Four days and counting…The solution to our phone situation…Fabulous food!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Rich was outside in the rain in the sideyard, preparing the chicken and ribs on the charcoal grill. He needed the umbrella.

The time has flown by. In only four days, we’re leaving for Fort Lauderdale early Friday morning and will arrive by noon, at which time we’ll check our bags, drop off the rental car at the airport, take a shuttle back to the cruise terminal and be on our way.

It’s been 29 months since we were last on a cruise when we sailed from Southampton, England, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the same ship, the reverse transatlantic crossing we’re beginning on Friday. We had a great time then and hoped to do the same this time. We never mind a repeat of ocean crossings. They have many sea days with few ports of call, but we always have fun on sea days and when getting off the ship.

Tom hadn’t eaten baked beans in years. Along with the chicken and ribs, green beans, and salad, it was a perfect meal.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of shopping on Amazon for odds and ends since once we return to Marloth Park, we’ll be staying there for a year, leaving from time to time for visa stamps but won’t have access to Amazon.com. For the first time in a few years, I can restock some of my favorite products which aren’t available in South Africa at the shops or on their version of Amazon, Takealot.

After considerable research and consideration, we decided to replace my almost three-year-old Google Pixel 4XL with the newer Google Pixel 6 Pro. The old phone couldn’t hold a charge for very long, and like many other smartphones, the batteries cannot easily be replaced. This, of course, motivates users to purchase a newer model. They get you coming and going, don’t they?

The new phone arrived yesterday, and in less than an hour, I had everything transferred over to the new phone, including the Google Fi phone service with my existing phone number. This was important to us since many of our financial accounts and others are set up with my phone number.

Rich didn’t put sauce on the ribs or chicken, which allowed me to enjoy them as well.

As for the temporary suspension through Google about us using too much roaming data, we solved that issue as well. We will insert a South Africa SIM card, which we already purchased for the old phone that we’ll use for data when we are out and about. When at a holiday house, hotel, restaurant, and many other locations, we can use the free WiFi on the new phone.

Having three phones between us is cumbersome, but this was our best and most cost-effective solution. We’ll seldom carry the third phone with us. For example, if we go into Kruger, we need WiFi in the event of an emergency or when using MAPS when on the road, and satellite is not effective enough for updates on road conditions, stoppages, and potential dangers.

Most South Africans use SIM cards for calling, texting, and data on their phones. Also, the third phone will be highly effective during travel days. On a day-to-day basis, we won’t need to bring it with us when out and about in Marloth Park when most local establishments have free WiFi we’ll be able to use. It was an easy solution to avoid signing up for a spendy contact from the US.

These chicken legs were the best we’d ever had, meaty and cooked to perfection. Tom, who usually only eats chicken breasts, enjoyed the legs as well. I guess I’ll be making these for once we get settled again. I won’t be cooking again until the end of May when we return to South Africa.

We will always be able to use the new phone for texts and phone calls. Texts are free inside and outside the US. Calling outside the US is typically 20 cents a minute but free inside the US for country-wide calls.

I was able to transfer all of my apps over to the new phone. The old phone will still be able to use WiFi at any accessible location but won’t receive texts and phone calls unless someone knows the phone number associated with the SIM card we’ll install. It all may sound confusing, but it’s clear to us. Few of our readers will ever need to implement such a plan, but if you do, feel free to ask for assistance if required.

Today’s photos are those we took when Rich was making his fantastic barbecue chicken and ribs. What a fine dinner we had on Saturday, followed by a delicious pot roast Karen made on Sunday. No shortage of good food around here!

Have a super day enjoying good health and peace of mind!

Photo from one year ago today, April 4, 2021:

Our boy Tiny, lounging in the garden after eating lots of pellets. As big as he is, he can consume lots of pellets. Note the cute pose. That’s our boy! We never saw him again after returning from the US at the end of July. For more photos, please click here.

Now we know about the changes to the cruise to Ukraine…Decisions for the future…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Zebra on the veranda!

This morning at 5:00 am, we received an email from Azamara explaining the new itinerary changes excluding Russia and Ukraine. It has changed as follows. To see, you must click the following link.

ON_29_June_2022_ItineraryChange

The cruise is still priced as expensive as the original Black Sea cruise, which we’d been willing to pay for since this was a long-desired itinerary since we began traveling. This new itinerary doesn’t appeal to us. We’ve already done a cruise to the Greek Islands, thoroughly enjoying it but not interested in repeating that past itinerary. We’d booked the back-to-back to Greece because we wanted to extend the long-awaited Black Sea cruise.

Zebra’s tails appear to be braided, but obviously, they are not.

Now, with the Black Sea out of the question due to the war in Ukraine, we aren’t interested in the second leg. Thus, we’ve decided to cancel this cruise and the back-to-back second leg (again the Greek Islands) we’d booked for 21 nights. We have to call Costco Travel to do this, and the only time we can call in is at night due to the time difference. Each time we call, we’ve been on hold for at least an hour.

