Using perks and points from Expedia…Interesting photos from a very old house in 2013…Head banging?…

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In Tuscany, this yet-to-be-baked homemade low-carb, gluten-free, grain-free, starch-free, and sugar-free pizza was made with “real” mozzarella (often referred to as buffalo mozzarella in the US) and locally grown ingredients. The stringiness factor was tripled from the pizza we’d made in the past using “manufactured” bagged shredded mozzarella, which we hope never to use again. It was our best pizza ever! I’d cut double the ingredients to make another freshly made pizza for tonight with no microwave for reheating. Nothing like two nights of freshly made pizza!

Today’s photos are from the date in 2013, in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, which we posted here.   

How quickly we forgot the nuances of the 300-year-old stone house in Italy. From today’s re-shared photos, you can easily see how much we had to adapt to living in this very old house. It was sometimes challenging, especially when the WiFi signal was so poor.

The electrical wiring throughout the house is exposed, using cloth instead of the conduit most of us are familiar with as a code requirement in the US and other countries. We doubt that building/code compliance inspectors travel around inspecting these centuries-old properties. As shown above, the primary lighting source in the kitchen is these two fixtures over the kitchen table, encased in glass globes. Energy-efficient as the “curly” energy-efficient bulbs we’d used in the US, this particular style takes approximately five minutes to light up the area, which can be a little tricky at night.

Ten years ago, we rented a device from a company in the US called MiFi. This company still exists but can’t do much business these days when good WiFi signals are available worldwide, even in some remote locations. Even in the bush in South Africa, we had no problem getting a good signal.

Sure, some parts of the world are so remote that a signal isn’t possible, but over the years, we haven’t continued to experience issues being online. When renting a hotel or holiday home, we always check to ensure they have free unlimited internet access.

Cloth-covered wiring over the sink in the kitchen.

Today, we rented a car for one day from the Expedia link on our site, found here. When our ship arrives in Boston on August 30, we needed a means of transportation from our hotel to Stoughton, where my cousin Phyllis lives, so we could all go out to dinner near her home.

Again, cloth-covered wiring near the shower in the main bathroom.

When researching transportation from our hotel to Stoughton, a 40-minute drive, we found the cost of taxis, Uber, or transportation companies to be as much as $400 for the round trip plus tips. Instead, with points we’ve accumulated and hadn’t used lately at Expedia, we could rent a car for a good price and drive ourselves to meet with Phyllis.

We both had to duck to go down the long hallway to the bedroom. We got used to saying, “Don’t bang your head.”

As it turned out, we had enough points left to use on Expedia to offset the cost of a car. This morning we booked the car, and all we had to pay after using our points was $9.88 for the one-day car rental. We couldn’t get this done quickly enough! once the details were paid and booked, we added the information to our free Cozi Calendar, as we do with all of our bookings.

Tom also had to duck his head when heading out to the tiny veranda from the guest bedroom.

We now have peace of mind knowing we completed one of the few remaining tasks necessary for our upcoming trip, as listed in a post two days ago here.

Also, we’d like to ask our readers to kindly consider using the links on our page to compare travel costs and perks. We make a small commission that helps cover a portion of the expenses for the maintenance of our site, and you’ll pay no more using the links than if you went to them on your own. Also, you may find you can save a lot of money using these links and accumulating perks and points.

This doorway to the main bathroom was cut to fit the low frame, requiring that we also duck when entering or leaving.

We figured out an easy plan to get the rental car when we’ll be coming from the port on August 30, not the airport, where we’ll have to go to pick up the car. We’ll get an Uber or taxi from the port to drive us to the airport.

Tom will jump out and leave me with the driver, who will drive me to the hotel with our bags. That way, we won’t have to take the bags to the airport. Then, Tom will pick up the car and drive to the hotel. Later in the day, we’ll make the drive to Stoughton to meet my cousin Phyllis for dinner.

This hole was cut on the outside of the house to allow for the water meter.

I asked Phyllis if she’d like us to pick her up. She’s about ten years older than me and may prefer to have us pick her up so she won’t have to drive home in the dark. If so, we won’t mind at all. It will be wonderful to see her. It’s been several years since we’ve seen Phyllis, and she and her two daughters are my only living relatives on the father’s side. As it turns out, I am the oldest living relative on my mother’s side of the family. How did that ever happen? Where did the time go?

Tonight, we’re heading to Brownwood Paddock Square for the evening. It’s been raining off and on all morning, but it looks like it will be clearing by the time we leave at 5:00 pm.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 7, 2013:

The heating elements in the 300-year-old stone house in Tuscany. The radiators are behind these hanging curtains in the long hallway. Hmmm…For more, please click here.

