Part 1…Internet solutions…Photos of our neighborhood…

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In

Here we are in Africa, hot and sweaty as we embark on our first walk outside the gated complex, onto the main road, definitely a daytime event only.

I know. We’re always discussing Internet issues.  For those of you with little interest in Internet issues, I apologize. We realize that many users pay little to no attention to the means by which they are connected. They send and read email, Facebook, a few blogs and occasionally search for information. This constitutes the “average” user.

The dirt road in our gated community.
As we began our walk within the gated complex, we saw and heard many local workers working on the house that had been destroyed by a fire in 2009. Hans told us that the insurance companies didn’t want to pay fair claims for the losses so many homeowners haverebuilt, piece by piece over this extended period.

Then, there are Internet devotees such as us, who use the Internet as their connection to the world, not only to family and friends, but for resources to enhance their everyday lives. In a typical day, when staying “home,” we may each easily spend five or six hours online, downloading, reading, watching shows, managing banking and financial, searching for our future travels.

This wall was on our right as we walked along the dirt road within the gated community.  Most houses were tucked away behind large stone walls making it difficult to see the homes in the neighborhood.

Suddenly, a few days ago we’re cut off at the knees by XCOM Global warning us that we’re using too much data based on regulations over which they have no control. With restricted data use, we were faced with a tough decision.

An entrance to a neighboring home.

Do we find a local provider? Nice idea. But there are no home wireless providers in Kenya.  ToDo we rent another MiFi for another $395 a month?  Too costly.Or, worst of all, do we change our habits? You may say, “Get a grip! Find something else to do!” 

This statue was in the entryway of the neighboring home.

Yes, we get that.  But consider this…we have no car, no stuff of our own other than our now meager amount of clothing and supplies. We have no house to fix or maintain, no trips to Home Depot, no health club and no family and friends to visit. We have no TV, no radio, no sports news, no recipe books to peruse for making dinner. With Hesborn’s daily help, the only housework we do is wash our dishes (Tom does this) after a meal and to pick up after ourselves.

This massive home was burned out, sold and yet to be repaired, now almost 4 years later.

Take all those aspects of daily life away for a moment, what would one do? We can’t go sightseeing everyday. We didn’t do that in our old lives. Do you sightsee every week? Hardly. If one has young children, they may embark on sightseeing type adventures each weekend. But, we don’t have young children. We don’t have a dog to take for a walk.

Another angle of the above burned out home, yet to be rebuilt. Eighteen homes were destroyed in the fire that swept through the community in minutes.  The thatched roof and high winds caused the almost instantaneous burn.

In Kenya, one doesn’t just walk on the streets, along the beach, to and from their favorite activities especially at night. There are safety concerns in the numbers. We’re not foolish.

The water tower belonging to the above  burned out private residence.

Thus, the Internet is not only our mode of entertainment but our source of information.  (Soon, we’ll get out to visit a local travel agency recommended by Hans with the hope of booking a safari since we can’t currently do it online with the limited use of the MiFi).

The dense thatched rooftops, typical in Africa, can easily be seen as a fire hazard.
These would never be allowed in the US or many other countries.

Soon, we’ll start dining out once or twice a week to the local restaurants, of which there are many for a short cab ride. Soon, we’ll visit a shopping mall to get the flavor of products sold in the area.

Yesterday, with Hans’ help we solved our Internet issues. He went to the Safaricom store in town and purchased an 8 gigabyte SIM card for us, loaning us his portable Hot Spot. It takes 1/2 of 1 gig to download an hour long TV show. We’ll be able to get approximately 16 shows on one SIM card at the cost of US $45 for the entire card. Each show we download and watch will cost us approximately US $2.81. 

Our two devices, a Hot Spot, loaned to us by Hans and our XCOM Global MiFi. Most likely we’ll be purchasing one of these Hot Spots (under $100) plus SIM cards while we’re in Africa, as an adjunct to our XCOM Global device.  Both of these provide us with  an ample  amount of data to be able to conduct our days and download shows for evening.

SIM cards such as these, may be reloaded by purchasing a “scratch off” card for the desired amount with the PIN code beneath the scratch off. Loading it is a little tricky. Hans will help us the first time as he did yesterday. We’ll be fine from there. Another US $180 per month added to our already US $395 a month for XCOM Global for a grand total of US $575 a month. 

With spring yet to arrive, the flowers will only increase, especially with some much desired rains.  Based on reviewing online weather sites ,it appears the heat won’t increase each day as the spring season is upon us.  Today at a high of 84F, the humidity is high at 62%, creating a sweaty but not unbearable environment.

In our old lives we paid US $235 a month for all channel Hi Def cable TV and wireless Internet plus another US $200 a month for our two cell phones.  Now, with the US $575 we’ll be paying, it is necessary to adjust our budget accordingly, a task I’ll soon accomplish as we fine tune our usage over the next several days.

At first glance, this water tower appeared to be a lookout.

With the combined use of the Hot Spot and  the MiFi, we now have access to enough data to do almost as much aswe please online. With an app we downloaded on each of our laptops, for each of the devices, we can freely monitor our usage, checking frequently. First we’ll use the MiFi’s 150 megs, then we’ll roll over to the Hot Spot. It makes sense to us. If there are any other suggestions out there, please comment.

Oh, this looks refreshing.  We’ll have our own pool in the next house in South Africa, where we’ll be in 3 months.

Oh, we live and learn. Unexpected expenses, conditions and challenges. But so far, there nothing that we can’t handle. As long as we are healthy and safe and have Internet access, we’re content. In this case, we’re back to our smiley selves again after a 24 -hour period of wondering what to do to solve the issue.

A wall hanging in the shape of the continent of Africa.

This morning, I refilled our vitamin and pill cases (mostly used by us seniors), a time consuming task.But, once done, it need not be repeated until 2 more weeks. Previously, we had ample cases to fill to last us each a month but we tossed the extras when attempting to reduce our load.

Interesting views of the thatched rooftops of various homes in the area.
When we left Tuscany, I left my newer Easy Spirit workout shoes behind, hoping Lisa would find someone who wanted them if she didn’t. Now I have none. Even so, we ended up paying an extra Euros $1000, US $1350 (approx.) for our overweight bags. 
This is the security gate from the street side. Tomorrow, we’ll share photos of our walk along the road.
This hanging plants produces these long burgundy stringy things.  I’ll research these and other unusual plants while we’re here.
These plants flourish in the hot humid weather requiring little water.  Hans explained that some of the vegetation such as this have their own “bladders” in which to store water.

This morning as I gathered all the vitamin pill bottles and bags, I placed them in the duffle bag for use over the next three months, noticing the heaviness of the bag. We’ll be leaving them behind this time. We’re finally accepting the reality. 

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with Part 2 of our first outing onto the road beyond the gates where we found a wonderful surprise.

Today we met Nancy, one of the daytime support staff at our guarded gate.  She was so sweet, holding my hand the entire time we chatted with her.  She kindly took the photo of Tom and I.  We’re loving being able to talk to the locals.

Life without a phone…How’s that working for ya’?…Plus weather photos, stormy day…

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This morning, as white puffy clouds rolled in over the hills.
Soon, the sky became a little darker as the white puffy clouds began to dissipate.

Almost a year ago, before leaving the US, we did an analysis to determine the cost of keeping our cell phone service with Verizon Wireless while we traveled the world. With both of our contracts expired, we weren’t obligated to continue on.

Only minutes later, the clouds rapidly wafted into the hills.

First, we determined our calling costs in many of the countries in which we’d reside. Secondly, we determined the data costs based on our usage while in the US. In other words, what would it cost us monthly to continue making calls and using data freely as we’d done in the past?

The clouds are so close to us.  It’s heavenly!
We’ve never seen clouds from this vantage point!

