A final letting go of “stuff”…15 days and we’re off again…

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Most likely, playgrounds aren’t used in the summer when it’s just too hot for kids to play outdoors.

As the days wind down toward our leaving the USA again on August 1st, we find ourselves beginning to switch mental gears. This past almost two months in the US catapulted us both into a state of mind far removed from our now familiar reality, nearly five years since its inception.

The time has been well spent with family and friends, rekindling relationships in entirely new ways as we’ve all matured and changed as the years have rolled on. 

Landscaping in housing development.

Our grandchildren have grown and,  our children have settled into their lives as they’ve worked their way into “middle age” with grace and dignity. It’s hard enough to believe how old we are, but then, even more so when we consider the ages of our children ranging from 42 to 50 years old. 

Gosh, it only seemed like yesterday that we were 50 years old. And now, as I’m fast approaching 70 (seven months) and Tom 65 (five months), we continue to strive to maintain a youthful persona, vibrancy, and outlook along with the optimum of good health commensurate with younger years.

Empty basketball and tennis courts in the heat of summer in Las Vegas/Henderson.

We’ve come to accept the reality that for us, good health is by far the most critical aspect to feeling young while providing the stamina and endurance to continuing in our world travels.

In some ways, this past year was challenging for me. With the spinal injury in June in the pool in Bali followed by the effects of contracting h. pylori, along with its frustrating and lingering effects, was a long year. 

The upkeep on this green grass must be outrageous in this heat.

Now, with a pain-free spine once again and the aftereffects of the gastrointestinal condition wafting away day by day, I’m returning to my optimistic, if not “overly bubbly” self. In the process, I find myself all the more enthusiastic about returning to our nomadic lives of world travel.

Tom, on the other hand, never faltered in his determination and mindset as a world traveler. He’d continued with research for the future, searching for new locations, cruises, and points of interest.  Also, as always, in snippets of spare time while in the US, he continues with his never-ending hobby, ancestry.com.

Today, we’re both heading to North Las Vegas to visit my sister Susan who’s looking forward to seeing the updates Tom has discovered these past years in our family’s history. 

Surprisingly, there are some birds in the desert.

We’re bringing our HDMI cord, and Tom will hook up his laptop to her TV so she can easily see the updates on the TV, rather than trying to peek at the screen on his laptop. 

As mentioned in the past, my dear sister has been lying in bed for the past 12 years suffering from the same hereditary spinal condition I’ve also been plagued with for most of my adult life. Had it not been for my strict anti-inflammation diet over these past six years, most likely, I’d have suffered the same fate.   

Zooming in for a close-up of this bird as it quickly flew away, I cut off the top of her/his head. 

On our way back from Susan’s home, we’ll stop at our mailing service located about halfway between Henderson and North Las Vegas and collect our awaiting mail and mail the bins of Christmas decorations to Greg and Camille that I’d left at Richard’s home five years ago. 

When we stored the Christmas memorabilia, I had no idea we’d never have our own home again and subsequently never decorate a Christmas tree again. 

As time has passed, we’ve come to accept that we’ll never need those decorations again. They’re better in the hands of Greg’s family with our three grandchildren, who many appreciate them in years to come, perhaps for their own families someday.

This entrance to a housing development with a waterfall.  With the dry heat, the amount of evaporation must result in a massive loss of water.  Isn’t water at a premium in this valley?

By the time we leave Henderson to fly to Costa Rica in 16 days, we leave behind not a single bin of “stuff.” Thanks, Richard, for storing them for us while we decided our future lives and returned to Nevada to dispose of these totes. 

With no basements in homes in this part of the US, every bit of garage space is needed, and he’ll now have more room for his own “stuff,” although he’s not much of a packrat and keeps his home as tidy as it could be. Even we’ve had to be mindful of not cluttering his meticulous space while we’re here.

May your life and minds be free of clutter, allowing you the space you need to fulfill your desires.