Hysterical feedback from Garage Logic about our “Adults Only” post a few days ago…

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At last! The Treasury! This sight made us gasp with our hearts pounding wildly, less from the walk, more from sheer joy! See below for the progression of this long walk to arrive at this magnificent event.

Note: Today’s photos are from the posts of May 15 and May 16, 2013, ten years ago, when we visited Petra, Jordan.  Here is the post from May 16, 2013.

The raw beauty of nature, coupled with artistic skills, made the walk exciting, moment by moment.

On May 12, we wrote about the myth about perceptions of The Villages as being a “swingers” retirement community. Please click here to read that post. We heard from the hosts at the Garage Logic podcast mentioned this perception when they realized where we are staying.

In response to that, in a light-hearted manner, I wrote the post entitled “Adults Only,” which may be found at the above link we rebutted the perception that The Villages is a “swingers community.” It is not. It’s a myth.

We thought we couldn’t make it through each time we encountered these narrow crevices, but we managed at each turn.

When Joe Soucheray, host of Garage Logic, read parts of our post on their show, we couldn’t stop laughing over their comments. If you’d like to hear what they had to say, please click here and have a chuckle with us. If you don’t want to listen to the entire podcast, scroll forward to 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 27 seconds, and their comments will begin. But listen all the way to the end of the podcast since they add more as they go. It’s very funny.

We love the connection we have with Garage Logic every day. If you enjoy their banter, click here for the full archives of their podcasts. We listen five days a week while Tom continues to submit daily, “On this date in Minnesota history.” It provides us with a fun connection to our original home state of Minnesota, along with our friends and family members who still live there.

Can you imagine the excitement of the Swiss adventurer that discovered this find in 1812?

As mentioned at 12:30 pm, Karen and Rich will arrive, and we’ll drop them off at the Orlando Airport for their trip to Minnesota for son Jack’s wedding, leaving their SUV with us to use for the next few weeks. In a few weeks, we’ll pick up Rich at the airport after Karen flew off to support an ailing friend and return the car at that time.

We don’t have a lot of plans for using the car other than to visit Karen’s mom, Donna, next week, a short drive from here, and to drive around The Villages, exploring and taking photos. That will be fun to do, and it will be nice to get out in a car as opposed to the golf cart.

Check out the intriguing details of theTreasury performed by craftsmen over 2000 years ago. The twelve pillars represent the twelve months of the year.

The golf cart is great, but it takes much longer to get from place to place. If we were to have been here any longer, we’d have needed to rent a car. When we checked on prices for rental cars in Florida, it was outrageous. We’d have spent over $3000 for the time we were staying here and felt it was an expense we didn’t want to bear with our expensive upcoming cruises.

It was a small sacrifice for the time we’re spending here since we can use the included golf cart to go anywhere in The Villages. With the handy app for approved golf cart paths, it’s relatively easy to get around, albeit slowly. Although, in the next few weeks, having a car to use will be great.

Actually, Tom was much happier than he looks in this photo!

After the long walk, sitting down for this not-so-smiley photo was a huge relief. The grates behind me at the front of the Treasury are protecting the more intricate design.

Today, I uploaded the Kroger online grocery order, which will arrive tomorrow morning. With company coming for dinner tomorrow evening and more houseguests again for three nights starting Saturday, we have plenty of meals to plan and prepare. Feeling so much better, I won’t have any trouble managing the upcoming visitors.

After the long walk, sitting down for this not-so-smiley photo was a huge relief. The grates behind me at the front of the Treasury are protecting the intricate design.

This morning we headed out on our walk and returned to make a lovely breakfast, and both get to work on our laptops. My hope was to upload this post before we leave at 12:30. Most likely, we’ll return by 3:30 or 4:00 pm and then get busy preparing tonight’s dinner of Italian meatballs, topped with sauce and shredded mozzarella and rice and salad on the side. I’m having grilled salmon and scallops with baked spaghetti squash and salad on the side for me.

Last night, we began watching “Dancing with the Stars” on Disney+, which we signed up long enough to binge-watch the show. Once we’re done, we’ll cancel the service. We often sign up for a streaming service long enough to watch a certain series and then cancel it thereafter. However, we keep Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime all the time. We thoroughly enjoy streaming shows in the evening when we don’t have other plans.

Be well.

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

In Jordan, the camel owners proudly let us take photos. In Egypt, at the Great Pyramids, either they’d grab your camera and smash it or demand $50 to get it back. For the post, please click here.

Two funny things…Another fantastic goodbye with friends at Jabula!…Five hour layover in Johannesburg until 17-hour red-eye to Atlanta…

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Norman, with his mouth open a little as if he’s talking back to me. He will be dearly missed.

