A glimmer of hope…

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It’s hard not to miss our animal and human friends in Marloth Park. We hope Broken Horn will visit us at the new house.

Could it be that Tom coughed less last night? He says he still feels weak and exhausted, but I wasn’t awake during the night from his coughing and ended up getting enough sleep for a change. Yes, this morning, he’s been coughing like crazy since he got up, but the good night gave us some hope.

The thought of flying to Las Vegas on Sunday is a little daunting, especially when arriving at the massive airport, which is time-consuming and confusing. Since Tom is in no position to do so, handling our luggage is my biggest concern right now. Sure, we’ll get a trolley to wheel around the airport while we go to collect the rental car.

Once we have the car, everything will be easier. We’ll get help with our bags at the hotel, the Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa and Casino in Henderson, close to where son Richard lives. At this point, we don’t know if we’ll get to see him. It will be entirely based on how Tom feels and how Richard feels about being around us.

We considered changing our fights, staying longer in Minnesota, and flying back to South Africa. Fortunately, we won’t have to go through immigration or customs based on a domestic flight. It will be another matter when we fly back to South Africa from Las Vegas on May 22.

But, after considerable research, it just doesn’t work. There are no flights available out of MSP that we can change our United Airlines tickets to, and the cost is so prohibitive to start all over. After all, we’ve already lost several thousand dollars due to getting Covid.

The flight to Las Vegas is over three hours. Tom needs to be able to sit up comfortably. If he cannot by Sunday, we’ll have no choice but to change our plans. Once again, we’re “playing it by ear.” We know how to do this. Tom feels confident that he’ll be able to do this by Sunday, four days from today.

As of today, he is better able to move about. The problem for both of us is that we’ve been sitting in bed since April 20, when we first tested positive. That’s three weeks ago, as of today. Today, I moved the luggage off the love seat in our hotel room, and I am no longer sitting on the bed until the evening when we watch a few shows on the TV.

The smart TV in our room has Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. By logging in to our accounts using the QR codes on the screen, we can watch both services. That is slick. Also, there is accessible Showtime, so we can busy ourselves in the evenings watching shows to alleviate the boredom.

Many have suggested we watch the popular show “Outlander.” We watched the first episode a few years ago and couldn’t get into it. We tried again a few days ago in desperation, and now we’re hooked. What a fascinating show! We’re finishing the first season tonight, and we’re thrilled there are many more seasons to keep us entertained while we continue to recover.

Hmmm…shades of India (10 months stuck in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai), as once again, we are stuck in a hotel room, three weeks in the making. But this time, we don’t feel well, and I have no energy to walk the corridors for five miles, 8 km, a day. The food is a little better here.

Last night, the WiFi was out for 6 hours. I ended up calling Marriott’s tech support to get it working again. I don’t recall ever having to contact tech support with WiFi issues in any other hotel than this one in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I don’t understand why the guest would have to call and not management or reception. This same thing happened when we first checked in on May 1 and again when we stayed here in July 2022.

It’s the only complaint we have about this hotel. Otherwise, it is pretty nice. After all, we have a fully equipped basic kitchen with a decent-sized refrigerator, range and oven, microwave, and a dishwasher.  These have prevented us from having to do takeaway every evening for dinner, and we’ve been able to put together a few easy meals with ingredients from the nearby market.

Also, the customer service at Towne Suites by Marriott, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is excellent. The cleanliness is exceptional, and the condition of the rooms is flawless and up to date. We will definitely stay here again, even knowing about the WiFi issues. Besides, the location is ideal, close to restaurants, shopping, and markets with easy access to the freeway.

Again, thanks to our fabulous readers for an endless stream of thoughtful email messages with good wishes for our recovery. You have no idea how much this has meant to us. If we missed responding to your messages, please bear with us. We are working on replies each day.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 11, 2021:

A mom or matriarch crossed the road in front of us while in Kruger National Park with a youngster. For more photos, please click here.

An outpouring of love from around the world…

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This has been the best test kit we’ve used. They retail for about $25 at most worldwide pharmacies. To perform the test, you download an app, Navica, to your phone and a live rep will walk you through the test to ensure it’s done correctly. DO NOT OPEN THE BOX PRIOR TO FACE-TIMING WITH THE REP OR THE KIT WILL BE INVALIDATED.

We cannot express our appreciation for the response and outpouring of love after the Garage Logic podcast last Friday and now continuing with well-wishes for Tom after his Covid pneumonia diagnosis described in yesterday’s post here.

We have been so fortunate to receive such positive feedback from our readers. There have been only a few occasions where a reader may send us the equivalent of “hater” emails about our travels and life events. Why read about our story or the stories of others if one finds the content objectionable in one way or another?

