Aloha, Maui!…Maui expense totals…Six weeks in paradise…Now off for additional weeks paradise…Lava flow still holding…New photos…

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The bright sun creates a sparkling sea which we’ve cherished everyday that we’ve been in Maui. There’s only been one totally overcast and rainy day in the past six weeks, although its rained for short periods on many days to later become sunny.

It’s hard to believe that our six weeks in Maui has come to a close. We’ve loved every moment of this laid back, stress free, easy lifestyle so typical of retirees in Hawaii.

All these photos shown today were taken on Sunday early afternoon.

Would we return to Maui? Definitely, someday. As we always say, “We have a lot of world left to see.” And, for the next many months we’ll continue to live reveling in the exquisite Hawaiian Islands until we’re off for our next foray outside the US to Australia and the South Pacific.

Hibiscus appear to bloom year-round in the islands.

Some have asked why we decided to spend four upcoming months on the island of Kauai beginning on January 15th after leaving the Big Island and the family gathering for the holidays. The answer for us was simple.

And yet a few new blooms magically appear in the tropical climate.

The cost of paying for airfare, two oceanfront neighboring houses, meals, and more, was seriously above and beyond our usual monthly budget. By staying put in one location for this extended period, we’ll have the opportunity to save money to recover a portion of these over-the-usual-budgetary costs. 

The shoreline from our condo’s beachfront.

With the rent for the four months in Kauai paid in full long ago, our only expenses will be car rental, groceries, and occasionally dining out and an occasional tour. We anticipate these monthly expenses will be under $2000 a month, considerably less than the budgeted $6000 a month. 

In four months, we’ll expect to recover $16,000, a drop in the bucket of the cost of the family gathering.  However, this difference will pay almost half for the upcoming cruises to Australia and the balances due on our rentals for the next upcoming two years! That’s the way to recover!

The blooming season in Hawaii has long since passed for many flowering plants and trees.

When we’re in Kauai beginning on January 15th, we’ll nickel and dime ourselves while still having a great time on the beautiful garden island. No complaining here.

Now, back to the Maui expenses (rounded off to the nearest dollar). 

Car rental /fuel                  $1,368
Condo rental                       5,789
Groceries                            1,581
Dining Out                             111
Tours & Misc.                         140

Total for 45 days                $8989
Cost per day                       $ 200

Within our average monthly budget although we’d budgeted an additional $1700 for food (dining out and preparing our own meals) which we never used.

We’re pleased to have magically ended up with our preferred monthly of $6000 (an amount we’re willing to pay for our travels) as we brace for the added expenses we’ll experience when our family members arrive, mainly for groceries. 

The bananas in the yard grow bigger each day, soon ready for picking.

With airfare paid for all but one of our kids, yet to decide on a date due to work, and the rents paid in full for both houses, our only additional expenses are for the car rental, groceries, and supplies for all and our personal expenses for tours we may choose to attend with our family members.

Tiki torches on the lawn by the shore.

As agreed with our kids they will pay for their own dining out, recreation, and tours. We decided that taking everyone out for dinner would be too costly at an average of $100 per person. Even McDonalds averages at a minimum of $15 per person based on costs in Hawaii. It’s just not worth it.

Mike, the condo manager, decorated this tree for the mailroom.

Thrilled with the end result in Maui, we’re ready to move on. Later today, we’ll be unpacked and have grocery shopped at the closest grocery store, a 15-minute drive to the village of Pahoa, the village where the lava stalled but took a house before doing so. Hopefully, it will stay “stalled” during our six upcoming weeks on the Big Island. As always, we shall see.

                                         Photo from one year ago today, December 2, 2013:

One year ago today, we were on our way to South Africa.  We wrote about the frustrating delays we experienced in those multiple flights. For details, here.

Twenty one days…

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“They” say it may take 21 days to break a habit.   Yesterday, armed with this assumption, I began the process of changing the familiar routines that so shaped my days over the past two years of my own retirement, over the past 26 years of life here on the peninsula.  