We are seated in a restaurant with less than stellar food, the only place open at this hour close to our gate. We’re boarding the plane in 70 minutes, so I must rush through this.

A few funny things happened in the past 24 hours. One occurred when we were at Louise and Danie’s house before we headed to Jabula to say goodbye to more friends. We were seated at the bar in their lounge, and suddenly, I heard the funny squeaking noises that mongooses make.

I ran out the back door, and there they were, our usual band of mongooses. Now, I should say there are several bands of mongooses in Marloth Park. But, when they saw me, they stood up on their hind legs and stared at me. Out of context, they didn’t know what I was doing at this other house. I made our usual little clicking sound, and they got so excited they started coming into the house and running around.

We all laughed out loud. I didn’t have paloney for them, but this morning, when they reappeared while we were finishing the packing, I was thrilled to see them again. This time, they got little chunks of cheese and savored every bite. When we left several hours later, we left nine eggs in the garden that we hadn’t eaten. They will undoubtedly wonder where we went, won’t they?

Then, we hadn’t seen Norman since last Wednesday, before I went to the hospital. I was hoping to see him once more time before we left. But with the holidaymakers in the park, we doubted he’d return. He had surely been eating “people food” and had little interest in his healthy diet at our place.

Wouldn’t you know, about 30 minutes before we were to head out the door to drive to the airport, there stood Norman in the garden with that little smile on his face. I squealed with delight! I couldn’t have been more excited to see him. Immediately I ran to the kitchen to cut up the remaining apples and cabbage I’d left for him, just in case.

I tossed the food to him. but he didn’t seem interested in eating. Oh, he nibbled on a few pieces of apple I’d cut for him in his preferred small piece. But he only ate a few. Instead, he stood there looking at me, relishing every word I said, almost as if he knew exactly what I was trying to convey…plain and simple…love.

He stayed quite a while, and after I stopped chattering at him in my high-pitched voice, he finally wandered off. “Bye, Norman. I will miss you and hope to see you when we return in 14 months. Be safe from the lions and take good care of your little family. You’ve brought us both such joy for quite a long time.”

Then, there was last night when several couples stopped by Jabula to say goodbye one last time. The kindness and love couldn’t have meant more to us. Of course, Dawn, Leon, and David offered us an outpouring of love that’s hard to describe. It was all so unique.

This afternoon at 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs., we stopped at Louise and Danie’s to drop off the key to the house, and once more, the warm embrace of loving friends filled our hearts. How did we get so lucky?

Now, as we’re seated in this restaurant at the Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are ready to move on. The long flight is ahead of us, but as always, we’ll get through it with optimism and hope for the future.

Thank you for sharing this life with us, day after day, night after night, and country after country. It’s been quite a journey.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, April 29, 2013:

There was no photo on this date as we sailed on a ship through the Strait of Gibraltar. For the story, please click here.

Tom is off to the US on Sunday…Our first time apart in 10½ years…

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The view from friend’s Karen and Rich’s home one year ago when we stayed with them in Apollo Beach, Florida.

Note: We’ve been preoccupied and haven’t taken any new photos in several days. Today’s images are from Florida, where we were one year ago.

It will feel very strange for Tom and me to be apart for ten days when he leaves for the airport in Nelspruit to start the long journey to the US. On his way there, the flight and layovers will have 31 hours of travel time. On his return on March 13, arriving on March 15, it will be much longer when he has to stay overnight in Joburg at the airport hotel to avoid driving the dangerous N4 highway in the dark.

This will be the first time we have embarked on an international flight without the other. Not only was it imperative for him to be with his family for brother Jerome’s wake and funeral service in Minneapolis, but also to spend precious time with his kids,  grandkids, and siblings. I will feel a lot better when I hear that he has arrived safely and when he walks in the door a week from Wednesday, back with me once again.

Our dear friends Karen and Rich while we were all out to dinner in Florida.

As a blended family, we’re constantly juggling and allocating time between our families when we are together in the US. It has always worked out well, but this time, he won’t have to worry about carting me around, dropping me off, and picking me up after time with my son Greg and his family.

For a minute, we may have considered having me go with him, but the more we thought about it, this made the most sense. Plus, he can sleep at his daughter Tammy’s house, where I’ve never been able to stay since I am allergic to cats. The same is the case with staying at my son Greg’s house, where they have three cats.

When it’s the two of us, we prefer to stay in a hotel, especially when we consume so much WiFi and spend so much time online doing daily posts and other research. Also, as a couple, we prefer privacy and quiet when staying in a hotel when we travel.

View of the bay from Karen and Rich’s home in Apollo Beach.

The only exception to this has been when we stay with our dear friends Karen and Rich in their huge house in Florida. The four of us are so much alike, we don’t annoy one another, and it’s always been easy for a week or more. We all like the same kind of food, and our daily habits are oddly similar. This isn’t always the case with many friends who have generously offered us to stay with them.