However, those scenarios are far and few between. Instead, as we enter one phase of our world travels to another, many loyal readers write to us expressing their concern and prayers for our well-being. At times, there are more email messages than we can respond to.  We try to respond to each one, but we sincerely apologize if we’ve missed you.

With little else to do, we’ve been able to stay on top of it. But, now, with Tom’s busy medication schedule, it may become more difficult. On the free family calendar app we both use, Cozi Calendar, which may be found here, today I entered ten events regarding Tom’s medication dosing schedule, starting at 8:00 am and ending at 10:00 pm.

I am so grateful that I am feeling so much better. My only symptoms now are a loose cough, an occasional headache, and a stuffy nose from time to time. My energy level has returned, and I no longer feel tired and lethargic. Hopefully, Tom will reach this state of improvement soon. We both continue to test negative.

Today, we have to go out to get food for dinner. The Cub Foods, less than a mile away, has some chicken wild rice soup Tom finds he can eat. Otherwise, he has had little interest in food. I’ll find something for my dinner in the market as well. I don’t feel like cooking in the small kitchen, but surely, I’ll find something easy to put together.

Our grandson Miles is still testing positive for Covid. Next Sunday, we are scheduled to leave Minneapolis only five days from today. We have no idea if we’ll be able to see any of our family members before we depart Minnesota or if we’ll be able to see our son Richard in Henderson, Nevada, where we will be for one more week until we leave for South Africa on May 22nd.

It will be good to be back in South Africa in two weeks. Our new house will be ready for us, which we know Louise will have “perfect,” awaiting our arrival. She’s insisted on grocery shopping for us. How much of a list we’ll make is based on how Tom feels in two weeks. If he’s well, we’ll only ask Louise to get enough groceries to last for a few days, longer if necessary. If he’s better, we can head to Komatipoort to grocery shop.

We’d like to have Dr. Theo check us both after this big ordeal with Covid. His office is down the road from the Spar Market, and we’ll schedule appointments to coincide with our shopping trip. It will be lovely to get back into our usual routine of wildlife watching, taking photos, cooking fabulous meals on the braai, and eventually, socializing.

We’re looking forward to feeling well enough to sit on the veranda, sipping on sundowners, and watching “visitors” stop by to see if pellets are on the happy hour menu. Most assuredly, they will be.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 10, 2021:

Seeing the porcupines on the trail cam gives us a strong incentive to continue to check out the garden at night. For more photos, please click here.

Late post…Tom had to go to Urgent Care…Not a good diagnosis…

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My guy, only a few days before Covid hit on the ship.

When we rent a car,  the rate doesn’t include the spouse or family member as permitted to drive the vehicle. Last year, we decided it wasn’t worth thousands of extra dollars a year to pay for me to be able to drive rental cars, so basically, I stopped driving. I can’t drive a stick shift vehicle with my left hand or drive safely on the opposite side of the road I was used to in the US.

Besides, I am a lousy driver. If there is an emergency, I can drive.  I will keep my driver’s license up to date when it’s often used for ID in our travels. If I were to drive the rental vehicle when I wasn’t included in the contract, the insurance would be negated. It’s not worth the risk. Thus, around the time of my 73rd birthday, I gave up driving.

In the US, with a car rental contract not including me, Tom, while sick, has had to drive us to Urgent Care. I felt so bad about this when he was “coughing up a lung.” On Sunday, we made the 10-minute drive to an Urgent Care facility, MedExpress, which we had used when visiting the US in 2017, and found the care and service good. But there was no x-ray tech on duty so we had to return today.

Well, a lot has changed since 2017. One doesn’t simply walk in the door of an Urgent Care with a mask on and meander over to the reception area to check in. Each prospective patient must do the following to be seen:

  1. Using one’s smartphone, scan the QR code on the notice on the front door
  2. Gain access to the clinic’s WiFi system to register for the appointment
  3. Complete about ten pages of questions
  4. Read all the HIPAA documents (patient privacy) and sign multiple documents in the box that appears on the phone.
  5. Submit the documents
  6. Wait for a phone call from the reception area, asking more questions. 10 to 15-minute wait
  7. Provide credit card number, expiration, and PIN for them to process the basic US $149.99 fee. Additional fees may apply.
  8. Hang up and wait for a call back to be allowed to enter the facility. 30 to 45-minute wait or longer if they are very busy
  9. Receive the call asking for detailed symptoms and the reason for the visit. Then, get informed to enter the building. Sit in “chairs” socially distanced while waiting to be escorted to a treatment room.
  10. Wait in the treatment room for 10 to 15-minutes for a medical professional to enter and examine the patient.