Awakening at 4 am with a rare and unexpected head cold, I rationalized my stuffy nose and sore throat as the Universe’s way of reminding me to slow down, to breathe more deeply, to choke my organized and purposeful actions into a much gentler pace.  

In 21 days these daily habits, entrenched in our lives all these years, will be reshaped into new and unfamiliar patterns; brewing my usual morning tea in a strange teapot, pouring it into a different cup while tasting a slight variance from using bottled water. 

As always, the first sip will be accompanied by my gaze out the window in the near future at the vast expanse of the sea, mysterious and foreboding, as opposed to the cozy comfort of gazing at the lake for all these years, a shoreline in the not too distant horizon, predictable even on the windiest of days.  Not so the sea.

Stuffy head, I welcomed the cold, crisp air on the early morning walk, especially chilly at 32 degrees, fingers numb and tightly tucked into my pockets, having failed to wear gloves.  

Wiggling my toes in my tennis shoes hoping to ward off the cold, I picked up the pace walking almost an hour, stopping periodically to look up at a noisy flock of geese honking their way south or to blow my nose into the soft paper towels I had stuffed into my jacket before walking out the door.

When will I be so cold again?  In Belize, at the little oceanfront house, when the average daily temperature is 83 degrees in the winter months?  In Tuscany, next summer?  Doubtful. In Africa next fall, again a house on the sea, in a time in which it will actually be their spring? Unlikely. Or, in the prime season in Kauai in 2015, the ocean at our doorstep, the warm breezes in our faces? No, it won’t be cold.

The colorful leaves, crispy under my feet, a part of my expectations in any fall season yet to come, will forever be embedded into my memories of seasons so clearly defined.  We’ve enthusiastically welcomed and sadly bid adieu to the seasons, ready to move on to the next, often too cold with record breaking temperatures and snowfalls or, too hot with record breaking heat.

Twenty one days to break the habit of that which we have known and loved, at times bemoaned and begrudged, to begin anew in a strange land, finding our way with a touch of trepidation, with an abundance of wonder and with a never-ending desire to become familiar once again. 

They refused to give me the dreaded shots!

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A weird thing happened to me yesterday. I usually write in this blog every other day but yesterday was a weird day, a very weird day and I didn’t post at all.

Upon awakening in a foggy blur, I felt unfamiliar in my own surroundings. The light filtering through the various window coverings in our home appeared eerie and muted.

As I mindlessly wandered off to the kitchen to perform a series of ritualistic tasks, a wave of uncertainty washed over me. As many of us old-timers, both Tom and I toss back a small handful of prescription meds each morning and a big handful of a variety of vitamins throughout the day. 

My routine was broken, when I didn’t put in my contact lenses before going into the kitchen, a habit I seldom break, now thrown off by the peculiar feel of the day.  Pouring a quarter cup of purified water into my usual plastic tumbler I emptied the dose of the Tuesday morning prescriptions, tossing my head back with one big gulp.

Something was wrong!  My brain had taken a quick snapshot of the handful of pills and in an instant, I realized that the chunky pills drifting down my throat didn’t feel like the usual sensation.  Eyes blurry with no contacts, I looked at the one week pill case and realized I had just taken Tom’s pill, not mine!

My heart began to race as I ran into the bathroom to insert my contacts, made difficult by my shaking hands.  I needed to look again to confirm I had taken the wrong pills.  I had.  Oh, dear.

Since I am the official pill case packer in our household, familiar with all of Tom’s meds, my mind raced through the possible consequences of having taken his medications and the possible side effects.

OK, nothing horrible will happen to me I deduced upon deciding against taking another single pill the remainder of the day, letting these medications work their way out of my system.

