Disembarking the ship before the end of the cruise…

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Remember our motto, “Wafting Through Our World Wide Journey with Joy, Simplicity and
Ease”?

We strive to keep this in mind.In order to accomplish doing so, we must be proactive.On occasion, proactive behavior requires assertiveness that may, on occasion, be off-putting to those with whom we are dealing. As we plan to disembark from the Celebrity Equinox tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29th we are faced with a few potential obstacles:

1.  How will our luggage be handled on the smaller “tender” boat taking us the 20
minute ride to the pier in Belize?  Will
we need new luggage tags as when we disembarked the Celebrity Century?
2.  What time shall we schedule the hired driver to appear at the pier, holding up the sign
with our name based on a projected time the ship will be cleared for
dismemberment?
3.  What is the procedure for acquiring a visa, which based on our research is provided at the
time of entering the country of Belize, not online at an earlier date? Will they in fact grant us a visa for 2 1/2 months?
4.  What is the process with the Belize Immigration Department? Will they go through our
bags?  (We didn’t purchase anything aboard the ship).
5.  Will our scheduled driver have a large enough and reliable van (as promised when we
booked) for the four hour drive to Placencia? Will we arrive at the dock at 12:30 as scheduled?
In an effort to be proactive on Sunday morning I visited the customer service desk to review the process of getting the above four items
addressed.

The staff person tried to dismiss my concerns saying all would be fine. Ha! This is not the answer I was seeking!  (Tom and I agreed to let me handle these kinds of potentially testy situations. I tend to stay calm and pushy at the same time).

After the staff person attended to the answer to

Question #1, I was able to secure two PRIORITY TENDER TICKETS, enabling us to choose a time to get onto the tender with support staff.  This helps.

Unfortunately, when I pressed for the remaining answers, the staff person was unable to answer, preferring to say again, “everything will be fine. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yes,” I said, “there is something to be worried about.” She straightened the lapel on her navy blue blazer, wincing at my comment.
“Let’s say we get into Belize with immigration and 2 1/2 months later, we’re stuck in immigration for 24 hours or more trying to “get out of Belize” if we didn’t have a proper long term visa. (A
visa for Belize is not required for under 30 day visits).
“We need immigration to meet us at the pier,” I insisted, “to provide us with a visa good through April 9, 2013, when we depart.” (We had tried to get this ahead of time but was told by Belize Immigration to get a visa when we arrive).
“Whatever you need to do to arrange this is imperative.”  I continued. “If you don’t know the answer, please direct me to the staff member who does handle these types of concerns.  Is there such a person on board?”
“Yes,” she said meekly, “I’ll call her and she’ll contact you.” 
“OK,” I said, feeling frustrated, “We’ll watch for a message from her by the end of the day today.  We spend little time by the phone in our cabin.”

By the time I walked over to Tom who was sitting in a lounge area waiting for me, I had cooled off enough to tell him what transpired, reassuring him that all will be taken care of and not to worry. 

When passengers get off of a cruise ship, returning after a day of spending money in their city, there is little, if any hoopla.  Getting off the ship and staying for an extended period is an entirely other matter.

Once we hear back from the on board immigration handler, we will report the results.  Hopefully,
all will go smoothly. 

Persistence prevails.
__________________________________________
A few hours after writing the above, we returned to our cabin with a phone message from Jennie, the on board Celebrity immigration officer. Immediately returning her call, she suggested I bring our passports and our itinerary to the customer service desk and she’d meet with me.
I couldn’t get down there quickly enough, leaving Tom behind in the cabin. As I dashed to the
elevator, it dawned on me that this was the first time since January 3rd when we boarded the Celebrity Century, that I was out of Tom’s sight.  I chuckled to myself.  Imagine. We aren’t sick of each other yet!

Meeting Officer Jennie put my mind at ease.  Her crisp white and black uniform with
epaulets, the official name tag as “Chief Officer of Immigration coupled with her professional demeanor immediately reassured me that we were now in the proper hands.

Showing her our lengthy itinerary set the pace for a lively conversation with her enthusiasm to ensure that everything goes smoothly in our early departure from the cruise. She handed me immigration forms to complete, made a copy of our itinerary and immediately addressed all of our
concerns.

She suggested that she’d hold onto our passports until Tuesday when the Belizean Immigration Officer will board the ship (also via tender). She’ll handle everything for us including arranging for our 2 1/2 month visa. Should there be an entry fee, she will let us know and charge it to our
cabin.

She answered all of our questions including the seamless handling of our bags via porter to our cabin, taking our bags to be handled by the tender staff who again will assist at the pier.  She said there is no need for us to so much as touch our bags. No luggage tags are needed since we’ll be the only passengers staying in Belize.
In addition, she explained that our having PRIORITY TENDER TICKETS, we can board the tender at any time we’d prefer. Contacting our private van company in Belize by email today, they reassured me on the vehicle’s good condition, the size of the van and that the driver would meet us to be at the pier at 12:30 pm holding a sign with our name. According to Officer Jennie we’d have no trouble being there on time for the driver.

On Tuesday morning when the ship anchors in the harbor of the port of Belize at 10:30 am, requiring one hour to be cleared, we’ll have our bags down by the gangplank ready for us to get on the tender. Jennie will call our cabin instructing us when to come down to the desk to retrieve our passports and our new visas and head to the tender, knowing that our driver is scheduled for 12:30 pm. 

Anything could go wrong and throw this plan into total chaos. There is absolutely nothing WE will do to throw it off.  However, we’re subject to the responsibility and timing of others. As we all so well know, we can’t always count on the diligence of others, only on that of ourselves.

Then, of course, is the four hour drive to Placencia, only after the driver takes us to the FEDEX office in Belize City to return the XCOM Global MiFi device which won’t work in Belize. They are aware of the slow return mail and aren’t charging us for the time it takes for the package to get back to San Diego, California. 

We’ll need the device again by April 9th. We’ll have to pay the international shipping charge back to Belize so we can collect it at the same FEDEX office in Belize City before we depart on cruise #3 back to Miami for a same day departure of cruise #4.  At the cost of $395 a month for the device, it made no sense to hang onto it for this extended period. Postage both ways will be about $140.