Tom just finished packing, considering it’s still freezing in Minnesota. When our bags were lost on our last trip, we bought sweatshirts and flannel shirts to stay warm. He now has three flannel shirts, a few new zippered sweatshirts, and plenty of jeans to keep warm. He isn’t bringing a suit when few men at the service will be wearing suits. But he will wear a newer long-sleeved black shirt and pants to the services.

This morning, we headed to Komatipoort to grocery shop for whatever I’ll need in the next ten days. Mostly, I’ll prepare easy chicken and seafood meals while he’s away, along with a salad. When he returns, I’ll make a special dinner for us to celebrate our missed 28th wedding anniversary, which is on March 7.

Us, out to dinner with Rich and Karen.

These past ten years, we have always made a bigger fuss over our travel anniversary on October 31 each year. Still, we’ve always done something special on our wedding anniversary, often going out to dinner or making a fancy meal wherever we live.

This evening, we’ll return to Jabula, the second night in a row to be with our local friends at this entertaining establishment. Last night, we had an excellent time, reliving the fun we all had at my birthday party last Saturday. It’s hard to believe that it was almost a week ago.

That’s it for today. Next time I write, I will be alone for the first time in so long I can hardly remember; although we were apart at night when I was in hospital in 2019, Tom was with me every day, well into the evening. But this is different. I am not afraid of being alone. I’ll watch for lions when I am outdoors and those disgusting slimy black worms that are still falling on our heads. Yuck.

Be well.

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

Once again, the porcupine returned to the garden at night. For more photos, please click here.

Today, we are on the move!…Back to the bush…

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New friends Barry and Lisa, enjoying one last night together on the ship, on this date in 2017, during a cruise to South America. See the post here.
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We’re packed and ready to leave the hotel to return the rental car at Ace, take their shuttle to the airport, check our bags and begin the long wait until our flight at 2:00 pm. The first flight to Newark is easy, less than three hours,, but the typical five-hour layover is to be expected.

During the layover, we’ll have dinner at an airport restaurant and spend time on our laptops to kill time while we wait for the 16-hour flight to Johannesburg.

This morning, Louise and I texted back and forth on Whatsapp. Apparently, things are not good in Marloth Park right now. It’s very hot and humid, the power has been out for almost a day, and there’s no water from the reservoir due to the 11½ hours of load shedding each day. But now, the power is out due to some type of fault or damage to equipment, and they can’t get the power back on.

We feel bad for Louise. All of her houses are rented with dozens and dozens of guests for a golf tournament in Komatipoort and holidaymakers. Can you imagine the complaints from the holiday renters who don’t have power…or water.  There’s no news on when both of these will be restored.

That night, Tom was having a great time, dining in the private “wine room” in the Tuscan Grill with Lisa and Barry.
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We hope things are resolved by the time we return in a few days, but as we always say, “TIA, This is Africa!” What do we expect? In any case, we’ll be fine. We’ll definitely have to throw away all of the perishables in the refrigerator but hopefully not everything in the freezer. When shopping next, we’ll only buy enough for a few days, knowing power outages are even worse during December.

With all the holidaymakers in the park, we don’t expect to see many animals in the garden when we return. But mostly, we can’t wait to see Norman and Nina’s new baby, born a few days after we left. No news yet on the gender of the baby, but we have a few names in mind, of course beginning with an “N.” Noah has wandered off in search of a mate for himself, but there are no other nyalas in Marloth Park other than their family of four. Wild animals generally do not mate with species other than their own.

Hopefully, the rangers can find another female to bring to the conservancy for Noah. We hope to hear this has been done at some point. He’s certainly entitled to having a mate, now that Norman and Nina are preoccupied with their new baby.

It was easy packing the new suitcase that had plenty of room, and we filled it to the brim. We have no way to weigh it and will wing it hoping it meets the maximum 23 kg. limit. Of course, we have no idea if our missing bags will be waiting for us when we get to Joburg or Nelspruit. Only time will tell.

Last night, we had dinner with Greg and granddaughter Madighan at Champps. We’d hoped to see the other grandkids one more time, but we managed to have some quality time with everyone while we were here.

An antipasto board was served to each couple before our other courses were served.

This morning, I spoke to our friend Connie, whose husband and our dear friend Jeff passed away at our house in the bush, when they’d come to Marloth Park to fulfill Jeff’s dream of seeing Africa. We are so grateful he was able to fulfill that dream with us during the time he, Connie, and their adult daughter Lindsey were with us.  It was good to hear her voice. Next time we come to Minnesota, we will make a point of getting together with Connie and Lindsey.

