Day 9…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from “White Night” on Azamara Journey…One day and counting…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 8, 2023 with 2 Comments

We won’t post more photos from our Norway cruise going forward other than today’s posting from the fabulous “White Night” aboard Azamara Journey, as shown on this post, not in a separate post. I appreciate your patience while we shared photos from our first cruise when the WiFi signal was too weak to post photos. We excluded a few ports of call for expediency.

The decor by the pool was decorative and festive for the occasion of “White Night.”

Day 11…Norway Cruise…Last night’s fantastic “White Night”…Today…Alta, Norway…

We were looking forward to posting the photos from the Azamara “White Night” but had decided to post them after we’d posted them from the ports of call on the Norway cruise. Now that it is completed, I can relax and return to preparing one post each day.

This was my delicious plate! It was amazing that there were many items I could eat.

We hope you enjoy the photos from that night, which we consider our favorite event on the two cruises. It wasn’t so much about the socialization, which was great, but more about the festive atmosphere on a night that put the Azamara staff to work on many aspects of the event.

There was plenty of seating for the ship’s 578 passengers.

Officers were serving food, and it appeared most of the staff was in attendance, ensuring it was a memorable night for each one of its passengers. It was flawless, with every aspect prepared and executed to the most finite detail. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The food was not only delicious but also presented beautifully.

We’ve had a busy morning. We slept until around 8:00, and by 9:00 am, we were comfortably seated in a booth in the restaurant for our usual delicious breakfast. There’s only one more breakfast, and we’ve both loved our delightful meal. Over the years, it has been a real highlight for us when we’ve stayed at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada.

There were more options than I had room for.

Once we finished breakfast, we headed back to our room to put together a pile of clothing to donate to the Goodwill store close to the DMV, where we went on Tuesday to renew our driver’s licenses. The licenses will be sent to our mailing service in a few weeks, and we’ll have them forwarded to us at the hotel in Minnesota where we’ll be staying for the next month.

Next, we headed to Richard’s office to scan a pile of documents left from the mailing service pickup a few days ago, none of which we needed to keep hard copies. We don’t carry “papers” with us, adding to the weight of our bags. After we left Richard’s office, we drove to the Goodwill store, a 15-minute drive. Then, we filled the rental car with petrol and returned to the hotel.

Neither of us selected cheese with so many other exciting options.

Once back in our room, I completed communication with the owners of a house we’re renting in Ecuador, beginning on October 24, after the Galapagos cruise. Negotiating a reasonable price, details we’ll share with photos tomorrow. We’re excited about this new place where we’ll live until January 8, 2024.

From there, we have nothing booked at this time. However, in Ecuador, we’ll decide on future plans in South America or wherever we may travel. It’s all up for grabs. Since the pandemic, we feel comfortable not booking too far into the future, based on the hassles we experienced when we had to cancel many trips, flights, cruises, rental cars, and holiday homes.

The white theme was visually appealing to everyone.

I picked up a copy of our hotel bill so far and found an error this morning. They hadn’t credited us the 50% off we got on the resort fee when we first checked in. A few minutes ago, I received a call from the VIP reception staff, and she’s since made the corrections that will show up on our bill when we check out tomorrow at noon.

As we looked around, we realized how many wonderful people we’d met, all of whom were having a great time. Six sat at our table for more lively conversation.

Late this afternoon at 4:30, my son and his girlfriend will pick us up at the entrance to the resort to head to Summerlin for dinner and a movie. It’s been fun hanging out with them several times since our arrival. This has been a fantastic stay in Nevada, with quality time with family and friends. I am getting a few things done and enjoying this lovely resort.

There were many items I didn’t try when I didn’t want to bother the staff enquiring about ingredients.

Tomorrow, we fly to Minnesota and will attempt to get a new post uploaded before we fly away at 3:45 pm. Thanks for “traveling along with us” on these past journeys. We look forward to more in the future.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 8, 2013:

Our new vegetable stand in Diani Beach, Kenya, is a short walk from our holiday home. Notice the motorcycle. The produce is delivered by motorcycle each day! For more photos, please click here.

Day 8…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from Trondheim, Norway continues today…Two days and counting…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 7, 2023 with 0 Comment

Not our photo, but what a great shot of the Northern Lights in Norway in the winter when they can be seen.

Yesterday afternoon, we watched another movie at the movie theatre in the resort, one Tom didn’t like, Meg 2, The Trench. I’m less picky about these types of movies, and although it wasn’t worthy of many stars, I was moderately entertained. I looked at him several times and hoped he was napping since I knew he was struggling. Finally, it ended, and we were returning to our room to make plans for the evening.