Details, details, details!  The perception that this adventure of ours is comparable to a long vacation is delusional. This is work, lots of work and endless planning.  Fortunately, I find the process is pleasurable and much to my surprise, Tom does as well. 

We are both reminded, each and every day, to enjoy the living in the moment, even when it entails a phenomenal number of specific events falling into place. 

We’ll see how we feel about this premise when its 7:00 pm Tuesday night, arriving in Placencia in the dark, tired, hungry, opening one particular suitcase that has no clothing inside, taking out the multiple allergy and bedbug protecting mattress covers, putting them on the mattress, box springs and pillows all before we open our other bags.

We shall see and of course…report how it all goes.

Time to book hotel reservations for Barcelona….Itinerary updates…

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Yesterday, while we were docked in Colon, Panama again staying onboard, we realized it was time to go online to book a few hotel reservations. We had a strong signal with our XCOM Global WiFi and decided to take advantage of the it.

Now, today, we’re in Puerto Limon, Costa Rico, comfortably seated in the Sky Observation Lounge in the bow of the ship, hoping to get a better Internet signal with our XCOM Global MiFi, while we notice a number of passengers getting off of the ship, walking the mile long parking lot and subsequently returning to the ship.  Apparently, there was nothing to see from this location. 

The few offered excursions included a bumpy bus ride to “touristy” shopping areas at the cost of $49 per person.  Why spend money to spend money on items we don’t need or want?

As mentioned earlier, we had no problem visiting a few of the same ports we experienced earlier in the month on our journey through the Panama Canal.  We love cruising and visiting two of the same ports in the past three weeks was no different to us than if one was on vacation and awoke in the morning to the same view as the prior day.  No big deal, right?

On to our hotel reservations.  Requiring reservations on two separate nights, May 5, 2013 and June 3, 2013 in Barcelona while we’re between cruises, it was time to book these after we had made our airline reservations from Dubai back to Barcelona with Emirates Airlines last weekend while in Florida.

Here’s how this looks directly from a portion of our itinerary.  The highlighted items are  five of our six remaining cruises.   Everything you see here is booked, as is the reminder of the first 2 1/2 years of our journey which will grow as we continue on:

Cruise
Belize to Miami  (return trip to Miami from Belize)		 3 4/9/2013 –
4/13/2013
Cruise Miami to Miami (Caribbean cruise) 7 4/13/2013-4/20/2013
Cruise Miami to Barcelona
Cruise (across the ocean)		 11 4/20/2013 -5/1/2013
Cruise Barcelona to Mallorca 4 5/1/2013 – 5/5/2013
Hotel Barcelona 1 5/5/2013 – 5/6/2013
Cruise Barcelona to Dubai 15 5/6/2012 – 5/21/2013
Dubai Condo – High Rise Tower
overlooking Palm Island		 13 5/21/2013 – 6/3/2013
Flight Dubai to Barcelona 0 6/3/2013-6/3/2013
Hotel Barcelona 1 6/3/2013-6/4/2013
Barcelona to Venice – Cruise 12 6/4/2013-6/16/2013

As a pleasing point to us, the above first two cruises, beginning on 4/9/2013 and 4/13/2012 respectively, are on the same ship and in the same cabin.  The next two, beginning on 4/20/2013 and 5/1/2013 are also the same ship, same cabin.  This translates into a 10 day stint and a 15 day stint moving only once in between. 

We felt lucky to have been able to do this.  But, after meeting many people aboard ship, apparently avid travelers often book cruises back to back to avoid moving luggage and for the purpose of extending their experience on one particular ship.

Ideally, we wouldn’t have these nights in between the cruises but based on the advice of our cruise guy, Joaquin, at Vacations to Go, it was too risky to plan to get on another cruise on the same day when subject to an airline reservation. 

This is the case on the return flight to Barcelona from Dubai on June 3, 2013.  The earlier date in May was simply an extra day in between two cruises.  That was as tight as we could book these particular two cruises. 

Yesterday, off to Expedia.com we began a search for an affordable highly rated hotel in expensive Barcelona our criteria being:  close to the pier, free WiFi (which we may not need if we have our trusty MiFi), rated four stars or more by Expedia reviewers. 

We lucked out!  Our first reservation for May is $166 a night and the second in June is $140 (both with taxes) and to boot, with a 4.7 our of a possible 5 star rating. We couldn’t be more thrilled. 

Earlier today, while looking online for a storage facility in Barcelona to store our excess baggage during our trips to Dubai, Kenya and South Africa (when we’ll have no choice but to fly), I stumbled across a few travelers who had worked with a number of hotels in Barcelona which were willing to store luggage for a fee for extended periods.  This would be ideal with Barcelona as a central location for many of our comings and goings.

If we can’t convince the hotel to store our bags, there is a huge self service storage facility less than five miles from the hotel.  As time approaches and we have a better feel for what we’ll need in our luggage, we’ll decide if its worth storing two or three large bags or paying for excess baggage fees.  We don’t fly until May leaving us time to figure it out. 

Check out this link for the Grums Hotel in Barcelona for our two separate nights.  We opted for non-refundable reservations for both nights in order to save almost $100. 

How did people travel the world without use of the Internet?  Somehow, they managed, making endless long distance phone calls, using the services of travel agencies, all the while booking directly with each establishment. 

The time saving benefits of using the Internet makes this experience much easier for us.  However, in any case, it still requires an enormous amount of advance thinking and planning.

A few night ago at dinner we spoke to a couple, perhaps a few years older than us, who said they’d spent days planning this single cruise.  They asked, “How in the world did you book one location after another, keeping it all straight?”

The answer is clear to us…bite sized pieces coupled with precise record keeping with absolutely NO RISK of losing the records by storing them in multiple locations.  In our case, we’ve stored all of our records (and photos) in Dropbox of which we each have separate accounts, local copies on the desktops of each of our computers and in each of our Outlook and Gmail accounts.  In addition, my new Windows 8 laptop has the cloud Skydrive where we also store copies.

