Day #192 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Is Hawaii an option for us?….

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This bleeding heart so well depicts Hawaii’s gorgeous colors.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2014, while we were in Honolulu, Hawaii. For more on this date, please click here.

Today, several flights have opened up that will be allowed to fly out of India. They include; Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, and Bahrain. None of these options are appealing to us for the following reasons:

  1. Singapore: We’ve been there twice, staying for a week the second time. Singapore is a clean and safe country but offers no countryside and is all cement with tall buildings, although with many added trees and flowers. We saw what we wanted to see there, and based on the population and crowded venues, we’d have no interest in returning.
  2. Malaysia: We’ve been there in the past. Very pretty in some areas. Very crowded. Low incidence of COVID-19. But, Malaysia doesn’t appeal to us at this time.
  3. Dubai: We spent two weeks in Dubai in 2013, living in a high-rise condo complex and visiting most tourist hot spots. Lots of cement, high-rise buildings, and no countryside. It was not appealing to us for a return.
  4. Bahrain: We’ve never been there but aren’t interested in visiting the Middle East at this time.
Wow! The greenery and flowers in Hawaii amazed us as we walked the streets of Honolulu taking these photos.

Also, yesterday, a newly published document from South Africa has banned travelers from India and the US, a double whammy for us. Also, there are no flights out of India to Africa at this time. Otherwise, we’d visit other African countries and wait to enter South Africa.

We continue to receive thoughtful email messages from our readers stating they’ve read about the countries we may be able to visit that have opened their borders. However, we’re out of luck if India, particularly Mumbai, doesn’t offer flights to those countries. The international airport is still officially closed in India. As of now, there’s no discussion as to when it will re-open.

Many exquisite flowers bloom year-round in Hawaii.

If, at some point, we get tired of waiting, we’ll always have the option to return to the US. But, until there’s a viable vaccine or the numbers of cases drop considerably, we feel safer staying in the safety bubble of this hotel. If something comes up, we’d be ready to leave in 24 hours, although most countries require a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours of arrival to enter.

In that case, the hotel driver will take us to a drive-up testing center, and we’ll receive our results by email the same day. Now, we await our package from FedEx before we can consider leaving, regardless of possible flights becoming available.

We seldom find orange flowers, but in Hawaii, flowers are prevalent.

We’ve considered the possibility of returning to the US to stay in Kauai, Hawaii, until the virus issues settle down. Overall, Hawaii has had a low incidence of COVID-19. As US citizens, we wouldn’t have to worry about visa restrictions. However, we’d need to get health insurance for me which would be very costly since I never signed up for Part B Medicare, and to do so now would be more expensive than if we’d signed up seven years ago. There’s a penalty for not signing up at 65 years of age. Go figure.

Also, groceries and dining out are expensive in Hawaii, as well as rental cars. At the moment, we’re living here for approximately 40% less than it would be in Hawaii. In Hawaii, vacation home rentals usually result in taxes and fees of an additional US $1000, INR 73417, per month over and above the rental rates.

Tom is thrilled to be in Hawaii.

If we wait to travel to Africa, we can live there for approximately 20% less than we’re paying in this hotel in India with meals. At this point, we’re living well below our budgeted amount. Hawaii would exceed our budget. So, as appealing as this idea is, we have to shelve it.

I can’t recall seeing yellow hibiscus.

In other states in the US, holiday home rentals are very high, especially in warmer climates. We’re not interested in staying in a tiny condo in a snowy, icy location at this point. Few US states have warm weather in the winter months, at least none of which appeals to us right now. Plus, the lockdown and amount of COVID-19 in many states are also off-putting. We don’t want to trade this weird situation for another, not much better.

Beautiful!

Instead, we’ll continue to wait, dealing with our mountains of “paperwork,” website-related tasks, finalizing our taxes with our accountant in Nevada. And of course, dealing with FedEx on the still-undelivered-package from the USA. Nonetheless, we’re grateful for what we do have right now, as opposed to what we don’t. We’re safe, cool, partially entertained, fed with no housework. Plus, we have each other. That’s a huge benefit!

Stay well.

Photos from one year ago today, October 1, 2019:

One year ago, we posted photos from 2015 while we were In Fiji. While there, we stopped on the road to take photos of the sea, but my eyes caught something moving at a distance. Getting out of the car where there was no fence to keep these piglets contained, we squealed with delight, as did this little white piglet who seemed happy to see us. For more photos, please click here.

Day #191 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…The US Presidential Debate???…

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The flowers that lined the walkway from the main building at Lantana Galu Beach in Diani Beach to the outdoor path were absolutely breathtaking.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2013, while we were in Diani Beach, Kenya. For more on this date, please click here.

Note: Yesterday, when editing our 2000 word post on my chosen way of eating low carb/keto, I’d made a few errors on the links for the recipes. Last night, a few of our readers/friends brought this to our attention, when we made all the corrections. You may review the edited post here.

My dinner that night: Seasoned grilled red snapper with sautéed non-starchy vegetables

Currently, in the background, we’re listening to the US Presidential Debate. With the time difference between the US and India, it wasn’t available to us until this morning on YouTube. As always, we do not express political views on this site. Subsequently, we’re not expressing any comments or views. We respect each individual’s views and fully believe in a friendly, opinionated, and lively discussion. But, our site is not an arena for such conversations. Thank you for understanding.

I listen to countless podcasts unrelated to politics and often find myself annoyed by the podcasters using their podcasts to espouse their own views. Whether I agree with them or not, I switch to another podcast. If I want to listen to political pundits and often questionable news, I am free to do so, even while here in India.