This morning, there was a message on Costco Travel’s website stating they were recovered today from a phone outage yesterday and waiting times will be longer than usual…what??? Longer than one hour on hold? No thanks. We’ll wait a few days and call. We could cancel online, but we’d lose our deposits.

The only way we can be assured the amounts we paid in full for these two cruises of US $14,923, ZAR 223257 is to call and ask them to contact Azamara, explaining we want to cancel due to the unforeseen itinerary changes and have the funds transferred to our other upcoming cruises starting in November 2022. This can’t be accomplished online.

Zebras love pellets, as do most of the mammals in the wild.

When booking through a travel agency such as Costco Travel or Vacations-to-Go, the cruise line requires all changes handled through the booking agency, not through the cruise line itself. Otherwise, we’d call Azamara ourselves.

So with these changes, we’re back to May 22 when our time in Henderson/Las Vegas, Nevada ends, and we need to decide where we’ll go until the next cruise sails in November, which is a full six months. When we peruse the world map and consider places we’ve been and places we’d like to go, we find issues due to damage done to the economy of many countries due to two years plus of Covid and the remnants of lockdown and isolation.

We’ve already spent over two years in the South Pacific, visited many significant areas in South America, spent plenty of time in Europe, and had a long, painful time in India. And it goes on and on. Please take a look at our world travel map on the top right side of our page. As you can see, we’ve visited many parts of the world.

After getting their fill of pellets, they wandered off to the front of the house to lounge in the driveway, like Hal and Broken Horn often do.

Sure, we could easily spend the next ten years visiting new places. And we will see new and unusual places. But at this point, we ask ourselves, do we want to go there based on a burning desire or just to go somewhere? With the high prices on fuel with airfare and car rental rates escalating by the hour, where exactly do we want to go?

We aren’t done traveling by any means. There is nowhere in the world we’d like to live permanently right now. But, we have become a bit disillusioned by the outcome of the pandemic and now the war in an area of the world we longed to see. We don’t feel compelled to go anywhere in particular right now. For now, we love cruising, and the more we can do, the better.

So, our focus will be on where we can visit and cruise to fill in some of the blanks in the itinerary we’ve built over the years. Searching and discovering those desirable new places and cruises continues to be exciting and fulfilling. It is from that perspective we continue on our journey. And, of course, we always enjoy our time in South Africa and always will.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 18, 2021:

I could not take the photo of this elephant from the car, and thus, I got out, walked down a narrow, uneven path, and made my way to the fence. For more photos, please click here.

Serendipity…Last night’s fun trail cam photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
This is Little Imposter. He pretends to be Little by mimicking Little’s behavior, but the differences in their appearance make it easy for us to determine who is who.

Today, we’re sharing photos from last night’s trail cam that made us smile. These fantastic animals never cease to amaze us.

Also, on another note, this morning, I received an email from a lovely couple we met at Hotel Grums in Barcelona on May 5, 2013, where we stayed while waiting to board another cruise. See that post here.

He settles in, just like Little does.

That afternoon, we met Adele and Wally, only to discover they were sailing on the same cruise we were boarding the following day to the Middle East, from Barcelona to Dubai for 15 nights, which proved to be one of my favorite cruises.

We got together several times with Adele and Wally during the cruise, as mentioned in this post on May 7, 2013. At that point, we had already sailed on five previous cruises, and we had begun to feel a little like experienced cruisers, appreciating the opportunity to make new friends with other passengers, as we have, over the past several years.

Hal and Mom, and Piglets arrive very early in the morning, long before we are up.

This morning, I read this message from Adele and Wally, whom we’ve stayed in touch with over the years.

“Absolutely unbelievable! We are getting on the Queen Mary 2 in Brooklyn on April 17 for a two-week cruise…one week over in one week back. Will we be on the ship together? I’m a little confused with your April 24 date because that’s the sailing from Southampton to New York.
Of course, we would love to see you!”
Hal was sniffing a tree.
Promptly, I wrote back telling them we will be sailing from Southampton to New York on April 24, the same cruise they will be on, stating how thrilled we’d be to see them again after all of these years. What a delight that will be! There’s no doubt we’ll have plenty of stories to share.
On the Queen Mary 2, cruise dinner seating is different from what we’ve enjoyed about cruising in the past. When we’d sit at a shared table with other guests, we may not have already met. On Cunard’s sailing, each couple (passenger) is assigned a table for dinner, which is the same each night. If passengers don’t connect with their tablemates, it could be frustrating.
Bossy often visits during the night.
Fortunately, this particular sailing is only for seven nights but, most likely, we’ll be OK with whoever may be at our table and they with us. It’s always enjoyable to meet new people and hear about their travel adventures since most cruise passengers are frequent travelers.
Today, we are busy booking flights and hotels for our upcoming travels, including the hotel in Southampton; the flight from New York to Minneapolis, the hotel and car in Minneapolis; the hotel and car in Las Vegas. At this point, until we hear more about the Black Sea cruise itinerary change due to the war in Ukraine, where we’ll go from Las Vegas is up in the air. In any case, we will be leaving the US sometime in June.
Our porcupine often stops by.