The estimated total for both of our smartphones would be $2300 a month, not something we could or would be willing to pay. Also, figuring the cost without making calls on the phone, the data aspect alone would be over $1000 a month. If we considerably cut our data use, most likely we couldn’t get below $500 a month. Old habits die hard.  With no data plan, we’d have no alternative to breaking the habit of using our phones as computers.

As much as it looks like smoke, it is puffy clouds.

The basic monthly fees for service for both phones were $167 a month including taxes and fees. What was the point? If roaming calls were an additional $2.89 a minute on average, using Skype for free was a logical alternative.

The question remains, will everyone we want to speak with, be willing to download Skype taking the minimal amount of time to learn how to use it?  Not necessarily, much to our disappointment. 

The clouds dissipate quickly. Tom stood by with the camera in hand getting these shots as they progressed while I was busy in the kitchen.  I’m impressed!

As we’ve discovered over the years, many users only check email and Facebook, occasionally using search engines on their computers at home and at work, with little interest in learning to use the zillions of other applications available online at little or no cost. 

Unfortunately, this prevents us from the opportunity to speak with many family members and friends who simply aren’t comfortable using Skype. We wish we could convince them otherwise enabling us to freely call any of our family and friends with the same ease we experienced back in the states using our cell phones.

The rain, although short-lived, was torrential! While the sun was still shining Tom said, “I smell rain!”  I shrugged and dismissed his comment. Within 20 minutes, the sun was hidden behind the clouds while the rains came pouring down and these puffy clouds appeared.


While in Boveglio, Tuscany the Skype connection is quite clear with or without video. We’re more than willing to talk without video if the call receiver prefers not to use their camera.  With the huge time differences, one may hesitate to be seen online in their pj’s or otherwise, understandably so.

Also, we can send and receive Skype calls on our smartphones when we’re connected to the Internet via our MiFi device or the wireless connection in the house. The call receiver may do the same using their current cell provider’s data connection with the Skype app loaded for free. Most new smartphones have  Skype pre-installed when they purchase a new phone. 

Thus, a cell to cell call may be made using Skype on both ends without incurring any cost, unless the receiver is using a data plan that charges per megabyte on their cell phone. 

In this case, they can make the call using their cell phone from their home, using their home’s wireless connection by a simple setting on their phone before making the call. It’s easy, requiring only a few steps, and is equally easy to set it back to the Internet data service provided by their carrier after completing the Skype call.

In the past several days, we’ve had to make a few personal or business-related calls. How do we do this with no phone?  Simple. We search online for the toll-free number provided by the business and make the call on Skype with no charges on our end. 

How do we make a local call?  Again, using Skype. If no toll-free number is available, for example, when we recently inquired to a local pharmacy for a product, we used Skype‘s “for fee” service. We’d deposited $10 into our Skype account for these exact purposes last January with still $8.76 remaining as shown below in this photo.

Our remaining Skype balance after making several local calls using Skype. Long-distance calls from country to country are more expensive, considerably less than roaming cell phone calls.

The local fees for local calls in most countries using Skype are a little over $.026 per minute. That same call to the US would be $2.89 per minute without the use of a toll-free number. (Also, we still can make an emergency call from our cell phones or Skype at no charge).

Why do we continue to carry cell phones if we have no service?  As explained above, for making Skype calls, emergency calls, navigational services when we use our MiFi as an adjunct, and most often, reading books on our Kindle app installed on our phones. 

FYI:  When downloading new books, we connect our phones to the wireless connection in the house, sync the new books, and disconnect. The e-books are permanently stored in the app on our phones which doesn’t require a connection for us to read at our leisure. With no TVs in the bedroom, a bit of reading time seems to aid us both in lulling us to sleep.

Why don’t we leave the house’s wireless connection all the time?  Each location is different depending on the strength of the wireless signal.  In this house, keeping the phones online diminishes the strength of the signal to our laptops.  When downloading books, we disconnect our laptops for a few minutes in order to sync the books, turning it back on when completed.

I know we’ve addressed these cell phone and Skype concerns in past posts. However, as time marches on, we learn the nuances of the systems we currently have in place while analyzing that which we may need in the future as technology continues to flourish before our eyes. 

Much of which we now use with aplomb, will become obsolete in the near future. In the interim, we both make a concerted effort to be aware of the changes as they reach the marketplace, hoping to create greater ease of use and features as we move along in our worldwide travels.

Internet’s been down all day until now…MiFi not working here…Cold, rainy day…

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Our own hotspot. On the right is our MiFi that we’ve rented from XCom Global providing us with high speed Internet connection worldwide.  Unfortunately, due to our current location in the mountains of Tuscany, we’re unable to get a good signal.

What a day!  When the wireless broadband went down last night we were worried. Our MiFi, unable to pick up a signal since we arrived in Boveglio, for which we continue to pay monthly rental fees, recently has been a source of frustration.

Sending it back to the company for the $79.00 shipping fees each way made no sense. We’ll need it again in 60 days plus, when we venture out from Boveglio and… if we get low enough in the mountains, we do receive a signal for use with our smartphones. This enables us full access to Google Maps while driving  and the Internet for points of interest and information on the areas we’re visiting. 

Most likely , we’ll be needing it again when we arrive in Kenya (where we’ll have a better connection. It’s the mountains impeding the signal in Tuscany). 

To further clarify for new readers, there are two ways we can connect to the Internet while living in our vacation homes worldwide:

1.  Through wireless broadband available at the property (a criteria for us in our travels) similar to what you are using to access the Internet from your home or office.

2.  Utilizing a MiFi, a wireless portable wireless credit card-sized device that we rent monthly.  We cannot purchase the unit due to the unique contracts that XCOM GLOBAL has arranged with Internet providers all over the world (in most countries) that provide the device with the signal, once we’ve charged it and turned it on to connect wirelessly with our laptops, smart phones, and other wireless devices.  It’s battery lasts approximately three hours and then must be charged again for another three hours.  We are able to use it while charging.

As we drove higher and higher into the mountains of Tuscany on June 16, 2013, we’d hoped we’d continue to receive a signal all the way up on the winding mountain roads.  About 25 minutes before arriving in Boveglio, we lost the signal, never to return. 

Thus, we’ve became dependent upon the wireless broadband available in our temporary home which the owners, Lisa and Luca. assured us would provide a good signal 24/7 during our stay.  Unfortunately, they have no control on outages experienced by the local provider in the region.

Apparently, last night around 11:00 PM, service to the general area experienced an outage. Awaking this morning we were disappointed to discover that there still was no service.  

Of course, we became worried, concerned that it could be a week or more until it was restored, as had been the case when the cable TV service went out just before we arrived leaving us with no TV until about a week ago.  There are only two English speaking programs available, Bloomberg TV and MSNBC, both news channels.  \With these two news channels we are able to be aware of what is transpiring in the US and worldwide, important as we travel to some high risk areas. 

We had no expectations of watching regular US programming while in many countries. For entertainment purposes, which we all need from time to time, when we want to wind down and relax, we’d downloaded a few hundred shows and movies on our “MY PASSPORT,” a two terabyte external hard drive, its shows to be saved for days like today…rainy, cold, windy, and no connection.

