Booked flight and hotel for Quito, Ecuador…Spending time with our grandson today…

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Here’s a map of the route of our flight from Minneapolis (MSP) to Quito (UIO), not that far away compared to many of our other flights over the years.

We waited to book our flight to Quito, Ecuador, departing on October 11, until we were here in the US, watching prices drop. With costs dropping only a small amount, we booked the flight and one night in the hotel JW Marriott in Quito, arriving one day early for our cruise/tour to begin.

Celebrity Cruise Line contacted us a few days ago for our passport numbers and expiration dates, flight information, and hotel information. Since we booked an extra night at JW Marriott, they wanted to tie it to the portion of our cruise/tour that includes two nights on each end for five nights, including our extra-booked night. They wanted to ensure we wouldn’t have to move to another room, which we appreciated.

Between the two booked nights for the hotel on either end of the cruise/tour, we’ll be flying to The Galapagos for a seven-night tour on the 16-passenger ship, basically a yacht, as opposed to a traditional huge cruise ship. It should be interesting. We’ll be flying from MSP on United Airlines. The cost of the flight for both of us is $1283.40.

As for the cost for the hotel, JW Marriott, for our one night, not included in the cruise fare, was $150.28, including taxes and fees.

The JW Marriott in Quito, Ecuador.

The next flight we’ll book in the next few weeks is the flight from Quito to our new holiday home in Manabi, Ecuador, about a one-hour flight, around $120 for the two of us, plus baggage fees. Our holiday home will be waiting for us, and we look forward to that part of our time in Ecuador as well as the cruise/tour. We’ll share more details later.

I’m a little concerned about the altitude in Quito at 9,350 feet above sea level, but hopefully, we’ll both be fine. I used to ski in the Colorado mountains in my younger years (before I met Tom) and never had a problem with elevations over 10,000 feet. I’m hoping it will be the same now. Tom has never experienced such a high altitude.

While we were at urgent care for Tom a few days ago, we got a prescription for Diamox (acetazolamide) to be used in advance for potential altitude sickness. With many possible side effects, we’ll wait and see how we do before taking the drug.

Later today, at 3:30, we’ll pick up grandson Vincent for skeet shooting and then for dinner. It will be great to spend time with him. He’s almost 18 years old, intelligent, and quite a conversationalist. No doubt, we’ll have a wonderful time with him.

Last night, we stayed in watching a few episodes of Formula One on Netflix and one episode of The Good Doctor, a delightful series we’ve watched intermittently, enjoying each episode. By 11:00 pm, we were both fast asleep and awoke feeling refreshed in the morning. Tom is taking his medications regularly and has started to see a slight improvement. Hopefully, soon, he’ll feel much better.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a good Sunday.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 16, 2013:

No photo was posted here ten years ago. To read the text for that post, please click here.

Another enjoyable lunch with dear old friends…

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You know me and food photos! Tom’s taco salad yesterday at lunch with Pat and Charlie. I had the taco salad without the shell.

OK. I screwed up again. I forgot to take a photo of our friends Pat and Charlie, whom we met for lunch in Albertville, Minnesota, yesterday afternoon. But I didn’t forget to take food photos. Shame on me! Tom and Charlie, old friends from the railroad, had seen one another a few times when we’d come to visit in the past. But I hadn’t seen him, and neither of us had seen Pat since Tom’s retirement party just before we left 11 years ago.

I’d intended to take a photo of the two or have our server take a photo of the four of us, but the lively conversation distracted me, and the time flew by so quickly. We’ve been grateful to see so many friends while traveling lately and look forward to more opportunities.

Finally, after a delicious lunch at the restaurant, it was 3:00 pm and time to head out. We hugged Pat and Charlie, saying we hoped to see them again on another visit sometime in the future. It had been way too long since we saw them.

I don’t know what Charlie ordered, but it had lots of gravy. He didn’t eat all of it.

We’d planned to drive to the nearby outlet mall and see if we could find water shoes for our upcoming tour and cruise to the Galapagos Islands in a little over a month. We checked out a few stores in the outlet mall to no avail. All the water shoes were gone, with Minnesota winter looming, and styles were geared toward winter activities rather than being in the water.

Our next best option is ordering them on Amazon since neither of us likes to drive all over town to various stores. We don’t like shopping. Even when we walked into the Payless Shoe Store, we cringed over all of the options but could not find anything that worked for either of us.