By the way, it was two years today that everything in India started to unravel due to Covid-19. See the post here.

Have a pleasant Sunday wherever you may be!

Photo from one year ago today, March 13, 2021:

Bossy always stares at me for more pellets. She has us both well trained. This was her before her pregnancy was showing. A year later, she has an adorable little kudu calf she brings along on occasion. She still comes each day looking for pellets and attention. For more photos, please click here.

We have a plan, in the short term…New booking!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Cunard Queen Mary 2

Since the onset of the slaughter of the citizens of Ukraine, many of our plans have been up in the air, not unlike the uncertainty we all experienced after the start of Covid-19 in 2020. We strive to ensure our safety.  Somehow, in these next many months, we’ll discover some resolutions to itineraries that no longer are safe on the many cruises we have booked into the future.

It’s not as simple as canceling the cruises. The cruise lines in the process of changing their itineraries still have restrictions on how and when we’d be refunded or credited. They may determine that we must use the funds for other cruises. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get the money back that we’ve already paid in full for the cruise scheduled to go to Russia and Ukraine.

For us, this doesn’t present a problem when six of our cruises are with Azamara, the remainder of which we haven’t paid in full as yet. Those payments are due several months from now. In any case, we have to play it by ear to see what they offer as an alternative.

The Black Sea cruise to Russia and Ukraine was more expensive than, let’s say, cruising the Greek Islands. It wouldn’t be “apples to apples” if they rerouted that particular cruise to the Greek Islands and expected us to have paid the higher amount. We should be hearing about that cruise in the next 30 days or so.

We’ve been in a quandary over where we’ll go when we get to the UK via the Celebrity cruise. We are faced with a few challenges such as:

  1. If we proceed with our remaining cruises (once the Black Sea issue is resolved), we have to be mindful of the Schengen visa rules for Europe. As mentioned in prior posts, only certain countries in Europe and surrounding countries aren’t part of the Schengen, most of which are Russian-influenced countries. Do we want to spend time in any of those countries in light of the war in Ukraine? Probably not. Everything could change in a day, and we could end up stuck in a war-stricken country. We hear about such cases all the time, don’t we?
  2. If the Black Sea cruise is rerouted to our liking and pricing is determined accordingly, we need to be in Istanbul, Turkey, by  June 29th to board the cruise. Turkey is not a Schengen country, so we could stay there before the cruise. However, holiday home options are limited and extremely expensive. Nor can we book anything until we know what is happening with the Black Sea cruise.

Based on these frustrating facts, we decided to return to the US to apply for expiring replacement passports while waiting to find out what transpires. We’ll still take the cruise to Southampton, England, and planned to fly back to the US. However, when we started pricing flights from London Heathrow Airport, after considering the cost to get to London from Southampton, the cost was over US $1000, ZAR 15046 per person, plus another US $200, ZAR 3009, for the shuttle. We’d spend no less than US $2200, ZAR 33101, plus baggage fees.

I came up with what sounded like a hair-brain idea at the time…let’s cruise back to the US! The cost to sail on a seven-night Cunard cruise from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary 2 was US $2200, ZAR 33101, for two passengers. But that includes housing and feeding us for seven days! Besides, we’ve heard so much about these “fancy” cruises. We may as well experience one now at this reasonable price.

We went ahead and booked the cruise, which sails on April 24. That will leave us with three nights to spend in Southampton where we’ll do some sightseeing. We stayed there a few years ago at a lovely hotel where we’ll visit again. We realize the added cost for the hotel, meals, and sightseeing, but it will be a worthwhile excursion. Another additional cost will be the flight from New York to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is under US $200, ZAR 3009, each, where we plan to stay for two weeks to visit family.

We’ll need to purchase a few clothing items for the Queen Mary cruise since it’s dressier than most cruises. While we’re in Florida, we’ll do some shopping and buy Tom a suit and tie and a few dresses for me. He needed a suit for the upcoming dressy nights on the Azamara cruises as well, and I can always use a few dresses. I won’t buy evening gowns, as some wear on those cruises, but I will wear long dresses that can be dressed up with a few accessories. That will be fun!

Here’s the cruise information. We booked it through Vacations to Go since they had the best prices. See below:

“Vacations to Go, FastDeal # 22813
7 nights departing April 24, 2022
Cunard ❘ Queen Mary 2
Brochure Inside $1,459
Inside $699

You Save 52%
Brochure Oceanview $2,949
Oceanview $2,255

You Save 24%

Brochure Balcony $1,859
Balcony $999

You Save 46%
Brochure Suite $5,179
Suite $3,969”

Our friends Linda and Ken often cruise on Cunard, and they love it. We selected a balcony cabin which we have no doubt we’ll be happy with. We feel comfortable we’ve made a good and will prove to be an enjoyable decision.