On our walk through the casino, we stopped and made a reservation at Borracha, the Mexican restaurant in the hotel. With our VIP coupon of 20% off all meals (not drinks) at any restaurants in the resort, we thought this would be a good choice. Once we returned to our room, we got a message from my son and his girlfriend that they had made a reservation at Borracha for 6:30 for the four of us. What a coincidence!

I texted the hostess to let her know we’d be canceling our 6:00 pm reservation since we were already included in a 6:30 reservation. Before dinner, while still in our room, I worked on setting up my new Fitbit, which we’d picked up from the mailing service. I charged it and installed a new band I’d purchased with it, a decorative stainless steel band instead of its usual ugly black band.

Since I’d dropped my old Fitbit, breaking the face, I was anxious to get it replaced. With my heart condition, I need to track my heart rate and perform occasional ECGs, provided accurately using the watch with an FDA approval feature. Since we arrived in Nevada a week ago, I haven’t had a single bout of Afib, which makes me hopeful after many episodes in the past month on the two cruises.

Focusing on getting plenty of sleep, which I think was a trigger when staying up too late too many nights, I may have discovered an additional important factor in preventing this awful irregular, fast heartbeat, often lasting for hours. I’ll continue to focus on sleep and lots of walking, which seem to help so much.

In this hotel, it’s a long walk from our room to the restaurants, and we leave the room several times daily. No, my legs can’t walk 10,000 steps a day, but for now, I am managing to get 5,000-6,000 steps per day, quite an improvement from when we were in Florida. Gosh, that seems like a long time ago.

Anyway, by 6:30 pm, the four of us were situated at the comfy booth in the restaurant and had another fantastic time together. The food was mediocre, and Tom was disappointed he couldn’t get a blended Margarita in a Mexican restaurant. He doesn’t care for the non-blended versions. I had trouble finding something to eat and ended up ordering the equivalent of a taco salad, without the shell, topped with a small sliced flank steak. It was good but not great.

In two days, on Saturday, we’ll fly to Minnesota in the afternoon, arriving at 8:45 pm. It certainly has been fun being here. Couple that with feeling better and visits from our friends; our time here in Nevada has been delightful.

Speaking of visits from friends…around 11:00 am, our friends Marilyn and Gary from Utah will arrive to have lunch with us. We didn’t go to breakfast this morning since we’ll be having lunch before too long. We’ll probably have a late dinner tonight since, after eating lunch, we won’t be hungry for quite a while.

The only task we have left to accomplish while here is to go to Richard’s office tomorrow to shred a stack of papers from the mail we picked up yesterday at the mailing service, most with some confidential information. We don’t have a lot of tasks to do in Minnesota other than to go to a Minute Clinic to get a prescription for an altitude sickness medication, acetazolamide, for our arrival in Quito, Ecuador, in a little over a month. It’s 2859 meters (9350 feet) above sea level.

The last time I was at that high an altitude was skiing in Colorado in the 1980s. Tom hasn’t ever been that high. This drug is supposed to prevent the symptoms of altitude sickness. At this point, we don’t want to take any chances with our health.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow, including a photo from today’s get-together with Marilyn and Gary.

Be well.

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

Today, we met Nancy, one of the daytime support staff, at our guarded gate in Diani Beach, Kenya. She was so sweet, holding my hand the entire time we chatted. We love being able to talk to the locals. For more photos, please click here.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

The new post with the photos is located below:

Part 6…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Trondheim, Norway…

Day 7…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from Tromso, Norway continues today…Enjoying times in Nevada…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 6, 2023 with 0 Comment

Trolls are famous in Norway. What Are Trolls from Norse Mythology? Norwegian trolls are believed to be mythical creatures that live in isolated rocks or caves. They are believed to live alone or in small families and are hostile towards humans. As per the troll legends, they are believed to be evil and dangerous beings that prefer the wilderness.

We’ve run out of photos of Las Vegas and may not have time to take more local pictures while we’re here. As a result, we will only post one main photo on the regular daily post from one of the two recent cruises. Once we get to Minnesota, we will try to take photos, but it’s not always possible when busy with family events. Not all family members want their photos posted online. We always respect that.