This unexpected trip to Minnesota was such a flurry of activity with the family, leaving little time to see friends. We’re hoping for better planning next time to make time to see some of our dear old friends, too.

Well, it’s time to load the one bag and our carry-on bags into the rental car and make our way to the car rental facility. We are dressed warmly but without jackets, since we don’t want to carry extra clothes through all the airports. I don’t know when we’ll write again. It could possibly not be until Sunday after we arrive on Saturday, in time to shower, change and hopefully head to Jabula for dinner. It will be nice to see our friends once again and to share the latest news with all of you.

Be well.

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

When Melissa Grobler of Dubai, currently staying in  Marloth Park with her mom, a resident, captured these lion photos this morning, we were enthralled. Melissa witnessed this fantastic sighting of one of the female lions known to roam the streets of Marloth Park. For more photos, please click here.

Exciting news from the bush with short video…Trying to find our missing bags…

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Louise sent us this short video of Nina’s new baby, born only a few days ago. Once we return to Marloth Park, we’ll be excited to see dad Norman, son Noah, Nina, and the yet-to-be unnamed baby, whom we’ll name once we know the sex. Of course, her or his name will begin with the letter “N.”

It will be interesting to see how Norman and his son Noah react to the little one. We’ll post videos, and photos and write about the exciting new life in the bush. What a magical experience! It will certainly be fun to see the now family of four when we return in about ten days.

We’re still experiencing a bit of angst over our lost baggage. Tom wasn’t able to get the required claim form during the three hours he spent at the Johannesburg Tambo Airport on Friday. The actual claim numbers on the two tickets were illegible. The printer must have been running out of ink. No one was able to read the numbers. Now we’re trying to call Airlink but keep getting disconnected or the call doesn’t go through.

It’s frustrating, to say the least. I think we need to wait to deal with this until we return to Joburg airport next Friday, conduct another search for our bags and get the proper claim form completed and processed. We have zero confidence that the claim Tom made while he spent three hours at the airport will be attended to without the numbers being legible. What a mess! We are trying to reach Airlink where the tags were issued but they don’t answer their phone or the line is busy.

In the meanwhile, we need to apply for a new ten-year passport. Our ten-year passport expired which we replaced with a four-year passport a few years ago. Since Covid, the handling of passport renewals is tricky and cumbersome especially when we are living outside the US. It appears, our only option will be to fly or drive to the US embassy in Joburg, Pretoria, or Cape Town once we get back to South Africa to handle this.

As for today, we are picking up Tammy and grandson Vincent at their home at 1:15 pm to drive to Tom’s brother Jerome’s home where we’ll meet up with Tom’s sisters Patty and Colleen. We’ll all stay for a long visit and later head out to dinner. It will be wonderful to spend time with them, as it has been with other family members.

On another note, Tom has been unable to use his laptop or set up his new Google Pixel 6a phone since he was cut off from his Google account the day after we arrived, for no known reason. It’s been frustrating for him to be without the use of his laptop since Sunday. Hopefully, when we have our appointment tomorrow morning at the Geek Squad at Best Buy we will get this resolved.

At the moment, I am on hold with Ethiopian Air’s lost baggage department. They are trying to locate our bags. Hopefully, we will get some good news. The important thing is to get the bags back to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport so we don’t have to pay for excess baggage fees when we return. We had to book and pay for another flight from Joburg to Nelspruit which is a domestic flight and has strict weight restrictions. If the bags are returned to Nelspruit we can pick them up there when we arrive on December 10.

Ah, I got disconnected. It’s all a series of errors that is almost laughable. I’ll be glad to get out today and away from all of this confusion and disharmony. It’s always a welcomed relief and pleasure to be with our loved ones and escape from all this paperwork and forms.

I just got off the phone with the Ethiopian Air baggage claim department. Our bags are in Addis Ababa. Hopefully, they will forward them to Joburg and then on to Nelspruit. We can only wait and see what transpires.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 30, 2021:

Such pretty animals. The waterbuck is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. Irish naturalist William Ogilby first described it in 1833. Its 13 subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or ellipsiprymnus waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck. For more photos, please click here.

We’re off to Seychelles…A few important points for our readers…Happy Thanksgiving to our family and friends in the USA!…

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Starting on the 26th, we’ll be cruising to these islands in Seychelles.

First, let’s start by wishing our US family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving day with fantastic food, love, and friendship. It was always a fun holiday for our family, with lots of stories to share and delicious leftovers for a few days while we began decorating for Christmas the following day and weekend.

There will be no Thanksgiving celebrations for us. Today is a travel day for us on our next visa run, hopefully allowing us another 90-day visa for South Africa. We’ll certainly report the results once we know when we try to re-enter the country on December 4, a mere ten days from now.