When we didn’t find shoes at the outlet mall, we headed to the Gap store to purchase some tee shirts for Tom. All he had left were worn and tattered tee shirts, which could easily be tossed into the garbage when they weren’t worth donating to Goodwill.

Pat’s lettuce wraps.

Next, we need to find him several short-sleeve button-up shirts. Since we began traveling, the Bass button shirts he’s been wearing have become threadbare and are ready to be tossed into the trash. It appears that the particular style that he likes is no longer available. We often find that to be the case when we return to the US to make new purchases of items we want.

At the Gap store, we could buy him seven nice tee shirts at half price that appeared to be of high quality. Now he can toss the old ones. We were thrilled to get all the shirts under $70 without sales tax. Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes, saving us 7% or 8% when purchasing items here.

I found Tom two new Bass shirts on eBay this morning and ordered them for him. I hadn’t shopped on eBay for a very long time, but in the past, I often found some fantastic deals on various items. I’ve seen some shirts that may work on Amazon and will place the order soon, along with water shoes for both of us.

On the way back from the restaurant, we returned to the pharmacy to pick up Tom’s prescriptions for his cough. Finally, everything was in stock. We were anxious to get him on the medications that hopefully will help him. He started everything last night, but I don’t expect to see any improvement for several days.

Today, we’re heading out on a few errands and will pick up food for dinner, which we’ll have at the hotel tonight since we made no plans for tonight. Soon, Tom’s family members will return from out of town, and we look forward to seeing them soon.

Have a great weekend!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 16, 2013:

Hans, the owner of the house in Diani Beach, Kenya, and our next-door neighbor, made Tom one of his special local concoctions while I sipped on my usual iced tea while chatting with Hans’ lovely wife, Jerie. For more photos, please click here.

Tom’s trip to urgent care…Visit to Costco with information overload…Another Minnesota Vikings disappointment…

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The Vikings lost last night for the second time in the regular season. Our sons are big fans of the Vikings and were sorely disappointed, as was Tom.

Yesterday, we took Tom to urgent care for an unrelenting cough he’d had since he got the flu on the last cruise. We’d tested him for COVID-19 at the time, which was negative. But, his cough, mostly awful at night, was worrying. Finally, he agreed to get an appointment at the same urgent care facility he’d visited when he got COVID-19 pneumonia in 2022 when we were in Minnesota to see family. As it turned out, he was so sick and potentially contagious that we never saw family during that visit.

The doctor spent a lot of time with us and prescribed several prescriptions for Tom, which hopefully we can pick up today. The Walgreens pharmacy had to special order one of the meds, a popular drug we were surprised they didn’t have on hand. That was frustrating since the major medication would help him the most. Now, we’ve lost a day or two in his recovery.

It was wonderful to see our old next-door neighbor and good friend, Nelleke, again, who works at that urgent care facility. She’s the X-ray tech and did Tom’s intake. She, too, is a regular reader of our site and knew everything we’d done and everywhere we’ve been. We’re working on planning a get-together with her, her partner, friend Sue Sue’s daughter Sherry, and her husband Michael. Hopefully, this will all work out. We’d love that!

Fortunately, nothing horrible was found on his X-ray besides the same appearance of his “honeycomb lungs,” the same thing they’d seen on his last X-ray when he had COVID-19. The doctor explained this can happen for long periods after being infected with COVID-19. The end result, he, too, has long-haul COVID-19, just like me. Hopefully, this new round of drugs will help him.

Also, after finishing the post yesterday afternoon, we headed to Costco, only a few minutes from our hotel. We had about $500 in shop cards we’d accumulated since the last time we were here, including credits for using the Costco credit card worldwide for fuel and annual perks.

Most of the credit came from booking one of our recent cruises through Costco Travel. Each time a customer does so, they receive a “shop card” once the cruise has ended. We had booked many cruises through Costco, but seven were canceled due to COVID-19; thus, we never received those shop cards.

Walking into the store reminded me of past visits during our travel years and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” in the massive warehouse store. We were in a state of “information overload.” I had a list of items we wanted to buy, but as it turned out, they didn’t carry most of my list.