Notice the lack of veggies on Tom’s plate? He requested they be placed on a separate plate to be handed over to me. I did the same with my potatoes, handing them over to him as shown at the far right of his plate..

Each time I walk the corridors I listen to a variety of podcasts, mainly centered around health and well-being. I can’t learn enough. After yesterday’s 2000 word post on the low carb/keto way of eating, we’ve adopted since 2011, we were thrilled and surprised at the positive response we received.

Times are changing, albeit slowly, over how the low fat, high carbohydrate, low protein way of eating has impacted the lives of people all over the world with more and more Type 2 diabetes and other inflammatory auto-immune diseases. It could be another decade until these changes are universally accepted. I continue to follow scientists, doctors, and other medical professionals who’ve realized the way “we were told to eat” may have been wrong.

After our walk back to the main building, once again, we were mesmerized by these gorgeous fresh flowers.

OK, on to the FedEx package. We received the replacement credit card in the letter envelope, two months later, after filing lots of personal information with FedEx in order to receive it. In the interim, the box of supplies we ordered from our mailing service in July had recently begun the custom fees assessment, after we sent in the same personal documents.

Last night, Tom received an email from FedEx, stating we owed.INR 69406, US $940.56 in custom fees! The value of the contents is only ½ this tax assessment! How can the tax be 200%? We replied by email and await a response, notifying them that there must be an error. I looked online and custom fees generally don’t run more than 28%. Now, this becomes another frustrating hassle we’re hardly in the mood to tackle. Hopefully, today this will be resolved.

The buds for the sweet-smelling flowers were intoxicating, as in a fine perfume.

It’s hard to believe how much we’ve had to handle these past few months. You’d think that being in lockdown would limit one’s responsibilities. Alas, our perceptions were wrong. The reality remains…”You can run but you can’t hide.” Regardless of where we are in the world, we have to deal with filing taxes, paying taxes, handling insurance, website updates, paying bills, and other personal and financial matters.

Wouldn’t this make a lovely bridal bouquet?

Often people presume our lives of world travel consist of simple living in beautiful places all over the world. In some ways, this may be true. Embarking on this lifestyle, we had no delusions that responsibilities would follow us. Lately, in light of COVID-19, and its lengthy lockdown, it’s been a time when we’ve been busier than ever. Perhaps, staying busy has been good for us and when we look back, once we’re back out in the world, wherever that may, we may reflect on this time as productive and worthwhile.

Time to go now. I need to look up our credit card balances to pay them all off on bill pay, on the first of the month, go for another walk, make yet another call to FedEx, get to work on the remaining two-2000 word posts I’ve yet to start and on and on…

Just as we began to exit the main door, this red plant caught Tom’s eye.

We’ll be back…

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Photo from one year ago today, September 30, 2019:

These ducks and chickens are on a mission at the farm in Tiverton, Devon, England. For more photos, please click here.

Day #185 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Six months in confinement…Package hell…

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Sunset reddened clouds reflecting in the pool at our Bali villa.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2016, while we were living in Sumbersari, Bali, Indonesia. For more on this date, please click here.

When there was no post on this date in 2013 in Kenya, I scoured each year on this date and landed on our time spent in Bali in 2016. Seeing the above photo of the exquisite infinity pool in the villa overlooking the sea sent my mind into a tailspin. Oh, would we appreciate that now!

Many passersby carry needed supplies along the beach.

The total four months we spent at this villa were divided into two separate stays;  after the first two months we left and headed to Singapore to visit three embassies to acquire much-needed visas;  then from Singapore to Vietnam and Cambodia on a Mekong River cruise and land tour. From there, we spent 42 days in Phuket, Thailand, returning to Bali for the second two months.

We loved the villa in Bali, especially the veranda, pool, and cabana where we spent the majority of our days, lounging, talking, laughing, swimming, and watching a wide array of activities transpiring on the beach. Each new day presented unique and interesting scenes, unlike anything we’d seen on any beach in the world.

Gede explained that these plastic coverings are to protect watermelon from the hot sun.

Whether it was buffalo walking along the shore guided by a child with rope, no more than 10 years old; white horses on a walk; locals dressed in local garb walking along the shore; people bathing in the sand and rinsing in the sea; and children playing naked in a river that meets the sea only a short distance from us;  We were amused, entertained and motivated to take photos.

Today is the six-month anniversary of the date we checked into this hotel on March 24, 2020. During the first month, we were able to have our meals in the hotel’s dining room. But, in no time at all, India’s government banned dining in restaurants and room service was our only option for our two daily meals which has continued through today.

A typical small business building found in a village.

Purchasing and serving alcohol was banned for several months. Now, alcohol may be purchased and delivered, but with taxes at 38% plus delivery fees, the cost is outrageous. The hotel cannot serve alcohol and, with their upcharges on drinks plus taxes and tips, it makes no sense for us to imbibe at all. Also, neither of us has ever enjoyed having drinks in a hotel room. We’ll wait until we get to our next location, wherever that may be.

On another note, we ordered a package of supplies from our mailing service in Nevada, which includes our new passports, contact lenses, snail-mail, and odds and ends we can’t get in India. The package, along with a second item, a replacement credit card (due to fraud) was shipped at the end of July 2020 and we’ve yet to receive either item.

Rice is a huge staple in the Balinese people’s diet and is exported to many parts of the world.

I desperately tried to reach a human at FedEx India’s multiple phone numbers, but either the line was busy or no one answered. We each sent no less than a dozen email messages asking for assistance, always including the two tracking numbers and the urgency of receiving these two items. The replies always stated the same thing, “We’re working on it” or some variation thereof.

Finally, a few days ago, Tom received a reply from an upper management person with instructions as to how to receive the packages. It required that we send in copies of our passports, both bio pages and back pages, and our e-visas.