By the time I arrived at the Immunization Clinic, I was experiencing full-blown side effects:  dry mouth and gurgling stomach.  In jokingly explaining to the nurse what I had done, I was sent away.  No live vaccines on the day I was having side effects of Tom’s drugs.  Ha!  That confirms how dangerous this yellow fever vaccine really is.  I have not worried needlessly! 

I was disappointed and relieved at the same time.  This temporary relief was short-lived when they made another appointment for today at 10:45.  

As I sit here two hours before my appointment in my usual chair, writing this blog, surprisingly I am less terrified than I was yesterday.   

Most likely neither Tom nor I will become ill from our immunizations.  Most likely, we won’t get bit by malaria or yellow fever carrying mosquito.  Most likely, we won’t get mugged in Mombasa, Kenya, or anywhere else in the world.

Most likely, a warthog won’t attack us in our kitchen in Marloth Park in South Africa.  Most likely, we won’t have to pay $1400 for each of two extra bags when we fly on Emirates Airlines.  Most likely, all of the properties we’ve rented all over the world will actually exist when we arrive.

Most likely, I will still be writing this blog, 28 days from today, when the risk of reaction to the yellow fever vaccine has passed. Whew! 

Fine tuning the itinerary…

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There are some gaps in our itinerary. It’s unavoidable. We’ve tried to book our vacation rentals as tightly as possible around our cruises. Many owners have a preconceived notion that booking their properties from Saturdays to Sundays or from the 1st or the 15th of any given month, results in a more desirable scenario for the next renter. 

With our far-reaching bookings, some of which are all the way into May 2015, we have found the owners feel more secure in sticking to these notions to ensure what they see as more desirable availability in the future.  We understand. 

By negotiating amazing rental prices we have been able to maintain a $1667 a month average, with many of the homes in the $1100-$1200 month range, to the one month high of $4651 in Hawaii for our family gathering at Christmas 2014.  (Although this Hawaii rental sounds outrageously high, it actually breaks down to a mere $155 a night, a bargain rate for Hawaii during the high season. Most often, a basic single king room with an ocean view will start at $225 a night)!

However, this entire adventure would be impossible for us if we were staying in hotels at $155 a night and eating all of our meals in restaurants as most of us have done when taking one or two-week vacations.  

Thus, with our overall nightly rate average of $54.82 for the rental homes, we aren’t complaining when we see a gap of a few nights.  We will either stay in a mid-range hotel or,  ask the owner of the vacation rental to accommodate the additional nights at a prorated amount if the house is available. These additional potential hotel costs have already been factored into the above monthly rental rates.

Originally, we had promised ourselves to keep the monthly rental average to no higher than $1500.  However, adding the higher one month in Hawaii plus the five additional following months in Kauai at $2000 per month, our numbers were thrown off for 2014.  

When we depart on October 31, 2012, we’ll begin to breakdown these numbers, year by year, as they actually accrue rather than by our current estimated “running total” for the entire period.  For now, this has aided us in keeping a lid on the costs.

We have created multiple spreadsheets for all of these estimated costs which will be changing constantly knowing full well at this point, other than the fixed rental amounts, the numbers are estimated.  

We will continue along this path in the next post this upcoming Sunday. We have an eleven-day gap in Belize, three when we arrive by a cruise in Belize City on 1/29/2013 (our rental begins 2/1/2013) and eight when our rental ends on 3/31/2013 when the cruise ship comes back to Belize taking us back to Miami. We need a plan for these dates at both ends.  

Our options:
1. As mentioned above, we can ask the owner to extend the rental, if it is available on these dates prorating the rent.  This plan is the most cost-effective.

2.  Find a reasonably priced hotel in Belize City near the port and check out the local attractions while there.  Unfortunately, Belize City doesn’t sound like a safe and desirable place to vacation for three days.  

3.  Travel to another area, such as Ambergris Caye (highly desirable, very expensive) to incur additional transportation costs, pricey hotel rates, and the necessity of dining out for each meal.  