Some have asked, “Why do we need to be online so much of the time?”  There are several reasons for us:

1.  To be able to write and post this blog.
2.  To be able to maintain contact with family and friends via email and Skype at all times.
3.  To be able to maintain financial matters, all of which are available online:  banking, investing, credit cards, payments for future rentals and transportation, etc.
4.  To be able to receive and view our online “snail mail” from our mailing service.
5.  To be able to investigate further locations we hope to visit in the future.
6.  To book hotels and transportation getting us from place to place.
7.  Organizing and arranging maps and points of interest for our weekly excursions away from our temporary home.
8.  Look up medical questions, instructions, recipes and language translation.
9.  Download books to read.  (Once downloaded, no Internet connection is required).
10. Book reservations for restaurants.  Had we not done this for dining out last Saturday, we’d have been turned away at the restaurant, as we observed happening to other “walk-in” diners.
11.  Staying in touch with the property owners of upcoming rentals, asking questions, making future payments.
12. Entertainment.  When all else is said and done, playing with our computers is enjoyable: games, streaming radio and TV shows, watching movies, staying in touch  with family and friends via Facebook or, simply reading the wealth of information at our fingertips, keeping our brains active and hungering for more knowledge.

Yes, we prefer to be outdoors as much as possible on a warm days experiencing our surroundings.  But days like today, remind us how much we utilize this amazing tool,  the Internet, that honestly, without it we’d have had a lot less enthusiasm or interest in traveling the world. 

We often speak of how difficult and cumbersome arranging long term travel was for our ancestors.  How they ever managed is beyond us. 

Some travelers use travel agencies which are quickly becoming obsolete with the advent of the Internet growing worldwide. With the complexity of our travels, we definitely prefer to take responsibility for making our own arrangements, connecting all the dots along the way. (Although, we’ve used Joaquin at Vacations to Go for all of our cruises and will continue to do so). 

Also, travel agents don’t often handle the single family vacation homes we’ve been able to find and subsequently rent for our preferred periods of time.

How did we entertain ourselves today while “out of touch?”  We washed more laundry, finding covered spots in which to dry it considering the inclement weather.

We made a great breakfast of scrambled eggs with sautéed onions and Crimini mushrooms with Emmenthuler cheese and a side of Italian sausage and regular bacon which we were surprised to find at the grocery store in Pescia. Together, we chopped vegetables for tonight’s dinner.

We found a deck of cards and played “Gin” for several hours for the first time in many years. We’d forgotten the rules, playing anyway and it all came back to us.  We weren’t able to look up the rules online! I won.Tom forgot that he always won years ago. I’m a lousy loser.He’s worse.

Feeling frustrated for a lack of entertainment for Saturday night and not wanting to drive the winding roads that had many warning signs, “Slippery when wet,” we’d decided to stay in tonight. Preferring to save our downloaded books in the event it could be a long period without Internet, we hesitated to spend the entire evening reading.

For the first time since we left Scottsdale, Arizona at the end of December 2012, I plugged in My Passport, external hard drive, browsing to determine which shows and movies we might watch tonight. 

Actually, with no TV at all in Kenya, we’d hope to save all the downloaded videos to watch during the almost three months we’ll be living there. Ah, what the heck! Tonight would be the perfect night to watch a few!

Moments after plugging the device into my computer, I heard the familiar little sound of an arriving email.  “We’re back on!” I yelled out to Tom, causing him to be startled. Yes, we were back on.

Quickly, I sat down in this not-so-comfy kitchen chair and began typing away, anxious to let our readers that we’re still here. Some readers, who hadn’t received the automatic emails (which is now working again) assumed that we’d either fallen off the steep road while driving or we’d quit writing. 

I’ll promise this, dear readers… If we don’t write a word for two or more days, either we’re traveling (it takes two calendar days to arrive in Kenya), the Internet is down or something unfortunate has happened to us. In every case, we will post at the first opportunity, sharing the story and photos describing our absence.

“Consistency” is our middle name or, if you’d prefer the less braggadocios version…we’re rampant creatures of habit. We don’t expect that traveling the world will ever change that!

MiFi troubles…Naples today…

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It was fun to see the Celebrity Equinox at the pier in Naples, Italy, the ship we’d boarded on January 21 on our way to Belize, arriving on January 29, 2013.  It seems so long ago.
The area was not conducive to walking.
Views of the port in Naples, Italy.
Without boarding a bus, we really couldn’t get a good shot of the area in front of our ship.

Every  time we’ve loaded our wireless Xcom Global MiFi when we are in port or near land, we’ve watched in wonder as the little hot pink light shines bright indicating we have a strong signal.

Staying  “connected” is an important piece of our worldwide travels, not only for posting our blog and photos each day but also staying in touch with family and friends, banking and financial matters including checking our credit card balances frequently, arranging connections for our next  move, future travels and cruises and of course, checking out information about areas we are visiting.

We look forward to returning to Naples this summer to check out some of it many historical sight.

Yesterday morning when we arrived in Civitavecchia Italy, the port entrance for visitors to Rome, a 90-minute bus ride, we lost the signal within minutes of connecting. Of course, we do have access for the ship’s expensive and horribly slow connection, preferring to us it only when absolutely necessary, mostly when out to sea.

Shortly after losing the MiFi signal, I began the process of checking and rechecking all of our options to get the device working again, referring to the included manual and also online instructions, none of which worked.

Hopefully, this summer, we’ll be able to identify some of these historical sights.

As a last resort, I contracted the company, Xcom Global for assistance. Their information states they have 24 hour tech support by email. Sending them an email at 10 am yesterday, Friday, we didn’t hear back until this morning, Saturday.  Apparently, the 24 hour email tech support wasn’t available and our 11 hour time difference required we wait to hear back until their regular office opened in San Diego, California.

Much to our dismay, after following their many step instructions to a “t” we still couldn’t get service. Frustrating to say the least. They’re closed on Sundays, the day we’ll be out to sea, unable to use the service during that time anyway. Thus, we have no options until Monday.

The hilly terrain of Italy leaves us excited to explore.

We did consider that the signal may be “too weak” in these two areas in Italy to “grab” a signal.  It is possible that the problem lies there. We won’t know for certain until we arrive in Greece on Monday, when we hope to get off the ship to explore Mykonos.

In Naples today, knowing we’ll be coming back over the summer, we wandered off the ship on our own trying to find a few good advantage points for exploring and photo taking. Barely recovered from our illness, immune systems comprised, we felt it made no sense to get inside a germ-laden bus with other passengers to see the sights. 

As Tom and I have both stated all along, our health and well being will remain first and foremost in our travels. Since embarking on this cruise four days ago, I can honestly say we’ve never spent more time washing our hands. Hopefully, our somewhat obsessive behavior will serve us well to disembark on June 16th in good health.

On Tuesday, we’ll arrive in Istanbul, Turkey having yet to hear if our ship will enter this highly charged area of political unrest.  We shall see and keep you posted, hopefully, with our Internet connection intact soon.

Cruise Itinerary, easy boarding…Here we come Eastern Mediterranean!…

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Here’s our upcoming cruise itinerary:

Norwegian Spirit, departs 6/4/13, 12 nights

Tue Jun 4 Barcelona, Spain 7:00pm
Wed Jun 5 Toulon, France 8:00am 6:00pm
Thu Jun 6 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy 8:00am 7:00pm
Fri Jun 7 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 8:00am 7:00pm
Sat Jun 8 Naples (Capri), Italy 8:00am 7:00am
Sun Jun 9 At Sea
Mon Jun 10 Mykonos, Greece 7:00am 3:00pm
Tue Jun 11 Istanbul, Turkey 9:00am 6:00pm
Wed Jun 12 Izmir, Turkey 11:30am 7:00pm
Thu Jun 13 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 8:00am 6:00pm
Fri Jun 14 At Sea
Sat Jun 15 Venice, Italy 2:00pm
Sun Jun 16 Venice, Italy Disembark

We were out the door of the Hotel Grums at 11:00 am,  we were on our way to the Port of Barcelona to board the Norwegian Spirit, an older ship in Norwegian’s fleet.  Although only rated a four out of six stars, it had been remodeled two years ago. 
Outdoor deck on the aft end of the ship, Norwegian Spirit.