Not so quick. The trick was to get their website to work in order to be able to upload the documents. Once I did everything as they suggested, the photos in small-sized jpegs wouldn’t upload. Only a few would. I kept having to take the photos over and over again, to finally get them to upload.

Crossing a bridge over a river.

A few hours later, we received two emails stating we hadn’t sent incomplete files. They needed two letters, signed and sealed by the hotel manager, one for each item, stating we are staying here and can receive the items. That became quite a challenge when by human error, the tracking numbers and “case” numbers somehow got mixed up. The letters had to be redone.

After spending the entire afternoon on this, the system wouldn’t let me in when entering the “captcha.” Actually, the captcha was easy, only four clear jiggly letters but their system wouldn’t accept the login after I entered it. After five tries I was kicked out for 24 hours. Today, at 4:00 pm, I will have to start over once again. Ah, frustrating. We’ll report back on how this goes.

A Muslim holiday celebrated on the beach.

Based on the above circumstances, yesterday I never finished my walking, only accomplishing 5000 steps instead of 10000. I hope to do better today. Also, I hope to get back to work on the 2000 word post #3 sometime today. Our entire routine has been turned topsy-turvy by this package business.

OK. That’s all there is today, folks! Have a good day!

Minutes before the sun descended from view. Before dark, the security guy visits our villa turning on outdoor lights, returning at sunrise to turn them off.

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Photo from one year ago today, September 24, 2019:

This was our holiday rental, Pond Cottage in Devon, England at night. For more photos, please click here.

Day #183 lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…It’s a whining day!…

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Prior to sunset these flowers in their yard caught my eye. The combination of the pink and peach coloration is truly a gift from Mother Nature, whom we dearly appreciate.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2013, while we were living in Diani Beach, Kenya. For more on this date, please click here.

I am struggling to make myself sit down and write those 2000 word posts using keyword phrases as required by our web developers. Not a procrastinator, generally I attend to tasks in a timely fashion. But, I’m not sure what’s keeping me immobilized in regard to these three remaining posts.

Only moments before we left for Hans’ and Jeri’s home, we were finally able to snap a photo of the female to the little yellow birds that are so shy and quick that we’ve had trouble getting a shot. Apparently, their reticence is due to the frequent attacks by viscous blackbirds. Only a few days ago, Hans showed us where a blackbird had snatched baby birds out of a nest.

Could it be that doing so requires me to break away from our usual afternoon respite where we escape by binge-watching some favorite shows? When preparing these long posts, on top of the usual daily posts, my motivation is literally non-existent. Also, I’m still trying to work on the corrections on the past 3000 posts. I started in 2012, working my way forward beginning on page #148, and today, I’ll start with page #124. I have a long way to go when the most I can do in a day is one full page of 20 posts.

Gosh, I tell my usually motivated self, I did get our tax stuff done and sent to the accountant in plenty of time. Gosh, I worked with the developers on resolving seemingly endless changes over the past 60 days. Gosh, I’ve spent endless hours researching possibilities for us to get out of here, all to no avail, as did Tom. Gosh, I don’t feel like spending an entire afternoon writing a contrived post of 2000 words infiltrating the necessary keyword sequence as frequently as possible.

We arrived at our landlord’s home before sunset to find Hans preparing the fire on which to cook our dinner.

Sorry if I sound like I am whining, whinging, or complaining (whatever such words are used in your locale). But, I am. Each day, after working on and uploading the daily post, which, by the way, I enjoy doing, I am done, done, done. This wasn’t the case in our lives of world travel, in the days before lockdown.

If this project was presented to me then, I would have made my way through it in five days…five 2000 word posts. But, now everything is different. I can’t take a break and escape by jumping up and getting the laundry out of the washer to hang outside on the clothesline. I can’t head to the kitchen to chop and dice vegetables for dinner (or for wildlife).

Hans built a roaring fire to which he later added a grate in order to cook a full beef tenderloin without the use of charcoal or lighter fluid. Check out that moon smiling down on us!

In our travels, we never binge-watched shows during the day. That was an after-dinner or bedtime pastime, winding us down after another pleasant and often exciting day. In Marloth Park and most other holiday homes, we rarely turned on the TV or streamed a show during our entire stay, while now, it’s on all day (with the sound off and captioning turned on) to allay the boredom, except for those times Tom is listening to his favorite podcast from Minnesota, Garage Logic. (The sound of the podcast in the background doesn’t bother me at all while I’m busy writing).

Their yard was aglow not only from candles scattered about the lawn but also by landscape lighting focusing on the exquisite vegetation.

Perhaps, I need these diversions and distractions to help keep me centered when tackling challenging projects. We all have our own way of handling difficult tasks and I’m certainly no exception. Possibly I require more detours than most. Now, as I’m sitting here writing these words for this daily post, the podcast is on, I’ve already walked in the past 30 minutes  (the timer is set for the next 30 minutes) and I’m contemplating making a cup of tea.

Now, with a cup of herbal tea at my side, I’m ready to begin again. (Gee, I’d love some real cream, to add to a cup of coffee-not available here, or a big salad, or a juicy steak on the grill, or knowing a glass of red wine is awaiting me at 5:00 pm or, or, or…). It’s a whining day! Please humor me!

The table was set on the well-manicured lawn. With the balmy breeze and the fire roaring, the mosquitoes stayed away, although we were well-armed wearing our BugsAway clothing.

Whew! It’s good to have that off my chest. Many of our readers praise us for being so tough and strong under these dire circumstances. But, we’re no tougher or stronger than any of you who have had to live with the constraints established by your state, your county, or your country during times of COVID-19. It’s been a challenge for all of us in one way or another.