We left with only purchasing dinner to bring to Greg’s house while we watched the Minnesota Vikings’ second game of the season. What a disappointment! Our favorite team has had little success over the years, and yet Tom and our kids and some of our grandkids continue to watch with the hope that someday they will do well enough to go to the Super Bowl, let alone win the big event.

After the game, we headed back to the hotel, leaving leftovers for Greg and enough leftovers for us for tonight’s dinner. To keep costs down, we’re trying not to dine in a restaurant more than once a day, and when we’re alone, to have meals we’ve selected from the grocery store that we can reheat in the hotel’s microwave oven.

With plenty of good shows to stream, we don’t mind the quiet nights when we don’t see anyone end up hanging out in the living room in our suite hotel room. We have a refrigerator and use of the big kitchen here for dishes and flatware. It’s easy for us to entertain ourselves.

Today, at 1:00, as mentioned, we’re meeting old friends Pat and Charlie in Albertville for lunch, about 40 minutes from here. Thus, if we’re hungry tonight, we can eat our leftovers from last night. If not, we can eat them tomorrow night since we have no plans for Saturday night at this point.

Many members of Tom’s family are out of town this weekend, but once they return, we’ll make plenty of plans with them, and our schedule will fill up in no time. In the interim, we can spend lots of time with my son Greg, his girlfriend Heather, and the two remaining grandkids, Madiighan and Miles, who spend every other week at their mom’s house. They’ll return to Greg’s home this Sunday for a week, and we’ll plan something with them during that time.

That’s it for today, folks.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 15, 2013:

We had dinner in a cave restaurant in Kenya. Diners began to filter in around 8:00 pm, filling all tables by the time we were ready to leave around 9:45 pm. We’d be warned not to rush the servers worldwide when customs and expectations differ from the US. Many countries’ servers are accustomed to taking their time in delivering the food and the bill. Most often, as is the case here in Kenya, tips are only allowed to be paid in cash, not added to the credit card slip. Of course, this requires us to keep adequate foreign money currency on hand. For more, please click here.

A special dinner with my granddaughter Maisie…

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My sweet granddaughter, Maisie, is heading to school in Wisconsin. Last night was a special time for us to get together before she had to leave today. We had a fantastic time.

When we knew we were coming here, we were aware that Maisie would be attending school in Wisconsin, and we wanted to spend as much time with her before she left. We planned last night as a special time for just the two of us to chat and commiserate as granddaughters and grandmas often do.

The time passed quickly as we chatted and ate our dinners while situated in a comfy booth at the familiar restaurant we often visit when we stay in Eden Prairie. Tom had perused the menu before I left and picked out his “dinner to go,” which I ordered for him during the last 20 minutes in the restaurant.

When son Greg dropped me off at the hotel with Tom’s dinner, he hugged Maisie and wished her well on her new experience. Gosh, our grandkids are growing up fast. Fortunately, we’ve returned to Minnesota many times over the years to see them and see how much they’ve grown and matured.

Maisie enjoyed her pasta but couldn’t eat all of it and gave her dad the leftovers when he came to pick us up.

Back in our room for the remainder of the evening, we streamed the last episode of The Lincoln Lawyer, a great show, and began watching a series recommended by our friends Marylin and Gary, who visited us in Henderson, Nevada, about a week ago. The show is on Netflix entitled Formula One, a docu-series with five seasons to watch. We got into the show right away and look forward to many other episodes.

Thanks, Marylin and Gary! I apologize for spelling your name wrong in past posts. I recalled something unique about the spelling of Marylin’s name, but I looked up a past email to see if I’d been spelling it wrong. Sorry about that, dear friend. I will get it right in the future!

Speaking of dear friends, in a few minutes, my friend Chere will arrive at the hotel for us to visit. We saw each other about a year ago when we were here, and it will be fun to see her again now. We’ve been friends for about 25 years, and conversations with her are exciting and delightful.

Later today, Tom and I will head to Costco, just around the corner from the hotel, to use some of the gift cards we received from booking one of our last cruises through their travel department. Plus, he had a few other Costco credits from buying gas using the Costco credit card and another bonus we received. Overall, we have about $500 in Costco gift cards.

My Cobb salad from Champps was good but not great. The chicken should have been cut into small pieces and tossed into the salad. Otherwise, it was good.

We’re going to Greg’s home tonight to watch the Minnesota Vikings game at 7:00 pm. We’ll bring some ready-made food from Costco, so we don’t have to cook and make a mess.