Based on the convenience of the dates that we’re scheduled between our vacation homes in Dubai and Tuscany, this cruise was a logical choice. Also, this gave us an opportunity to visit the eastern Mediterranean.

With our recent arranged car rental when we arrive in Venice on June 16th, we’ve decided to forego visiting the Italian ports of call excursions of which there are three in the next week.The money we’ll save will pay for 1/2 of our entire car rental for the summer.

More importantly, it will leave us with day trips to enjoy while driving our rental car all over Italy, seeing the sights on our own time, on our own dime, and free of germ-ridden bus tours. Thus, we’ll stay on the ship for at least the next week.

Today’s excursions are for Toulon, France. We’ve decided to get off the ship on our own to explore this exquisite resort community, posting story and photos tomorrow.
The bar outside the Raffles Restaurant where we had breakfast this morning and worked on today’s post.

Hopefully, by the time we reach Istanbul, the unrest will be over and we’ll feel safe to explore. So often on the news we hear awful stories about tourists getting caught in uprisings resulting in death or injuries. Our health and safety will always remain foremost in our minds. Nothing is worth the obvious risks.

Yesterday, arriving at the port at 11:15, our bags were whisked away, and of all things…we finally have cruised enough on Norwegian to warrant our Latitudes status to be Silver, allowing us priority boarding. When they called #1 and #2 boarding passes and we were #2, we boarded the ship along with the top Latitudes Platinum level passengers and Penthouse level passengers. Finally, a perk has materialized!

By noon, we were dropping off our carry on bags in our cabin and ready to be some of the first passengers in Raffles Terrace restaurant on the 12th deck, where most likely we’ll dine for breakfast each day. The lunch was good with lots of excellent options for me.  By far, this was the quickest embarking we’ve experienced so far.
Much to our disappointment there are no “comfy booths” in which to park ourselves each morning to write to you here. Wandering around the ship, we found a perfect spot, an observation area, Galaxy of the Stars also on the 12th deck with comfy sofas, chairs, places to put our legs up and another spot, where we are now, outside the Raffles Restaurant.
Our MiFi is working perfectly but we did, as usual purchase the ship’s Internet package for 250 minutes for $100.  With a special they offered for early sign up and our Silver status, we earned an extra 50 minutes for a grand total of 5 hours of time.  With this two sea days, this will supply us for adequate time when we can’t use the MiFi.
As we sit here ensconced in new comfy zone, writing amid pleasant idle chatter. Also, there are
less germs away from the dining area. Fully unpacked, our cabin steward Kelly will fulfill our twice daily ice requests has already provided extra hangers and we’re already settled in.
Dinner last night was in the Garden Restaurant, the more casual of the two included large dining halls.  Seated at a table for six, we sat with a young friendly newlywed couple and two charming widows from the UK.  The conversation was upbeat and full of shared quips about life and travel adventures.  It couldn’t have been more fun!

By 9:00 pm, we were tucked in bed in our cabin, reading our books on the Kindle app on our smart phones, my eyes were closing, in between paragraphs in a futile effort to stay awake until 10:30.  As I pushed the off button on my phone it was 10:00 pm and slumber enveloped me, to awaken at 6:30 am, raring to go, feeling better.

Breakfast was mediocre at best this morning in the  Raffles buffet; eggs under-cooked; bacon too fatty and under-cooked; decaf coffee hard to find and difficulty finding a place to sit when we arrived at 7:45 am. With no pork in Dubai, we’d so looked forward to crispy bacon with none to be found

All I could think about were the germs everywhere.  For that reason alone, I’ll be happy to stop cruising for a while.  Otherwise, I could cruise forever.  Actually, we’ve talked about cruising long term, but lack of good food and exposure to illness would be the predominant deterrents, even if the price was right.  We shall see.

Poolside today, a visit to Toulon, France taking photos, a workout in the fitness center and of course, meeting more interesting people from all over the world, on what we expect to be a very pleasant next 11 days.

More photos tomorrow!

Surviving errands in Miami…

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Tom ordered frog legs!  He never ceases to amaze me!

Here’s our cruise itinerary for the upcoming week…

Carnival – Carnival Liberty, departs 4/13/13
7 nights Day Date Port or Activity Arrive Depart

Sat Apr 13 Miami, FL 4:00 pm

Sun Apr 14 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 9:00 am 5:00 pm
 
Mon Apr 15 At Sea

Tue Apr 16 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 9:00 am to 6:00 pm

Wed Apr 17 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00am 3:30pm

Thu Apr 18 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 11:00am 5:30pm

Fri Apr 19 At Sea

Sat Apr 20 Miami, FL 8:00 am

Hazy downtown Miami only minutes ago as we prepare to sail.

After our fourth night of little sleep, with the constant thumping of the disco music blaring from the bar below us, we’re exhausted and feeling run down.

With earplugs firmly implanted, I could still hear and music each night from 11:00 pm to 3:30 am, as the bed shakes.  Oddly, I can hear the sounds through my pillow. 
Supplies to be loaded onto the ship.

More water problems.  The shower and sink don’t drain properly resulting in two inches of water on the bathroom floor after showering.  We’ve reported it several times to no avail. The other passengers have made the same observation who’s cabins are near ours.  Oh, Carnival, we had such high hopes for you!
Anticipating today, with a sense of dread in our tired state, we somehow muddled through and are now situated in our cabin, writing to you using our trusty Xcom Global MiFi which fired up instantly.  We have a flawless signal while in the port of which there are many over the next week and will use the ship’s WiFi signal when out to sea.

Tom noticed dogs being used for security for items boarding the ship.

After seamlessly being pushed through customs with VIP status as “back-to-back cruisers, we exited the ship to grab a cab to take us on our errands.  The process took about two hours, but we were pleasantly surprised by the organized process.  We give credit to Carnival on this aspect.

Our Haitian cab driver, George easily found the four addresses we had printed off our little Planon Printer:  for the bank, the UPS store to pick up our new camera and supplies, CVS pharmacy for toiletries, and a Publix grocery store (in order to purchase a few month’s supply of our usual Crystal Lite Iced Tea).

Eighty cab dollars later, we were back at the ship, whisked through check-in via the Captain’s Lounge, enthusiastically welcomed back aboard the ship to once again, find our cabin, cleaned, and ready for us until we see if tonight they can move us to another less noisy cabin.

Once back inside, we unpacked our new “stuff” still grinning over unloading two heavy pieces of luggage at the UPS store being shipped to my sister in LA all of which totaled 100 pounds.  Now the goal is to unload one more large bag to get us down to two bags, one carry on and one computer bag each. It’s daunting, but doable. The vitamin bag is still an issue.

In actuality, in the large box we received from our mailing service, we had three more large bottles of vitamins.  After considerable research over hearing loss from which Tom suffers from 42 years on the railroad, we’ve recently noticed an improvement in his hearing after about a month after he began taking 600 mg of magnesium per day. 

The staff at the Golden Olympian Restaurant danced down the steps and around the tables again last night bidding cruisers adieu on their last night on the seven-night cruise we boarded mid-cruise on Tuesday, the 9th.

Now, we’ve added another supplement that is used as an adjunct to magnesium, NAC, N-Acetyl Cysteine, 600 mg to improve hearing loss. Only time will determine if the combination of these two supplements provides additional improvement.  We’re hopeful.  Of course, we’re not professionals, nor claim to be, but considerable research has steered us in this direction.

One week from today, we’ll move over at this pier to board the Norwegian Epic in order to go on the Atlantic Ocean crossing to Barcelona.

The customer service desk assured us they will do everything they can to move us to a quieter cabin before bed tonight.  I sure hope so.  A good night’s sleep is exactly what we need.

