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

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

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

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

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

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

The JW Marriott in Quito, Ecuador.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be well.

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

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

Could a full-time resident in The Villages function with only a golf cart to save on expenses?…

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This morning’s purchase of fuel for the golf cart that came with our rental. We had topped off the gas tank a week ago and drove around quite a bit this week.

We’ve been in The Villages long enough now that we have a relatively clear perspective of some of the living costs in this retirement community. No, those only receiving basic social security without having sold a home with sufficient funds to purchase another home here make The Villages a financial impossibility.

But, if one has sold a home and uses the bulk of those proceeds to purchase their home in The Villages (average sale price of $350,000), the result may avoid the necessity of a mortgage, making living here more affordable. I found this excellent website listing the estimate of some of the various expenses required to live here.

This website lists each possible additional expense over and above property taxes, amenity fees, homeowner’s insurance, utilities, and maintenance fees.

But, for today’s purposes, since the website so clearly defines potential expenses, we’re delving into transportation expenses which can be high if one has a car payment, car insurance, fuel, and maintenance costs. Then, most residents in The Villages own a golf cart that includes the purchase price, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.

As we were leaving Colony Plaza this morning after a few errands and breakfast at Bob Evans. It was a pleasant trip out and about.

The combined transportation expenses can total $1000 a month or more, which also could prevent fixed-income seniors from living here. We have fun playing around with these numbers, although we do not intend to reside here now or soon permanently.

But, we promised our readers, we’d do our best to report our perspectives on some of the features of living here, as far as we can determine, in this short period we are here, a mere three months. Of course, longer-term residents would be more qualified to report these expenses after living here for years, not months.

Our only true perspective has been over transportation after we’ve been “tooling around” in a golf cart for the past almost six weeks. We ask ourselves, “If a person/couple lived here could they get by with just a golf cart to keep expenses down and use an Uber or other service for longer trips outside The Villages?”

Driving past one of many golf courses in The Villages as described here:”There are 12 immaculately kept championship golf courses, 38 executive courses, and four practice facilities in The Villages. Lifetime country club memberships to the championship courses are included for Village residents, and walking the executive courses is free!”

Yes, it is possible, with some limitations. Already we experience the disappointment of it not making sense for us to travel, let’s say, to Spanish Springs Town Square. It’s a 40-minute golf cart ride each way which, for most people, is too far. Sure, at some point, we’ll probably attempt it. Instead, we’re reserving visits to Spanish Springs for times when we have houseguests with a car and can drive there in their car.

However, trips to Brownwood Paddock Square are quick and easy, and we can drive there in about 12 minutes in the golf cart. Tonight, we’ll be heading there again for the second time this week. Thus, residents could easily shop, dine out, play golf and participate in countless activities using only a golf cart.

The cost of a used golf cart can be as low as $2000 or as high as $20,000, depending on how they are customized to suit the purchaser’s desires. Some companies here provide yearly maintenance and service fees for golf carts, done right in one’s driveway. Of course, there are added costs for insurance and fuel for golf carts.

There are countless lakes and ponds on the golf courses in The Villages.

We took today’s main photo this morning at the Walmart fuel station in Colony Plaza, illustrating the low cost of running a golf cart. In the past week, after several trips out, we used less than a gallon of gas for $2.23. That amazed us. Imagine how much one could save only by driving a golf cart or driving it most of the time.

However, if we lived here, we’d pay cash for an older car in excellent condition and only use it for longer trips for needs outside of The Villages and for trips to such places as Spanish Springs, which can be reached by car in 22 minutes, (8½ miles). This is certainly no more time than it takes most people to go to dinner.

The website listed here is undoubtedly more detailed on possible expenses in The Villages, providing what appears to be a clear perspective based on long-term experience, as opposed to our little glimpse during these past few weeks.

Most roads accessible by golf carts have a clearly defined lane. However, there are a few main roads that allow golf carts when there isn’t a specific lane designated for golf carts.