After a wonderful get-together with my friend Chere, I just returned to the room. As usual, she and I sat at a table in the hotel lobby area and enjoyed chatting. Hopefully, she and I will figure out other times to meet again before our month in Minnesota ends.

On Friday, at 1:00 pm, we’re meeting Tom’s old friend Charlie and his wife Pat for lunch in Albertville. He and Charlie were pals for decades while working on the railroad. It will be fun to see them both once again.

That’s it for today, dear readers.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 14, 2013:

Ten years ago today, we booked our first safari adventure at Sanctuary Retreat, Olonana, in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, one of the most fantastic safari locations in the world. For more, please click here.

Did you see our new booking in yesterday’s post?…Few more new cruise photos…

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It was interesting to see the glaciers in Greenland.

If you didn’t have a chance to view our upcoming booking beginning on October 24, 2023, through January 8, 2024, please click the link here: https://www.vrbo.com/3502330?adultsCount=2&unitId=4075476

We’re excited about this booking. Once we arrive, we’ll take photos and share the cost and the details of what we’re anticipating is a lovely oceanfront property. We aren’t sure yet about where we’re going after our time in Ecuador and may not decide until we arrive in the country.

Bartenders on the ships worked hard to keep up with the passenger’s drink requests.

At this point, we are basing our plans on how I am feeling. I had only one short episode of Afib in the past two weeks, hoping to figure out what causes it. So far, it appears to be caused by a lack of sleep and stressful situations. The Afib started the day I got Covid-19 in April 2022. From what I am reading, it can be a symptom of long-haul Covid.

Drugs used to prevent Afib, which I’ve tried, cause extreme tiredness and other awful side effects. With our lifestyle and our striving for joy and fulfillment in our world travels, there is no way I’m willing to feel sedated day and night. Quality of life is a choice I had to make about taking drugs and feeling disabled from side effects to which I am susceptible.

Fortunately, the long-haul COVID-19 headache and facial pain have been nonexistent since we arrived in Minnesota. No words can express how thankful I am for this. If I can eliminate the Afib, I will feel confident about traveling to more remote locations. This, by no means, is going to prevent us from continuing with our travels. I refuse to let this slow me down.

On both cruises, there was live entertainment, day and night.

Also, I have peace of mind when we’re in South Africa with Doc Theo to look after me and the excellent heart health care available there. We’ll be back in South Africa in nine months, which we’re looking forward to for this and many other reasons our regular readers know.

Of course, doctors feel they must prescribe drugs, but I am more committed to figuring out more natural means of caring for my health. These kinds of choices may not be appropriate for everyone. Please check with your medical professionals for your own situation and subsequent care.

Thank goodness, Tom is so healthy, and yet he is still coughing from his recent bout of the flu, contracted on the second cruise. Whenever he gets a cough, it seems to linger for a while.

In Greenland, an unusual iceberg was floating by the ship.

As we age, we realize, more than ever, how important good health is to make the best of our retirement years. I recall my mother, a heart and diabetes patient, spending most of her later years going to doctors and constantly taking new drugs and new treatments. The highlight of her week was her upcoming doctor’s appointment. I never could see this fate in my later years.

Today, we’re out and about on a few errands. For dinner tonight, I am having a “girls only” dinner with my granddaughter Maisie before she goes off to school in Wisconsin. Most likely, I won’t see her again while we’re here. We’re busy trying to book get-togethers with family members and friends, trying to coordinate it working out for everyone’s schedule.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 13, 2013:

Hesborn, at the holiday home in Diani Beach, Kenya, offered to open a coconut that had just fallen from a tree. They seem to fall throughout the day. We have to be careful when we walk under the coconut trees; they cover the entire yard, leaving only a few safe spots for sunning without the risk of being clobbered on the head. For more photos, please click here.

Cherished visit with an old friend…Info for new booking in Ecuador…But, not photos…Those coming later…

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Tom and our dear friend, Sue.

This morning at 10:00 am, we drove a short distance to Friendship Village, a retirement community in Bloomington, Minnesota, to visit our dear long-term friend Sue, whom we hadn’t seen in a few years. No words can express how wonderful it was to spend time with her.