After two weeks in Minnesota, we’ll head to Nevada and finish any paperwork we need to accomplish in our “home state” and also see son Richard and his girlfriend, which is always delightful. During those few weeks visiting family, we’ll surely know what’s transpired with the Black Sea cruise to determine where we’ll go from there.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 12, 2021:

Queen Mary 2

Uncertainty prevails…We continue on…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
We looked up to find a female impala and her youngster in the garden searching for pellets. The baby is so tiny.

Today is a quiet day. It’s hot and humid, leaving both of us with low energy. I didn’t sleep well last night, waking up every hour or so, having one weird dream after another as soon as I fell back to sleep. Finally, by 4:00 am, I drifted off and slept until 7:45, bolting out of bed knowing I needed to get up and start walking and prepare tonight’s dinner.

I’m making a dish Tom particularly likes; Low Carb Hamburger Scramble, a meaty, cheesy hamburger casserole with cream cheese, onions, and mushroom. I also like it a lot, but it’s so delicious that I tend to overeat. Lately, I’d gained some weight, and I have been working hard to lose it before heading to the US and then on a cruise.

They are both adorable.

Although I eat a keto diet and have done so for over 11 years, it’s easy to gain weight by overeating. Plus, I was making low-carb cakes for a while, and regardless of the low number of carbs in them, they are calorie-dense. There’s no “free lunch,” as they say. There’s never a way of eating that one doesn’t have to control portion size to some degree.

I have found that I never lose an ounce from walking vigorously, even when I do 10000 steps. Few people ever lose weight from exercise alone unless jogging or running or performing intense exercises for extended periods. It’s all about what goes into our mouths. If we overeat, we can gain weight, regardless of the carb count.

The baby impala is very shy.

Maintaining my weight has always been a struggle for me due mainly to my bad genes on my mother’s side of the family, most of whom were overweight and diabetic, eventually succumbing to heart-related consequences, a byproduct of high blood sugar uncontrolled blood pressure.

Luckily, I have been working hard to keep my blood sugar and blood pressure as low as possible by eliminating most carbs except non-starchy vegetables and dairy. I take one low dose medication for blood pressure, but no medication is required for my blood sugar due to my eating.

Chevy stops by each day. Could he be the dad of the young one?

It was always somewhat of a health-nut. It surprised me to discover I had coronary artery disease, although nothing is wrong with my heart itself. It is the arteries that are bad. I am grateful to be alive today, unlike many relatives who died from these conditions long before they reached my current age.

That is why I am so diligent about walking, diet, and lifestyle. Now, if I could be more consistent in sleeping better, I feel as if it’s all under control. Also, keeping stress under control is crucial. Overall, our lives are relatively stress-free. The only time I get my “hair in a bundle” is when I make a mistake and have to correct it promptly or when there’s some issue with a booking caused by human error.

Hal is at far left, Bossy in the center, and Bossy’s baby, who she only brings here once in a while.

Fortunately, neither of us has felt overly stressed about Covid, although we have spent plenty of time researching how it impacts our travels. Knowledge is the best means of reducing fear and anxiety. Now, with the war in Ukraine, expecting our cruise to be canceled, we know we’ll figure out how and where to travel until the following cruise. It always works out one way or another.

In the interim, our concern is for the citizens of Ukraine and this horrific experience and, of course, how this event will impact the economy in the US and the world. All we can do in the interim is pray for a quick resolution to end this madness.

Be safe.

Photo from one year ago today, February 26, 2021:

We call this male bushbuck Torn Ear. His left ear had an injury, leaving a flap of hair and skin. He used to visit several times a day. But we haven’t seen him in months. For more photos, please click here.

Horrific war in Kyiv, Ukraine…Our upcoming cruise in June to Ukraine…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Our upcoming June 29 Azamara cruise to Ukraine’s scheduled itinerary raises significant concerns.

Our first concern is for the people of Ukraine and their families and friends throughout the world, who are impacted by this cruel and senseless attack on the citizens of Kiev, also known as Kyiv. From now on, I will refer to the city under attack as Kyiv since many may not be aware of this alternate spelling.

My great grandfather was the mayor of Kyiv in the late 1800s. Many of my ancestors immigrated from Kyiv in the early 1900s, which I was well aware of in my childhood. Tom has conducted considerable research in Ancestry.com and has confirmed the lineage as far back as Ancestry.com records display.

Of course, our concern for the people of Kyiv and Ukraine, in general, supersedes our interest in sailing on this itinerary in June. In no way do I minimize the importance of the safety of human lives over the prospect of a cruise for our pleasure. There’s no comparison. From that viewpoint, I proceed with this post discussing the travel relevance to this awful situation.