Part 1…Harrowing experience…

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Due to a poor internet signal aboard the ship, there are spacing issues in today’s post.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

We counted seven single lane bridges along the ride to Belize City.
When the driver of the shuttle, Mark Lanza, arrived at our door at LaruBeya fifteen minutes early, immediately I began to feel more at ease.  He didn’t hesitate to shake hands, introducing himself, jumping in to load our zillion pieces of luggage. 
It’s rare for anyone to receive a moving violation in Belize.  Police do not monitor the roads resulting in many fatal accidents.

Chatting with me momentarily, he apologized for the lack of air conditioning during our arrival in Belize on January 29, 2013, explaining that the system wasn’t working at that time and has seen been repaired. He sensed my apprehension about the long drive assuring me that he was a safe driver. By 8:00 am we were on the road.

 

The drive was uneventful.  Surprisingly, the time flew by in the cool vehicle and with his cautious driving.  By noon, we reached immigration at the pier. 

Two of a group of four women cruising together. It was a pleasure meeting them as we bounced around on the half-hour noisy ride on the tender from the pier to the ship.

With our two luggage carts, two grocery bags, my handbag, one bag with hangers, seven large suitcases, two carry-on bags, two laptop bags, and one bag with our laptop trays, we had a total of eighteen pieces. Yes, we know. Outrageous.  Soon, this will be cut in half.

A port agent was on standby awaiting us at the immigration office and check-in area, for cruise passengers.  Everyone seems to know our cabin number and that we were arriving mid-cruise since the port of Belize was an excursion port, not an embarking port.
 
Amazingly, we were moved through the check-in process with relative ease.  Our bags were whisked away to the awaiting tender, placed in the bow of the 100 person boat while we boarded inside. The bumpy, hot, crowed half hour ride to the awaiting Carnival Liberty was eased as we engaged is lively loud chatter (over
the earsplitting sound of the engine and the pounding waves) with our seatmates, a pair of lovely widows enjoying traveling together.

Reaching the ship, buzzers went off announcing our mid-cruise arrival, as our bags were hauled aboard, most of which were sopping wet from the outdoor boat ride. Security directed us to the guest services desk to check in to receive our “Sail and Sign Cards” which are used as both a credit card and cabin key throughout the cruise.

Entering the narrow, busy road as we approached the port of Belize City.  Notice the load the woman on the right is hauling on her bicycle.

Standing at the desk awaiting our turn, we looked at each other smiling at the relative ease in getting aboard. NOT SO FAST!!! Hold on to your seat folks! The stern security officer we’d met upon boarding approached us with a wary look on his face.  “Sir, madam, we have an issue with your luggage.”

My heart started racing. We’d had no illegal anything in our bags but we’d heard stories of passengers being detained for days for naught.  We had no booze, no medications other than those for which we had copies of the prescriptions. We had no contraband. Nada! Nothing!
 
Tom and I looked at each other while I whipped into my sharp defensive mode briskly stating, “What’s the problem, sir?”
 
“It’s your medications, madam,” he shot back as he opened our duffel bag, revealing our bottles of vitamins.
“Do you have prescriptions for these?”
“Sir,” I snapped, feeling the hair on my neck standing up, while my claws came out as I said, “In the US, prescriptions for over the counter vitamin supplements are not required. We have so many of these since we are traveling the world for no less than five years and we can’t receive mail in most places we are traveling.  We’ve brought along all that we’ll need for the next few years.  That’s why we have so many!”
With rubber-gloved hands, they kept examining our vitamins, opening unopened bottles, checking against the open bottles from which we were currently using to ensure we hadn’t hidden illegal substances.
Tom gave me a look that meant, “Settle down.”  I know that look.
 
The security officer, sensing my ire, spoke in a calm voice, “You both have to go to the medical clinic, and see the doctor.”
 
“Why????  We’re not sick!”  I spewed, irritated beyond my own belief.
 
“We have to determine that these drugs are not illegal.”  He sternly states.
 
Off we were trotted, under guard to the medical clinic.  We were seated in “chairs” while a sick person awaited treatment. My thoughts flipped between the germs in the clinic, while I contemplated what jail in Belize would be like. 
 
I could tell Tom was irritated with me, thinking diplomacy would be more effective. Bless his heart, he means
well. Not an ounce of diplomacy was fluttering through my mind.
 
We sat in those chairs for not less than an hour waiting for the doctor. Finally, the doctor came out, an older
gentleman of kindly demeanor, looking more curious about our bag of vitamins than wanting to detain us further. He called us into his office.
 
Taking a deep breath, as he questioned me as to why we had so many bottles of vitamins, I explained our restrictive diet, Tom’s eight years of use of Vitamin B6 as recommended by his urologist after three kidney stone surgery which has left him free of further incidences, our use of various supplements for bone health, heart health and a Valerian/Melatonin supplements used on occasion to help us sleep.
 
After a series of going back and forth to the opened bag of supplements which were still sitting in the chairs of the sick passengers, the security officer, and a male nurse were not only rummaging through the bag of vitamins but also one of our carry-on bags. There were alarmed by my blood pressure cuff, my ample supply of contact lenses, and my bag of miscellaneous fingernail supplies. 
 
They continued to refer to the supplements as “medications” stating we needed a prescription for each of these.  Then I said once again for the umpteenth time, “These are not prescription items. These are over-the-counter non-prescription supplements.
 
Well-planned in advance, we produced multiple documents from our doctor and travel clinic in Minnesota, specifically stating that these particular supplements were a part of our regular dietary needs, none of which required a prescription. The security officer and the male nurse looked over the documents.
 
Immediately, the security office changed his demands, fumbling over his words, stating that now, their new conditions, that we produce receipts for each and every supplement in the bag.
 
“Who saves receipts for vitamins?  Who needs a receipt for Vitamin C?  I could drink a glass of orange juice for the same dose.” Tom’s foot tapped my calf.  I was enraged.
 
As the doctor finished with his sick patient, the male nurse goes into the doctors’ office and in hushed tones, speaks to him. We can’t hear what he’s saying. A moment later the doctor comes out while scolding the male nurse for the preposterous of this situation. The nurse dashes off, not to be seen again.
 
At that point, the doctor asked us to come into his office. Tom recommended I go in alone, since one of
us had to watch the computer bags and other luggage. 
 
In a calmer manner, I explained our situation to the doctor, who promptly informed me that he’s 82 and doesn’t take any vitamins. Good for him. We do. As I was speaking to the doctor, the security officer was watching me, watching Tom, watching our vitamins, and talking on the phone about our vitamins to some unknown party.  His head was flopping back and forth as if he were watching ping pong game.
 
The doctor walked out of his office, looked into the bag of vitamins asking the security officer, Tom, and I back into his office.  Tom and I followed suit, but the security officer was rambling on the phone about our vitamins.  I was ready to scream. I didn’t.
 
Finally, we’re all back in the doctor’s office while the doctor explains to the security officer that these vitamins are legal, non-prescription items that anyone can purchase over the counter.
 
The security officer was unrelenting, refusing to give us back the supplements. The doctor proposed that
they are to be treated in the same manner as bottles of alcohol, held in security, providing a receipt, and returned to the passenger upon disembarking.
 
The security officer refused the doctor’s recommendation stating that he is going to turn our vitamins over to the police.  I freaked! “No, way! We are not getting a criminal record that follows us around the world, affecting our ability to travel, over vitamins!”  This could put a fast end to our travels!   
 
I freaked out!  At this point, Tom stopped kicking me “under the table.” This was serious.
 
“OK,” I offered, in a feeble attempt to sound under control, “What if we produce all of the receipts for these?”  My mind was spinning thinking I could get them online where I’d made the various purchases in the past year. 
 
He agreed to insist that we’d have to sign a statement certifying that we have no intention of reselling the vitamins and that is for our personal use.
 