We thought we might stay for an hour or so, but it turned into three hours, and the time passed so quickly that we hardly noticed. Sue and Chip, her husband, whom we also dearly loved and adored, were our neighbors for many years when we lived in Minnesota. Chip sadly passed away in 2012 before we left, and we were heartbroken to lose our dear friend.

The two of them were an integral part of our lives, living four doors from us, and our lives were intertwined in many ways. Not only did Chip and Tom have a fantastic friendship on their own, but Sue and I did as well. And yet, when the four of us got together, which we did frequently, it was magical, with the lively conversations and laughs we enjoyed over the years.

Over the 11 years we’ve been gone, we’ve visited Sue many times, sharing our experiences while we’ve been traveling and sharing details of her life now without Chip and the many incredible experiences the four of us shared for 26 years. It was a delightful and emotional time.

This is only the beginning of many get-togethers we are planning while we are in Minnesota this month. Working out dates and times is tricky, with everyone living fast-paced lives with countless appointments and plans. In our peculiar life of world travel, we don’t experience this fast pace except on travel days when we have a tight schedule.

While we were away, Sue moved to Friendship Village, a lovely retirement complex with many amenities and beautiful decor.

But that’s life in the US and also in many countries throughout the world in the big cities. Tom just returned from an appointment he’d scheduled to get a haircut. He arrived early, and after waiting for 15 minutes, he canceled the appointment and left. I was shocked to see him back so early. When he explained how he was sitting there waiting and how frustrated he became, I understood. We’re not used to waiting for service in locations we’ve been visiting worldwide.

Life has been easy in many countries without crowds and people waiting for their turns. Perhaps we are spoiled. Even driving in traffic is frustrating for us when we haven’t done so for such a long time. We love the remote areas where we’ve lived, often for many months.

And…speaking of remote areas, in about six weeks, again, we’ll be living in a remote location, this time In Ecuador, away from crowds, traffic, noise, and commotion. It’s our kind of lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the photos of the new booking are in a format I cannot download, regardless of how hard I try. Thus, I am providing the link to the listing on VRBO, where, with only one click, you can see the property. Please click on the following link to see all the photos and information.

https://www.vrbo.com/3502330?adultsCount=2&unitId=4075476

Me and dear friend Sue.

Please note when you go to this site, you only need to click in the photo area where it says +36 photos, and you will see all the photos. This property is a duplex but based on its remote location, we anticipate the other side-by-side unit won’t be rented often while we’re there. Most likely, we’ll have the pool and the property to ourselves. When we lived in Placencia, Belize, over ten years ago, we lived in a condo with other units attached on each side. It was never a problem for us.

In that case, we had an opportunity to meet and socialize with our neighbors in Belize. Hopefully, if other travelers arrive, we’ll be able to socialize with them as well. We always prefer a single house, but we think this will work out well for us this time. It’s an oceanfront property with a pool and a lovely property. What more could we ask for?

That’s it for today, dear readers. Thanks to all of you for your support and readership of our site. We’re always amazed by YOU!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago  today, September 12, 2013:

Hesborn referred to this as a millipede.  We didn’t bother to count the number of legs. These are harmless, although if walking on a person, they leave a trail of “itchy liquid.” For more details, please click here.

Busy first day in Minnesota…Here’s how it went…Remembering 22 years ago…

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The entertainment at the venue in Tromso was undoubtedly a great representation of Norwegian customs.

I thought I was done with all the Norway cruise photos, but when I encountered the above photos, I thought it would be good to share this story again for those who may have missed it. It was a special night; details may be found at the above link to the post from the following day.

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of activities. First, at 10:30 am, Greg and the kids picked me up at the hotel. I didn’t know they wanted to go out to breakfast, so I had breakfast at the hotel. Instead, I joined Greg and the three kids at the restaurant while they ate, and I drank decaf coffee.

Afterward, we drove to Greg’s new place, which he moved to several months ago after his divorce and he moved out of the family home. He has the three kids at his place every other week, and I was thrilled to see them before they left for their other home at 4:00 pm.

On “Aza-mazing Night,” all the participating passengers loaded into buses, and we headed to a theatre for a live performance in Tromso, Norway.

We watched the disappointing Minnesota Vikings football. On and off during the game, my three teenage grandchildren checked in every so often. Greg’s girlfriend, Heather, who arrived around 1:00, was a delight. I’d never met her before and found her a perfect match for him. We all chatted endlessly.