Thus, if both of our computers were stolen, all of our records (and photos) would be readily available online in our multiple accounts.  This gives us considerable piece of mind. 

Wherever we may go, whatever plans we may make, there will never be a time as we continue to travel the world, that we can stop being mindful of the next location.  Luckily, we both enjoy the process.  Tom may not do as much of the searching as I do but his suggestions and input is equally valuable to us in the process.  Is it overwhelming?  Not at all. 

For me, its not unlike grocery shopping.  If we like homemade food, we make a list,  plan meals creating a menu for the week, whether written or in our heads.  I’ve never tired of grocery shopping.  Each time I walked into the same or a different grocery store, I was challenged by the opportunity to make delicious and varied meals that we or our guests would enjoy.

Its the same with planning our next step in the journey; make a list of that which we desire to do, first consider our existing itinerary, plan a budget, do some research to determine if it is possible and affordable and then…begin booking, all the while documenting the results. 

Actually, I do miss grocery shopping.  After almost 23 days aboard ship with every meal prepared for us, it’ll be time to dig out that little skillet I stuffed into one of our bags and start cooking again. 

In a matter of a mere three days from today, we’ll be tucked into our little beach house in Placencia, Belize figuring out how to get a ride to the grocery store to purchase our first week’s groceries.  Wonder if they’ll have grass-fed meat, organic vegetables, coconut oil, free range chicken and eggs.

If not, well…we’ll improvise. 

Back in Cartagena today…updates..

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In order for us to get to Belize by cruise ship, we’ve had to repeat a port of call of Cartagena, Columba, along a similar route on the cruise through the Panama Canal.  We knew this when we booked the two back to back cruises.  Since
we’re using cruises as a “mode of transportation” where possible, this didn’t concern us at all.

We’ve decided to stay onh the ship rather than take one of the over-rated expensive excursions all ofw whichultimately end in shopping which neither of us cares to do.  Weo could wander off on our own but, we heard stories of muggings and pickpocketse nearthe cruise ships ports-of-call. 

Its open season fort thieves when passengers wander off on their own on foot from the pier.

Content with our decision to stay behind, we especially enjoy the time on the ship when
half the passengers are off on the various excursions. 

There’s plenty of seating at the pool where we’ll wander off to shortly to work on our 45 minute a day tan while enjoying the poolside band, mostly oldies from our youth.  They played to the crowd when aboard ship are seniors, like us.

 Last night, we opted for aa late dinner, instead going to the show in the Equinox Theatre at 7:00 pm.

Much to our surprise the entertainer, Jack Walker, a fabulous performer from Las Vegas was on this ship doing the same show he had done on the Celebrity Century.  We’d watched his show two weeks ago!

Upon entering the theatre early to ensure we secured good seats, we stopped him as he entered the theatre to tell him we’d watched his show on the Celebrity Century only two weeks ago to which he was delighted and surprised, apologizing that we’d have to sit through a repeat of his earlier show.

Tom made me laugh, when he said to Jack, “Jack, we’re groupies following you around the world!”
We all belly laughed.

The show was equally entertaining a second
time. Ending at 9:00 PM we were both ready for dinner and sauntered to the Silhouette Dining Room passing through the casino on the
way. 

We have yet to waste a dollar on gambling, although it’s tempting when hearing the sounds of the clanging machines. We have a few “Captain’s Club” gambling coupons we’ve yet to use fearful that once we’d lose that, we’d be inclined to keep going.. 

We have a lot of world to visit.  Wasting our funds on gambling seems pointless and foolish.
As we walked though the casino we talked about the unlikely possibility of winning in a casino and the natural human behavior to continue gambling until the “winnings’ are gone.  Its irresistible. 

We only know one person who is continually “ahead” of the game, playing smart poker, leaving the tables when losing, not getting emotional about winning or losing. He knows who he is.  That would not be us!  Thus, we stay away.

As you read this post, you might say, “Good grief, these two are conservative!”

You know what?  There’s nothing conservative about leaving everyone you know and love,
getting rid of everything you own, being car-less, homeless and stuff-less. We’re new at this.  We’ve decided to pace ourselves,  physically, financially and emotionally.  As we experience more and morev overtime, we’ll spread our wings always striving to make financial, security and physical safety a priority.

Shortly after 9 PM we were seated at a cozy window table for two, white linen napkins placed on our laps as a flurry of servers scurried around us: cocktail waiter, wine steward, waiter’s assistant, tuxedo dressed waiter and then, the head maître d whom we’ve come to know these past few days.

There was little on the menu in the way of appetizers or entrées that fit my strict diet.  The
waiter insisted they will make anything I want.  I opted for an appetizer seafood platter with sautéed scallops and shrimp on a bed of cabbage and arugula with grilled grape tomatoes, again a tangy Caesar salad minus croutons and grilled salmon accompanied by my usual plate of steamed buttered vegetables.  

Tom continues to surprise mebwhen he ordered the seafood risotto appetizer as well as the butternut squash soup  Oh my, all these years I’ve suggested he try new foods, falling on deaf ears.  Now, he tries and enjoys everything put inr front of him.  

Almost every night at dinner, as he spreads his epicurean wings, he asks me if I’m mad at him for
turning down all the fancy foods I prepared for myself   I am thrilled he’s trying them now.

As the dessert menus were handed to us, the waiter in the tuxedo said, “Madame, Chef Xavier has a dessert for you.”

Tom ordered the Tiramisu.  Moments later, the waiter appeared with Tom’s traditional Tiramisu, setting it in front of him and then grinning from ear to ear proudly placed a bowl of low carb, gluten-free, grain-free, starch-free, sugar-free Tiramisu in front of me.

Looking up at Tom from what appeared to be a bowl of pure wonderfulness, we both smiled at the same time. Yes, this is heaven. And yes, it was delectable…

We survived it all..December 21 and MIFI rental for world travel…

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As Tom’s three sisters and two brothers-in-law walked out the door yesterday, the day after Christmas, they asked us of we were getting excited. 