This morning, as I began typing this post, we received an email message from Azamara that reads as follows:

Brand

February 24, 2021

Dear Azamara Guest,

We have been monitoring the situation between Ukraine and Russia for the past several weeks. Based on the latest overnight developments, we have found it necessary to change our current voyages to visit either of these countries. As a result, your Black Sea Voyage, which is scheduled to depart on June 29, 2022, on Azamara Onward®, is one of the voyages we will be adjusting to remove Ukraine and/or Russia as a port of call.

We need a little time to ensure the changes we make still result in a memorable, deeply immersive cruise vacation, so we just wanted to inform you that these changes will be shared with you soon.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation throughout our journey as we have worked to manage this fluid situation. We assure you that your upcoming Azamara vacation will deliver the highest standards of service and quality for which we are known.

Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor for more details or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.

We look forward to welcoming you on board.

Sincerely,

AZAMARA®

For years, Tom always talked about sailing the Black Sea. I often hesitated to consider this possibility based on the outrageous cost of cruises to this magical area. When we first started traveling, we decided we both must be enthused about any future travel plans to make the bookings.

Recently, when we started booking cruises again, I knew we’d better fulfill Tom’s dream of the Black Sea after seeing how the pandemic impacted the world of travel to such a degree. As we age, we need to consider fulfilling the dreams of where we’d like to visit. No doubt, at some point, we’ll have to stop traveling.

Finally, a few months ago, we booked the Black Sea cruise on Azamara. As of yesterday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated the war against Ukraine, we wondered if yet another venue we’ve booked would be canceled. After all, countless plans we’ve made in the past few years have been canceled by the provider, or we had canceled due to concerns over Covid-19 when we weren’t vaccinated.

Based on the above letter, it will be interesting to see what alternatives Azamara makes for the above itinerary. Since we’ve sailed on 27 cruises since the onset of our travels over the past nine years ago, and we have several other cruises booked into 2023, there may be some redundancy.

Surely, if that’s the case, Azamara will give us an option for a full refund or a future cruise. Then, we could transfer the funds we already paid for the cruise mentioned above of US $9862, ZAR 150773, over to one of the other upcoming Azamara cruises we have booked into the future.

Once we sail on the Celebrity Cruise on April 8, the remaining six cruises are on Azamara, on which we’ve never sailed. Why did we book so many cruises on an unfamiliar cruise line? Their itineraries matched where we wanted to travel, their ships are much smaller at around 600 passengers instead of 3000, and the reviews were fantastic.

Sure, Azamara may not have many amenities that many cruisers insist upon, but we are less picky. We are content if we have a clean, well-appointed cabin, working WiFi, and a chef who will cook meat and veg for me. Tom is easy to please with food selections. Plus, we hear Azamara is superior in all these areas and more.

We continue with prayers for the people of Ukraine and their loved ones and hope this massacre will end quickly. But nothing Putin can do going forward will ease the sorrow and fear being felt by the Ukrainian people, now or in the future.

Be safe.

Photo from one year ago today, February 25, 2021:

No doubt, giraffes like to get a load off their feet from time to time. Giraffes are the tallest land animals. “Female giraffes are up to 4.2 meters, 14 feet tall, and weigh up to 680 kg, 1,500 pounds. Meanwhile, males are up to 5.5 meters, 18 feet tall, and can weigh 1361 kg, 3,000 pounds.” For more photos, please click here.

Size does matter…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
The smaller ship, an Azamara, on the right of this larger ship in port, a Celebrity ship, illustrates the vast difference in the sizes of the two cruise ships, both of which we’ll be sailing in 2022.

When we decided to start booking cruises again in the past year, we considered several options since the pandemic. Would a larger ship be safer than a larger ship that might have more comprehensive protocols to keep its passengers and crew safe from contracting the virus?

After paying lots of attention to existing sailings during the last few years, we decided to continue our journey on April 8 on a similar ship to the above Celebrity Eclipse with a passenger capacity of 2886 across the Atlantic Ocean. Most ships are not sailing at maximum capacity, and we expect this ship will have less than 2000 passengers at boarding, although we won’t be able to confirm this number until after we board and set sail.

Little was looking a little drunk after eating several fermented marula fruits that had fallen to the ground. Many animals, especially elephants and monkeys, enjoy the intoxication effects.

The Azamara ship, for example, is one of the six Azamara cruises we’ve booked for 2022 and 2023. Their passenger capacity ranges from 600 to 800 passengers. Based on Covid-19 and other viruses contracted on cruises, we felt the smaller ships would be more advantageous for us with less likelihood of getting sick.

However, we won’t have to sacrifice the amenities we enjoy and utilize, the quality of service, and the variety and quality of food served onboard. Azamara is a highly rated cruise line with the utmost services in all areas. Neither of us cares for water parks, gaming areas, and rides that many of the enormous ships have added for families.