The doctor had thrown his hands in the air. It was obvious he was as stymied by this awful experience as we were.
 
The security officer states, “Yes, get me the receipts and we’ll see what we can do.” 
 
At this point, the doctor produced his camera and took a picture of our supplements. Observing this peculiarity,
I immediately pulled out my camera and also took a picture as you can see here.
 
Two hours had passed from the time we boarded the ship until we warily went to the Internet cafe to sign up for service. 
 
A half-hour later we left to attend our scheduled emergency procedure session arranged exclusively for us since we were the only passengers boarding mid-cruise in Belize City. There were four various officers in attendance in the Tapestry Room as we watched a 10-minute video and was shown how to put on our life jackets, along with a description of the location of our “muster station,” a designated meeting point for passengers in an emergency. Fine. Done.
 
By the time we got back to our cabin, yet to receive as much as open a single bag, we showered, and change for dinner. We needed to eat. We hadn’t had a morsel all day. Exhausted, frustrated, and hungry, we fumbled around the cabin looking for clothes to wear to dinner, showering, and getting ready.
 
Our lovely cabin steward’s soft, caring, voice help defray some of my angst, hoping somehow we could get past this and enjoy the rest of the cruise’s remaining 11 days.
 
By 7:30 PM, we were seated at a round table in the Golden Olympian dining room joining a charming couple from Maine. As the conversation escalated, we found ourselves slipping into a more relaxed state, optimistic that we could let this all go, get the receipts in the morning, and be done with the negative experience with the vitamins.
 
The Carnival Liberty is unlike either the of the two Celebrity cruises we’d experienced a few months ago. The service is great, the food quite acceptable, especially as they accommodated my restrictive diet at dinner, the decor, loud and gaudy, but the amenities and activities are many, appealing to a much younger crowd, not necessarily us.  Lots of smoking throughout the ship.
 
Within a few days, we anticipate that we’ll get into a groove enjoying ourselves in whatever we do, as long as we’re together, have running water, a good Internet connection, decent food, and a clean safe environment.  Not much to expect, right?
 
NOT SO FAST!!!
 
By 10:30, we decided to call it a night as masses of passengers were literally jumping up and down, dancing and screaming to the rockin’ music in the various bars. As we entered the glass elevator overlooking one of the bars, people were carrying on to the song, “Celebration” in a mad frenzy. Gosh, we’re old.
We welcomed the sight of the turned-down bed arriving in our cabin after dinner, exhausted and stressed, desperately needing a good night’s sleep.
By 11:00 we were reading our books on the Kindle apps on our phones, finally drifting off. Within minutes of
wandering off into much-needed repose, we both were awakened to a loud thumping and thumping and thumping. 
 
“Do you hear that?” I asked Tom, who is hard of hearing and may not have heard it. 
 
“Yes,” he said, “I can also feel it!” The bed was vibrating with each thump.  The late-night bar one floor below us opened at 11:00 PM to outrageously loud disco music until 2:30 am.
 
Tom, thanks to his hearing loss, was able to dose in and out.  I, on the other hand, a light sleeper, never
slept a wink until finally at 3:00 am, I finally wandered off, exhausted, frustrated, head pounding. I needed an
aspirin. Bad. They were in the bag of vitamins.
We checked today. That music goes on seven nights a week. Oh.
Not much sleep was to be had in this bed last night with the constant thumping of the disco bar one floor below us.
At 7:35 am an announcement came over the loudspeaker, telling us that the ship was in rough waters and may not be able to go into port in Roatan, Honduras. Jolted out of deep sleep, neither of us was able to go back to sleep.

Need I say, we had little motivation or energy to do much of anything today, other than continue to work on the vitamin situation. Exhausted, there was no one hour of pool time, no wandering around the ship exploring every nook and cranny, and only a few photos to share with you today.

 Do we get our vitamins back?  As we write this now, we still don’t know.  Tomorrow, we’ll write again describing “the rest of the story.”

Xcom Global MiFi device is on its way to us…Best customer service in the world!…

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(We are not affiliated with this company other than as a satisfied customer). aXcess MiFi Mobile Hotspot

The world’s first intelligent mobile hotspot you can take with you around the world. This international wireless device is compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet powerful enough to connect up to 5 WiFi-enabled devices simultaneously to the Internet.

Specifications

  • Compatible with 3G and GSM network
  • Tri-Band: 850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz (HSPA / UMTS)
  • Quad-Band: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz (EDGE / GPRS)
  • Speeds of up to 7.2Mbps download and 5.76Mbps upload*
  • Enables 5 Wi-Fi devices to simultaneously connect
  • One touch remote connectivity
  • (up to 30 foot range) – no need to connect with cable
  • Compact size of 62 mm x 98 mm x 15.3 mm and 81 g
  • Removable, rechargeable Li-Ion battery with charger
  • Computer WiFi connection supports 802.11 b/g
*Achieving maximum speed depends on geographical
location and coverage.

In an effort to avoid UPS from charging us $10 per day per item for holding packages for us while we’re in Miami Beach for part of one day, we’ve decided to have the Xcom Global MiFi device that we’ll use worldwide, sent to our mailing service in Nevada.

It will arrive at our Nevada mailbox by April 1st to be placed into one of the large boxes along with the other supplies we’ve ordered for our continuing world travels.  The mailing service will wrap and ship all the items to the UPS store in Miami Beach for our pickup (by cab) when our ship arrives in port for the day on April 13th.

Once we receive the MiFi, a device that grabs the signal from Internet providers in most countries, enabling us to be online with up to five devices, we’ll activate it and be online.  The device only works when we can see land, less than a mile away.

Aboard ship we’ll use the MiFi when we’re in port for the day, avoiding the outrageous WiFi charges on the ship.  When we’re out to sea, we’ll use the Internet package we’ve purchased on the ship. For example, on our last two-week cruise through the Panama Canal on the Celebrity Century, we paid $399 for the ship’s service which served us well, although it’s relatively slow.

Adding the cost for Xcom Global service to the cost of the ship’s Internet service, we expect our total cost to be around $1000 per month while cruising and only the monthly rate of $395 to Xcom Global when we’re situated in one of our vacation homes.

One thinks, why in the world are we willing to pay upwards of $1000 a month for Internet access while cruising and $395 a month when staying put?  For us, the answer is clear.  In order to achieve the level of planning and organization we’ve chosen for our years-long worldwide travels, there are costs we must bear.

On average, we’ll only be on cruises for two months per year ($2000) and most likely we’ll only need the device for another 5 months each year (at $395 per month) which totals $3975 per year, totaling $331.25 a month. 

In our old lives, our combined cell phone bill for calling and data was $185 a month.  Our cable and Internet bill was $235 a month. The total for these two expenses was $420 a month which is $88.75 more than that which we’re paying to be online at all times as we travel the world. It all boils down to numbers. 

Another factor we consider is our lack of spending on “extras” on cruises. We don’t pay for excursions (although we will in order to see the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and Giza in May.  No point in one going off on our own in these areas). 

We don’t dine in the “extra” cost restaurants.  I don’t drink alcohol or soda and Tom drinks very little alcohol, thus our alcohol bill is low.  We don’t buy highly marketed souvenirs, photos, spa services, personal trainers, go to art auctions, buy clothing, watches, or jewelry. 

At the end of our cruise, our bill will consist of charges for Internet service, Tom’s cocktails and as on the last cruise, two bottles of duty-free liquor we thankfully brought to Belize.  Tom’s favorite, Courvoisier is US $65 in Belize, as opposed to the US $37 duty-free, we paid on the ship.  Of course, one is not allowed to drink their liquor purchase aboard the ship.