Yesterday, when Tom’s old railroad friend Mark responded that his wife could not join us for drinks or dinner, I suggested Tom go on his own for some “guy time.” It’s a rarity that he has time to commiserate with friends without me there. Instead, I stayed in the hotel room and chatted on the phone with my friend Kathy (Kathy and Don), who lives in Hawaii. It was great that the time difference worked out when, so often when we chat, we’re dealing with substantial time differences.

Tom returned shortly after 8:00 pm when we headed to the restaurant for a nice dinner. Later, back in our room, we streamed a show and got to sleep by 11:00 pm. Twelve hours later, we were back in the restaurant, having breakfast, and now, close to 11:00 am, I’m making an effort to put a dent in today’s post so soon we can drive to our mailing service to pick up our mail.

Once we get the mail, we’ll be busy for an hour going through everything. We don’t have any big plans for today but have begun to book times to get together with our kids and grandkids in Minnesota. We’re starting with a busy Sunday, hoping to see all three of our kids in one day.

From there, we will have over a month to spend plenty of time with everyone, including time with Tom’s siblings and other family members and several friends we hope to see. It will be a fun and busy time until we finally leave for South America in October. It will be tricky managing the use of the rental car when we each have separate families to visit, and sometimes we each have to go our own way. But, as always, we’ll figure it out.

At least this time, we won’t be sick and can see everyone. When we had COVID-19, we spent weeks in Minnesota and never were able to spend time with the family for fear of infecting them, even after we tested negative. We were still coughing and wondered if we could infect anyone regardless of testing negative. There were mixed reviews on this topic.

It’s hard to believe we leave Nevada in three days, but we’ve got a lot done while we are here and spent quality time with family and friends who’ve come to visit. The surprise of Rita and Gerhard flying in from the state of Washington for six hours was quite a treat.

Tomorrow, friends Marilyn and Gary arrive at our hotel at 11:00 am, and we’ll have lunch together. We’re looking forward to seeing the two of them and are grateful they are driving the long way to see us. We are lucky to have such fine friends in many places.

Otherwise, we have a quiet day today with not much going on. We just returned from the mailing service and picked up all our packages and a small stack of mail, nothing too important. I’m anxious to set up my new Fitbit, but I will do that after everything else is gone through and when I finish today’s two posts.

This afternoon, we’re heading to another movie at the Regal Theatre here in the resort. It’s such fun for us to go to a movie after not doing so for a long time while living outside the US.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 6, 2013:

The goats in the rear yard of this property in Diana Beach, Kenya, posed for us when Hans‘ two small dogs, Gucci and Jessie, chased them into their goat house. For more photos, please click here.

The new post with the photos is located below:

Part 5…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Tromso, Norway…

Day 6…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Svolvaer Norway continues today…Fantastic dinner with family…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 5, 2023 with 0 Comment

Yesterday afternoon, we stopped at a liquor store for wine and beer on the way to Richard’s home for dinner. I found a low-carb, low-alcohol wine for me and a bottle of William Hill Merlot for them, along with some beer. We arrived promptly at 4:00 pm and had a lovely evening, chatting, laughing, and later enjoying a delicious chicken dinner with mashed cauliflower, salad, and au gratin potatoes for Tom.

We’d brought three loads of laundry and got all of them done and folded in no time. It was a relief to have clean clothes once again. We’ll wait until we arrive in Minnesota on the 9th to do laundry again when they have self-service at the hotel. Easy peasy.

More and more structures line the strip each year.

After dinner, we watched a movie, but I slept through half of it, nuzzled up with a comfy blanket on the recliner sofa chair. I couldn’t have been more relaxed and couldn’t help drifting off for a while. I always get teased when I do this, but a movie must be engaging to stay awake after a big meal and glass of wine.

Back at our hotel by 10:00 pm, we put the laundry away and headed to bed, knowing today was the day we had to renew our driver’s licenses at the DMV in Henderson. We have an 11:00 am appointment for both of us. It’s a chaotic place and necessary to have appointments; otherwise, one could wait in a queue for a few hours.

We just returned from the Henderson DMV after our 11:00 am appointments. The DMV is a bustling place, and we were relieved we’d made appointments instead of waiting for hours as we had last time we renewed the licenses in 2019. It appears that we can apply online next time rather than have to appear in person.

In all, the process went smoothly. We filled out the forms and waited for our assigned numbers to be called. We both were processed in less than ten minutes of one another and after our eye tests and photos were taken, we were on our way out the door. It was a relatively painless process.