Earlier in the day, Tom drove to TJ’s house, and they, too, watched the disappointing Vikings game. After the game, he met up with Tammy and Tracy to play trivia at a brewery in Robbinsdale.

We’d scheduled to meet Tom at the Brick and Bourbon restaurant at 5:30, and it all worked out. The kids were back at the other house, and Greg, Heather, and I headed out. We enjoyed the food and ambiance; of course, the flowing conversation was easily had among the four of us.

Upon returning to the hotel around 8:45 pm, Tom fell under the weather and crawled under the covers, shivering. He’d been coughing a lot since getting sick on the last cruise and still hadn’t recovered. My symptoms disappeared in a few days, but his lingered. It was a rough night, and neither of us slept much.

This morning, he was feeling slightly better but still not 100%. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the local Cub market for some items for dinner. He waited in the car while I went in to shop and got change for laundry. This hotel, Hyatt Place, doesn’t have laundry facilities, but arrangements had been made with a hotel across the parking lot for guests to use their self-serve laundry for $2 each for washing and drying.

Day 10…Norway Cruise…More from Tromso…Last night’s fantastic evening in Tromso…

We walked over each time, but when we went to pick up the dry clothes, they weren’t dry after all, and we had to do another drying cycle. After a while, we walked over there again to pick up the clothes, after which I folded everything and put it away. From there, the rest of my day is free. A nap might be ideal for both of us around 2:00 pm.

For dinner, I bought Tom his favorite soup, Chicken Wild Rice from Panera, with roasted chicken, guacamole, and raw veggies for me. Tonight, we’ll stay in and recover a little. It’s been a hectic period since we left Florida on July 28, and a day and night’s rest is definitely on the agenda.

Today, on September 11, we are reminded of the horrors of 2001 when the terrorist act killed thousands of lives. We send our love and prayers to those who lost loved ones. And…we also send love and prayers for all who have lost loved ones in the horrors of the pandemic and other causes over the years.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 11, 2012:

Tom engaged in power lounging in Diani Beach, Kenya, in our outdoor screen-less living room while searching for future cruises. Tom’s not naked. He’s wearing shorts. For more photos, please click here.

Leaving Las Vegas…Our trip to Minnesota…All is going great!!..

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Our last view of the pool at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Casino Resort.
With today’s busy schedule, I wrote the text for the post while flying from Las Vegas to Minneapolis. There were only 60 passengers on the Southwest non-stop flight, and we were asked to choose our seats when we boarded rather than in advance.

That was unusual for us, although we’ve had a similar scenario when we have flown on small planes. But this plane has a capacity for about 175 passengers, so it was weird that so few were flying to MSP. We chose seats across the aisle from one another.

There were no entertainment screens on the flight, so I could play non-WiFi games on my phone, which I did for the first 45 minutes and got bored. At that point, I decided to write the post based on how little time we have tomorrow with one family event after another.

Leaving the hotel was seamless, and since we had to check out by noon, we decided to head directly to the airport. It’s a good thing we did. Tom dropped me and the three bags off at the airport at curbside check-in and drove off to return the rental car. We picked a spot where I’d wait for him. I waited and waited, and no Tom.

After a while, I became concerned when he didn’t show up—an hour had passed. Las Vegas airport is undoubtedly chaotic, but he should have returned sooner. I wasn’t sure if he’d turned on his phone after putting it on Do Not Disturb last night, but I called him on WhatsApp hoping he’d answer, but he did not.

I didn’t panic. Sooner or later, he would arrive. I needed to be patient. Finally, he appeared, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to see him.

As it turned out, he’d accidentally left the computer bag in the rental car when he dropped it off. It had our passports, laptops, and essential documents. Also, it included his wallet with cash and credit cards. Oh, good grief. This could have been a major fiasco. Fortunately, the bus driver drove him back to the rental car return and the bag was still in the vehicle. Whew. He dodged a bullet.

He had to find his way back and forth on multiple bus rides to get the bag and make his way to the terminal to find me. I can only imagine how stressful that was for him. He surprised me by how calm he was when he finally arrived.

In no time, we made our way to the gate, where we waited for over 90 minutes to board our flight. Good thing we arrived so early.

As I wrote, when we were surprisingly comfortably situated on the plane, we appeared to be arriving in Minneapolis in no time at all. The flight was less than three hours long.