The dinner table for 4 was set on the grass, well lit with candles, beyond their inviting veranda.

The 30-minute timer is about to go off any minute when I’ll head out the door once again to walk the corridors while listening to educational podcasts of my own, mostly centered around health and fitness instead of past episodes of Dr. Phil, 20/20, or Entertainment Tonight which, at one time could entertain me while walking.

That’s all I have to say today. I have to start thinking of what I’ll write for the next keyword phrase with 2000 words for post #3, starting in an hour or so.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, September 22, 2019:

The acreage on the farm in Devon, England is diverse and beautiful. We were grateful to be able to spend time enjoying the many facets of the farm without doing any work. For more photos, please click here.

Day #182 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Making decisions…

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Yes, I know. Photos of us in 2013 often show us wearing the same clothes over and over. After ditching most of our clothing to lighten our load, we have no choice but to do so. We try to wear the same items frequently in order to wear them out for disposal, saving the newer items for the future. So far, nothing has worn out. With no clothes dryers available, the thinnest tee shirts seem to “live” forever.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2013, while we were living in Diani Beach, Kenya. For more on this date, please click here.

We laughed over the night depicted in today’s historic photos of the night on this date seven years ago that we went out to dinner in Kenya and were the only diners in the entire restaurant.

Ah, moonlight!

It was a beautiful moonlit night and we recall it as if it was only yesterday. We made a reservation at the Blue Marlin Restaurant located on the beach on the Indian Ocean. It was a long walk from the security entrance to the actual restaurant on uneven pavers and we were grateful for our LED flashlights to guide us along the way.

This spot was ideal for relaxing after a guest drank too many Margaritas!

We arrived at 7:30 pm at TripAdvisor’s highly rated restaurant, surprised to find we were the only guests on the premises. The staff was plentiful and the service and food was excellent. At the time we couldn’t recall ever being the only guests in a restaurant during dinner hours, but we shrugged it off, assuming sooner or later, other guests would appear. It never happened, much to our surprise after experiencing the delicious meals, drinks and service.

The chalkboard at the Blue Marlin listed the daily specials.

As a result, we had an opportunity to take some photos with the staff who were thrilled to oblige. We handed out several of our business cards knowing full-well they’d be searching for their photos on the next day’s post, perhaps making them feel a little like celebrities. It was endearing.

We had a chance to interact with their two “house dogs” who couldn’t have been more friendly. Of course, when we returned back to our holiday home, Han’s two dogs, Gucci and Jessie, were waiting for our return. It’s always been a treat to be able to adopt a dog or two that resided near our vacation homes at the time.

The Blue Marlin offered a relaxed, comfortable outdoor environment for diners.Notice an actual blue marlin on the wall.

It was hot, humid and windy, when we returned to the house. By the time we reached our outdoor living room, the veranda, we both decided to change into as minimal clothes as possible, covering ourselves with repellent and staying outdoors until bedtime. It was another good night.

Zaa Zaa, our friendly companion for the evening, lying at our feet as we dined.

On another note, yesterday’s post was the first of the five 2000 word posts I wrote, to which our web developers will be editing in the background for purposes of website optimization. Yesterday, I wrote the second of five posts and that should be ready to post tomorrow. I apologize for any redundancy in these long posts since its imperative they contain the content represented in the keywords.

Tom drank two bottles of this local Tusker beer.

There’s only five such posts and we should be done with them within a few weeks. Otherwise, on all other days, our regular less-wordy posts will appear as usual. No worries. No impact on your regular reading. Thanks for your patience.

Over the past few days, there’s been a lot of skuttlebutt online about the possibility of South Africa’s borders opening soon. At this point, it appears US citizens and anyone entering from India will not be allowed to enter. Another reality is that the Kruger Mpumalanga Nelspruit Airport we usually fly to, won’t be open for some time.

The chef insisted we take a photo together!

When we can travel to South Africa, we’ll fly into Johannesburg, rent a car and drive for five hours to make our way to Marloth Park. None of this concerns us. What concerns us is when the borders of both South Africa and India open enabling us to leave.

Tom’s appetizer of bacon wrapped jumbo prawns. I pointed out the bulging eyes. He asked, “Why’d you tell me that?”

Yesterday, we had a much needed discussion, considering these facts and both have agreed we are willing to “wait it out’ here at this hotel in Mumbai, India. There’s no point in adding more COVID-19 exposure in flying to the US to wait it out, nor is hovering around various airports, as they are just beginning to open, many soon.

My appetizer was a delicious creamy crab salad.

By the time we’re allowed to leave, protocols for COVID-19 will be firmly in place, after more experience, and we’ll have a better chance of avoiding infection. Of course, if India opens to other countries we’d be willing to travel to, and South Africa isn’t open for us, we may opt to head somewhere else to wait, as long as its to a location we’d find worthwhile and interesting. Otherwise, we’ll stay put.

Tom’s dinner consisted of a sizable portion of Swahili Fish, most likely a type of snapper. Bone free and lightly seasoned with a rich buttery coconut sauce, he had no trouble devouring every morsel.

Nothing much has changed around here. The corridors are a little less crowded now. The staff is working on reducing the noise at night from our next door neighbors (ugh!). And, we’re fine. As I write here now, Tom is watching the Minnesota Vikings football game on the TV using the HDMI and his laptop. As usual, they aren’t doing well. So it goes.

Look at the size of these calamari rings! I, too, savored every morsel on my plate.

Be well.

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Photo from one year ago today, September 21, 2019:

An otter lounging in the sun in Tiverton, Cornwall, UK. For more photos, please click here.