Thank you for going along with us on this part of our journey. Time is moving quickly, and we’ll be on our way before we know it.

We’ll share a glitch we encountered in the passport renewal process tomorrow. For now, we’re signing off.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, June 9, 2013:

No photos were posted on this day as the ship made its way to Mykonos, Greece, one of our favorite ports of call. For the text on that date, please click here.

Part 1…Photos and info about our temporary home in The Villages, Florida….

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At certain points along the golf cart path in The Villages, the scenery was lovely.

The house photos will begin tomorrow, but today we’re sharing photos from our first drive using the golf cart that came with the house to the closest shopping area in our Fernandina neighborhood of The Villages. It was pretty fun.

I am a little tentative right now after the Afib bout on the plane, but since we arrived, all is well. My heart rate and blood pressure are normal, with no issues whatsoever. Hopefully, it was a fluke. It may have been too soon to travel on a plane so close to the time I was released from the hospital, only four days earlier. The cardiologist gave me the OK to travel. My fingers are crossed that was the case. I have no interest in going to more doctors and having more pointless tests.

The golf cart paths are easy to navigate.

We had never used a golf cart except in Belize in 2013 when rental cars were outrageously priced. We rented a golf cart to get around when we discovered the first holiday home we rented was infested with insects and had running water only a few hours a day. We used the golf cart to drive to other properties until we eventually found the excellent property where we stayed for our remaining time in the country.

If you’re interested in reading that story about Belize, please see our archives for the first few days of February 2013. It was quite a strange experience when we first started out, but it ultimately resulted in a wonderful experience when we settled into the lovely Laru Beya property in Placencia, Belize.

Zoom in to see the golf cart traffic jam.

We only used the golf cart for a few days at that time. While here at The Villages, the golf cart will be our only means of transportation for almost three months. At first, before we got it going, we were hesitant that this form of transportation would be sufficient for us. But, after yesterday’s first outing, we feel okay about it and will do well getting around. It just takes a little longer than driving a car.

As it turned out, I downloaded a free app, The Villages, which provides easy directions to all locations. What was most important to us was the golf cart paths permitted for driving to any site. This app made it very easy for us to find our way to the restaurant where we had breakfast yesterday and found a Publix grocery store across the road.

The only problem with this particular Yamaha brand of golf cart which is in excellent condition is there is little room for groceries for the ride back to our place. This limits the number of groceries we can purchase at any given time. Now, we understand why so many residents use InstaCart and order groceries online. We may decide to do the same since I prefer to pick out our food. mainly meat and produce.

We inched closer to the row of golf carts and were moving along only a few minutes later.

Today, I am posting photos from our first drive with the golf cart, and tomorrow and for the next few days will add photos I took this morning of the interior and exterior of this lovely three-bedroom home. We love this property since it is in perfect condition, has central air, and is more equipped with supplies and “stuff” than any holiday home we’ve rented in the past.

Tomorrow, we’ll share photos of various storage areas in the house so you can see how thorough this owner is. Wow! It’s mind-boggling, and she told us we don’t have to replace anything we use while we’re here. Sure, we may run out of paper products and laundry soap, but we won’t have to purchase cleaning supplies and many toiletries she’s provided.

Tom had his eyes on the road while driving the golf cart.

We love sharing extraordinary holiday/vacation homes with our readers. We couldn’t be more thrilled with this property. If you are interested in renting this property in the future, you can find the listing here on VRBO.