Zoom in to see many bugs attached to Bossy’s face and ears. She needs some serious work by oxpeckers.

Our goal is to relax, enjoy the company of other passengers we meet along the way, get some exercise moving about the ship, and for me to use the health club, which all Azamara ships have as amenities. We’ve read many reviews about the quality of the food and the varied options, many of which work well for my way of eating. The chefs have arranged suitable and delicious meals for my way of eating, on most of the ships we’ve experienced in the past,

Let’s face it; we’ve been on 27 cruises since we began sailing in January 2013. We’ve had some great experiences, and we’ve had some mediocre experiences. However, we were thrilled to be out to sea in every case.

A new tree frog foam nest hanging over the plunge pool has been damaged from the rain.

Unfortunately, on several of our past cruises, we’ve come down with the dreaded “cruise cough,” or the “cruise flu.” Surprisingly, we’ve never had the common norovirus prevalent on many sailings. Never once have we had to seek medical care for the flu or virus on a ship.

Although, on the Antarctica cruise, I had to seek medical care for an injury to my knee from falling in Buenos Aires that became infected before we set sail. (A person rushed past me on the cobblestone sidewalk, sending me to the ground, landing on my knee). A few days before we left, I needed to take a different antibiotic than I was prescribed in Buenos Aires at the urgent care facility. The doctor on the ship provided me with the appropriate medication, and a few days later, I was on the mend.

A sweet young female kudu, resting in the garden.

Neither of us has had Covid-19 or Omicron. We’ve been vaccinated and boosted. But that’s no guarantee we can’t become infected while on a ship. Of course, we’ll follow the required protocols as directed and take additional precautions of our own, hoping we can avoid infection.

With Omicron raging worldwide, particularly in the US, we don’t feel that sailing is any worse than shopping at a market, visiting friends, and dining in a restaurant. Whether we choose to believe them or not, statistics support our peace of mind. We aren’t foolhardy. We’re cautious.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 8, 2021:

This bird is a turaco, also known as the “go-away” bird since his call sounds like go away. For more photos, please click here.

Tom made an exciting discovery!!!…Can we start feeling enthused about traveling again?…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Has Hal taken over for Broken Horn whom we haven’t seen in a few weeks?

It’s been easy to get out of the state of mind about traveling during the pandemic. Almost every day, news hits the wires that make us wonder when and if we’ll be able to return to our years-long journey to see more and more of this magnificent world we live in.

The clock is ticking faster now, more than ever, as we age, regardless of how hard we try to reduce the impact of aging. Neither of us feels any less agile or capable of continuing to travel than we did when we began in 2012. Yes, we’ve experienced some bumps in the road, literally and figuratively, mainly for me with some health issues.

But, our desire and determination to continue had only waned during the past two years of the pandemic when none of us knew what the future holds. Even now, there’s a degree of uncertainty hanging over all of our heads regarding travel. Many have changed their lives, excluding vacations/holidays to relax and unwind, instead looking at other avenues to accomplish these objectives.

Hal likes to rub his muddy face on the trees to get cleaned off.

Each day, we hear about cruise disasters, at times making us tentative, but we aren’t hearing about the successful cruises sailing all over the world. Many are incident-free, with many safety protocols in place to protect the passengers and crew. No, cruising won’t be as fun as it was for us in the past, when we socialized day and night, mask-free, enjoying lively conversation and dinners with six or eight other guests at big round tables. Those days may be gone, for now, and into the future. Only time will tell.

Knowing our first cruise, a transatlantic cruise with Celebrity Cruise line is sailing in only 66 days from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has left us wondering if it will cancel. At this point, we’re beginning to believe it will sail after all as planned. It’s a repositioning cruise at an excellent price to get the ship back to the UK and Europe, so it will sail as planned, most likely from what we can determine thus far.

Our goal is to stay in the UK with easy visa requirements until our next cruise sails in June from Istanbul, Turkey. It’s an easy flight in less than four hours. We plan to move around the UK during those two months, as we did in 2019, to experience more quaint and charming holiday rentals and hotels.

Bossy looks more and more pregnant each day.

Of course, we plan to see friends Linda and Ken who live in Buckinghamshire, another attractive English countryside location, which we love more than the big cities. At this point, we can’t book anything until we are on our way across the Atlantic Ocean to ensure nothing impacts the cruise.

We have no concern whatsoever making plans at this late date, only days before our arrival in Southampton, England, on April 21. We don’t want to risk losing deposits and full payments if something happens beyond our control. It’s one of those scenarios where we’re comfortable “playing it by ear.” If we can’t wrap up a holiday rental, we find a historic hotel, of which there are many.