After all this and Tom’s detailed description of his symptoms, x-rays were ordered. Then, we waited for about 40 minutes for the x-rays to be read by a radiologist at another location. The PA came back into the treatment room to explain that Tom has Covid Pneumonia and would need a considerable treatment regime including six medications; two antibiotics, two different inhalers using the electric nebulizer we purchased in India in 2020, a cough medicine in a capsule form and cortisone tablets, not to be started until May 12, having given the antibiotics time to kick in.

Covid pneumonia appears as honeycombs in x-rays, a rare phenomenon of the many peculiar symptoms of the dreaded virus. He is supposed to return to the clinic for a check-up before leaving for Nevada next Sunday. Hopefully, he’ll be feeling better, and we’ll be able to fly out.

We were given a stack of papers with written instructions and Covid precautions, much of which we already knew. Of course, during the entire duration of Covid, I spent hours researching how and why Tom’s case manifested as Covid pneumonia. It happens to more people than you’d think, and the recovery can take weeks, if not months.

The PA called in the six prescriptions to the Walgreen Pharmacy across the street from the clinic. We checked out of the clinic after paying the extra US $50 for the x-ray. In moments, we were at the drive-through window at Walgreens, only to be told to return in an hour. The prescriptions weren’t ready.

We returned to the hotel, and Tom jumped under the covers for a 45-minute nap. He awoke in time for the hour to have passed, and once again, we headed back to Walgreens. It was at least a 45 minutes wait once I checked in with the pharmacist. I wanted to speak to the pharmacist personally to review the drugs, ensure we had everything prescribed, and ask a few questions.

The drive back to the hotel was hard for Tom with his constant coughing. Again, I begged him to let me drive, but he refused, knowing we didn’t need any added stress if something happened. We returned to the hotel to find the cleaners had yet to clean our room. We waited in the lobby for 30 minutes while the room was serviced.

Finally, we made it back to the room, and again Tom got under the covers. I went through each medication and gave him everything he needed, including his first breathing treatment, which required set-up and subsequent cleaning. The total cost for all of the meds was US $300.24. I set up reminders on my phone for each of the medications, ensuring we don’t miss a dose.

At that point, I took a huge plastic bowl to the building across the driveway to an ice machine on the second floor. The ice machine in this building hasn’t been working since we arrived eight days ago. I filled the ice cube trays with water, and between the big bowl of ice from the machine and the trays, that should get us through a day or two.

Then, the toilet overflowed. I don’t need to get into details, but you know how that happens. I then went to the front desk and got a plunger and extra towels. I wanted Tom to be able to sleep and not have to worry about maintenance coming to the door. In minutes, I unplugged the toilet, cleaned up the floor, returned the plunger, and bagged up the wet towels.

We had no idea, but our former next-door neighbor and friend, Nelleke, is the x-ray tech in the facility. We have stayed in touch, and she reads our posts regularly. It was wonderful to see her but sad under the circumstances. We hope to see her and Dave and our other old neighbors/friends when we return next time. We’ve all stayed in close touch.

So there it is folks. It hasn’t been fun since we disembarked the ship in Southampton, missed our next cruise on the Queen Mary 2, spent ten days in England trying to recover, and now over a week here with ongoing symptoms of Covid, Tom’s case has been much worse than mine. I feel pretty good except for an annoying cough now and then. Good thing I am well enough to help him get through this.

Sometimes, being nomads is not fun. But, if we had a home somewhere, we could still be in the same situation. Except under these circumstances, I don’t have to clean, vacuum the floor, take out the trash or mow the lawn. We can focus on getting well and soon be on our way.

Please continue to do everything you can to avoid getting Covid. For us, it’s been a lot worse than a “bad cold.”

Take care.

Photo from one year ago today, May 9, 2021:

This male must have been the dominant male. He came right up to the table to ask for more pellets. For more photos, please click here.

Fantastic interview at Garage Logic’s studio…

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Please click on the above video for a shortened version of our Garage Logic interview. See below for the full interview.

5/6 We finally get to meet the traveling Lymans, Tom and Jessica, who were so spellbinding that they became today's episode

Please click on the above bold type to access the audio version of our interview with Joe Soucheray of Garage Logic.

After a difficult night for both of us, coughing and sneezing, we wondered how we got ready to head to St. Paul to the KSTP studio for our interview with Joe Soucheray and his co-hosts Chris Reuvers and Kenny Olson.

The idea of the 30-minute drive in traffic was daunting in itself, let alone being able to sit in the studio and tell our story as questions were posed to us. Once, we were greeted in the lobby by co-host Chris, who walked us down a long hallway to the Garage Logic studio.