Tomorrow, we’ll head to our mailing service and pick up whatever mail we have there, including a new Fitbit I purchased a few days ago when the face cracked after dropping it on the asphalt when we were exploring at a port of call during the first cruise in Norway. It was almost three years old, and I’ve found they don’t seem to last any longer than that anyway. I purchased a newer version of the Sense model, a Sense 2. I am anxious to see the new features, if any.

Now, back in our hotel room, I aim to finish today’s post and post photos from the next city on our itinerary in Norway on the Azamara cruise. I hope many of our readers have had a chance to review the added posts for the next town on the Norway itinerary.

The Wynn Las Vegas has 2,716 hotel rooms.

We realize many photos were exciting, but these small fishing villages didn’t necessarily present the best photo ops. If we’d gone out on excursions, surely we would have seen a lot more, but at a typical cost of about $400 per day for such outings and with so many ports of calls on that cruise, we could easily have spent another $5000 which wasn’t in our budget.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the cruises to Norway and the second cruise to Greenland, which gave us an entirely new perspective of what life may be like in these oceanfront villages in these remote locations. We didn’t find that the winter weather would be any worse than what we experienced living in Minnesota for Tom, all of his life, and for me, over 40 years.

Every corner is an opportunity to advertise and promote the many venues in Las Vegas.

After considerable research, it appears the winter weather in both Norway and Greenland was warmer and with less snow than in Minnesota. It’s no wonder we chose to move away.

That’s it for today, folks! We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 5, 2013:

The gate from our veranda in Kenya, our only living room, looks out to the yard. There were no screens, so we were constantly dealing with insects. For more, please click here.

The new post with the photos is located below:

https://worldwidewaftage.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=54629&action=edit

Day 5…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Norway continues today…Fantastic day and evening with Rita & Gerhard…More friends coming to visit!!!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 4, 2023 with 0 Comment

Last evening, while at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Resort and Casino with our dear friends Rita and Gerhard, who flew from Washington to join us for dinner, returning a few hours later. What a joy it was! Such good friends!

It was a pleasure to see Rita and Gerhard waiting for us curbside at the Las Vegas McCarran Airport yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 pm. The six hours we spent with them sailed by so quickly it felt like a blink of an eye. We caught up on everything in our lives over the past year since we’d seen them and dreamed of plans together for the future.

Performers with painted-on breasts walked down the boulevard advertising a show.

Hopefully, we can figure out the timing to meet them somewhere in the world over the next year. With somewhat flexible plans after the first of the year, we should be able to plan something that works for all of us. Also, we look forward to spending more time together in Marloth Park in the next year or two.

But life is in flux, this life we live, and one never knows what may transpire in months/years to come. They are about ten years younger than us and in good health, much better than me. With many recent bouts with Afib, I’ve begun to wonder what the future holds. Getting good sleep seems to be a factor, and I am doing well with that right now and haven’t had a bout since we arrived in Nevada on August 31.

Check out how busy the strip was yesterday, on the Labor Day holiday weekend.

We walk a lot in this massive resort, getting as many as 6000-7000 steps daily. As mentioned, walking isn’t easy for me, but shorter distances seem easier than long ones. We’ll see how it goes.

As for yesterday, when we picked up Rita and Gerhard, our hearts soared with delight over seeing their faces and embracing them both in big hugs. They’d wanted to see the Las Vegas Strip, and Tom drove slowly, following in the traffic on the busy strip, enabling us to take many photos, which we’ve included here today.

The Encore, luxury hotel rooms, and casino.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a high of in the low 90s, a far cry from the typical 110s or higher this time of year. Of course, we didn’t spend much time outdoors. Once we returned to the hotel, we gave them a tour of the hotel and showed them our room, where we sat and chatted for a bit.

With many unforgettable memories to share along with our travels and activities over the past year, the conversation flowed as easily as it always had. It was almost as if we’d never been apart. Our mutual memories of times we spent in Marloth Park were a point in the conversations we kept repeating. Perhaps we’re all meant to be back there together at some point soon.

They will spend about six weeks in Marloth Park at the end of October. They will share their stories and photos of our favorite animals at our favorite house, the Ratel house, where we’ve each stayed at different points in our travels but never at the same time.

While we were with Rita and Gerhard at the restaurant, I heard a beep from WhatsApp on my phone. I took a peek at the message, knowing only a select few special people ever contacted me through WhatsApp. It was a message from friends Gary and Marilyn, another wonderful couple we met from our site who came to Marloth Park and with whom we became great friends, asking if they could visit us while we’re in Nevada. They live in Utah, the next state over to the east.