Day #178 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…The challenges of a new site…Photos from Fiji in 2015…

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Yesterday, Tom took this stunning photo of the coral reef in Fiji from a high peak he climbed with our friendly neighbor, Sewak.

Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2015, while we were living on the island of Vanua Levu in Savusavu, Fiji. For more on this date, please click here.

Firstly, I felt compelled to share a challenge I am facing over the next few weeks, one I am not in the mood to do whatsoever. in order to acquire new traffic on our new site, This is called SEO which is described as follows:

What is SEO?

“SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.”

Sewak’s home of over 40 years includes a separate Hindu temple area and family shrine which he happily showed us.

This is a normal process to accomplish on most websites, especially in our case, when our newly revised site looks forward to further enhancing our traffic than we experienced in the past on Blogger. Why more traffic? Our goal for the upcoming years is to increase the revenue on our site by more clicks on our advertisers. The more clicks, the more revenue we’ll generate.

Once this is accomplished, I’ll begin to work on adding advertisers to our YouTube page. There, also, we’ve had millions of readers, but this is another opportunity to generate more revenue, a normal part of having an online presence.

The hilly side yard at Sewak’s home.

Over the years, I’ve mentioned we weren’t doing our site to earn a living or to fund our world travels. However, we’d like to generate enough income to pay for the cost of maintaining our new site, including ongoing developer support, promotional costs and design enhancements.

This will not impact your continued readership in any manner. You do not have to buy a thing or even use our advertiser links if you prefer not to. However, we appreciate the tiny commissions we may earn if you do so, keeping in mind, you do not pay a penny more from using our advertisers than going directly to those sites from Google or another search engine.

Sewak drove us up this steep hill in his truck for this view. It was outrageously steep.

In the interim, the web developer has given me “homework.” I have to write five new posts of at least 2000 words each, (twice our usual daily text count) to include the “keywords” we’ll be using. The last thing I feel like doing right now is writing additional posts, over and above those, I already write daily, a project I thoroughly enjoy.

Ensuring these SEO posts consist of this large word count will be challenging so I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think how I can make this fun for me and also, enjoyable for YOU to read once they are uploaded as five individual daily posts over five scattered days.

Some of my photos were slanted. I was standing on a steep hill and didn’t properly adjust for the angle.

The only way I could reframe this task was to find a sense of satisfaction in the knowledge that I’ll be summarizing multitudes of accumulated world travel tips that hopefully appeal to readers of all ages and from many parts of the world. These five posts will be a compilation of our vast travel experiences over the past almost eight years.

We’ll be focusing on tips to save money on travel; tips in regard to safety, health, and well-being while traveling; reveling in the safari experience and wildlife in general;  booking hotels, holiday homes, cars and flights and more. Each of the five posts will have their own theme.

The wind was blowing requiring Tom to hold this perfect flower for my shot while we toured Sewak’s grounds.

For our long-time readers, some of this information may be redundant. But, we’ll make every effort to make it light and refreshing in every manner possible. We’ll also be factoring in the new normal we are all facing in light of COVID-19 and how it may impact each of these topics.

As for today’s photos, last night, after watching the exciting new series on Amazon Prime, “The World’s Toughest Eco-Challenge Fiji.” It’s been special for us to once again see the warmth and kindness of the Fijian people as they assist the competitors along the way. Also, it’s been fulfilling to be reminded of the beauty of these exquisite islands. Fiji, info follows:

Fiji’s 300 islands

“The archipelago consists of some 300 islands and 540 islets scattered over about 1,000,000 square miles (3,000,000 square km). Of the 300 islands, about 100 are inhabited. The capital, Suva, is on the southeast coast of the largest island, Viti Levu (“Great Fiji”).”
Badal, Sewak’s dog, bounded up the steep hill with ease. Badal visited us every night for dinner. We made him a plate of the delicious meats we were having for dinner. We’d asked Sewak if it was OK if Badal ate meat with us since he is vegetarian as an Indo-Fijian. He assured us it was no problem. Badal arrived at our door every night about 30 minutes before we dined, politely awaiting his plate of food.
If you are Amazon Prime members you can watch this fascinating race at no additional cost. Lately, we’ve been watching many of Amazon’s original series, some of which we’ve thoroughly enjoyed while in lockdown, day after day.
Off I go now, for yet another walk in the corridor. The convention guests have left and the hallways have re-opened for us, making the walking a bit less boring. Anything to keep us from being bored while in lockdown, now on day #178, in this hotel.
Have a safe and pleasant day.

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Photo from one year ago today, September 17, 2019:

The church’s bell tower is similar to those seen on series, “Game of Thrones” and other historical movies and TV shows.For more photos, please click here.

Day #177 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Two spaces or one at the end of sentence?…

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Hans invited us up to his third-level veranda in Kenya for “happy hour” and to watch the sunset. As we enjoyed the view from up high, we all noticed this animal’s butt sitting inside a window of a thatched roof. Not a monkey with this type of tail, we anxiously waited for it to turn around. By the time it was dark, it hadn’t moved, leaving us all without a clue as to what type of animal it had been.

Today’s photos are from the post in 2013, while we lived in Diani Beach, Kenya, for three months. For more details from that post, please click here.

The sunset is beautiful everywhere. From the third floor of Hans’ house, we were thrilled to take photos of the progression of the sun’s setting on the horizon.

As I muddle through our almost 3,000 archived posts to make corrections, I continue to stumble across a dilemma. Do I remove two spaces after each sentence/paragraph and change it to one space or leave it as is, at two spaces? For us old-timers who learned to type on an old-fashioned typewriter, two spaces were the correct procedure.

Today, with the advent of digital means of typing, this simple dilemma may have changed. Subsequently, as I labor through post after post, barely able to get through 20 posts a day, I realize that the bulk of the corrections I am making in tightening up the space between two sentences.