Tom, not giving me a chance to answer, chimed in, “You know what?  Jess planned all of our world travels.  And I just went along with it, figuring that the world was gonna’ end on December 21st and it wouldn’t matter.  So now, it does matter, and it’s time to start getting excited.”

We all roared with loud bursts of laughter. I had nothing more to say after that.  They were all headed back to their winter homes in Apache Junction, Arizona, and us, today back to our awaiting vacation home in Scottsdale to hook up with them again on December 30th for final goodbyes and sister Colleen’s birthday party.

Yesterday morning, we met up with my dear sister Julie and her significant other at son Richard‘s office in Henderson to have our wills and health care directives witnessed and notarized which will be secured in the family member’s hands while we travel. Yes, it was morbid doing this, but a necessary element of our travels and life itself.

Handing Julie our complete medical files put our minds at ease that should we ever need anything she’ll have it readily available. Julie like me, embroils herself in the details, making her a logical choice.  Of course, she would immediately notify all of our children if anything happened to us.

In addition, we have designated Julie as our contact person.  We will report to her with the contact information, phone numbers, and email for property owners prior to departure and arrival at each location. For instance, if we are due to arrive in France on a certain date and Julie doesn’t hear from us within 24 hours, she will immediately notify our adult children and begin the process of finding out what has transpired.  This is important.

We’ve all heard stories of travelers being kidnapped, lost in a jungle, or any other possible scenarios. It’s unlikely any of this will occur to us. In the event, an unforeseen situation does occur Julie will be highly diligent in tracking us down.

This provides all of our families with a sense of security. Although a little time consuming, it’s also a comfort to Tom and me to know that a nearly immediate effort would be instituted to “find us” if we’re missing. Julie, a TV producer, is an experienced world traveler with many worldwide contacts.  It’s logical for her to be assigned this task.  Thanks, sis!

Yesterday, we ordered our MIFI from XCOM GLOBAL that provides us with global wireless Internet access for up to five devices from a small wallet-sized device.  I’ve mentioned this many times on this blog finally placing our first order.  Pricier than we anticipated at $538 for the first month, we bit the bullet. 

The usual cost for using the device in one country is $399 a month plus shipping which may be as much as $100 each time it is shipped to us, with the high cost of international shipping.  We refused the $3.95 a month insurance for the device, at another $120 a month. 

The reason this particular first month’s rental was so high is due to the fact that we chose to try the device while cruising through the Panama Canal, which including it being set to work not only in Panama but also Mexico, Columbia, and the US while we’re in ports of call.  While at sea, it won’t work being too far from a cell tower. 

During those periods of time, we’ll use the ship’s Internet access at $395 which provides us each with one hour online per day for each of the 15 days for this first cruise.  This is expensive at $26.33 at roughly $13.17 apiece per day. 

MIFI from XCOM GLOBAL, although represented on their website that they offer unlimited access, will not allow more than 750 megabytes in any three day period.  If we do, they will turn off the system.  This allows us each 100’s of email messages per day, many more than either of us currently receive. 

We had decided that this would not be sufficient online usage for us.  We have personal business to conduct, ongoing travel research and arrangements, and of course, email messages from family and friends.  Thus, when Internet access if of poor quality or unavailable, we will order the device to be sent to us.  At this point, we anticipate using the MIFI approximately six months of the year since many vacation homes will have high-speed Internet access.

We are asking everyone to please continue to send us an email with text only beginning January 1, 2013, while we’re using the MIFI.  Receiving text-only email messages will mean “the world” to us being so far removed from everyone we know and love. Please keep the communication coming minus the videos and multiple photos.  Posting those videos and photos on Facebook will enable us to see them when we aren’t monitoring our usage.  We love hearing from you.

Today we’re heading back to Scottsdale, after more sorrowful goodbyes, for our final four days before our trip to San Diego for two more days before boarding our cruise to the Panama Canal, taking us away at long last. It’s hard to believe it’s finally only one week away. 

We have to repack all of our bags, clean our condo, finish our insurance planning, go to a birthday party, and brace ourselves for what is yet to come.                                                                                                                     

Green Valley Ranch, Henderson, Nevada check in…

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Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, to our vacation rental in Green Valley Ranch, a newer community with massive amounts of stores, restaurants, gated communities, and a  mere sprinkling of casinos. 

It doesn’t feel like Las Vegas with its slot machines in every gas station or public building.  Instead, it feels welcoming, safe, and low on tourists.

Entering the single-family home for the eight days we reserved over Tom’s birthday and Christmas, we knew immediately that we were “home.” A fresh smell wafted through the air (love that word!), welcoming us as we maneuvered through the door arms laden with “stuff.”

Unloading my arms onto the living room floor, I ran about from room to room squealing with delight. Each room had its own surprise to behold. 

From the stack of perfectly folded crisp white towels and washcloths in each of three bedrooms, two baths, and an ample linen closet, to the full-size bars of new soaps atop each stack, no stone was left unturned.  

The kitchen, fully stocked with every amenity, had a “working” ice machine, ground coffee, cream, some basic ingredients along with every small appliance we could possibly use.  Three flat-screen TVs, a pool table, stereo, and old fashioned boxed games were available for our entertainment.

The pool, although not heated and an extra $100 a day to heat (it’s too cold here now in the 30s!) has a free-use hot tub (forgot my suit) in a well-equipped yard with high top table, chairs, and a huge newer grill. Too bad it’s not 90 degrees!

The rent for the eight days, although much more than we’ll pay outside the US for most houses, was fair at $1500 which included a $250 cleaning deposit which we expect to get back.  We did the math.  Most likely we would have paid $165 a night for a hotel (including taxes) during the holidays, plus tips, valet parking, plus all meals in a restaurant, and how much lost with easy access to gambling.  Surely we would have spent at least $400 a day for an estimate of $3200.

Staying in this lovely home, cooking for Tom’s party, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day including our guests, our grocery and dining out budget is $1050, leaving us with a total of $2300 saving us $900 or more depending on how much we’d have lost gambling (we don’t usually gamble but when it’s at hand, it’s hard to resist). 