Last night, Tom was still full from his huge breakfast at Bob Evans Farmhouse, while I had a small breakfast with an omelet. We purchased a whole-cooked chicken at the market and ate the dark meat with a salad last night. Tonight, we’re having soft-shelled tacos stuffed with leftover chicken for me and ground taco meat I’ll make for Tom. We’ll be using keto cheese taco shells we found at the market. They are only one carb each, so seeing how good they are will be interesting. I’d read about these taco shells but couldn’t find them in South Africa.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 2, 2013:

Sagrada Familia…Why is the Sagrada Familia so famous? Image result for Sagrada Familia La Sagrada Familia is a building that Gaudí masterfully designed. Despite not being finished, UNESCO made it a World Heritage Site in 1984 because of its unique architecture and how Gaudí created something so artistic and innovative. For more photos, please click here.

We made it to Florida, after a frightening experience on the long red-eye flight…

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The lovely dining room is set in our beautiful new home in The Villages, Florida. More photos will follow tomorrow.

We are so grateful to have safely arrived in Florida after a terrifying event occurred on the 17-hour flight from Joburg to Atlanta. We’d had dinner at the airport restaurant, but the food was mediocre. I only had a grilled chicken salad and a pot of chamomile tea since I hadn’t had any wine since the heart event over a week ago.

Finally, after the five-hour layover, it was time to board the plane, and we were anxious to get to our seats and relax. We hadn’t booked our seats together. We booked a seat with two other empty seats beside us, which worked out for me but not for Tom, who was two rows directly behind me. Someone else had booked one of the three seats where Tom was situated,  and he wasn’t ever able to lie down, although I was.

The flight took off about 20 minutes late, but the huge plane finally took off smoothly without incident. I was thrilled to have two empty seats next to me so that when I was tired enough, I could lie down on the three seats with the blankets and pillows provided for all three seats.

About half an hour into the flight, I noticed my pulse suddenly increased. It started at about 100 bpm and, within a short period, it had escalated to 160. OMG, I was terrified. I was afraid to have Tom get the blood pressure cuff out of the bag in my carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. My pulse alone was high enough to convince me that my blood pressure was equally high, and seeing it would only create more anxiety, possibly making it worse.

As stressful as the concept of this long journey was only three days after getting out of ICU in hospital, I felt very calm and at ease about traveling. Sure, I’d considered that something could occur on the plane, but I wasn’t stressing about it by any means. I knew it was afib and not an anxiety attack which I don’t experience.

As the event escalated, I imagined how awful it would be if I told the flight attendant I was having a heart-related crisis and the plane had to turn back. Oh, good grief, that would not be very good. Besides, even after deep breathing and working for hours to stay calm as my heart rate soared, I knew this was no panic attack.

There was nothing I could do but wait it out. I told Tom what was happening, and he checked on me often, worrying about what we’d do if this continued through the 17-hour flight. After the sixth hour, my pulse began to drop for short periods and eventually returned to normal. What an ordeal. No words can express how relieved I was when it settled down to a steady 65 beats per minute. at that point, I was exhausted and hadn’t slept a wink.

After my pulse returned to normal, I was grateful and watched a few movies, dozing off and on. Back in normal sinus rhythm, I was able to stretch out on three seats and sleep for a few hours. Almost 17 hours after the flight began, we landed in Atlanta for the five-hour layover until the next flight.

Much to my surprise, the time passed quickly, and we boarded the last flight from Atlanta to Orlando. I slept during the entire flight, sitting straight up, sandwiched in a center seat between two burly male passengers. I awoke moments before the flight ended, and we rushed to make our way to baggage in hopes of collecting our bags in time for our 6:00 pm pre-arrange shuttle to The Villages.

Although this particular flight was over 30 minutes late, we managed to make it to the shuttle in time for our 6:00 pm ride to The Villages. By 8:30 pm, in the dark, we exited the shuttle just in time to see the SpaceX shuttle launch from Cape Kennedy in the night sky. That was exciting.

Now, we’re situated in this gorgeous place, well-equipped with everything we could possibly need. In tomorrow’s post, we’ll share details of our new temporary home in this fantastic retirement community of The Villages.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 1, 2012:

This was the type of knife in our bin when we went through security in Barcelona, which was not our knife. A terrifying situation ensued. For details, please read here.