Our packing is just about done, with only digital equipment, power cords, converters, and adapters to be added, plus the medication I’ll still need to use as we travel. That’s a bit tricky since the nasal rinses and treatments I do every few hours will have to be postponed until we arrive in Mahe for one night in a hotel which will be about 24 hours after we leave here this afternoon.

Once boarding the first flight in Nelspruit, the travel time is 19 hours, including as many layover hours as flight times. But, we still have to drive to Nelspruit around 3:00 pm, 1500 hours, with many road delays and then wait at the airport for the 6:30 pm, 1830 hrs, flight to Joburg with an upcoming 11:30 pm, 2330 hrs, departure. This trip will consist of three long layovers.

Tom spotted a snake trying to take a drink from the splash pool. I missed the shot but got another after instead, as shown below. We’ve been so busy getting ready the past few days I’ve been too preoccupied to take photos. But surely, on our upcoming trip, we’ll be taking plenty.

See the green snake atop the post by the pool?

This morning I awoke feeling a little better and hope to continue to improve over the next several days as I continue the medications and treatments. I felt tentative about going on this cruise, not feeling up to par, but there were no other options. Once we paid the final payment for the cruise and the flights, we were committed. Plus, our visas expire on the 26th, and we had to go somewhere.

This morning, Vusi washed the little rental car, which we’ll return to the airport when we arrive. We’d rather give the money to Zef or Vusi to wash the car each time we leave instead of giving it to the carwash while Tom stands and waits for an hour or more. They do a perfect job. Once we return on December 4, another car will be ready, likely similar to what we’ve had.

The animals kick up a lot of dust and dander each day. While we’re away, Louise will arrange for the outdoor refrigerator to be repaired, and Zef and Vusi will do a deep clean of the house, which, even with their diligent daily cleaning, still gets dusty in tucked-away places. When we return, all will be fresh and clean.

An important point to share with our readers as we head to what will eventually be a remote location…we may not have WiFi for many periods during the cruise. If you do not see a post from us, please consider that as a day lost in our consecutive uploads. We won’t try to “make up” lost days while without internet access by doubling up.

Once we have a signal or, in the worst case, once we return, I will post the stories and pictures consecutively for many days to come. Please do not be alarmed if you don’t see any new posts during this period. Instead, I will document our activities offline as each day passes, taking photos.

However, we will be able to post from the hotel in Mahe tomorrow and most likely the first day/night on the boat while we’re still in port. You may check daily to see if there’s a new post. For sure, we’ll be back on December 5. We might get lucky and be able to post each day since there is WiFi on the boat, and for all we know, it may work well. We will be purchasing the best WiFi package they have available.

So, we’re signing off for the next 24 hours and hope to be back with you soon.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 24, 2021:

This was the total size of the foam tree frog nest before it rained. After it rained hard for hours, it was half its original size. We aren’t sure if the rain destroyed it or if the male tree frogs will fertilize it. For more photos, please click here.

Only a short time until we’re back in the bush…

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On our way out of the Nelspruit airport, we spotted the dark brown impala we’d seen during past trips to the airport from last time he was a little calf. Now he’s fast growing to adulthood. There was also a female but we weren’t able to take a good photo of her.

We are seated on the final flight of this long journey from Las Vegas, Nevada, the USA, to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger. Within the next two hours, we will arrive in Marloth Park. We will be more at ease when done with the 90-minute drive on the dangerous N4 highway, which is rife with car jackings. 

We stayed at the  Tambo Airport City Lodge Hotel in Joburg to avoid driving that road at night. The 15-hour flight from Newark was relatively smooth, with little turbulence over the ocean. 

Gosh, we have crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times in the past two months since we left South Africa two months ago. So much happened in the past two months. We won’t reiterate them here, ad nauseam. We have said enough already.

But even this morning at the airport, we stumbled upon another example of human error when we checked our bags at the Airlink counter. They couldn’t find the information that we paid for our bags in Las Vegas and wanted to charge us again. 

We showed them our all-the-way-through itinerary that included our baggage purchases at the beginning. After a 25-minute delay, they finally figured it out, and they let us go through without additional payment.  We always book the entire trip, including short flights, to avoid extra baggage fees. But it was just “one more thing” we encountered on this trip.

We had a great time in Florida with friends Karen and Rich at their lovely waterfront home in Apollo Beach. Plus, we had an absolute blast during the first eight days of the cruise, and it was downhill from there. On disembarkation day, we found ourselves on the “COVID bus” to our hotel with dozens of other sick passengers.