This is the first Christmas in my adult life that I won’t be shopping in a frenzy, wrapping gifts with elaborate hand made bows, baking a wide array of delectable cookies, and of course, decorating every corner of the house. In an odd way, it’s liberating.  We’ll miss family back in Minnesota and we’ll revel in family and friends here in Nevada.  Life is filled with trade-offs.

Soon, we’ll head to our two dentist appointments for our final cleanings, then off to the travel clinic for Tom’s final Twinrix vaccine.  Then, to the grocery store for the ingredients for the lesser amount of baking, I’ll do this year. 

It won’t be gluten-free, low carb, sugar-free, grain-free, starch-free.  It will be delicious, fattening, gooey, filling up this lovely home with smells that remind us of “home.”  I won’t take a taste.  Tom will take off a few days for this special time, his 60th birthday, and some of his favorite treats.

Hum. There’s no rolling pin. What shall I use in its place?

P.S. After writing the above this morning, then rushing out the door to the dentist’s office, I had yet to post it. Upon returning a few minutes ago, it was imperative that I amend it.  We just had the most amazing dental appointment in our lives, a referral from son Richard at Dr.Patrick Simone’s office in Henderson, Nevada.

Walking into his plush, well-appointed office puts me, a dental phobic, instantly at ease. From the elegant, upscale furnishings to the artwork to the well-equipped beverage bar and, the service, impeccable!  Even the restroom was a sight to behold with every imaginable accouterment. 

It almost felt as if we should tip not only the receptionist, but also Terry, the knowledgeable, personable, and thoughtful hygienist.  Instead of the usual hand performed cleaning, scraping away at our gums and teeth, Terry used a laser implement as an adjunct to the traditional cleaning. She used “before and after” photos that were shocking. 

After the cleaning, she performed what she referred to as “sandblasting” the surface of our teeth with a high powered baking soda spray.  The taste was awful.  The result, mind-blowing. My teeth hadn’t been this white since I was a toddler. We couldn’t be happier. 

As we paid our reasonable bill of $226 (for both of us), they thanked us profusely handing us a giant apple pie! Who gets an apple pie from the dentist?  I was thrilled with the bag of dental supplies Terry loaded up for our travel. And then, this giant pie. Wow! 

Need I say that we were impressed?  If you live near or around Henderson or are visiting Las Vegas and a dental situation arises, Dr. Simone’s office is the place to call.

Gee, for the eight days we’re, here in Henderson over the holidays, this does feel like home, minus the grandkids, the grown kids, the friends, the beautifully decorated tree, the elegantly wrapped gifts, the oversized glass jars filled with home-baked cookies, the Santa Bears adorning every corner and on and on.

Life will be different going forward.  Good, but, different.

Photos of upcoming vacation home in Nevada!…

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Pool and Spa
Pool and hot tub in Nevada house.
Living room
Living room.

Below are the photos of the Henderson, Nevada vacation rental we’ll be moving into this upcoming Wednesday after a five-hour drive across the desert. We posted these photos many months ago, doing so again today for our newer readers.

Master bedroom.
Second of three bedrooms.

A charming house with great reviews in VRBO.com located in the fabulous Green Valley Ranch area in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, will definitely serve our needs for eight days over the holidays with family and friends coming to visit for the three days between Tom’s 60th birthday on the 23rd and Christmas.  We couldn’t be more thrilled.

3rd bedroom
Third bedroom.

Over the next two days, we’ll busily pack for the eight days in Nevada, finish the balance of our paperwork, pack the food and cooking supplies we’ve accumulated while in Scottsdale, and the hardest part of all, decide what we’re leaving behind in one final bin we’ll leave at son Richard‘s house.

Kitchen, dining area.

This is the hardest part.  Once we leave the vacation house in Henderson on the 27th, we return to the vacation house in Scottsdale for our final packing before leaving on January 1st for San Diego to ultimately sail away on January 3rd.  Any items we don’t bring to Henderson now become a part of our luggage, an impossible scenario.

2nd Living room
Casual dining and lounge area off of the kitchen.

We have warm clothes that we aren’t bringing (Good thing we brought them along for the cold weather we’ve experienced lately), piles of papers to pass off to my sister Julie who’ll spend Tom’s birthday and Christmas with us as well. 

Pool Table
Pool table in the living area.

Julie will keep our medical files with test results, our health care directives, and stacks of legal documents that we completed on Friday.  We’ll leave our tax prep receipts in a banker’s box with Richard. 

Kitchen
The kitchen is dated, but serves our needs.

Oh, it goes on and on.  There’s so much to remember much of which I listed on a Nevada “to do” and others that require me walking around and “looking” at everything to further remind me. Thank goodness, my memory is serving me well. 

Living room
Main living room.

Not only will we move into the house below, but we’ll get ready for Christmas, baking (for guests), decorating (just a little), and go to our dentist appointments for final cleanings.  After the dentist, Tom has an appointment at a local travel clinic for his last TwinRix vaccine. 

Spa
Hot tub as part of the pool.

Plus, we’ll complete the arrangements for the sale of Tom’s car (prospective buyer in the works), hopefully, to transpire while we’re in San Diego over the last two days.  If that doesn’t work out for any reason, of course, we have a Plan B. 

On January 2, we’ll take the SUV to a local dealer and sell it for whatever they’ll give us.  Apparently, there’s a shortage of clean used vehicles. After pricing it at Edmunds, we feel confident that we will sell it for close to the dealer’s wholesale price. It’s a 2010 model and in perfect condition.  We’re already prepared for a low offer accepting this reality as part of the process, especially after doing so poorly at our estate sale. Ouch!  Nobody cares to pay what we feel “our stuff” is worth.  

Here’s the link to the details and photos about the Henderson home.  (Please excuse the formatting issues. It’s rather tricky copying and pasting photos from other web sites.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, web design is not my forte).
http://www.vrbo.com/301335

Never been cruising?…What????…

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Many have laughed when we say that we have never been on a cruise and now, we’ve booked eight cruises.  How risky, they say.  We ask, “What’s the risk?”