All of this “cruise talk” brings us to the exciting news about Tom’s discovery in the past few days. In researching pricing for our currently booked cruises to 2023, he found three cruises with substantial price drops. To enjoy the benefits of a price drop, it’s up to the passengers to check pricing regularly, not the travel agency or cruise line. Such price drop benefits can only be gleaned before the final payment date, not after.

Hal does a nice job of trimming the grass in the garden.

Upon discovering recent price drops on three of our seven booked cruises for which we’d yet to pay the final balances, two of which are payable this month, Tom got to work. Last night, he managed to get in touch with Costco Travel after being on hold for over an hour and requested the following prices to be dropped on those three cruises as follows:

  • Sail Date: July 10, savings amount:           US $2600,  ZAR 39761*
  • Sail Date: November 8, savings amount:   US $1680,  ZAR 25697
  • Sail Date: November 19, savings amount: US 1280,    ZAR 19578

Total savings for 2022:  US $5560, ZAR 85036

No doubt, it was worth staying on hold for such a long time. We were in bed and put down the phone while Tom worked on his laptop, and I played with my phone until a rep came on the line.

Saving this amount of money furthered our enthusiasm going forward. If these three cruises have further price drops, we’ll be able to start the process all over again. Of course, Tom will continue to watch the prices, as he always does before final payments are due on the remainder of the cruise. or any of the remaining cruises and go even lower.

So, that’s our news of the day.

Have a rewarding day, too!

Photo from one year ago today, February 1, 2021:

This was an excellent profile of one of our favorite animals, a giraffe. For more photos, please click here.

Hot today!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
It’s not easy to spot baby mongooses. They run very fast and stay close to their moms.

Whew! When I stepped out of the bedroom this morning, I was taken aback by the blast of hot air so early in the day. It isn’t always about the temperature. As we’ve learned from living in Africa, the dew point determines how uncomfortable we will be on any given day. Today is one of those days.

The high will only be 94F, 34.4C. But the dew point right now is 73, making the air sticky hot and us sticky sweaty, even after a cool shower only a short time ago. I am sipping on my iced coffee, which I’ve switched to since summer began, and at the moment, sitting on the bed with the door closed and the fan on. The room retained some of the coolness from the aircon during the night.

Kudus and warthogs were vying for pellets.

When I resumed my indoor walking schedule this morning, I was reminded of how much of a scorcher today will be. I can’t wear skimpy clothes, not only because I don’t have any, but also because wearing skimpy clothes invites mosquito bites with any exposed skin. If I weren’t concerned about the electric bill, which we now pay ½ (based on our insistence), I’d probably turn it on while working on the post and while exercising. I’d rather use the electricity at night so that we can sleep than during the day.

I cover any exposed skin with DEET repellent three times a day, the only repellent that works for me. Since we added the hypo-allergenic mattress cover, I haven’t had a single dust mite spot anywhere on my body. Wow! That’s been great! Right now, I only have three or four itchy mozzie bites, mainly from being outdoors in the evenings. Last year at this time, I had hundreds.

This is Bad Eye. We can hardly see evidence of her torn right eyelid since she healed so well.

Right now, there are some power outages in Marloth Park. Most likely, this is due to a brief thunderstorm that rolled through last night. Fortunately, our area isn’t included in this annoyance.

Yesterday, we went to Komatipoort for our 11:00 am dentist appointments to have our teeth cleaned. A Covid-19 patient showed up for their appointment, knowing they’d tested positive but, due to no symptoms, kept their appointment as scheduled. Once we arrived at the dentist’s office, the receptionist, Daleen, told us that she’d sent me an email to say our appointments had to be canceled.

Bossy often stops by daily since she’s become pregnant.

As a result, the dental office had to close for a week, and the facility had to be sterilized. All appointments were canceled, including ours, which we fully understood. We rescheduled for February. We still had to go to Komati to grocery shop and pick up my year’s supply of contact lenses from the optometrist. Tom’s new glasses will come in next week, which we’ll pick up when we shop again.

Due to numerous Omicron cases, all the schools and many businesses in Komati had closed. We were cautious when we shopped, wiping down the cart with sanitizing wipes made available and avoiding getting close to other people. It was quiet in the store, which was unusual.

Baby mongoose hides under mom. Zoom to see.

Based on how active we’ve been socially these past months since the onset of Omicron, we’re surprised we haven’t been infected. We know that Omicron is not as dangerous as the Delta variant, but we still are very cautious, based on my health concerns. I don’t know how well I’d handle getting the virus and don’t care to find out.

Tonight, we’ll meet with Rita, Gerhard, Petra, and Fritz for their last night in the bush. They will return to Germany starting tomorrow from Johanessburg. Rita and Gerhard will drive them to the distant Tambo airport (a five-hour road trip), stay overnight to avoid driving back to Marloth Park in the dark (very dangerous due to carjacking), and return to Marloth Park on Sunday. They will move out of the huge Khaya Umdani house and move back into their favorite house on Hornbill, where we stayed in 2013/2014.