We got the rental car and headed to our hotel in Eden Prairie, where we will stay for the next month until we depart for South America.  All is good.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 10, 2013:
There was no post on this date ten years ago.

Making decisions, at long last…Planning for the future…Final Kruger photos…

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This appears to be a martial eagle.

We’ve been having WiFi issues this morning that put quite a damper on projects I hoped to get done before starting today’s post. After booking several trips, we must log the information onto our spreadsheet while it’s fresh in our minds to ensure we don’t miss a thing.

We have accurate records in Expedia, Hotels.com, Google, and TripIt. Still, we like to keep detailed records on our Excel spreadsheet with all of our upcoming expenses to plan finances and events for the future. So, at a glance, we can see what we’ve prepaid, what we’ll have to pay in the future, and any credits or perks we may receive on any trip.

We never tire of seeing giraffes.

I just received a message from Louise that the WiFi provider stated, “The fiber supplier is down. We have logged a call with them and are waiting for feedback. We will update you as soon as we get any news.” We can only wait and see what transpires. I am writing the text for today’s post in the Notepad app on my laptop.

Yesterday, we booked the hotel in Minneapolis for September 9 to September 23 after hearing back from the general manager of the Hyatt in Eden Prairie, where we stayed only months ago. He suggested we contact him when we knew we’d be returning, and we did so yesterday by email due to the time difference. We liked the ambiance, the spacious room, the breakfast, the cleanliness, and the friendly staff.

This appears to be an older male since his spots are dark.

He offered us a reasonable US $25, ZAR 437 off per night, the best rate we found online, for the 14 nights we’ll be staying. Also, we booked the hotel at the Boston Logan Airport, where we’ll stay when we visit cousin Phyllis on August 30 before heading to Nevada. All we have left to do for that trip is book a rental car and a flight to Minneapolis, and we’ll be set for both trips to see family.

It made sense to stay at the airport hotel and take an Uber to meet Phyllis for dinner closer to her home, so she won’t have to drive far. Our flight the following day, the only non-stop we could get to Las Vegas, departs Boston at 7:00 am. This way, we won’t have to deal with leaving so early for the airport for the upcoming domestic flight.

We’re always thinking of ways to make travel days easier and less stressful. Sometimes we may pay a little more for such conveniences, but overall, we manage to make it work each time affordably, barring a few errors we may make from time to time, all of which we’ve shared here.

Giraffes don’t approach humans in a wild environment. They are relatively shy and stay away from humans, even in Marloth Park.

Once we had these bookings completed, we started discussing where we wanted to spend the remaining ten months until we returned to Marloth Park, when in July, August, or September 2024, daughter Tammy and family are coming to visit and stay with us at this house. That’s very exciting to us. It will be the first time any of our kids will come to see us in Africa. It’s a long way to travel and must take a lot of vacation time, considering four days is required for travel alone.

After many discussions over the past few months, we’ve decided we’ll be spending those ten months or so in South America, where we’ve been longing to see a few particular World Heritage locations, the Galapagos Island, and our long-time dream of traveling to the Pantanal, the largest marsh and ecologically diverse place on the planet.

This appears to be a mom and her youngster, who may be about a year old.

Yesterday, our rep at Vacations-to-Go reserved a cabin for us on a 16-passenger expedition ship which will take us to see the Galapagos for 11 nights, including a four-day land tour and a seven-night cruise. Our cruise rep was going on vacation, so she reserved one of the two remaining cabins for us until she returns on February 15, at which point we’ll pay the deposit and firm up the details about the cruise. We’ll share more information at that time.

We had been using Costco for cruises, but this particular cruise’s pricing and response time were better at Vacations-to-Go.

Over the years, as we’ve mulled over visiting the Pantanal, more venues and houseboat-type cruises have become available, making the journey a little easier for us than sitting in a small row boat for hours each day. After all, we are senior citizens, and although we’re relatively sturdy, comfort enhances our experiences. In any case, it’s not the most comfortable journey, basically staying in a swamp/marsh for a week or more. But we’re anxious to see all the unusual wildlife in this unique area.

A mom and a curious youngster, as we drove past.

Last night, once again, we had a fun evening at Jabula, laughing, chatting, and commiserating with Dawn, Leon and David, and many other guests at the restaurant. Oddly, we ran into a couple from The Netherlands we’d seen at the immigration office in Nelspruit only days ago, also applying for a visa extension. It’s a Small world.