When we’ve dared to ask what they perceive as the risk, here are the answers:

1.  Seasickness:  Unlikely, since both of us are avid boaters.  If we could avoid seasickness bouncing around in a small fishing boat on a very windy day on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota with nary a thought about seasickness, it’s highly unlikely we’ll get sick on a giant ship with built-in stabilizers.  Backup plan: we have several prescribed packets of Transderm Scop.

2.  Boredom:  Nope, not likely.  Tom and I are easily entertained. We will participate in many activities, meet people, play cards, attend classes, and relax in a chaise lounge by the pool reading downloaded books on our phones.  The options to be entertained are endless.

3.  The food will be a problem with our limited diet:  Why would the food be a problem?  We eat.  They have food.  Will we be tempted on occasion to try something we don’t normally eat? Sure.  But we’ll remind ourselves every day that our ability to travel the world is predicated upon our good health. Why jeopardize feeling well for even one day for a French pastry?  To me, it’s not worth it. For Tom, he may occasionally try a few items.  Neither of us will judge the other for their personal decisions, although we’ll continue to offer loving support on staying the course. 

4.  Tiny, cramped cabin: We booked a balcony cabin for each cruise and managed a few upgrades to mini-suites. We’ll spend little time in our cabin. Our world-travel bags currently are all in our bedroom here in Scottsdale, only slightly larger than a cabin (we measured).  We’ll stack them neatly in one area.  We’re tidy.  We’ll be fine.

5.  Extra charges aboard cruise:  As discussed in a post from earlier in the week, we’ve made decisions in advance, based on our budget as to what extras we will choose:  purchase Internet time, purchase cocktails when desired (not the overpriced beverage package unfitting a lightweight drinker) and experience one or two excursions.  (The exception to that will be the upcoming cruise to Dubai in May to see Giza, the Sphinx, and the Great Pyramids.  We’ll do all of these!)  Neither of us cares for professional massages, spa treatments, gambling, or spending money in the expensive shops. We have no room for trinkets in our bags.  We may incur a laundry charge aboard ship most likely upwards of $100 a load.  We’ve budgeted for the expenses that we anticipate and, leaving a margin for the unknowns.

I guess it all boils down to this: self-control.  We need only to remind ourselves of our next adventure, our next juicy steak topped with mushrooms and onions, our next refreshing glass of iced tea with a slice of lemon, and of course, the person we love sitting beside us who makes us laugh warms our heart and holds our hand through it all. 

Yesterday, while checking in online with Celebrity Cruise Line for our first upcoming cruise on January 3, 2013, we perused information for our later cruise leaving Miami on January 21, 2013 sailing to Belize where we’ll live for two and a half months on each of the peninsulas of Placencia and Ambergris Caye. 

We’ll be disembarking in Belize City, three days prior to the end of the cruise.  (We have written approval from the cruise line to disembark early).  We’ve discovered that the pier in Belize City is too shallow for cruise ships to dock and thus, we’ll be “tendered” to shore via a smaller boat. 

For a moment we both panicked envisioning the process of maneuvering our eight pieces of luggage, our computer and digital equipment bags, my handbag, and ourselves into a small boat.  This morning, after a fitful night we promptly called the cruise line to discover that the boat picking us up will be boarded via a large stable ramp to awaiting boats holding anywhere from 100 to 200 passengers at a time.  We’ll not only have assistance from the ship’s employees but also the staff on the smaller boats since they also assist passengers as they are boarding.  No fear!  Whew!

There’s no doubt that the simplicity of our “old” life avoided such decisions, avoided such challenges, avoided such risks.  In the perpetual search for familiarity, comfort, and ease, we found ourselves, happy but stuck in a groove we could have blissfully stayed as we lived out our lives in retirement. 

We’ve chosen “the road less traveled” to challenge ourselves, to expand our knowledge, to enhance our personal histories, and to celebrate and appreciate the amazing world and the people in it.  We’ll make some bad decisions, we’ll make some wrong turns, and at times we may wonder, “why are we doing this?”  But we’ll do this together, we’ll learn together and we’ll marvel together, always grateful and always in love.

Living in Scottsdale, budgeting for this life..

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Our Scottsdale dining table set for tonight’s dinner guests. Much to my amazement, there were linen napkins and placemats in the condo.  Five for dinner tonight.

We’ve been living in Old Town Scottsdale for almost a month, an ideal area for travelers.  Within a mile to the upscale shopping mall in downtown Scottsdale, walking distance to the Arts Walk District in Old Town, a mere 10-minute walk from our condo, we are literally within range of hundreds of eateries, shopping, and entertainment.

Fine dining is abundant as well as casual theme orientated bistros, cafes, and local versions of fast food, this area is limited in the usual sprinkling of chain restaurants, a delight to see.

While living in Minnesota, far from everything, we seldom dined out.  Tom drove almost an hour each way to work and back and the thought of a long drive to dining out was never appealing to us on the weekends.  We always blamed it on the fact that I enjoyed cooking and we loved lounging at home.

Now, we’ve confirmed that it was the drive more than anything that kept us away.  Living close to everything prompts us to look at one another each day asking, “Shall we go out to breakfast?” or “Want to go out to dinner tonight?”

Fast and furiously my fingers are flying across the keyboard reading the multitude of online reviews for the local restaurants.  We have yet to venture out to the half-hour drive to the McCormick Ranch area, where I had tried to find us a vacation home to rent for the two months, finding nothing under $4000 a month.  

Living in our well equipped and well kept 1100 square foot one-bedroom, poolside condo, we’ve been content.  The high-speed Internet works, although problematic when we first arrived, fixed immediately by the management company, allowing us to continue to work on our technology and research. 

View from our dining/living room in Scottsdale condo.

The kitchen has every gadget known to man/woman, except a rolling pin (I thought of making low carb tortillas, scrounging around looking for one).  There’s linen placemats and napkins (yeah!) and reasonably nice dishes.  The frying pan situation is lacking with one difficult to clean stainless steel pan and another old flaky Teflon pan I refuse to use. 