Last night, after the 15-hour flight, we could finally get to our hotel room. It was so cold in the hotel and our room that we couldn’t warm up, partly due to our exhaustion and the low temps in Joburg.  We didn’t sleep much. My feet were so cold. We went to bed at 9:30, but it was early morning to us. We each dozed about an hour on the plane, certainly not enough to ease the tiredness, and perhaps another two or three hours during the night at the hotel.

We just were informed by the pilot to prepare for landing. We will be on the ground and anxious to be on our way in moments. We’ll pick up yet small, affordable rental car and be on our way.

In a few hours, we will be at our new holiday home in the bush, a colorful, African-themed, unique house with everything we could need or want. Louise never misses a beat in ensuring that the property suits our taste and desires wherever we rent.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with photos of our house, the garden, and our new animal friends. In no time at all, we’ll be reconnecting with our human friends as well.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 24, 2021:

This mongoose must have been injured and lost hers/his lips. Possibly, due to inbreeding, it could have been a congenital disability. But they were as rowdy as the others for some paloney and eggs. For more photos, please click here.

We’re on the move…Travel day#1…Flight got canceled…

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This was our limo this morning to the airport from Green Valley Ranch Resort.

We are at the United gate at Las Vegas McCarren Airport, waiting to board our new flight in a few hours. Yesterday afternoon, I got a text on my phone stating that our 7:00 am flight to Newark was canceled, and the new flight would depart at 10:28 am. We got excited about the change, which meant we wouldn’t have to get up at 3:00 am to get to the airport three hours early, as required, by 4:00 am.

The message stated that we’d have to book different seats on the new flight. Immediately, we checked online, only to find two seats left, one a window and another a middle seat in different rows, both of which we don’t like. We both prefer aisle seats and had previously booked our seats across the aisle from one another. But, this leg of our journey is slightly less than five hours, and we can manage this situation.

Unbelievably, United doesn’t credit passengers for their previous seat purchases when flights change. We’d paid extra on the old flight for better seats but had to take the two lousy seats that were available without the possibility of a refund. Go figure. They get you coming and going, duh, literally.

This morning, another text arrived stating the flight would be departing until 10:55 am, a change that didn’t make a difference to us one way or another. We’d already arranged our ride to the airport, and it was too late to change it. We were scheduled to be picked up by the limo at 7:00 am, but then, at 6:25, I received a text from the driver that he had arrived and if we were ready to go.

The interior of the limo.

We figured we’d either be waiting in the hotel lobby or at the airport. That was fine. By 6:40, our bags were loaded, and we were in the limo on the short 12-minute drive to the airport. The cost for the limo with tip was US $100. But, with this big festival going on in Las Vegas, there were no Ubers, Lyfts, or taxis available. We had no choice but to take the limo at four times the cost of a taxi. We felt we were lucky to get a ride at all. We weren’t about to complain about that.

Little did we know the driver would arrive in a black stretch limo. Gosh, I can’t recall the last time I rode in one of those. Riding in a limo has never been important to either of us. But I couldn’t resist taking a few photos. At least I’d have something to add to today’s post when the photo ops were slim. It was a far cry from the small rental car we’ll be driving on the N4 from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport when we arrive in two days. As long as we have transportation, we don’t give it much thought.

Once we arrived at the airport, we discovered curbside check-in for United. But the rep explained that due to our international connection, we’d have to go to the ticket counter for United, using the kiosk to get our bags checked, receive our boarding passes, scan our passports and show our PCR test.

The kindly reps at the kiosk who assisted passengers were unaware that South Africa doesn’t allow entry from US passengers with only a CDC white vaccination card. When we showed them the comments on entry restrictions on their screen, which clearly stated that PCR or Antigen tests were required and CDC cards alone wouldn’t do, they were shocked. They had no idea. They said many passengers scheduled for flights for South Africa were in for a big surprise.

It was Tom who found this new requirement online. The reps were surprised we found the small print about the change in this requirement. What a nightmare that could have been.

Slot machines at the airport in Las Vegas.

Then, our bags were then whisked away to the check-in counter, where they were weighed. All four of our checked bags, none of which required payment for an international flight, were weighed and none were overweight. We had weighed all of them in our hotel room on our travel scale, which miraculously has lasted for over 9½ years.

We breezed through security and made our way to the gate, where we are still sitting with my phone plugged into the charger on the seat. By the time we get on the plane, my phone and this laptop will be 100% charged. Apparently, based on the new location of our seats on this first flight, there are no plug-ins for devices. Good grief.

With only a two-hour layover in Newark, based on the flight cancellation, we are grateful for, as opposed to the previous six-plus-hour layover, I wouldn’t have had time to do today’s post. Since we arrived at the Las Vegas airport so early, I had ample time to upload a post. There are slot machines about 20 feet from us, but we don’t play.