Once we entered the studio, we forgot about our lingering coughs, and magic happened. Joe is an exceptional interviewer, and his two co-hosts frequently jumped in with thouhgt provoking comments and questions. Our interview was planned for 15 minutes, and it ended up taking up the entire show. We had so much fun it could easily have gone longer.

We’d both taken 12-hour doses of cough medicine a few hours before the event, hoping we’d make it through. Tom did well, although listening to the podcast later, it was easy to determine he was very stuffed up. I had to hold back a coughing jag on one instance. Also, the sound of my voice was unfamiliar when later listening to the podcast.

Our answers flowed with ease, along with Tom interspersing tidbits of humor, which he often does in general conversation. We all laughed with gusto on many occasions.

Over the past 9½ years of traveling the world, we’ve easily developed a way of sharing morsels of our experiences where we each take turns adding highlights of our experiences. Joe, Chris, and Kenny easily made this familiar banter flow with all the more fluidity than ever.

We couldn’t stop smiling throughout the entire interview. Telling our story only reminds us of how fortunate we are to live this unique lifestyle, be together as this well-matched couple during these experiences, and have developed a financial plan that allows us to continue traveling indefinitely.

Sometimes, it takes a scenario like this to remind us how grateful we are, especially after suffering from Covid-19 since April 20, when we first tested positive aboard the transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Southampton, England. Due to our positive diagnosis, we had to cancel our scheduled Queen Mary 2 cruise, sailing on April 24, arriving in New York on May 1, when we’d planned to fly to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to see family.

Not only were we too sick to go on the return cruise, but we continued to test positive until April 28, 29, and 30th, when we felt safe booking the flight from Gatwick Airport in London to Minneapolis for May 1, our original date of arrival after the Queen Mary 2 cruise.

Unfortunately, we purchased dressy clothes for the upscale cruise, which we won’t be able to wear when until we can use the full-fare credit for a future cruise on Cunard. We’ve had to haul those clothes with us this past month.

We couldn’t get a refund based on canceling last minute due to Covid. Hopefully, by the end of 2024, when the future cruise credit expires, we can book another cruise with this cruise line and use the credit. If not, it becomes another loss we’ve incurred due to the worldwide pandemic. Our losses over the past two years are in the $1000s.

Once we said our goodbyes to our hosts and thanked them for inviting us to the show, we headed back to our hotel. In the interim, we had a fantastic break from our current situation to revel in being guests of the Garage Logic show/podcast. We felt temporarily rejuvenated, but the reality remained that we had a way to go to recover from this dreadful virus.

With their over 2,000,000 listeners, we’ve received countless email messages, warm greetings, and hits on our website after the podcast aired yesterday afternoon. Thank you, everyone!  What a boost for us!

Thanks to Joe, Chris, and Kenny for inviting us to this special experience, one we’ll never forget.

Photo from one year ago today, May 7, 2021:

We later named this young male bushbuck, Spikey. For more photos, please click here.

We haven’t seen family yet…Waiting for our coughing to improve…

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During Minneapois’s Winter Carnival, ice sculptures are made and on display by talented artists. It’s quite a sight to see.

It’s still cool here. Since we arrived on Sunday, it hasn’t topped 60F, 15.6C, but today may be the exception. We didn’t bring cold-weather clothing, other than lightweight jackets and hoodie sweatshirts for each of us. Usually, in May, the weather warms up in Minnesota. But the summers are short here, mainly from June to August when it starts cooling down.

The summer can be sweltering, and in case you haven’t heard, the joke is the mosquito is Minnesota’s state bird. They are worse here than they ever were in Africa. Fortunately, malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses are not as prevalent as they are in Africa.

Once it warms up, in our old lives, we always turned on our whole house, central air conditioning, generally keeping it on day and night until mid-August when it would cool down. The aircon kept the mozzies at bay since they don’t thrive in air conditioning. Also, the inflammation from the bites doesn’t last as long as they do in Africa.

When we return to South Africa in 18 days, the mozzies will be considerably less bothersome with winter starting on June 21. The temperature and humidity drop and the mozzies disappear, at least for a few months anyway. We particularly love winter in the bush with milder temps, fewer insects, and less of a presence of snakes. Snakes tend to stay undercover in cool weather.

But, like Minnesota’s short summers, South Africa has short winters, and only a few months later, all of the above-mentioned return with a fury…heat, humidity, insects, and snakes. Then again, these very aspects of life in the bush make it all the more unusual and interesting.

Am I sounding as if I’m missing it? Without being able to see family yet due to our ongoing symptoms, it’s easy for my mind to wander back to where we feel most at “home.” No, we never plan to live there permanently, but for now, with all the Covid-19 restrictions still impacting word travel for nomads like us, it’s the place where we can enjoy ourselves the most with our human and animal friends.