Rita and Gerhard also came to know Gary and Marilyn while we all were in Marloth Park. They shared in our enthusiasm over the prospect of them coming to visit us in the next few days. We wrapped up our plans with Gary and Marilyn, and they will drive here (over two hours) to see us this upcoming Thursday for lunch! Another fantastic get-together with friends.

We feel so blessed to have made friends from all over the world with whom we stay in close touch. No words can express our appreciation for Rita and Gerhard spending a day traveling to see us. Who flies from the state of Washington to Nevada for dinner, returning the same night? We love this! But only they would be so adventurous! They often bestowed big surprises on us, and this one fits right in!

Now, we look forward to the arrival of Gary and Marilyn in three days, where, once again, we’ll be reminded of how fortunate we are to have such amazing friends. And then, of course, there’s family, and in a few hours, we’ll be heading to my son’s home for dinner, which they are making for us. It will be another memorable day filled with lively conversation and shared experiences. Plus, we’ll do our laundry at his house!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 4, 2013:

A different view of the veranda than yesterday’s posting. With a huge room upstairs without furniture and no living room on the main floor, we’ll have no choice but to spend most of our idle time outside both day and evening. Finally, wearing my African pants last night was appropriate, just spraying my arms and feet. Gee…those pants work well! I wish I’d known about BugsAway clothing while living in Minnesota. The bugs are nasty. For more photos, please click here.

The new post with the photos is located below:

https://worldwidewaftage.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=54629&action=edit

Day 3…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Norway continues today…Exciting upcoming event!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 2, 2023 with 0 Comment

My fabulous egg white omelet with chicken and cheese, cooked in butter, not oil, plus guacamole and salsa, is a delightful breakfast, keeping me full all day.

We continue to enjoy having a fabulous time in Henderson, Nevada, after last evening’s wonderful dinner at Lucille’s Barbecue with my son and his significant other. It was great to see them again after a two-year hiatus, and the four of us enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks at the popular barbecue restaurant.

Back at the hotel by 8:30, we streamed a few shows, relaxed, and drifted off to sleep by 11:00 pm, again having a much-needed good night’s rest. This morning, we bolted out of bed, got showered and dressed for the day, and headed downstairs to the Lucky Penny for another fabulous breakfast. With our VIP status with Expedia, we get 20% off on all meals at the resort, and they have several good restaurants.

Today, we’re posting photos from our delicious breakfasts that we’ll have every morning while we’re staying here until we depart on Saturday, September 9, to fly to Minnesota, where we’ll stay for a little over a month until we go to South America. There’s been lots of moving around, but we are okay with all of it, especially after a few good night’s rest to recover. There is no jet lag here!

So, here’s the exciting upcoming event…Our dear friends, Rita and Gerhard, who live in Vancouver, Washington, are flying here to see us tomorrow, arriving around 1:00 pm, spending the day and evening with us, and flying back out tomorrow night. What an adventure for the four of us, and how thoughtful and generous they are to make this short trip for all of us to catch up.

As most of our regular readers know, we met Rita and Gerhard in Marloth Park, South Africa. They were (still are) long-time readers of our site and had come to Marloth Park based on our frequent postings about how wonderful it is. They booked a holiday house with Louise (one we had previously rented), and no more than a few days after they arrived, we met them, and our magical friendship began. Rita and I hit it off like we’d known each other forever, and Gerhard and Tom did the same.

Collectively, the four of us have been a great team, sharing our lives, our crazy travels, and the joys of living off and on in Marloth Park. Soon, in October, they’ll be returning to “our old house” and will be feeding our favorite animals, including Nyala Norman and his lovely family. Seeing their photos and hearing about their experiences in our absence will be fun.

Tom didn’t eat my fruit, so today, we excluded it. He savored his giant slab of ham, three fried eggs, hash brown potatoes, and two pieces of buttered. toast with jam. Their coffee and whole cream are delightful, with a full pot of regular for Tom and another with decaf for me.

Gosh, we’re looking forward to tomorrow and the lively conversations, sharing and reliving many extraordinary experiences together, countless surprises, and special parties we’ve had together over the past five years since our friendship began. When we’ve been apart, we’ve stayed in touch, as we have with many of the wonderful friends we made in Marloth Park.

Many other friendships have developed from our readers coming to Marloth Park after seeing our endless stream of photos and love for wildlife, nature, and the fine people in the area. We are so grateful for all of our readers and have loved the opportunity to develop lasting relationships with many of you over the years.