Final Kruger photos…

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It isn’t easy to fully appreciate the tiny size of this baby elephant in this photo. It was so sweet to see this little one.

On this date, one year ago, Covid-19 (Omicron) was detected on the cruise during the transatlantic crossing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Southampton, England. Five days later, we tested positive, along with many other passengers. We were extra careful upon hearing about the outbreak, but we still interacted with other guests during meals and at the bars at night. We weren’t careful enough.

It’s only been in the past two weeks, almost a full year later, that finally, I am free of most of the symptoms of long-haul Covid. I can confidently say that after a 10-day course of Prednisone, my headache and facial pain are gone, gone, gone. I’m still suffering from allergy symptoms, but mainly, I believe these started when I got Covid and haven’t gone away during this high allergy time in the bush.

Wildebeest family.

Dust, dust mites, pollen, and grasses are the allergens that impact me the most after being tested over 40 years ago. I was on a seven-year regime of weekly immunological injections, but I believe that after all this time, the efficacy has worn off. At this point, leaving two weeks from today, I expect the allergy symptoms to diminish in short order once we leave the bush.

Doc Theo put me on a few new allergy meds that are keeping me from being miserable after the Prednisone wore off, which I’ll continue to take once we arrive in Florida, hoping I can eventually wean myself off of them. But Florida is also a hotbed of allergens, so we’ll see how it goes. At least, I’ll be well-armed with the few meds that I know help to some degree.

This time, leaving Marloth Park isn’t as hard as it’s been in the past, except for leaving our wonderful friends and, of course, our animal friends, mainly Norman, and family. Nina and Natalie have visited daily during the school holidays, but Nomran stayed away for one whole week, only returning at least five times yesterday. I can only imagine what he’d been eating.

A lone elephant was grazing in the grass..

Norman’s belly looked full. He’d been eating well…not necessarily healthfully, but certainly in volume. We knew he wasn’t hiding away during the commotion made by holidaymakers when almost every day, we saw photos of him on Facebook posted by tourists rather than locals whose names we would recognize and who often post animal photos on Marloth Park Sighting Page.

Norman and family are the only nyalas in Marloth Park, including their son Noah, who was forced to find a new territory of his own when Natalie was born five or six months ago. When visitors see them, they often take photos and post them on Facebook. So, Norman stayed away for seven days, but at least we felt comfortable that the lions hadn’t gotten to him when we saw the photos online.

A lone zebra in the savannah.

When he showed up yesterday, I was beside myself with joy. Nina and Natalie were with him, and we fed them lots of pellets and healthy produce. I stayed busy off and on during the day, cutting up carrots and apples and tossing them to him and the girls as they patiently waited in the garden. If a nyala can look happy, Norman did, staring into my eyes, paying more attention to me than the food.

You may scoff at this assessment, but connecting with these animals here is not much different from connecting with your dog. In a short time, they learn the name we’ve given them and the sounds of our voices, even keywords that mean something special to them, such as food offerings and affection. No, we never touch him or the other animals.

The beautiful scene at Verhami Dam.

Norman’s massive horns could eviscerate a human in seconds, as could any male bushbuck, kudu, male or female wildebeest, or other horned animals in the wild. A warthog’s tusks are razor-sharp; these and other animals could easily kill a human if provoked or even startled. We proceed with caution and respect for the fact that they are truly wild.

Many criticize the animals here for having an easy life in Marloth Park, with plenty of vegetation and humans feeding them pellets. But, there are numerous leopards and currently eight lions in Marloth Park. Carcasses are often found as remnants of a meal of a big cat kill.  All the wildlife has to stay diligent in preventing being taken out. There are warning calls when such predators have been spotted, and we’ve heard those sounds from time to time.

Our last trip over the Crocodile Bridge as we exited Kruger National Park in the next 14 months.