I’ve made breakfast using Reynold’s No Stick foil (on the dull side) on a glass 13 x 9″ pan, placing the sausages and bacon in the oven at 375 degrees to bake for 20 minutes while the huge low carb, gluten-free pancake bakes in the same time frame in a pie plate, again covered with the foil.  In the last four minutes I drop the eggs into the pan I used for the bacon and sausages.  Voila! We have a delicious baked breakfast and I must admit perfect jumbo pancake and eggs.

One might think it would make sense to buy a $10 pan while here for two months, but I decided long ago… improvise.  There will be vacation homes around the world severely lacking in many of the amenities we’ve enjoyed in the past.  Change and flexibility are in order going forward.

Last night we went out to dinner at a local diner in Old Town, David’s Hamburgers for one of the best bun-less burgers on the planet.  We’d gone there for a great breakfast on Thursday morning. 

Upon ordering the lettuce wrapped avocado adorned, stringy cheese, crisp onion, and fresh tomato covered burger for breakfast, I told Tom we must come back here for him to enjoy the same for dinner after he had eaten eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast. 

Drooling over the prospect of another of those burgers for two days, we went back last night enjoying a great reasonably priced meal in the cozy diner before attending another hilarious night at The Comedy Spot also in Old Town. 

We’re already “regulars” in Old Town as many of the seniors moseying around the area have become. Perhaps, the comfort of the familiar goes hand-in-hand with being a senior citizen.  In simple terms, “love the one you’re with.”

Living on a strict budget, documenting every expenditure makes us conscious of how we spend our money.  Now on a more fixed income, committed to all of our future travel plans, its imperative to continue to refer to our pre-planned budget so meticulously outlined on our Excel workbook with multiple spreadsheets. 

We have local copies of our budget saved to both of our laptops, to DropBox and also to SkyDrive, the cloud that came with Windows 8 and, of course on our new My Passport 2 terabyte external hard drive.  It’s safe.  

With that budget in mind, we’ve only dined in more upscale ($$$) restaurants three times since we’ve arrived in Scottsdale, each time spending $100-$120 with tips. Having budgeted for a few of these such occasions each month, we were comfortable spending the money. 

Our budget allows for $800 a month in groceries and approximately $300 a month for entertainment.  If we spend less on groceries, we have more for entertainment or we can roll it over to extras we may purchase on our upcoming eight cruises. 

Some may cringe at the thought of two people spending $800 a month on groceries.  Based on our diet of mostly organic vegetables and grass-fed meat, occasionally entertaining others, beverages, purified water, paper products, and cleaning supplies, we have found it nearly impossible to trim this number. 

Without a doubt, it will be near this number in other locales, although the grass-fed meat may be more economic in some parts of the world where it is more prevalent than the grain-fed meat supply here in the US.  We shall see and report back later.

Tomorrow, Monday, we’ll purchase two cashier’s checks made out to the US Department of State for $170 each to send to VisaHQ along with all the necessary completed forms, after paying their $154 in processing fees, to apply for our 2nd passports with extra pages.  They’ll be awaiting us at our mailing service in Las Vegas when we’ll head to Henderson to spend Tom’s 60th birthday on the 23rd and Christmas with family in yet another vacation home.

Lots of details, aren’t there?  When speaking with my wonderful friend Chere on Friday, a loyal reader of this blog, we both marveled at how travelers managed to explore the world before technology, before credit cards, before cell phones, before the Internet, before cameras, and before the myriad gadgets we use today. 

This left me asking, “what benefits do we derive having the availability of all of these resources?”  Convenience, simplicity, preparedness, and awareness, all of which could fly out the window in a single moment if something goes wrong. 

Oh.

New unlocked phone ready to go…

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The Motorola Razer Maxx that arrived on Wednesday is now activated, loaded with my contacts, my email, all my apps, and of course, has a slot ready to receive the first SIM card, we will soon install, along with adding a SIM card to Tom’s unlocked SIM card-ready Motorola Razer.

As I had mentioned in the last post about our phones, the newer smartphones come with a slot only suitable for a micro SIM card as opposed to a standard SIM card which is much larger.  Many countries only offer standard-size cards.  This was a concern until I found that a nifty device exists, the SIM card adapter.

Needing a case/protector to fit the new phone, that was priced at $25 each at the Verizon store, I researched my favorite cell phone supply site:  www.cellphoneshop.net.  There, I purchased the appropriate case for the phone and the SIM card adapter for a grand total of $9.97 including shipping.

If you shop there, use the coupon code: “freeship2 ” (minus the quotes) for free shipping on orders over $20.  I only spent $6 for the two items happily paying the $3.97 shipping fee.  It would have been over $38 for the two items purchased elsewhere.  I’ve been shopping at that site for years, extremely pleased with their products, pricing, return policy (only returned an item once), and customer service.

Much to my delight, the 368 photos I had on my phone automatically loaded to my Dropbox cloud on both my new phone and now to my Windows 8 laptop.  On numerous occasions, I’ve tried to move the photos on my old DroidX phone to my computer.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move them over. 

Somewhat adept at this technology stuff, the frustration factor was intense.  At times, I literally spent an hour or more trying to find a solution, utilizing software, apps, cables, Bluetooth, and sheer determination to no avail.

Yesterday, while setting up the new phone with most of my apps rolling over, Dropbox “suggested” we move over the smartphone photos.  “YES!”  I hollered at Dropbox. “YES!  Do it!!”

An hour later all the photos of those precious grandkids, Mother Nature’s whimsical morsels, those adorable dogs we’ve so much treasured, and the special foods lovingly prepared, finally in the Dropbox folder on my computer and my new phone. 

As much as I love learning technology, at times I am totally oblivious of how things work.  It was a total surprise to me that my old Droid X phone, now de-activated actually still picks up a WiFi signal and can be used to go online.  Had I taken the time to think about this, it makes all the sense in the world.  Live and learn.

Now, I am challenged by how we can use this 3rd WiFi receiving device (my old phone) when we already have two unlocked smartphones ready to install SIM cards in any country in which we’ll travel.  Once we leave the US, five weeks from now, we’ll surely figure it out.  In any case, this 3rd device is coming with us.