Once we finish today’s post, we’ll head over to the nearby movie theatre to see the three-hour movie Oppenheimer. It’s a special treat for us to go to a movie theatre when often they aren’t available in many countries we visit for extended periods. We can get the senior rate for the 3:35 matinee for $12.50 each.

Tom loves to eat a big tub of popcorn while I settle for a sugar-free drink since nothing works for me at the concession stands. As a result, Tom won’t be hungry for dinner tonight, and I suggested to Tom that we pick up something for me on our way back to the hotel. I can run into Whole Foods or Smiths for a salad, which will suit me.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. We hope you are all doing well, and for our US readers, be safe on this busy Labor Day weekend. We’ll be back tomorrow with more.

Be well.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over a period of days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

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

There was no post on this date ten years ago. It was a busy travel day to Kenya!

The new post with the photos is located here:

Part 2…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Haugesund, Norway…

Day 2…Henderson, Nevada…Posting photos from Norway starts today….Comfortably situated in the fabulous Green Valley Ranch Resort…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 1, 2023 with 0 Comment

Tom’s Rueben sandwich and chips, a favorite dinner, last night at Lucky Penny in Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada.

No words can express how relaxed and at ease we are now that we’ve arrived at the beautiful Green Valley Ranch Spa, Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada. Last night, I slept for about 11 hours. I fell asleep at about 7:00 pm and awoke a few times during the night but for short times only. Gosh, that feels good today!

Tom is doing great, and he, too, is happy to be at this beautiful resort with fun get-togethers planned over the next nine days until we depart on Saturday, September 9, to fly to Minnesota for one month. The time is flying by quickly, but we are savoring every moment in front of us.

Delicious Cobb salad is one of my favorite dinners.

Last night and again this morning, we ate at the Lucky Penny Restaurant located in the resort. We love their food, and as Expedia VIP members, we get 20% off on food in the resort’s restaurants. Plus, we are entitled to early check-in and late check-out.

I managed to get the resort to reduce their nightly resort fee of $50 to $25 a night, which puts a dent in the cost of meals we eat in their restaurants. We’ll have breakfast here each morning but most likely dine out several nights with Richard and our friends in Henderson. It will all be quite enjoyable.

Sample of colorful cakes the resort will make for special occasions.

It’s great to catch up after all the late nights out on a month of cruises. We often didn’t get to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 am, getting up early for coffee and breakfast. I only ate lunch and dinner since the breakfast options on the cruises were limited for my way of eating. Lunch had many excellent options I enjoyed, but I often ate a little too much and wasn’t hungry for dinner.

Fortunately, neither of us ever gained an ounce on the cruises, which we strive to accomplish each time we cruise. It would feel awful to gain ten pounds cruising and then trying to fit into our clothes. For us, with our limited wardrobes, that could be a serious problem.

Fresh bakery items are offered in the restaurant each day.

In a few days, after Labor Day weekend ends, we’ll head to a local laundromat to wash our clothes. We won’t do it again until we get to Minnesota, where we’ll have access to coin-operated laundry facilities at the Hyatt Hotel in Eden Prairie, where we’ll stay once again.

Today, when the housekeeper comes to clean our room, we’ll head out to our bank to get cash and change and then make our way to a pharmacy for a few items we need before we head to Minnesota. We won’t buy much since our luggage is already overweight and we don’t want to add to the weight. We’ll reduce our load by taking some items to Goodwill while we’re here.

More pricey but delicious-looking baked goods, averaging about $5.50 each.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over a period of days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

The new post with the photos is located here:

Part 1…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Alesund, Norway…

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 1, 2013:

The dissipating smoke from the fireworks set off for a wedding. Both sets of bells in the bell tower rang simultaneously. Tom timed the bell ringing at 20 minutes! We giggled when saying that the bells were ringing as a goodbye to us! For more photos, please click here.

Yesterday’s harrowing drive in Boston…Now, we are in Henderson, Nevada…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 31, 2023 with 2 Comments

Pool view from our gorgeous room at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada.

Whew! Lots of traveling! Lots of walking! Lots of late hours. We’re a little pooped but holding up well.