We continue to hear from more and more residents of The Villages who’d like to get together, many of whom have been reading our site for years. One couple is from the town where we lived in Minnesota almost 11 years ago. Wow! This is exciting. Rita and Gerhard are connecting us with some old friends who live there. Please keep the messages coming from people who’ve found us through our site or other friends.

Tonight, we’re off to Jabula again for what surely will be another fun night like last night and others before that. We’re never disappointed, not in the people, not in the staff, and not in the fantastic food.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 15, 2022:

Finally, the ship’s chef got my dinner right with this delicious seafood dish. For more photos, please click here.

We’re all set to go except for packing…Posting plans for 90 days The Villages in Florida…

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Mom and son, Jasmine and Johnny.

This morning, filling my 28-day pill case with my three prescription meds and vitamins, I started organizing and assessing how many tablets I’ll need to last while we’re gone for 14 months. I still have a little remaining inventory, and when Doc Theo writes me a one-year prescription for the others, I’ll be good to go until we return in mid-June 2024.

I disposed of a massive batch of useless packaging materials and reduced the amount to bring with us, which I’ll do again when I get the years’ worth next week. As for the supplements I take, I will buy those in Florida, most likely from Costco or Amazon. There’s no point in paying to haul those with us.

Each day, I plan to go through a cupboard or drawer to thin out what we’ll need to bring, what we can toss, and those items we’ll leave behind in the black plastic bins in the storage room. Again, there’s no point in paying to bring all the spices and condiments we’ve accumulated in the past 11 months in this house.

This is Jasmine, Johnny’s mom.

We’re trying to use up as much food as possible and won’t be grocery shopping again unless we need a few items for our meals, such as bacon, eggs, and salad ingredients. We’re working our way through all the meat in the freezer.

On top of that, we have lots of wine left from my birthday party, but each time we have sundowners, I have one small glass of regular wine (not light) and perhaps have a second glass of low-alcohol wine with 75% less alcohol than traditional wine. We’ll store the rest of the unopened bottles for our return, along with some items Tom drinks. All of that will stay fresh without a problem.

Also, we’re both leaving some clothing behind. When we return, it will be winter, and we’ll need some warm clothing. However, we’ll need warm clothing for the upcoming cruises to Norway, Greenland, and Iceland, where it will be cool even during the summer months. Also, it could begin to be cool when we arrive in Boston and Minnesota in September.

Johnny was on the other side of the garden while his mom was visiting. He seems to like it better on that side.

One thing I am looking forward to while living in Florida is easy-to-access products we use for cooking and general items one may pick up at a Costco or Target store. Plus, we’ll be able to place orders from Amazon and receive orders while staying at The Villages.

Speaking of The Villages, as mentioned in yesterday’s post and today’s heading, we look forward to sharing the details of what life will be like while living in one of the most popular and desired retirement communities in the United States. We’ll share photos, pricing, and information about many of the venues we’ll experience at our leisure, including dining out, shopping, and entertainment.

Perhaps our expectations are too high for meeting people. We plan to partake in as many activities as possible to improve the odds of making new friends. Plus, we expect some of our readers to live there, and we’re hoping those who do will contact us for dinner or a drink out at our location. How fun that will be! Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you are there and when we can meet.

Jasmine and Gordy seem to get along quite well. Could he be Johnny’s dad?

Even if you live outside The Villages and if it’s convenient, perhaps you could visit us for sundowners on the veranda at our new place. We also have a lot of old friends who live in central Florida, and we hope to get together with some of you while we’re there if it works out for them.

Of course, we plan to see friends Karen and Rich at some point. Karen’s mom Donna lives nearby, so surely we’ll see each other when they get together. Many of our “snow bird” friends will have left Florida for the summer months, and we won’t be able to visit with them. But we’ll see how it goes. Some may stay through May. We’ll be leaving at the end of July.

Once we arrive, we’ll be busy getting our passport applications mailed to the US State Department. We’ve already completed the forms, so all we have to do is send them to the appropriate address. Once we get one good night’s sleep, this will be on our agenda.