Since we don’t yet feel comfortable dining in a restaurant with all of our coughing, last night we headed to the Cub Foods market for a few items, such as laundry soap, bar soap, cough drops, and of course, Tom’s favorite plain old-fashioned cake doughnuts which he loves with his coffee in the morning.

I purchased a pint container of guacamole to add atop my chopped hard-boiled eggs from the hotel’s included breakfast, which is basically a continental breakfast. The hard-boiled eggs are the only item I can eat based on my diet. Tom goes to  breakfast early and brings the eggs back to me in our room, along with a very good cup of decaf coffee. It works for us.

After the stop at Cub Foods, we headed to Wendy’s, which Tom wanted, and again to Chipotle for me. Back at the hotel, we sat on the bed with our food on our laps with towels protecting the bed and watched an episode of Shark Tank. After eating, we watched, This is Us, and finally, another episode of the new miniseries on Amazon Prime, The Offer, which is about the making of the movie, The Godfather. Very entertaining.

At about 10:00 pm, I started watching “Out of Africa” on the TV, staying awake until after 11:30 when it ended. I’ve seen the movie no less than ten times but enjoy it on each occasion. No, it’s not authentic in many ways but still provides some thrills about Africa.

Years ago, I wrote a story about this movie in a post when we’d seen the movie again and discovered very little of the movie was filmed in Africa. Instead, it was made in a studio in Hollywood. We watched it, again at that particular time as a “movie in the bush” outdoors, amid the wildlife in Maroth Park in 2013. Here’s our story about that here.

That’s all for today, dear readers. It’s crazy being here and unable to see them. Hopefully, we’ll be improved enough to start seeing family members by tomorrow.

Be well.

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

Check out Torn Ear’s horns covered in mud. He may have been showing off his digging skills for the females during the rutting season. For more photos, please click here.

Test results…Covid is insidious…On the move in 24 hours…

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This was where I stood waiting for my dinner delivery. The hotel doesn’t allow drivers to enter the parking lot. I waited outside for 30 minutes in the cold when the driver was late.

I am sitting on the bed propped up with pillows. I’m showered and dressed, but I am somewhat surprised I got that far considering how I feel. Yesterday, we both tested negative, but the virus is not over for us by far.

By the way, the letter “L” on my keyboard isn’t working, and each time I type a word with an “L,” I have to bang the key as hard as possible. It has been a task these past many days since we tested positive, and our strength was severely impacted. I’ve tried using words that don’t contain an “L,” but thinking of those words is more of an effort than banging on the key. It’s having other issues as well. Once we get to the US, I will be getting a new aptop, (oops, laptop).

I purchased this HP Chromebook from Amazon India when we were in Udaipur, India in 2020, while on a private tour staying in a hotel. It arrived in one day, so I didn’t complain when everything wasn’t perfect, although it was supposedly new. I’ve been doing workarounds for the past two-plus years, and I am ready to start anew,

So, yesterday afternoon, the PCR tests were negative, although we both have many lingering symptoms, mainly weakness, a lack of energy, and a relentless cough. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed an irritation in my eyes which, as a contact lens wearer, can happen when the pollen count is high, which right now in London is at its highest.

My eyes have never been so red, swollen, and oozing. I took out my contacts, used Visine, and applied warm compresses throughout the evening, including every few hours during the night. I’ve been taking Benadryl, but I’d never experienced anything like this. At one point, I read that Covid can cause eye irritation, and it was impossible not to attribute it to that. This morning, it was a little better but still scary-looking. I look like a zombie. Hopefully, by tomorrow when we leave the UK, it will be better.

We made a plan to get out of here tomorrow. Today, we’ll take the final two PCR tests we have left to use for flying. The US requires negative tests to enter the country, regardless of where we are coming from. We chose an oddball airline, Iceland Air, to get us to Minnesota. It was the only airline that could get us there in the shortest time…11 hours and, at the best price we found of US $1470 for the two of us.

Tom did extensive research and found this flight which flies to Reykjavik, Iceland, where we’ll transfer to another flight heading to Minneapolis. Many flight options consisted of 30 to 40 hours of travel time, priced at US $4800 for two! This peculiar route saves us hours on layovers since Minnesota is so far north near Canada.

The only tricky part of this route will be when we reach Iceland, we’ll have to collect our bags and go through immigration and security to make the next flight 90 minutes later. This was a risky decision, but we preferred the risk of spending 30 to 40 hours getting to the US, considering our present condition.

If all goes as planned, we’ll arrive in Minneapolis by about 6:30 pm, get our rental car, and head to our hotel. We can’t wait until all of this is over, and we’re situated in the hotel with a kitchen where we can make breakfast and keep our ice tea cold. We won’t miss a night’s sleep, which was essential to us.