Here is our itinerary from the past 31 hours:

9:30 am: Disembarked Celebrity Summit in Boston. Took an Uber to the rental car facility at the Logon Airport
10:30 am: Picked up the rental car at Alamo near the airport – highly complex drive from this location
11:00 am: Drove to Embassy Suites Hotel at Logan Airport and received an early check-in
11:30 am: In our room at the hotel, we prepared the post and relaxed for an hour.
3:15 pm: Left the hotel to commence the long drive to meet my cousin Phyllis for dinner in Stoughton, MA. Maps stated it would take about 90 minutes to reach the restaurant due to rush hour traffic. It took two hours in stop-and-go traffic, the worst we’ve experienced in years.
5:15 pm: Reached the restaurant. We had a delightful dinner with Phyllis.
7:30 pm: Headed back toward the airport but decided to drop off the rental car since it was so challenging to drive from the hotel to the car rental facility; we could have a problem getting to the airport by 5:00 am this morning with the road construction and detours in the area.
8:30 pm: Dropped off the rental car and walked to the hotel from the facility. Yikes, it was a long walk for me, but it made no sense to get a taxi when we could see the hotel sign from the rental car building.
9:00 pm: Back at the hotel, planning to go to bed early for our 4:00 am alarm. I didn’t sleep well but got up on time and took the hotel shuttle to the airport
5:30 am: We were able to do curbside check-in for Delta Airlines. After security, we were at the gate an hour before boarding.
6:30 am: Boarded the plane for a 5½ hour flight from Boston to Las Vegas. No food but nuts and chips was served on the plane.
10:00 am: (Three-hour time difference). We arrived in Las Vegas, picked up luggage, and took the tram to a rental car area to wait for the shuttle bus to take us to the rental facility, standing outside in a long queue at 93F, much of which was in the sun.
10:30 am: Arrived at the rental car area and unloaded the bags, which I watched while Tom got the car taken care of
11:30 am: Left the Las Vegas Airport in the rental car and drove the short distance to the Green Valley Ranch Spa and Casino in Henderson
11:45 am: Checked in to the resort in the VIP lounge with lots of nice perks for us regular guests.
12:00 pm: Arrived in our well-appointed, beautiful pool view room to a sigh of relief. We only unpacked a few items we’d need in the next 24 hours.

Tom just made me a big mug of Crystal Light lemonade with my metal straw and lots of big chunks of ice.

At 5:00 pm, we’ll head to dinner in one of the many restaurants in this resort for a much-needed meal. Most likely, we’ll be back in our room by 7:00 or 7:30 pm, where we’ll shower again, chill out, and hopefully get a good night’s sleep. Whew! It’s great to settle in for the next nine days until it’s time to leave again.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, August 31, 2013:

There wasn’t a post on this date ten years ago since it was a travel day.

Day 2 in Scotland…Sightseeing and sail away tomorrow…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 31, 2023 with 2 Comments

Tom’s Sunday Roast of roast pork loin, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, carrots, and au jus. He said it was delicious.

We haven’t gone sightseeing since we arrived in Scotland less than 48 hours ago. We got caught up on sleep, including a few naps, and feel great. Tomorrow our trusty Uber driver Mo will pick us up in the morning, and we will go sightseeing in Edinburgh until our scheduled time to board the ship at 1:30 pm at the port of Leith.

I had asked for the dressing on the side, so they took my plate away and returned with the plain prawns with the sauce on the side.

Since our hotel is over an hour from Edinburgh, it made sense to go sightseeing this way. Plus, the round trip cost to the hotel using an Uber is over US $260 with tips. This way, if we go sightseeing before boarding the ship, we save hundreds of dollars and hours of driving time.

Sure, we could have booked a hotel in Edinburgh, but we hadn’t budgeted over $1500 for the waiting time before the cruise, which was very expensive. Living this life on a budget has limitations, and we must make practical decisions along the way.

I gave Tom my chips, but he didn’t have room for them after eating Sunday Roast.

Always booking our preferred balcony cabins with perks on both cruises (as always) was more important to us. Besides, after almost 11 years of world travel, we have seen more historic castles and buildings than we ever imagined possible, especially in The UK and Europe.

But tomorrow, we’ll see the highlight with Mo driving us through Edinburgh. We will post those photos on the first few days of the cruise and then start posting cruise photos from there on.

At the end of the first cruise, 16 days later, we will fly from Amsterdam to Reykjavik, Iceland, to embark on the next two weeks’ cruise with one overnight stay required. We’d already done an extensive tour in Reykjavik several years ago, thus we won’t be sightseeing there. A month from now, we’ll be disembarking in Boston, where we will stay one night to see my cousin, Phyllis.

Then we fly to Nevada for nine nights and then to Minnesota for one month before leaving for Ecuador. It’s just the right amount of being busy for us, especially having fun times with family members and friends in both locations.