On another note, last Friday, we met a lovely young couple from the US at Jabula on Sunday night, and then on Monday, we ran into them driving on the paved road in Kruger. They, too, had been taking photos of the lion kill we’d posted on Tuesday this past week. What another funny coincidence.

The WiFi returned with a nice message from Tech Connect, our provider. They are very responsive, which means a lot to us. Now, I can get today’s post uploaded and work on entering information for the bookings mentioned above.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 4, 2022:

No photo was posted on this date one year ago.

Enjoyable Sunday…Family and football..

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From our post on December 5, 2013…Down the road another block, several giraffes were hanging outside one of the houses in Marloth Park. This giraffe was eating, which accounts for the chubby cheeks. The food slides down her throat in a big lump, as shown. See the post here.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day at Greg’s home in Chaska, about a 20-minute drive from here. We stopped at Target to get some football-watching snacks. It was fun to watch the game with Greg and the kids, who wandered in and out of the family room during the three-hour game, chatting with us on each occasion.

When Camille returned from Christmas shopping, it was great to catch up with her. By about 4:00 pm, we were going back to the hotel to make a plan for dinner and put away all the laundry we’d washed and dried at their house. With the clothes we purchased at Target when we arrived last Saturday, we only had two loads of laundry.

It was great to use a clothes dryer. It had been a long time since we had access to a clothes dryer. Everything came out unwrinkled, and nothing shrank. We’d each bought a few flannel shirts to stay warm, and I was concerned they’d all shrink, but this morning I am wearing one of those shirts, and there was no shrinkage whatsoever. Even my flannel pajamas came out perfectly.

We begin thinking about any items we may need before leaving the US, knowing we won’t return for nine months. Saying goodbye this time will be a lot easier, knowing we’ll return next September at the end of two cruises. We’ll also head to Nevada to see Richard and renew our driver’s licenses in our state of residence.

While here, we’ve made several phone calls to see if we qualify for any refunds or credits due to our recent travel fiasco. But we’ll need to wait until we return to South Africa to get the wheels in motion. Ethiopian Air doesn’t consider our bags “lost” until 25 days have passed, so we can’t file a claim until then. Our credit card lost baggage benefit will also require documentation from the airline showing our bags are considered lost. We have no choice but to wait.

Now, my centipede fear has some competition. After a massive storm last night, our pool was filled with dead insects. This morning, Tom fished out this scorpion. Carefully, we tread.

It appears we won’t be able to recover any part of the loss of the cruise fare. This is frustrating, but they consider the obstacle we encountered “our fault.” We take full responsibility for the fiasco but are disappointed with the cruise company, and Intrepid Travel didn’t give us a heads-up when we inquired about any governmental documents we may have needed to enter Seychelles. There’s nothing more we can do. It’s frustrating.

But, as always, we must pick ourselves up and carry on and focus on the positives in our lives for which we feel grateful and fulfilled. Slowly, I am beginning to feel better, but the headache pops up every few days and the facial pain remains. I don’t know if I am going to seek further treatment. At this point, I feel like I have tried everything possible.

Perhaps, I have to resign myself to these lingering Omicron symptoms, and in time, they will improve. It is not debilitating in a manner that impacts our lives, but I am aware of it each day. I make a concerted effort to stay cheerful and take extra good care of myself. I am still using the various nasal treatments which, luckily, I had in my carry-on bag. When we fly on the 16-hour flight from Newark to Joburg, I won’t be able to use the products since it’s not sanitary in the plane’s restrooms.

In only three days, we’ll be on our way. Our first flight from Minneapolis to Newark is at 2:00 pm on Thursday. We have a long layover in Newark, 3 hours and 20 minutes, and then we’re off to Joburg on the 16-hour flight. Once we arrive in Joburg we’ll stay overnight at the City Lodge airport hotel to catch our flight on Airlink the following day. This way, we avoid driving to Marloth Park in the dark on the dangerous N4 Highway.

Soon, we head out to make one more stop at Target for a few items, and then Tom will drop me off at my friend Chere’s home in Eden Prairie for a few-hour visit with a dear old friend.

That’s it for today, friends. Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 5, 2021:

It’s only on the hottest days that Little sits in the cement pond. For more photos, please click here.