Since we’ve been in a hotel room the past ten days, with no fridge, we relied on hotel food and Deliveroo, which delivered peri-peri chicken and broccoli to me the past few nights, while Tom walked the short distance to a McDonald’s to get some things for himself. It will be great to have more options and be able to eat healthier meals.

We’ll be back with a post before we leave for the airport tomorrow and then, yeah, from our hotel in Minnesota on Monday.

Be well.

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

The previous night’s trail cam photos picked up this porcupine! We are so excited to see this! The prospect of getting this photo prompted us to purchase the trail cam. For more photos, please click here.

We’re off!!!…Sail day has arrived…The road trip to Fort Lauderdale begins…

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Celebrity Silhouette Itinerary, Current Position, Ship Review | CruiseMapper
Our ship, Celebrity Silhouette, which we’ll be boarding later today.

The two weeks in Florida passed in a blur of good times, good food, great weather, and gorgeous scenery with our thoughtful hosts, Karen and Rich, who were married in February. We were sad to miss their wedding due to Omicron, but they shared many details and photos, almost making us feel like we’d attended.

Their lovely home on the waterway, known as Flamingo Canal, was the perfect soothing and pleasant experience we were seeking before all the commotion begins for our next several weeks of cruising, visiting family, and then returning on the long and exhausting flight back to South Africa starting on May 22, arriving on May 23.

This trip is not like a typical vacation/holiday for us. It’s simply another leg in our continuing world travels, this time, once again, returning us to our favorite place in the world. But, don’t get me wrong…we’ll be on the move several times during our one-year booking of the new house we’re moving into upon our arrival.

One never knows what the future holds. At one point, we’ll be gone for about 45 days, and another time, for a few one-week trips for visa reasons. Also, we may add even more cruises to our itinerary as more cruise options are posted online.

We’re excited to board the ship this afternoon and then the next cruise on the Queen Mary 2. But we are also excited to see family members and then return to live in our newly remodeled house in Marloth Park.

Surely. Louise will have everything perfect awaiting us. We will give her a short grocery list so we won’t have to leave to grocery shop for a few days. (This morning I got a message from Louise that the lions were seen near our upcoming new house. How exciting!)

Once we unpack our bags and the boxes we left behind, we will settle in for a few months until we need to get a new 90-day visa stamp. We may travel or apply for an extension. We can decide on that in the months to come.

Funny thing. While I was preparing today’s post while still in Florida, the power went out during an electrical storm. They hadn’t lost power here for a long time, and it was only for 30 minutes. It was out for about two hours, and we were all happy to see it restored by 3:15 pm. Ironic, eh? Ironic, eh?

We stayed in for dinner, deciding against going out on a rainy day when most restaurants are outdoors. The remainder of the day and evening was lovely with Karen and Rich. We are sad to say goodbye, but we’ll see them again soon. They are planning to visit us in Marloth Park in August this year. How wonderful it will be to return the hospitality to our dear friends.

The next time you hear from us, it will be on Saturday, long after the ship set sail on Friday evening. We’ll have plenty of photos and stories to share about how the embarkation and check-in process worked during times of Covid with an outrageous number of precautions. It could prove to be very chaotic.

Thanks for staying with us, dear readers, through this waiting period. Your continued interest and support mean the world to both of us. We will be back with you soon.

Be well.

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

Zebra traffic on the main road in Kruger National Park. For more photos, please click here.

One day and counting…Packing day…Exciting windfall described at the end of today’s post!…

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    The new watch face on my Fitbit Sense. How appropriate is that? I didn’t walk much yesterday when I took this photo, and we were too busy with other tasks.

Yesterday, after we returned from picking up Tom’s suit and a few items for me at Target, I began to pack. Much to my delight, the four fancy dresses I’d purchased on Amazon, sight unseen, fit me well. The wrinkle-proof dresses fit into my small carry-on Samsonite bag and my camera and costume jewelry.

Although I purchased quite a few new items, including four pairs of jeans, I managed to fit everything else into my one large bag. The only issue will be the weight, which we’ll figure out at the end of the second cruise when we fly from New York to Minneapolis on May 1. As always, it will all work out.

At least I’ll be returning to Marloth Park with enough clothes, underwear, and shoes to get me through the following year in South Africa and for any side trips that we’ll need to make in the process for visa stamps. Mostly, I purchased comfy easy-wash-and-wear tee shirts, a few pairs of versatile black pants, and a few dressier tops for special nights out, such as for my 75th birthday party at Jabula, a mere ten months from now.