Hans made Tom one of his unique local concoctions while I sipped on my usual ice tea while chatting with Hans’ lovely wife, Jerie.

Of course, I searched online for the answer, hoping to find a definitive solution. But, like many topics, the variations in opinions are overwhelming. Some dictionary sites say “one space,” and others say “two-spaces,” making the text easier to read. Oh, good grief. I’ve already spent hours correcting thousands of these.

At sunset, the lush greenery appeared brighter than during the day’s sun.

Here’s some information I found on this topic:

“Why should you or shouldn’t put two spaces after a period?
Hence the adoption of the two–space rule—on a typewriter, an extra space after a sentence makes text easier to read. … Because we’ve all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it.”
Or,

“There was a time when every period, question mark, or exclamation point was followed by two spaces. These days, depending on what you’re reading, you can find either one or two spaces between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another.”

Look at these lush ferns, abundant in Kenya’s humid weather.

After reading further, I concluded that in today’s world, one space after a sentence should be one, not two. I’ve opted for one space, thus doubling its time to correct errors on each page. So, how does this impact my corrections on almost 3,000 posts in the future?

And, what types of other errors am I encountering?

  1. Spelling: (I am using Grammarly and Ginger for assistance)
  2. Font size: Which I’ve decided to leave as is since it takes so long to correct.
  3. Punctuation
  4. Grammar: Many comma placement errors and sentence structure (I am using Grammarly and Ginger, two apps, for assistance)
  5. Paragraph and line spacing
  6. Missing or inadequate links
  7. Verbiage errors, restructuring sentences, etc.
  8. Photo placement/positioning
  9. Caption errors on all of the above
  10. Issues with headings
  11. Repetitive words reduction
    The haze, a result of both humidity and fires burning, leaves an eerie view over the horizon.

Well, as you can see, making these corrections is a lot more complicated than one might expect. Why am I doing this when most of our readers don’t care one way or another? (Thanks for that!). Many of our posts were completed under time constraints or days when I wasn’t as attentive as I should have been. Many other posts were achieved when the WiFi signal was poor. Making corrections was nearly impossible, let alone typing the text.

From high up on the veranda, these coconuts caught my eye. They are everywhere!

Excuses aside. Human nature. We make errors, especially me when 365 days a year I write the equivalent of an essay from 700 to 1000 words, mostly with photos which is a breeding ground for human error.

Now, as I go back through each post, one by one, I am certainly missing some corrections or making new errors in the process. Also, I am making new errors in the new posts I am doing now. It’s not perfect, nor am I, nor is Tom’s daily proofreading. But, we continue to strive every day to get this message to our loyal readers/friends/family to let you know what we’re doing, feeling, and thinking.

Soon, the sun would set, and darkness would fall as the sounds of the nocturnal wildlife rang through the air throughout the night.

Hopefully, shortly, we’ll have more to discuss than mere “dots.”

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, September 16, 2019:

As we approached St, Michaels and All Angels, Church of England in Michaelstone, Cornwall, we were in awe of its beauty. For more photos, please click here.
Day #171 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Is a donut a fair trade-off?

Day #171 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Is a donut a fair trade-off?…

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The ferry docked at the edge of Savusavu, Fiji, makes a daily trip to Viti Levu, the largest island in the Fiji chain. It’s an overnight journey, arriving at 4 or 5 am. Since we’ll spend our last month on that island, we saw no reason to take the ferry and will again fly on the commuter plane when it’s time to leave.

Note: I started out doing the edits, starting at the oldest of almost 3,000 at page #148, with 20 posts per page. I noticed a number of the posts had varying font sizes in the text. This resulted during the conversion from Blogger to WordPress as my operating platform. The extra time it would take for me to change the font to a universal size would be doubled.

This is a daunting task in itself, and I have no interest in doubling the time it takes to do the other necessary edits. As a result, I will be leaving them as they are. Sure, I’d like every one of the 3,000 posts to be perfect. But, for the sake of time spent, I decided I must leave it as is. Today, I am on page #131, completing one page each day, taking a bulk of my free time.

The dock is available for the use of boats in this small harbor.

Today’s photos were from this date in 2015, when there was no post on this date in 2013. When we first landed in Fiji on the small island of Vanua Levu in the village of Savusavu. See the link here.

On to today…

As the proverbial optimist, I try to maintain a positive attitude throughout the day and spend little time thinking about our difficult situation. Yesterday was a hard day for Tom. I couldn’t avoid feeling frustrated when I saw and heard how frustrated he was. He’s tired of this. I am so busy with tasks, I think about it less.

As we wandered through the busy local farmer’s market, open daily, it was hard to decide which vendor to choose for our purchases. We purchased the following for $22, US $10.12;  two red bell peppers (also called capsicum here); six medium-sized aubergines (eggplant); three heads of cabbage; and eight large carrots.

For me, if we were living in a house overlooking the sea, right now, I’d be wrapped up in the necessary edits on the old posts that would take up most of my days and parts of my evenings. I might stop from time to time to savor our surroundings, take walks on the beach, do laundry, and prepare meals.

Every few days, we’d head out to the grocery shop and go sightseeing, taking endless photos along the way. As is the case when handling hundreds of photos, a tremendous amount of time is required to sort, edit, and manage the photos. In reality, I’m probably better off not taking new photos right now while I’m busy with the seemingly endless revisions.

These are breadfruit often used in curry dishes, popular in Fiji.

As a result, this time in lockdown is not so bad for me. That’s not to say it isn’t boring. Especially the walks and the repetitive meals for Tom, who spends most of his day on his laptop researching ancestry, reading social media posts, and listening to podcasts. He’s bored.

