houses, was fair at $1500 which included a $250 cleaning deposit which we expect to get back.  We did the math.  Most likely we would have paid $165 a night for a hotel (including taxes) during the holidays, plus tips, valet parking, plus all meals in a restaurant, and how much lost with easy access to gambling.  Surely we would have spent at least $400 a day for an estimate of $3200.

Staying in this lovely home, cooking for Tom’s party, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day including our guests, our grocery and dining out budget is $1050, leaving us with a total of $2300 saving us $900 or more depending on how much we’d have lost gambling (we don’t usually gamble but when it’s at hand, it’s hard to resist). 

This is the first Christmas in my adult life that I won’t be shopping in a frenzy, wrapping gifts with elaborate hand made bows, baking a wide array of delectable cookies, and of course, decorating every corner of the house. In an odd way, it’s liberating.  We’ll miss family back in Minnesota and we’ll revel in family and friends here in Nevada.  Life is filled with trade-offs.

Soon, we’ll head to our two dentist appointments for our final cleanings, then off to the travel clinic for Tom’s final Twinrix vaccine.  Then, to the grocery store for the ingredients for the lesser amount of baking, I’ll do this year. 

It won’t be gluten-free, low carb, sugar-free, grain-free, starch-free.  It will be delicious, fattening, gooey, filling up this lovely home with smells that remind us of “home.”  I won’t take a taste.  Tom will take off a few days for this special time, his 60th birthday, and some of his favorite treats.

Hum. There’s no rolling pin. What shall I use in its place?

P.S. After writing the above this morning, then rushing out the door to the dentist’s office, I had yet to post it. Upon returning a few minutes ago, it was imperative that I amend it.  We just had the most amazing dental appointment in our lives, a referral from son Richard at Dr.Patrick Simone’s office in Henderson, Nevada.

Walking into his plush, well-appointed office puts me, a dental phobic, instantly at ease. From the elegant, upscale furnishings to the artwork to the well-equipped beverage bar and, the service, impeccable!  Even the restroom was a sight to behold with every imaginable accouterment. 

It almost felt as if we should tip not only the receptionist, but also Terry, the knowledgeable, personable, and thoughtful hygienist.  Instead of the usual hand performed cleaning, scraping away at our gums and teeth, Terry used a laser implement as an adjunct to the traditional cleaning. She used “before and after” photos that were shocking. 

After the cleaning, she performed what she referred to as “sandblasting” the surface of our teeth with a high powered baking soda spray.  The taste was awful.  The result, mind-blowing. My teeth hadn’t been this white since I was a toddler. We couldn’t be happier. 

As we paid our reasonable bill of $226 (for both of us), they thanked us profusely handing us a giant apple pie! Who gets an apple pie from the dentist?  I was thrilled with the bag of dental supplies Terry loaded up for our travel. And then, this giant pie. Wow! 

Need I say that we were impressed?  If you live near or around Henderson or are visiting Las Vegas and a dental situation arises, Dr. Simone’s office is the place to call.

Gee, for the eight days we’re, here in Henderson over the holidays, this does feel like home, minus the grandkids, the grown kids, the friends, the beautifully decorated tree, the elegantly wrapped gifts, the oversized glass jars filled with home-baked cookies, the Santa Bears adorning every corner and on and on.

Life will be different going forward.  Good, but, different.