I purchased one pair of Skechers walking shoes and will buy one more pair when we get to Minneapolis, where there’s no tax on clothes and shoes, which will save 7.5% plus a 20% coupon I got online. I didn’t need to bring another pair of shoes on the two cruises when right now I have one black sandal, one tan sandal, one silvery flat shoe, one pair of walking shoes, and two pairs of Keds leather slip-on for a total of six pairs of shoes, the most I’ve had in over eight years. How exciting!

I still don’t have an official handbag, but Tom will carry my lipstick in his pockets on the cruises. Instead of handbags, I usually travel with one large South African cloth bag, which holds more than any handbag. I purchased these at the shop at the Mugg and Bean at Lower Sabie in Kruger National Park. I am now using my second bag. Before we left, I machine washed my first of the two fully lined bags, which came out brand new after air drying. I left it behind and am currently using the newer second bag.

However, carrying a big cloth bag from South Africa is unsuitable for nights out on a cruise, especially when wearing dressy clothes. Tom always says he’s my “pack mule.”  As for Tom, other than the suit, shirts, two ties, a pocket scarf, and a pair of black Cole Haan shoes, he didn’t need a thing. His casual button-down shirts for dinners on the cruise and dining out in Marloth Park are in perfect condition. He rotates about a dozen of the quality wash-and-wear shirts and an equal number of tee shirts.

Today is about getting organized and wrapping up our packing. Last night we had delicious homemade pizza left from the prior night’s dinner. The past three nights, I wore a long-sleeved shirt and compression stockings when we sat outside on the veranda by the edge of the pool having sundowners, and I only got one bite. That was excellent, resulting in a good night’s sleep.

Yesterday, I was also working on getting my Fitbit Sense to pair with the Bluetooth on my new phone. It wouldn’t pair after numerous attempts and workarounds. Finally, I had to do a factory reset on the Fitbit, and now I’m waiting to see if it worked as the software was reinstalled. There are always a few issues with a new phone, aren’t there?

OK, the Fitbit is now working and paired with my new phone’s Bluetooth with my new watch face. Check out the above main photo!

As for the windfall, as mentioned earlier…wait until you hear this! On Tuesday, when Tom was re-checking current cruise pricing on our remaining booked cruises, he discovered a huge price drop on our 42 night three back-to-back cruises from Athens to Cape Town.

There was a price drop on the final leg of over US $3100!!! Immediately, he contacted Costco Travel, and we were given the new price drop, saving us this considerable sum of money. We couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised. What an exciting discovery that wouldn’t have been possible without Tom’s diligence!

We’ll be back tomorrow with a short post before we embark on the four-hour drive to the port in Fort Lauderdale to the ship after Tom drops off the rental car at the nearby airport.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 7, 2021:

This lovely giraffe on the side of the road stood at attention. For more photos, please click here.

Two days and counting…A busy day preparing for departure…A great new recipe!…

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Tom’s photos of this morning’s sunrise from the veranda of our bedroom at Karen and Rich’s home in Florida.

Note: The issue with the automatic email posts arriving in your inbox continues. It began once we arrived in the U.S., almost two weeks ago. That should not have caused the problem. Our web people in India are still trying to figure it out. Until they do, I will send the posts manually with a few clicks in the back admin area. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Good morning, everyone! In only two days, we’re off to Fort Lauderdale to board our cruise, Celebrity Silhouette, for the transatlantic crossing. Of course, we are very excited to be out to sea once again after a 29-month hiatus, all due to the pandemic.

What a lovely way to start the day!

I am in a bit of a rush this morning since we need to be out the door this morning in a little over an hour. Tom took today’s sunrise photos from the veranda off our bedroom this morning, making the photo portion of today’s post easy. I should mention that yesterday’s sunset photos were all taken by Karen. We’ve all been so busy yakking at sunset we’ve hardly noticed to take photos. It’s been quite fun being here with Karen and Rich.

Last night we all had homemade pizza using a new crust recipe Karen found made with ground chicken, although the recipe below suggests shredded chicken. It seems ground chicken is easier to use. It was delicious. We used our favorite toppings, not those listed in the recipe. See here for details.

We made enough pizza to last two nights, so tonight we can have it again after Tom, and I have been out most of the day wrapping up items we need for the cruises and getting our Covid tests this morning at CVS Pharmacy. My appointment is coming up in 40 minutes, so we need to be on the move shortly.

Another photo of the beautiful sunrise.

Also, today, we’re picking up Tom’s suit, making a trip to Target and Skechers for another pair of their comfy walking shoes. I purchased one pair so far but will need another to last me through the year we’ll spend in Africa. I am purchasing many items I can’t find there. It all adds to our luggage weight which will only be an issue when we fly from New York to Minneapolis and then to Las Vegas beginning on May 1st.