Tom offered to get me a cup of decaf coffee, but after waiting in line at a Starbucks, he discovered they didn’t sell decaf. That’s weird. I’ll wait and have coffee on the plane in about two hours.

Ah, dear readers, this has been one long and difficult time in the US. We saw son Greg and the three grandchildren in Minneapolis for about 20 minutes while seated in the rental car with masks on while they kept back about 10 feet from the vehicle. We never saw Richard in Las Vegas/Henderson since we were still coughing. We wonder if Covid-19 will ever go away and if the visiting family will be possible.

The next time we write will be when we arrive in Johannesburg on Monday, after the 15 hour red eye where we’ll spend part of the night at the airport hotel, trying to catch up on some sleep.

See you next time.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today. May 22. 2021:

The river is beautiful at sunset. For more photos, please click here.

Vague and confusing rules to re-enter South Africa…Three days and counting…

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If I could eat sweets, most likely I’d choose some of these. We wondered what they did with the items that didn’t sell and how many days they stayed in the case.

As it turned out, the two Covid-19 antigen tests we purchased at Walgreens are not suitable for travel. In my state of COVID brain fog, along with a long queue in the pharmacy that day, I failed to ask the question to the pharmacist before I purchased the kits.

We’d used the same brand name kit to enter the US, but apparently, the tests I purchased in the US don’t have the red stripe across the box. It is the brand name, but it didn’t say it couldn’t be used for travel. Upon further investigation online, Tom discovered these test kits wouldn’t work.

These baked goods for sale at the Lucky Penny are much larger than they appear in this photo.

The next point was the confusion over whether South Africa requires a PCR or antigen test. According to several government sites, on March 22, 2022, it was no longer necessary to have a PCR test to enter the country if a person had a valid vaccination card.

The tricky part is they won’t accept the CDC white vaccination cards, which we have. They will only accept a vaccination certificate with a QR code.

These baked goods are twice the size of those you’d find in a bakery. Everything in Las Vegas is vast!

Yesterday afternoon, we spent hours finding out where and how we could get such a certificate. If we had weeks to spare, we could request it and get it in the mail at our “home” address. Well, that doesn’t work for us. Our only option is to get a new PCR test at a drive-through at CVS pharmacy. We don’t have a car. We’ll have to pay for a taxi to take us to CVS’s drive-through to get the test.

But that expense is a lot less than having a company come to the hotel to do our tests. After checking with the concierge, we discovered the cost is US $199 per person. Our taxi bill will be a lot less than the US $398.

These macaroons were the size of a man’s fist and stuffed with something creamy.

This is a bit frustrating, especially after all we’ve been through the past four-plus weeks. Our two tests are booked at a nearby CVS for 11:00, and 11:10 am tomorrow. We should have the results by Saturday, which we’ll print at the hotel, along with our rental agreement with Louise, which is required to enter the country for three months.

The next hurdle we had to handle was that we couldn’t find confirmation for the 90-day car rental for the vehicle we’re picking up at Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport (MQP). Indeed the issue was more about Covid brain fog and our lack of ability to locate the booking information easily. This has never been an issue for us. I always enter the booking details on our Cozi travel calendar. There was nothing there.

These massive chocolate cream puffs made my mouth water. The brownies on the far right were at least 4″ squares.

We spent at least two hours figuring out which car rental company we’d used and which company was supplying the car. We went through past credit card statements and finally found three small deposits we’d paid in March. Finally, we figured it out, after calling the company..

This error occurred when we were rushed to book this entire trip to the US, one hotel and flight after another. When we returned to South Africa, the records for that one rental car fell through the cracks when we were swamped booking flights and vehicles for Florida, Minnesota, and Nevada.

Yes, we love bacon, but I’m not sure about chocolate-covered bacon. Thank goodness I can’t have sugar. I’d have been tempted to try it. I encouraged Tom to try one of these fantastic items, but he prefers plain old-fashioned doughnuts, which weren’t available.

Thankfully, all is fine now, and the car will be waiting for us at the airport next Tuesday. However, we weren’t able to secure a straight 90-day booking. Every 30 days, we’ll have to return the car to Nelspruit (a three-hour turnaround) to sign another 30-day contract. However, we will make every effort to convince them to let us send them photos of the car and odometer readings to allow us to keep it the entire time. We shall see how that goes.

Whew! Lots of challenges this time around. Fortunately, with sheer determination, I managed to set up my new laptop completely, finishing early this morning. That’s a relief to have out of the way. In the next few days, we’ll reorganize the contents of our luggage, weighing everything to ensure we comply. Then, at 4:00 am Sunday, we’ll leave the hotel for the airport.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 19, 2021:

This photo astounded us. See the post for details of the unusual phenomenon from our trail cam in Marloth Park. For more information, please click here.