Lots of warthogs in the garden every early evening.

We’ve been staying in quite a bit this past week and are looking forward to getting out. No doubt, we’ll all have a fantastic time together at Jabula tonight with good food, drinks, service, and hosts. We haven’t made plans for Saturday evening yet but are considering some options.

May you have an enjoyable day and evening wherever you may be!

Photo from one year ago today, January 28, 2021:

Many kudus came to call before the storms. Ironically, eight female kudus arrived in the garden just as I wrote this. We’ve yet to see one since as the inclement weather continues. For more photos, please click here.

Gloom and doom about the cruise industry…Worst-case scenarios…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Gosh, our porcupine is becoming quite a regular. Next time we shop, we’ll purchase some root vegetables for her.

The worst-case scenario of cruising during the pandemic is getting the virus and becoming seriously ill during or after a cruise. However, the next situation would be, after becoming infected, with or without symptoms, and being forced to quarantine in the small cabin for several days, missing all or part of the cruise.

At this point, some cruise ships are requiring all positive-tested passengers to remain collectively on one particular deck, unable to attend regular dining, tours, or activities. It’s entirely possible an infected passenger may be required to forgo their upgraded cabin, such as our usual balcony cabin upgrade and moving to whatever other cabins may be available on the quarantine deck.

For instance, we could be moved to an inside cabin which, without a window or sliding door, would be awful for us. Neither of us feels comfortable in a window-less room. We’re always willing to pay considerably more for a balcony cabin which offers some upgraded options for which we are also willing to pay an additional charge.

Imagine our upcoming 13-night transatlantic cruise with either or both of us infected, spending seven of those days in quarantine. This is not appealing to either of us. As of today, we are scheduled to board the Celebrity Silhouette in 91 days. Will this Omicron thing be eliminated by then? Most likely, it won’t be.

When we went indoors to make dinner, Little was in the garden looking for the last remnants of pellets.

We ask ourselves this question? What happens if we board the ship and in two days it is forced to return to the port of embarkation, in this case, back to Florida, due to too many cases onboard the ship? This could be the case if all of the cases were staff, let alone passengers. This has been occurring regularly, especially in the past few days as per this article below:

“Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise cancel voyages amid omicron spread

It comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised people to avoid cruise travel after launching investigations into cases on more than 90 ships.
By Reuters

Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for Jan. 6 after nine guests on its Jan. 2 trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong Covid-19 case.

The contacts have tested negative, but the cruise ship will return to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on Jan. 5 to test all guests and crew who must take a second test on Jan. 8, the company said.

A similar decision to cancel trips by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd was made against the backdrop of the United States reporting the highest daily tally of any country for new coronavirus infections on Monday.

“Due to ongoing travel restrictions, we’ve had to modify a few sailings and unfortunately have had to cancel,” the 17-ship strong cruise operator said, with the embarkation dates for a few canceled sailings as far out as late April.

The cruise line, which requires everyone on board to be vaccinated, has also had to cut short a 12-day round trip from Miami on its Norwegian Pearl ship, citing “Covid related circumstances.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had last week advised people to avoid cruise travel after launching investigations into onboard cases on more than 90 ships. The health agency starts a scrutiny if at least 0.1 percent of the guests test positive.

Norwegian Cruise said guests, who were supposed to embark on the canceled sailings on the eight ships, will receive full refunds and bonus credits for future bookings.

The omicron-led travel uncertainty is also causing guests on other sailings to cancel their bookings as a few ships have also had to skip ports due to onboard infections.

“We booked the cruise last March and assumed that things would be getting back to normal… by mid-December, I was mentally prepared for a change of plans,” said Holly Bromley, a consulting arborist. She canceled her booking on Norwegian Epic.

Meanwhile, bigger rival Carnival Corp said it had not canceled any upcoming voyages, but its shares fell on Wednesday to close down 2.6 percent. Royal Caribbean lost 2.1 percent and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings 3.6 percent.”

Miss Duiker stopped by for pellets. We were happy to send some her way.

I should mention that Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity Cruise Line.

We can only imagine the inconvenience of being stuck in Florida if the ship returns to port or never sails at all due to Covid cases. We will have spent a fortune on airfare from South Africa and quarantining in a hotel, plus meals, for at least a week before we even board the ship. We don’t want to take a risk that we won’t be able to board coming directly from South Africa. (But, we’ll check prior to booking the flight and hotel).

Yes, sure. It’s all up in the air. The third year of the pandemic continues to impact our travel plans. Today we sent the law firm in Cape Town all of the required documents to process our extension. If we get it, it will be good until April 22, 2022.  If the cruise scheduled for April 8th cancels, we’ll have to figure out what we’ll do at that point.

Challenging times continue. If good health supersedes it all, we’ll have no complaints.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 7, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #288. An artfully designed temple was built over 1000 years ago in Chennai. For more photos, please click here.