This morning, after an excellent breakfast and a few tasks completed, including booking transport from the Orlando International Airport to our holiday home for US $33, ZAR 600 per person, we went for our walk, which we’ll continue until we leave and pick up again, once we arrive and get a night’s sleep in Florida. It feels good to be walking again, but it may take a while to build my stamina after being relatively inactive this past year.

The weather has begun to cool considerably. No longer are we plagued with zillions of insects and courageously high humidity. This could change in a day. After all, TIA and one never knows.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 6, 2022:

Tom’s photos of this morning’s sunrise from the veranda of our bedroom at Karen and Rich’s home in Florida. For more photos, please click here.

Yesterday’s fantastic visit with a dear old friend…Quiet afternoon and early evening in the hotel while Tom was out…

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This photo was taken on December 6, 2013, from Marloth Park. See the link here. The bright glare of the setting sun impeded our photo-taking of these elephants across the river. But, we were thrilled to get these. Soon, we’ll see elephants up close when we enter Kruger Park.

When Tom was meeting with his son TJ at a restaurant about 15 minutes away, I decided to see if I could change my planned visit to my dear friend Chere’s home in Eden Prairie. As much as we treasure time with friends, we have prioritized time with our children and grandchildren over all else.

Based on the time he and TJ were getting together, it didn’t leave time for him to pick me up when he’d be done. Nor did I want him to have to rush his time with his son to come to get me at Chere’s home. When I called and explained the situation to Chere, her husband Gary agreed to drop her off at our hotel. Chere recently had knee replacement surgery and hasn’t been cleared to drive.

By 1:30, she walked in the door, albeit a little shaky on her new knee, and we hugged as close girlfriends do. Instead of coming to our messy room with all of our recent purchases piled up, we sat in the lovely hotel lobby at a table with comfortable chairs and sipped on hot tea, and caught up.

It wasn’t as if we had much catching up to do when we’d last got together during our US visit in 2019 (but not when we were here, sick with Omicron last May). We’ve stayed in close touch over the years via text and email and knew what was going on with one another. Plus, Chere regularly reads our posts which easily fills in the blanks of what we’ve been up to.

Chere is a highly educated nutritionist and holistic dietician who has appeared on many local and national TV news stations over the years, as well as speaking as a keynote speaker at countless conventions on health, nutrition, and wellness, often sponsored by large corporations. It was as if we’d never been apart. I wanted more details about her life over the past few years.

There’s something magical about the skies over Africa from what we’ve seen so far in Kenya and now in South Africa, also from this date, nine years ago.

This passion we share for health, fitness, diet, and food brought us together years ago and remained a favorite topic as we share more intimate details of our lives, as girlfriends often do. It was delightful catching up with her. The almost three hours we spent together passed way too quickly.

Her husband Gary arrived to pick her up a few hours later but only after sitting with us for a while for more lively conversation. By the time they walked out the door after warm hugs and goodbyes, it was 4:30, and Tom had yet to return. But my delightful afternoon wasn’t over yet.

The lovely guest services representative, Kelly, at the hotel front desk, poured me a glass of Pinot Grigio, and another great conversation ensued, only occasionally interrupted when a hotel guest needed attention. Again, the discussion was lively and entertaining, and time flew by. Suddenly, it was close to 6:00 pm, and I headed back to our room. I was getting hungry and opened the meat and cheese tray in the little refrigerator for such an occasion.

A short time later, Tom returned, smiling over his enjoyable time with his son, and we decided to forego dinner. I’d eaten enough meat, cheese, and olives to hold me, and Tom said he had two generous portions of popcorn at the bar and wasn’t hungry. Also, we knew we could head to the included breakfast at this excellent hotel at 6:30 am, and we could easily wait for that.