An antique double-decker bus in Burntisland.

I have managed to keep my computer running on its battery reserve by not using it much to prepare the post, instead doing most of it on my phone. If I observe it carefully, I can get through today.

But tomorrow, I won’t post until after we get on the ship, and I can charge it for a while. It only takes about an hour to fully charge it. That will give us plenty of time to get unpacked and settled.

So, hang tight, dear readers. We will have plenty of photos coming up in the next few days and after that.

Today is rainy and overcast, which is not unusual for Scotland. We’re actually glad we don’t have plans today. But tomorrow, rain or shine, we’ll be on the move. It’s exciting, and also we are enjoying our time at this lovely hotel and simply being together.

Sign on the side of the historic double-decker bus.

Still…no headache, no face pain. Thrilled beyond belief!!!

Be well!

Photo from ten years ago today, July 31, 2013:

The opposite side of the archway in a historic building in Lucca, Tuscany, above as we entered the Piazza Napoleone square that housed government offices in these unique structures. For more photos, please click here.

We made it to Scotland!…A few issues but we’re good!!!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 30, 2023 with 0 Comment

Please keep in mind this was us after no sleep since Thursday night. We were feeling a bit raggedy, but overall, OK. I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough for the photo, as shown.

Today’s photos were taken Yesterday at The Bay Hotel in Burntisland, Scotland, where we are staying until Tuesday morning.

It’s summer here, and the flowers bloom in the cool weather.

We didn’t care when booking the Bay Hotel in the suburb of Burntisland about how far it was from the airport. Instead, we focused on availability and pricing, which were tricky, with several festivals occurring while we were here. We didn’t want to spend $400 a night for a hotel, so as we often do, we booked a package for air and hotel through Expedia, which saved us about $1200.

The view of the ocean from the hotel veranda.

Yes, it was far from the airport, but the drive was pleasant, with lovely scenery along the way and our friendly Uber driver. The flight from Orlando was a little over seven hours, and compared to our often 17-hour flight from Joburg to the US, it was a breeze. Tom slept for about an hour. I dozed for 20 minutes.

We surprised ourselves and felt fine, rolling into the local time once we arrived and having dinner around 6 pm. We managed to stay awake until 10:30 last night, and both slept until around 7:00 am. We feel fine today, getting up in time for our 8:30 breakfast reservation.

Cruise ships at a distance. That’s where we’ll go to board the ship on Tuesday.

It was fun seeing the setup for last night’s wedding, inspiring us to take photos which we have included today. The Master of Ceremonies encouraged us to take photos of the setup. He was so proud of their handiwork, and we enjoyed it with him when he showed us everything before the guests arrived.

This is the “LOVE” sign we stood before for the main photo.

Last night in bed, we could hear the vibration from the music from the wedding, but we didn’t mind a bit. We were pretty tired, and it didn’t matter. The main problem we are experiencing now is the fact that Tom packed all the converters and adapters in the extra suitcase we shipped to Minnesota. They were needed here. Now we can’t charge our laptops.

My battery will run out by tomorrow. Although I am writing the post on my phone now, it’s nearly impossible to load photos for the post using my phone. So we will have another post tomorrow but won’t write again until after we get settled on the ship on Tuesday afternoon. So you will see a late post that day.

The tables were set up so beautifully for the wedding at the hotel.

Also the WiFi is also very tricky here. We are only allowed two devices at a time, and it takes 10 to 15 minutes to get back online each time. That’s frustrating. We won’t be streaming at night here because we lack the ability to plug in our laptop. Tom can recharge his laptop with the low voltage plugs we have. But mine won’t work that way. Once my battery runs out, that’s it. I can’t use Tom’s laptop to do the posts since his keyboard is much smaller than mine, and I can’t type on it.

My head has been a lot better since we left Florida. It’s not 100%, but it’s 75%, and I am hopeful it was due to allergy inflammation in both South Africa and Florida, where pollen count was through the roof, especially ragweed, which is my worst allergy. I am very hopeful.

The food in the hotel’s gorgeous restaurant is fantastic here. Most likely, we will have all of our meals here. Breakfast is included, and we only have two dinners left.

Today is High Tea at 3:30, and dinner won’t be served until 7:30, so we will wait until then to eat, which is fine. We don’t do High Tea since we don’t eat all those sweet treats. And if we could, we’d be too full for dinner later. I don’t know how people do both.

That’s it for today, folks. Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 30. 2013:

Tag: vacation homes