Fortunately, most locations we’ve booked for the future have wireless broadband service in the property at no charge.  For example, we are certain the connection will be adequate for our 13 days in Dubai in May, although we’ll still have the device with us and will be paying for it. 

However, the advantage we’ll have when out of our condo in Dubai, visiting the various sites of the city, we’ll be able to use the device as a “portable WiFi” which allows us to use “Maps” on our smartphones with full access to the Internet although neither of us has a cell phone contract! We love technology! 

We aren’t so certain about the Internet service at the 17th-century villa in Tuscany Italy, where we’ll be spending most of the summer, as having anything other than a dial-up connection. The lovely owners, Lisa and Luca, don’t speak English and we’ve had a difficult time using the correct words to communicate a full description of the quality of the connection at the property. 

Once we arrive in Tuscany on the June 16th, we’ll immediately test their service and if not adequate, we’ll email Xcom Global explaining that we’ll need to continue to use their service and won’t be returning the device at that time.  We’ve alerted their customer service department to this possible scenario and they are more than willing to work with us.

While on our first cruise, as we were learning to use the device (very easy), we had a few questions that we sent by email.  They couldn’t have responded more quickly with an immediate resolution.  This company has the best customer service in the world!

Some have asked us, why “rent” this pricey device when you can purchase one for under $300?  Well, let’s say this would be comparable to buying a modem from a cable company but having no service with the company. 

Worldwide WiFi is not FREE. A few countries offer it for their citizens, for which they are ultimately taxed. Xcom Global has contracted with providers all over the world to allow its customers to “tap in” to the various networks. 

These providers are well aware when we’re utilizing their network to the extent that they have some restrictions on usage, such as not being able to download huge files or use Skype. using the device. It uses too much bandwidth. Our understanding is that this is to prevent piracy of videos, movies, and large international files and, from using too much of their data that is distributed to their own customers. 

Worldwide Internet access is a complicated issue.  We have spent considerable time researching our options and are satisfied with the choices we’ve made.  In time, as technology improves, hopefully, less expensive options will be available to us.  For now, we feel we have the best service available for our needs.

After all, if we couldn’t be online, we’d hardly be able to share all of our travel experiences with all of you on an an-almost-daily basis. 

Shopping in Belize…Shopping in the US from Belize and more photos…

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Karel’s Barber Shop doesn’t open until 10 am.  We’ll come back next week for Tom’s much needed new “do!”  Of course, we’ll post photos of that!

It was a fine day. We love the charming little village of Placencia.

Once again, Estevan appeared at our door promptly at 9 am to drive us to Placencia Village for our weekly errands which this week included a haircut for Tom, a trip to the fish market, a stop at the drugstore, a visit to the vegetable stand and finally a trip to the largest of the grocery stores in town. 

Tommy’s Restaurant.  Guess who got a kick out of this?

The neighbors on either side of us are from Minnesota and Friday night we’re having a Minnesota Potluck dinner making the shopping expedition all the more enjoyable.  What would we find that would be reminiscent of Minnesota?

As it turned out, the barbershop doesn’t open until 10 am and the fish market was out of fish.  We asked Estevan to drop us at the end of the peninsula, leaving us to walk the full length of the road through the village, stopping along the way. Next week, we’ll arrive later for Tom’s haircut and again check with the fish shop nearby.

Another quaint shop along the main road in the Village.
Cooler today, the walk was pleasant and relaxed. With Estevan picking us up in two hours from the larger grocery store at the opposite end of the peninsula, we had plenty of time to take photos, stop at each of the several small grocers along the way looking for ingredients for the items we’d planned to bring to the potluck dinner.  We kept the dishes simple knowing certain ingredients may not be readily available.
 Tom, outside the grocery store where we shopped today.

Shopping.  A necessary part of life.  Unless one lives on a farm, weaves their own fabrics, makes their own clothing, doesn’t use any toiletries, doesn’t drink alcohol, doesn’t require any medications, and on and on.  We shop.

Some of us enjoy shopping in stores, others online, others both, others not at all.  I lean toward the online category.  Tom falls into the “not at all” category.  Back in the US a year could go by without stepping into a mall, preferring the anonymous lurking online comparing prices, products, and reviews

Local clothing well priced on display outdoors.

With a plan to go pick up a box of necessary supplies at the UPS store near the pier in Miami on April 13th, where will also ship our excess luggage to my sister Julie, we’re busily placing our online orders. 

 The local pharmacy, at the top of the stairs.

How will we receive our items without paying the $10 per box/per day fee that UPS charges to “hold” purchased items?  We’re having the approximate 10 boxes shipped to our mailing service in Nevada, Maillink most of which have free shipping.  They’ll store all the items until we instruct them online, to open all the boxes, place every item into a larger box and ship the larger box to us to arrive at the UPS store in three days.

Check out the verbiage on this sign.  Love it!

The potential cost of this box:  $65 plus perhaps $20 additional in case UPS receives it a day early, holding it for two days.  While we’re port we’ll pick up the box and bring it aboard the ship.  This maneuver increases our cost for the items by about 20%.  We can live with this. 

An indoor clothing store filled with local fashions.

You may ask, why not rent a car when we disembark the ship for the eight-hour layover in port and drive around and buy the items?  Ten items, ten possible stores, the price of the rental car, the gas, the day spent feeling stressed is why to avoid that scenario

Notice the colorful signs on this corner, pointing in every which way to other businesses.

Plus, many of the items we must receive in the box will include the rental of the XCOM Global MiFi device we’ll be using while cruising for two months and later in Italy for the summer. 

Cowfoot soup is on the menu today.

Another example is my favorite tea, Pouchong, an Oolong tea introduced to me by my son Greg  (thanks Greg!) a number of years ago, the only tea I drink.  We gave up many favorite items when we left the US.  I gave up many favorite foods when choosing this strict way of eating.  I was not willing to give up this tea!

Omar’s Restaurant, covered in flowers and vines.

But buying the tea in itself presents a problem. One of few companies that stock this tea, (one cannot find this tea in a tea store) is a well managed, customer service orientated online store, Adagio Teas which I’ve used for years.

The Placencia mail delivery vehicle!

Last week I visited their site to place an order for enough tea to last me for the next six months, which amounts to one pound of tea at $58 per pound.  With no room in our newly revised luggage for a greater amount, I figured they’d send it anywhere in the world where we can receive mail, not necessarily in Kenya or South Africa.  This requires careful planning.

The Placencia Post Office and Social Security Board.

With a new mailing service address, I updated my shipping and credit card billing address in their system as I quickly breezed through the checkout process as I’ve done so many times in the past.  A message appeared: “we aren’t able to process your order.”  Duh?

One of two banks in the Village.

My first reaction was that I made an error in entering the credit card number, the expiration date, or the little 3 digit number, that I had entered in the appropriate fields. I re-entered all the information. Again rejected. 

 The local cemetery in the village.

Immediately, I brought up the website for that particular credit card to make sure the past payoff had in fact processed. Every month we pay off all of our credit cards to avoid interest charges and also to keep them free to use when our cards don’t charge exchange rates fees.  We’d recently charged several upcoming cruises.  Perhaps, they hadn’t processed the incoming payoffs.

Organic, pesticide-free produce.  We purchased this entire batch for US $12.

Nope.  A credit of ($.97) appeared on the account.  There’s no reason for the transaction to be rejected.  I wrote an email to Adagio Teas, almost panicking. What if my teas days are over?  I’ve tried dozens of other teas.  None appeal to me.

Within a few hours, I received this response:

“Hi Jessica,

Thank you for your message. Could you provide a little more information?  It would help us to know the billing and shipping addresses you are using, and whether you are trying to place the order from outside the U.S.
 
Last year we had a large number of international fraud attempts, and we put in place more stringent fraud prevention measures. You may be getting caught in these measures, but we’re happy to help figure things out.
 