We will have to pay for additional bags since those two flights are domestic. But once we head back to South Africa, we won’t have to pay for added bags since we are each allowed two -23 kg (50-pound bags) due to international flights.

Tom just came downstairs after showering. We need to hurry at this point. Back at you soon! Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, April 6, 2021:

I.B. (Itchy Butt) is lying in the wet, muddy cement pond, attempting to ease the itching on his butt. For more photos, please click here.

Three days and counting…Wrapping it up here…Busy days…Sunsets to savor…

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Not a lot has to be said about a beautiful sunset. It speaks for itself.

There have been more tasks for the upcoming two cruises than we listed earlier. They include:

  1. Applying for a visa for both of us for Bermuda, the first port of call in our itinerary which is required to board the ship, which we weren’t aware of until a few days ago: DONE
  2. Get Covid tests – scheduled for tomorrow morning
  3. Enter negative Covid test results into the Bermuda website to complete the visa process
  4. Applying for an additional $100 cabin credit for the Queen Mary 2 since we own stock in the parent cruise company, Carnival, which offers this credit for stockholders: DONE
  5. Complete health questionnaires for both cruises a few days before sailing
  6. Pick up Tom’s suit, stop at Target and Skechers store in Brandon, Florida
  7. Contact Costco about a considerable price reduction on Azamara’s website for our upcoming cruise in November. Tom is on hold now to see if the credit will be applied.

Our friend Karen made quite an observation over the past several days. She said, “Traveling the world is a lot of work! You two are busy all the time!”

This observation has dawned on us repeatedly throughout the past 9½ years. We are always busy planning, booking, filing documents, scanning, and preparing forms, applications, documents, and more to stay on top of our tasks. No doubt, it’s a daunting task. Whoever thought that traveling the world was one big holiday was kidding themselves. This is work.

Couple those tasks with the blog each day. Is it any wonder we need downtime to get through it all? On Friday, we’ll see passengers at the port cruise check-in, figuring out how to do all the paperwork and prep work they failed to do in advance. Surely, this will slow the check-in process to a snail’s pace. Hopefully, they will allow those of us who were well-prepared to move on through and board the ship.

The process will be slowed down even further with all the new Covid restrictions and protocol. It will be interesting to see what transpires at check-in for both upcoming cruises. Before the pandemic, the process was often cumbersome and time-consuming. I can only imagine what it will be like now. Of course, we’ll be sharing these details as they occur for our interested readers.

We’ll do our last load of laundry on Thursday, pack our bags and do my nails, and touch up my polish from my last pedicure. I’ll fill my pill case with my three little prescription pills and various vitamin supplements today. Tonight, Karen and I are making homemade pizza, two different types for each couple.

This morning, Tom and I headed to the grocery store for ingredients to make the pizzas. It’s so enjoyable to shop in the grocery stores in the US. There is every possible ingredient you can imagine, many of which we cannot buy in South Africa. Of course, I wish I could bring back some items with us, but with our new clothes and shoes, we won’t have any room to spare or weight allowance.

A few nights ago, the four of us sat outside poolside until after dark. I noticed I was itchy when we went indoors to eat dinner. It turned out, typical close to the sea, I was attacked by no-see-ums, resulting in hundreds of bites through my clothes. I had used repellent, but it has little effect on these pesky creatures as described here:

“Ceratopogonidae is a family of flies commonly known as no-see-ums or biting midges, generally 1–3 mm long. The family includes more than 5,000 species, distributed worldwide, apart from the Antarctic and the Arctic.”

We’ve lived in many seaside or desert locations during our world travels. Only in Belize, Morocco, and now, here in Florida, have they bothered me. And bother me, they did. I was awake all night long, itching, trying various creams I had on hand, and basically, being miserable and unable to sleep.

I am allergic to dust mites and no-see-ums, which is quite common for those with allergies. In an attempt not to be a “party pooper,” last night, I put on my compression socks, jeans, and a long-sleeve, tightly fitting tee shirt. I generously applied repellent on any exposed skin, my hands, face, and neck. Fortunately, that worked, and I never was bitten again. The old bites are still itching, but that should improve in a few days.

Well, at least we know now that if we ever thought of eventually settling down in Florida, that won’t work for me. No, we’re not thinking of “settling down.” We’re just getting ramped up again after this darned pandemic.

Tomorrow, I will prepare a short post in the early morning since we plan to be out most of the day wrapping up some of these last-minute details and completing the above as indicated by no later than Friday.

Be well.

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

Notice the puffed-up cheek on this giraffe. They eat vegetation and store it in their cheeks for short periods. For more photos, please click here.