I’ll go back to shopping online (to be received at our mail service in Nevada, where we’ll be over the holidays) to find the perfect SIM cards that will not only work with our specific smartphones in any foreign country but also here in the US for the few occasions that we are in Florida between cruise ship sailings. 

Keep in mind, our two contracts with Verizon have expired.  We are under no obligation to continue to be connected with any carrier.  Thus, beginning January 3, 2013, we will request to be disconnected from Verizon and begin utilizing SIM cards for both phone service and data.  Yes, we’ll pay for the data we use via the cards and the calls we make.  Mainly, we’ll be making calls using SKYPE, most often at no charge. 

The data, although expensive using a SIM card will be as much as 90% less than the cost of using data offered by a cell phone provider. Thus, no need for cell service.  When we are using the previously mentioned XCOM Global MiFi device, as needed, in a few of the vacation home where wireless broadband is not available or working, the data on our phones will work from that connection.

In any case, the cost of the MiFi device, which may be needed for about four months a year on average, is roughly $400 a month, averaging annually at $100 a month.  In itself, this is less than we paid for our cell phones and Internet access in our home in the past. (When using the device from XCOM Global, which provides data only, we’ll only use the SIM cards for emergency phone calls when we aren’t near our computers to use Skype).

Would the average traveler have to go to this length to figure out how to use their smartphones?  No, a one month vacation or less would not require this much use of technology.  They’d gingerly use international roaming at exorbitant rates, potentially racking up $100’s in data charges if not careful. 

We’ve all heard the stories of youngsters playing games on their phones on cruise ships, resulting in $1000’s in charges that shocked the parents when they later received their final cruise bill payable before disembarking. 

That won’t be us!  We’ve been warned.  We’ll turn off roaming to prevent the cruise ship from charging us any more than we’ll need.  On the cruises, we’ve booked (eight so far) we’ll bite the bullet going online for short periods each day to download our email, upload our photos and of course, post our blog. 

So, enough about phones. On to other matters at hand, such as having guests for dinner this weekend here in Scottsdale, Tom’s two sisters and brother-in-law, and again, the following weekend when friends from Minnesota arrive for the weekend. 

Whew!  It’s about time we begin to relax!  Oh, then there’s Tom’s colonoscopy prep next Wednesday for his two tests next Thursday and taxes to prepare for the year’s end and more technology to learn, and 2nd passports and visa’s to process and the trip to Las Vegas for Christmas and Tom’s 60th birthday party and on and on. 

Our new residency…State of Nevada

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It feels different living away from Minnesota, not better, not worse.  Just different. No snow, no cold, predictably warm and sunny days and a mad excess of shopping and restaurants.

Yesterday afternoon, while driving the five hours to Las Vegas from Scottsdale for the weekend, we stopped for gas in the desert town of Kingsman, Arizona, a familiar stopping point for a travelers along their way to California or Nevada.

Getting low on gas with another hour plus to go, Tom pulled in to a busy gas station, right off the highway.  Lo and behold, they didn’t accept credit cards, only cash a customer may have on hand or, from their cash machine conveniently positioned on the gas pump island, in order to collect a $2.75 “processing fee” from the machine for every transaction. 

By avoiding paying standard credit card fees by allowing only debit cards, the gas station was allowed to line their coffers with the excess revenues they were generating  from the cash machines!

What a rip off!  Customers were furious as they were sucked in by this scam grumbling as they begrudgingly complied.

Not my guy!  He whipped out of there so fast that his SUV’s tires were squealing,  We proceeded a quarter mile down the road to pump gas at a station with no such policies.  As he was filling the tank he realized that the gas he was pumping was $.50 more per gallon!  Oh good grief! 

Everyone had warned us about getting ripped off outside the US! Ha!  It was a good reminder to be suspicious; not paranoid, to be mindful; not obsessive, wherever we may be. So we shall.

So today, situated in to our comfortable family member’s home in Henderson for the weekend, located in an ideal area, we prepared ourselves for several tasks today:

1.  Go to MailLink in Las Vegas and pick up all of our accumulated forwarded mail from the past two weeks.
2.  Go to a CVS or Walgreen’s pharmacy to have take additional passport photos necessary to apply for our second passports (will explain this soon) and also as required when applying for certain visas around the world.
3.  Apply for Nevada driver’s licenses and voter’s registration. (We’ve been warned that the wait is horrifying.  More on that in a moment.)
4.  Find a good restaurant for breakfast.
5.  Find our bank in order to deposit some checks that had arrived in the mail.
6.  Locate a Target  store to  purchase a new FitBit pedometer after the most recent device fell apart.  (I must get back to tracking those 10,000 daily steps, severely lacking over the past two weeks.)

OK.  The Nevada DMV, a pure nightmare, we heard.  We had talked to several residents warning us to be prepared for hours spent waiting in line.  Of course, we had a plan.  Showing up 15 minutes before they were to open at 8:00 am and getting in the growing line outside the building seemed like a reasonable solution. 

Upon arriving at 7:43, we cringed as we witnessed no less than 40 people in line while a light rain was falling on a chilly morning in the low 50’s.  Unprepared, arriving without jackets or rain gear we decided to tough it out.  We were tempted to drive away and come back at a later time, anticipating that the line might lighten up later in the day. 

Let’s stay, I coaxed Tom, he too in a lightweight long sleeved shirt.  In line we went. At 7:55 they started letting us inside. Much to our surprise, there were no less than 25 stations utilizing a sophisticated numbering system, reminiscent of a computerized female voice moving the cattle-like crowd in sci-fi movie we watched years ago. 

In no time at all, we were both seated in front of a DMV “officer” providing our copious documents to satisfy the state’s requirements.  We were well armed.

An hour later, we were out the door with our Nevada residency in tact, former Minnesota residents (Tom, a lifelong fifth generation Minnesotan, that predates Minnesota statehood) and me, having enjoyed the frozen tundra and Minnesota nice (to be missed) for the past 40 years.  Thank you Minnesota.  Hello, Nevada.

And, soon, my friends…48 days…hello, world.