Speaking of this hotel, Hyatt Place in Eden Prairie, we’ve decided to stay here each time we return to Minnesota. The only inconvenience is the lack of washers and dryers at the property. But everything else is superior to the other hotels where we’ve stayed in this central location. Their breakfast is good, the coffee is excellent, and the service is over-the-top.

The hotel had recently been remodeled and is attractive and modern, whereby the other hotels where we’ve stayed in this area in the past are somewhat dated. This seems to be a popular hotel for business people, with efficiency and competitive pricing the norm, typically at $118 a night, a real bargain for this suburban area. When we return in September, we will certainly stay here again.

Today is a quiet day. No family members were available to get together, so we will head to TJ Maxx to buy a suitcase for everything we purchased. We will also stop at the local CVS pharmacy for more of the sinus treatment product I’ve been using that I’d purchased at the pharmacy in Komatipoort. I hope they have something similar here since I’ll be running out by the time we depart. I don’t want to worry about heading to Komatipoort the day we return.

Otherwise, all is well. We’ll be dining out with Greg’s family tomorrow night on our final evening in Minnesota. We’ll head out for dinner since the cost of takeaway is as costly as dining in at some restaurants we like. We begin the long trek back to South Africa and Marloth Park on Thursday.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago, December 6, 2021:

A male impala is on the lookout in Kruger National Park. For more photos, please click here.

Enjoyable Sunday…Family and football..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taking advantage of every moment we can spend with family…Snowstorm in the area…

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It was hard to believe we were experiencing winter weather.

Today, we’re staying at the hotel when it’s a very snowy day and dangerous on the roads. This unexpected visit somehow ended up being better timing for our kids to spend time with us, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We are delighted to be spending such quality time with our family members.

The clothing situation continues to be of concern. We went for a quick trip to the pharmacy for a few odds and ends to replace items we needed to use here that were in our lost duffle bags. Here’s the dilemma…if our bags are truly lost, and we never get them back, we need to replace the lost items.

The bags contained almost every one of our hot weather items. Also included were swimwear, shoes, underwear, casual and dressy tops for me, and every pair of pants we currently wear while in South Africa. I’d recently had a couple of old jeans cut off and hemmed by seamstress Tracy at Daisy’s Den into a pair of shorts I was looking forward to wearing in hot weather.

After considerable discussion, we decided to purchase new clothing with the idea that we won’t be getting back our bags. Why not wait and see? Simple reason by our standards…neither can find any clothing we like while in South Africa. Most women aren’t as tall as me, so buying pants is nearly impossible outside the US. Tom has similar issues buying clothes and prefers certain brands he knows they fit him well and last for a long time.

This morning, I started searching through Amazon.com and putting items into our cart that I knew Amazon could deliver to this hotel in time for our December 8th departure. I actually enjoyed online shopping, especially when I knew the prices are excellent on Amazon and I could predict the quality of anything I bought based on experience.

We hadn’t purchased jackets, only sweatshirts, and hoodies, so it was cold when Tom brushed the snow off the car.

It felt good to get this task accomplished on this snowy day. Meanwhile, we contacted our travel insurance company about the missing luggage. We can file a claim for missing baggage. The claim is to cover some of the cost of the replacement clothing and miscellaneous items we needed to replace for almost two weeks in Minnesota. We don’t have to wait for the bags to be found.

Then we got to work calling about how we could renew our passports. Our ten-year passport ran out a year ago, which we replaced with a four-year passport when we were here a few years ago. Now that passport will run out in January 2024. That seems like it’s long enough away not to worry.

However, our upcoming cruises require that we have no less than six months remaining on our passports to sail. This is becoming a common requirement for many travel venues. As it turns out, we cannot apply for a passport renewal while we’re here in the US since doing so requires we mail our existing passports during the application process. We can’t take the risk that the passports won’t get to us in time for travel in nine days.