Please visit us again soon, and let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
 
Adagio Teas
http://www.adagio.com“

OK. I get it. Their system detected that we’re in a foreign country, Belize, and the transaction was blocked. I wrote back to them immediately. They entered my email into their system as “safe.” Yesterday my order went through using the same credit card. The tea is en route to Las Vegas to be among the items to be shipped to us in Miami. Once again, Adagio Teas provided fast and courteous customer service.

A well-stocked pharmacy.  I needed to buy a pair of reading specs for reading Kindle on my smart phone while in bed after the contacts lenses come out.  $10 (US) for an adorable pair in white.  With no TV in the bedroom we read books.  We do adapt, don’t we?  For the first time in years,  we’re both are relaxing enough to enjoy reading novels.

I knew about this risk while in the early planning stages of our worldwide travels.  This is the first time I’ve encountered it.  Its time to begin thinking about acquiring a VPN, a virtual private network that reroutes the connection to create the “appearance” of the inquiry coming from the US, an entirely legal and convenient tool used by many expats and businesses. 

With plenty of food on hand for our share of the Minnesota Pot Luck dinner on Friday night and for our dinners over the next week, we’re rather content.  Tonight we’ll have a homemade meal of more coleslaw, which I made earlier to ensure it’s well chilled, fresh steamed wax beans, and a big platter of sautéed locally made sausages with buttery caramelized onions.

Tomorrow is our 18th anniversary. Our plan is to dine out but with so much good food on hand, we may decide another night’s dinner at “home” is a perfect way to celebrate.

The magic of Skype…

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Willie waiting to Skype with his “aunt” when we were in Nevada for business.

As a kid, I remember fantasizing about being able to “see” using the phone. In the 1950s there was talk about such technology eventually existing, being referred to as Phone-A-Vision (or something like that).  Here we are many years later and this technology not only exists but works rather well.

With the advent of cell phone service providing free long distance in the US, we weren’t frequent users of SKYPE in our old lives.  

For a period of time, I had worked in Nevada, leaving my husband and family behind. (Knowing I’d be gone for several months I brought along our precious little dog WorldWideWillie). With the ease of calling family members on my smartphone, there was little need to use SKYPE. Shortly after I arrived in Nevada my little sister Julie suggested we talk via SKYPE rather than on the phone.

For those of you unfamiliar with SKYPE please click here for a detailed description.

Julie and I began to use Skype on a regular basis.  Willie, a huge fan of Julie, went nuts when he’d hear her voice coming from my laptop while seeing the live video of his “aunt” who had often visited our home.  After only a few occasions, he’d anxiously wait by the computer for me to Skype Julie. He’d bark at my laptop looking up at me with pleading eyes, to make the call.

With both voice and video turned on while talking to Julie, I was able to walk around the house with my laptop showing her where I lived, the inside of the refrigerator, a new gadget I’d purchased, or the bruise I got on my leg when making the bed;  lots of “sister” stuff.

Since leaving the US we’ve talked to family members and friends using Skype.  As soon as we moved into our villa in Laru Beya, I immediately called Julie to “show” her our new place while we giggled in awe of this amazing technology. 

It was necessary to work out a few glitches with Julie to ensure a clear connection.  Discovering that turning off the video aspect along with her calling me using the Skype app on her iPhone, I was able to answer for perfectly clear reception on either my Android phone or on my laptop using the Skype app installed on both devices.

You may wonder, if we no longer have cell service, how can we make a Skype to Skype call using our smartphones? LaruBeya has free WiFI throughout the resort. Our unlocked smartphones (meaning we aren’t locked into a cell contact, our phones are classified as unlocked GSM and thus enabled for SIM card use) don’t currently have SIM cards but are able to pick up a WiFi signal wherever it is available: at this resort, at a Hotspot or any other location that offers free or a pay-for-use wireless Internet connection.

Using Skype, we have no bill to pay and no account to maintain.  All we need is a Skype name for others to easily reach us.  As long as the computer or phone’s sound is turned on, an incoming Skype call rings to a familiar musical tone.

What if both the computer and the phone’s sound is on and a Skype call comes in?  Whichever device we use first, to “pick up the receiver” via clicking on the old fashioned phone handle icon, is the device on which we will take the call.

Since arriving in Belize, we’ve discovered a vital fact about Skype that has saved us a considerable sum. We can call any US toll-free numbers at no charge.  This enables us to handle business matters back in the US calling a landline.

However, if one is calling a non-toll-free number, for instance, a friend’s regular cell number, as opposed to their Skype name using Skype, it is necessary to place funds into a Skype account using a credit card and to pay per minute use. For example, while here in Belize, if we call the local cab company for a driver, we’d have to pay for the call on Skype.  Why?  They don’t have a toll-free number.

We deposited $10 into my Skype account for this purpose which remains intact in the account, less $2.10 for one local call we made at the end of January when inquiring about a golf cart rental. Were we to call family or friend’s landlines or cell phones without their using Skype on their end, the call on Skype would be approximately $2.89 per minute.  As you can see, this adds up.

Back in Minnesota with a shared cell service plan, our average minutes use was a combined 800 minutes per month, resulting in approximately 22 minutes per day for each of us. While outside the US, if we each used the 22 minutes per day, our monthly cost through SKYPE (or through our old Verizon account which we’d investigated) would be $2312!

You may ask, why don’t we have SIM cards installed in our phones for use in Belize?  Simple.  We can use Skype for free.  Why use up minutes on a SIM card when we can use Skype at no expense?  If we had SIM cards, we’d suddenly find we’re frequently loading minutes onto the card while spending huge amounts a month in cell calls.  Plus, we’d eventually end up with dozens of unused balances remaining on SIM cards from all over the world.

As for the magic…my eldest sister, Susan, living in Boulder City, Nevada has been unable to use a computer these past years due to a medical condition. We last spoke on January 3, 2013, the day we left the US. 

In her career she owned a successful travel agency, traveling the world experiencing many cruises, mostly on upscale cruise lines.  How fun it would be to share our experiences with her!  She educated us on cruising when we visited her in Nevada over Christmas, tips that we’ve treasured from the moment we boarded the ship.

Without a laptop and only recently receiving a Kindle Fire, a gift from her daughter, Susan had yet to load Skype. I wanted to speak to her!  While “Skyping” with sister Julie a few days ago, an idea hit me! 

What if I call Julie on Skype at a prearranged time.  She picks up the Skype call on her iPhone verifying that we have a clear connection, (without using video which requires more bandwidth). With her landline next to her, she dials Susan’s landline while pressing the SPEAKER button. 

She sets both phones down on the desk and says to Susan, “I have a surprise for you on the phone!”  Susan cringed.  She doesn’t like to talk to people she doesn’t know on the phone.  Who does?  She made the assumption that whoever was on the line was a stranger. 

Speaking in a normal voice, I said, “Susan, it’s me, Jessica!  I’m calling from Belize through Julie’s Skype!”  

The three of us squealed with delight. Once again, we were together! The sound was clear, free of background noise or static.  It was as if I had called her directly on Skype.  We chatted on endlessly in our usual way with an enthusiastic interest in one another’s lives and well being. 

Well, of course, I can’t expect Julie to be an intermediary on all future calls to Susan. But now, she is highly motivated to take the easy steps to install Skype on her Kindle Fire, making it possible for us to chat anytime we’d like at no cost, anywhere in the world. I’m looking forward to that!

Another “workaround” worked for us in our world travels!

Last week, while talking on Skype with son, Richard in Henderson, Nevada, he was using his smartphone and I was using my laptop, both voice and video were clear. His funny pug Monty, heard my familiar voice, snorted, and licked the phone. See, dogs like Skype, too!

Thanks, Julie!  Thanks, Skype!