He wants a doughnut. India is not known for its donuts. He’d tried a few Indian donuts before the lockdown, but after a few bites, he stopped eating them, preferring the taste of a good donut from SuperAmerica in the US (if they even exist these days). He’d liked the freshly baked donuts from the baked goods case or bakery in any supermarket on occasion in other countries. His donut days are non-existence, and he’s feeling frustrated. Oddly, he prefers plain donuts without frosting or filling.

These are the sizes of the aubergine we purchased. These adjoining bowls contain a variety of hot peppers, which I’d love to try, but Tom doesn’t care for spicy food.

If I could eat a donut, it would be creamy, sticky, nutty, and oozing with something in the middle. I haven’t eaten a donut in over nine years. Right now, I’d be happy with a piece of meat with fat on it instead of a dry chicken breast which I never liked anyway, unless it was cooked on the grill with the skin and bone.

No, this isn’t easy. But, without a doubt, it’s easier for me than for Tom, and on a rare occasion, he expresses his frustration, and I listen with caring and compassion. Two weeks from today, we’ll have been in this hotel room for a full six months. I wonder how long we can last before we “give up” and return to the US until this COVID-19 disaster passes.

These are some types of sweet potatoes.

Our risk of infection is almost zero in this hotel. Returning to the US, flying on several flights through several airports, and finding a place to stay, live, and shop while we “wait it out” is risky, particularly for me. Would we end up sitting in a chair all day, occasionally walking and not being any better off than we are now? We’d have to be very careful and avoid being around others, not unlike what we’re doing now. Those are the questions we ask ourselves now.

We’d pay thousands of dollars more a month to live, to rent a car, to grocery shop, and our risks of COVID-19 would be exponentially higher. But, one reality remains. Tom could eat a donut.

Coconuts with peeled outer shells were readily available in the market. If we had a machete, we’d buy a coconut for the delicious meat inside.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

____________________________________________

Photo from one year ago today, September 10, 2019:

The first animals we encountered in the paddock in Treddarup, Cornwall, England, were pigs. As our readers know, I love pigs. However, as cute as they are, they can’t match the appeal of a handsome warthog. For more photos, please click here.
Day #162 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…

Day #162 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…

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In 2014, we traveled to Normandy, France, on a private small-group tour from the ship. At the time, I was less interested in touring Normandy than Tom. Tom was especially interested and passionate about visiting this historic site. However, everything changed once we arrived at the location, and I found it impossible not to be captured by the powerful message and presence of this critical cemetery and part of history.

Photos posted today are from this date in 2014 from this link.

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

Our small group of 12, riding in a van from the port, were less friendly than most small group tours we’d participated in in the past. As a result, we mostly toured the vast site on our own, later meeting with the group. The tour lasted over several hours as we walked from area to area, emotionally moved by everything we saw.

Tomorrow, we’ll share several more photos from the Normandy tour, but on this particular date on September 1, 2014, we’d posted only a few photos, for whatever reason, as shown.

With hotel rates increasing with more and more business people arriving from throughout the country, we’re currently booking for shorter periods when it seems we ccan’tbook for weeks at a time. It appears the rates are much higher for long periods, as opposed to short periods, as much as US $25, INR 1820 per night. We keep checking daily in an attempt to lock in better rates.

The region of Normandy is rich in history and charming for its appealing French architecture of the ccentury’spast.

Of course, it would be great if we could negotiate a better rate with the hotel. But, after attempting to do so, their prices wweren’tas good as we could get through Hotels.com on our site, after factoring in the “one free night with every ten nights “they provide. We did the math, and wwe’reahead using the website. However, the hotel provides us with a 30% discount on meals which helps.

Also, eal to all of our readers to use the links on our site for your Amazon and travel needs. We receive a small commission when booking through our links on our site. The pricing for you, using our site,  is the same as yyou’dreceive if you go to these sites on your own and wwe’reprovided a small commission to offset a few of our website expenses. S so much appreciated. We received a number of inquiries from readers mentioning they have noreceivedng the automated email each day with our new daily post. It appears you will have to sign up again for our new site. We apologize for the inconvenience. There is a link entitled “Sign Up to Our Newsletter” at the top right of the main page, where you can enter your email address and will automatically receive the most recent post in your inbox. It takes a day or two to activate this, so; please check our link in the interim: www.worldwidewaftage.com.

The fog rolled into the Normandy region, as shown in our early morning two-hour drive.

Otherwise, everything seems to be working well on our site. Our developers continue to work in the background on a few issues that don’t impact your reading of the new daily post. I have a lot to learn about using WordPress while I spend at least an hour a day going back through the 3,000 old posts, making corrections.

There are a few items I ccan’tcorrect which are images of particular items wwe’dpurchased from time to time. WWe’dcopied the ads from Amazon or another site to illustrate what wwe’dpurchased. Now, those images are gone on the retail site, and I ccan’tseem to delete them from past posts. You may notice these from time to time. Please move past them, knowing there iisn’tanything we can do to resolve this issue.

As in many other areas of Europe, many homes and buildings are attached, each with its definitive front.

Mainly, these images were posted in the first few years of our world travels, in 2012 and 2013. IIt’sunfortunate that Blogger had so many issues over the years that require me to go back over every post. As mentioned, this process will take many months, doing a batch each day. In the interim, you can still read old posts without interruption.

II’mbehind today due to a few tasks that kept me busy; paying off the credit cards we do the first of each month; heading downstairs to the reception desk to pay the current bill, which took more time than it should have. And working on the corrections. I should have been done with ttoday’spost an hour ago.

The area is filled with tourists from all over the world.