Our only alternative is to go to a US Embassy while we are in South Africa in either Johannesburg or Cape Town. That’s what we’ll have to do sometime in the next five months…one more trip on our agenda. However, this will allow us to visit Cape Town, which we’ve wanted to do for quite a while. But we’ve been so content in Marloth Park, we haven’t traveled much to other parts of the country.

The rest of this week is busy. Yesterday afternoon, Tom spent time with his son TJ which we’ll do again before we leave next week. Tomorrow, we’ll head out with daughter Tammy and grandson Vincent to visit Tom’s sister Patty and elder brother Jerome who recently turned 94 along with Tom’s sister Colleen who will join all of us. Thursday evening we’re going to dinner with Greg’s family.

We’re pretty much planning to spend most days or evenings with our kids and grandkids. We are excited about every event with our family members. We would love to have time to see our friends here but time is short and since we didn’t have an opportunity to see anyone due to our being sick with Omicron in May. We’re certainly making up for lost time now.

Tonight, we have leftover food we purchased at the grocery store for last night’s dinner and we will stay in, rather than venture out for dinner in the snowy weather. All is good here.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 29, 2021:

Two elephants flapped their ears as we passed. For more photos, please click here.

On the mend?…Recovery is slow…

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Aerial View of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River in summer

Yesterday was a restful day. The only tasks we tackled were two loads of laundry and heading out to the nearby Chipotle to get takeaway dinner. I’ve always been a big Chipotle fan since the bowls with lettuce, meat, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole work great for my way of eating.

On the other hand, Tom is less interested in Chipotle, but for convenience’s sake, he ordered four soft tacos and a bag of tortilla chips. He doesn’t care for guacamole. We will see what transpires tonight for dinner and if we’ll be getting together with family, which we hope to do.

Tom is recovering from Covid-19 slowly. At this point, his cough is much worse than mine, which is improving each day. Last night, he coughed off and on with only a few hours of relief from Nyquil. I was so tired I slept through most of his coughing, which as a light sleeper, is unusual for me. For the first time in two weeks, I awoke today feeling pretty good,

My Fitbit logged almost eight hours of sleep, and after not needing a nap yesterday, I am confident I am on the mend. But Tom, on the other hand, is coughing a lot, although otherwise is feeling better. The heavy feeling of exhaustion is finally leaving both of us.

The media is ranting about new variants coming out of South Africa. However, when researching statistics on Worldometer here, it is clear it’s not the case. Yesterday, in the US, there were 40,784 new cases of the virus, but in South Africa, yesterday, there were a total of 2,650 new cases.

Sure, the population in the US versus South Africa’s population is seven times greater. But doing the math doesn’t indicate that the virus is more prevalent in South Africa than in the US. The US continues to be in the top position in the number of cases over anywhere else in the world.

There is no doubt that accuracy in the number of cases is still questionable since the onset of the pandemic. Accurately recording cases can vary substantially based on poor systems in place to document testing results.

Nonetheless, we will proceed with caution while here in the US, as we do in any country we visit in our world travels. After having Covid-19, we don’t take for granted that we have added immunity that will protect us in the future. In reality, the protection we’ve gleaned from having the virus may be very short-lived based on our research thus far.

We were safe for the 14 months we spent in Marloth Park, and we hope to maintain that same level of safety when we return in 19 days. However, we are concerned about the several future cruises we have booked. We can only wait and see how things roll out.

Fortunately, all of our future cruises are on the small ships of the Azamara Cruise Line, which typically hold about 600 passengers. With most cruises running at about 60% occupancy since the onset of the pandemic, most likely, there will be less than 400 passengers onboard as opposed to the 1288 passengers there were on the Celebrity Silhouette, where we tested positive the last few days.

We are waiting to hear from family as to plans to get together. We understand if there is hesitancy in seeing us based on our recent infection. We will see how it all rolls out.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 3, 2021:

There were nine zebras in the garden, staying for over an hour. For more photos, please click here.