Do we choose “easy” or “adventuresome?”  Or, is living out of a suitcase for 949 days so far, not having a permanent home, being away from our family, friends, doctor and dentist “adventuresome” enough for two 60-somethings like ourselves used to “sitting in our comfy chairs, watching endless TV, rarely dining out” and amazingly enjoying it all?

Any suggestions?  

926 days and counting…

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Big Island Rental

Tom and I have often talked about going to Hawaii together. I had been there many times before we met and have anxiously awaited the day when he and I could share this glorious experience together.

Houseplants here in Minnesota are huge flowering bushes and trees in Hawaii, the lush greenery and colors mesmerizing along with the roaring surf on the world’s best beaches and a tropical climate that only fluctuates a few degrees year-round.

Big Island rental interior

I could write for days about the reasons why one must experience this remote collective of islands, each with its own history and personality, each appealing to travelers for their own personal reasons.  

As we have planned our now 926 days beginning Halloween 2012, Hawaii was definitely in the mix, although not conveniently located to accommodate our lofty itinerary. We grabbed a pricier ocean view house on the Big Island  (outside of our budget for the first time) for one month to bring our family together for Christmas 2014.  

Big Island Rental Master Bedroom

To compensate for the increased cost of the Big Island rental, we decided we must find a home in which to stay put for two to three months earlier in the year at a rate that would compensate for the increased cost of the Big Island house. We were able to accomplish this seemingly impossible scenario by renting a fabulous house on the remote island of Madeira off the coast of Portugal.  

Madeira, Portugal view from the veranda.

Upon researching vacation homes all over the world, we have discovered that both Hawaii and Alaska are some of the most expensive places to visit. An 800 square foot vacation cabin in Alaska typically rents for over $3000 a month for both winter and summer. Hawaii is slightly less at about $2500 a month for the same size condo running around 20% higher during the high season of US winter months. All vacation rentals in Hawaii are subject to a 13.42% state tax.

As we continue to post information about properties we have booked, the theme is consistent, beautiful homes with distinct personality and style, whether a 17th-century farmhouse in Tuscany or an aptly named 14th century “Stone House” on a quaint cobblestone street in Cajarc, France.

Madeira, Portugal interior view

As we’ve come to the realization that it makes sense to stay in Hawaii after the family Christmas gathering to keep costs under control, we realize that Hawaii is an unlikely state to visit with the intent of controlling costs. The islands require most products to be imported with the exception of bananas, pineapple, coffee, ginger root, guavas, macadamia nuts, papayas, and taro. About 90% of Hawaii’s gross product is produced in the service industries.

Our long-term goal has been cruising to Alaska in May 2015 to spend the summer living one month at a time in three different locations providing us with the opportunity to experience its beauty, its people, and its diverse wildlife.  

Madeira, Portugal exterior view

This objective left us with the difficult task of finding an affordable property on any one of the Hawaiian islands for a period of four months. Perhaps we’d island-hop, spending a month in Maui, Kauai, Oahu, and Molokai.  

After spending no less than 40 hours looking online at hundreds of rentals we came to the conclusion that island hopping was not realistic for our budgetary concerns due to the high costs of one-month rentals during peak season and the cost of travel from island to island. Nor did we want to sacrifice quality or location.  
We knew we’d have a better opportunity to negotiate a four-month stay. Preparing a property after one and two-week stays is time-consuming and costly for landlords.  

With the new goal of finding one location for this extended stay, we were able to stay within our monthly budget with a fabulous two-bedroom ocean-view condo in breathtaking Princeville on the north shore of Kauai, a highly sought-after location in the islands.  

By adding this booking to our already packed itinerary, we find we are now booked for a total of 926 days beyond October 31, 2012. Will we continue to book well into the future? Yes, based on prices in Alaska, we will continue to look for the ideal properties. Also, the cruises for 2015 from Hawaii to Alaska are not posted as yet.  It could be another year before they’ll be available. In the interim, we’ll wing it! Yes, we’ll wing it!