Have a safe and fruitful day! I won the game with this word! (II’mreminded of the word “ruitful” when last night when I ccouldn’tsleep, I used this word when playing Scrabble with other online players).

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, September 1, 2019:

The greenery, the cliffs, and the white sand beach create a stunning scene at Swanpool. For more photos, please click here.
Day #161 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Mad about this…Are you, too?

Day #161 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Mad about this…Are you, too?

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We’re still working on a few issues on our new site. Mainly, we’ve been getting many email messages from readers who fortunately had access to our email addresses. They can’t load our link. To them, it appears we are down. Obviously, for those of you seeing our new posts each day, this is not an issue. However, many readers need to empty their “cache” to bring up our same web address: www.worldwidewaftage.com.

Today’s photos are from this date in 2014, as we boarded yet another cruise. Please see this link here for more.

We spotted several popular attractions on our way through London to the Harwich pier, including this church.

This transpired because we changed our hosting company from Blogger to Hostinger, although our web address didn’t change. Those readers’ computers or devices are “remembering” the old link pointing to the former hosting company. I hope somehow those readers who don’t have access to our email can figure out that we haven’t stopped posting and are still here, hoping to be so for more years to come.

Otherwise, all is moving along well. As mentioned earlier, I am going back through each of our 3,000 posts and correcting errors. I started making corrections beginning on the post on March 15, 2012. But, as of today, I am only up to October 12, 2012, with lots more to go. It takes at least an hour to edit 20 posts. I will be at this for months to come.

Buckingham Palace.

Between walking, posting, editing, and handling other general business stuff, my days are full until finally in the late afternoon. We can take a break to start streaming a few shows and escape from our confinement reality.

There’s a harsh reality that’s been on my mind, especially after reading the text in the “year-ago post” mentioned below in this post.

Big Ben was to the right in this shot, but I could not get the photo in traffic.

It wasn’t that I’d suddenly and miraculously started feeling better after enough time had passed since I’d had open-heart surgery in February 2019, which at that point had only been 6½ months earlier. It was because I was finally off three heart medications with side effects that were stripping me of any possibility of a quality of life.

At the rate I was going at that point, we’d surely have had to return to the US, for me to sign up for Medicare to become the proverbial patient, frequently visiting the doctor with a plethora of chronic symptoms and given more medication to treat those symptoms, rather than look at how these three drugs were impacting my life.

Ferris Wheel in London is referred to as the “Eye.”

It wasn’t easy to stop taking these drugs, and I didn’t do so lightly. I spent hundreds of hours in research, determining the potential risks if I stopped them. After following strict guidelines on how to wean off of these three drugs, finally, on this date one year ago, I was free.

The change in my pain levels and lack of mobility dramatically impacted my state of mind and hopefulness. After I stopped the drugs, I no longer needed to be lying down most of the day, no longer felt listless and sleepy, and could bound about the house with the similar zing in my step before I had the dreadful surgery.

A quick shot was taken from the taxi of the Tower of London.

Although my legs tire easily while walking due to persistent vascular disease, I continue to work past it, hoping someday this will improve. Otherwise, in the interim, other than a typical ache or pain here and there, not uncommon at my age, I feel good. No doubt, certain positions precipitate a pain in my chest where my sternum was wired back together, such as when getting in or out of bed. I expect this discomfort to last indefinitely.

However, I’m mad. Sure, I may have been given extra years of life having had triple cardiac bypass surgery with three arteries 100% blocked (heredity), and for that, I am grateful. But, I didn’t feel bad before the surgery, other than a pain in my jaw which ultimately proved to be the warning sign of cardiovascular disease. Women, pay attention. This is a common symptom for women, whereby men may be more inclined to have arm or chest pain.

Not sure as to the name of this memorial as we zoomed past.

In any case, why am I mad? Simple answer, folks, which many of you will relate to….time is passing while in lockdown, chipping away at any possible time I have left on this earth. I am 72 years old, and now, I have spent five months in lockdown in this hotel in Mumbai, India. We could be looking at five, six, or seven more months trapped here.

Will we end up wasting an entire year of our lives, at this later point lost, sitting in a hotel room, when we could be out seeing more of the world, more than we have in the past many years of world travel? What a waste of precious time! I believe this bothers me more now than it would have if I’d been 20, 30, 40 years old. But at 72, one could easily be wasting 10% or more of their time left on this earth.

A memorial near Buckingham Palace. With WiFi restrictions, we’re unable to look up the names of these monuments.

This is not intended to diminish the sorrow for those and their family members directly impacted by the horrors of COVID-19. My heart breaks for all of these people, as well as those who’ve lost their jobs, financial security, and countless families with children unable to attend school who are missing a vital aspect of their growth and development.

On top of that, the sad scenarios worldwide of wars, looting, rioting, shootings and unjust, befallen upon citizens and peacekeepers from every faction of life. It’s heartbreaking. There’s war transpiring in India right now at the India/’Chinese border. We live in trying times.

At last, our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas.

But, everything is relative. And a family stuck indoors without being able to go out to dinner, a movie, bowling, or sporting events, requiring their young children to wear masks and stay away from other people, has its own set of woes and frustrations. This can’t be good for their young emotional state, let alone that of their parents.

All we can do at this point is “our part” to avoid infecting others by social distancing, wearing masks, and making every attempt to stay safe and healthy until this scourge in human history eventually wafts away.

We always appreciate having a sofa in the cabin as opposed to lying on the bed when relaxing.

I pray for all of us, our safety, personal freedoms, and our dedication to hope for the future. Be well

Photo from one year ago today, August 31, 2019:

Colorful buildings create a pretty scene on the narrow roads in small towns in Cornwall. For more photos, please click here.