Photo from one year ago today, July 17, 2016:

Tom, me, Captain Han, and new friend Bob in the wheelhouse. We thoroughly enjoyed the Viking Mekong River Cruise.  For more photos, please click here.

Is this life easy?…Not so much…Figuring out visas for Costa Rica…

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Mountain views from every highway in Las Vegas and Henderson.

If anyone reading our site gets the impression that is traveling the world results in a life of leisure and the sensation of “always being on vacation/holiday,” we need to do a better job of describing our reality.

There’s nothing easy about it except for those special days we’re by the sea, aboard a ship, or lounging poolside in a tropical location.  And, even those days aren’t what one might construe as always easy.

Just like you, we shop, we cook, we wash dishes, we clean up after ourselves, we make the bed, do the laundry (more days of the year than not) and take care of banking and financial matters.

When one might imagine life on a desert island with the shore lapping at their toes, drinking blue cocktails with tiny umbrellas neatly situated on the rim of the tall iced glass, a local citizen fanning them with palm leaves, one may be dreaming.

Rolling hills and mountains surround the Las Vegas Valley.

Sure, from time to time, we’ve had such experiences, and even for us, they were fun and fleeting and unrealistic over the long haul.  But, that type of lifestyle was never our intent when we began this adventure so long ago. 

We longed for culture, nature, wildlife, and rich experiences that would shape who we are and the remainder of our years. For us, that wasn’t to be found in a blue drink or locals attending to our every need. 

Oh, we’ve enjoyed the meals cooked for us, the bed is made, the laundry is washed, hung to dry, and neatly folded. But, that type of lifestyle leaves us feeling immobile, inactive, and essentially bored with our lack of activity.

Performing daily household tasks adds a certain degree of focus upon which we both seem to thrive. Here in Henderson, Nevada, after months of not shopping for groceries, cooking meals, and cleaning, we’ve begun to meld back into the reality that both of us seem to need to thrive.

Golden Barrell Cactus, shared in this part of the US.

This morning at 8:00 am, I was out the door, driving to Smith’s Market for enough groceries to last for the next few days. Deciding on what to prepare for meals seems to provide me with a sense of purpose and connection to the “everyday” aspects of life that ultimately add to our universal experiences, even while here in the USA, in the land of abundance.

One need only conceive of an idea for a meal, peruse a recipe or conjure up a special meal to quickly find every possible required ingredient readily available at the local market. Even grass-fed meat and organic produce are at a finger’s reach.

In many countries, we had no choice but to alter recipes or decide on quick and easy meat and veg meals based on the available ingredients in local markets. 

In many cases, the small markets had only one aisle of possible options with no fresh meat (frozen only), questionable vegetables, and a mishmash of dairy items. Somehow, in each case, we never went hungry, always utilizing that which was available.

Beavertail Cactus is also ubiquitous in US deserts.

As our readers are well aware, we always figure out household tasks regardless of where we may be at any given time. Of course, there’s all the rest besides managing our day-to-day lives, including figuring out such items as visa requirements, currently on our minds, as we near the time to leave for Costa Rica in 16 days.

Costa Rica may provide a 90-day visa at the airport for US citizens if asked. We won’t forget to ask, I assure you. However, it’s of utmost concern to provide proof of a booked flight out of the country by the 90th day. 

Since we’re staying an additional 24 days while we await an upcoming cruise, once again, we have to figure out how we’ll get approved for the extra days. When calling the Costa Rica Embassy in Washington DC, we got the runaround. They said we need to apply at a local immigration office while in their country.

They won’t accept a booked flight as adequate at the airport if it’s scheduled for over 90 days out if the applicant doesn’t already have an extension. We can’t get an extension until we’re there. Do you see the dilemma?

Segura Cactus.

When inquiring to the property managers for the property we’re renting, they suggested we book a flight out of Costa Rica within 90 days and figure out the rest after we arrive. 

Yesterday, we did this. We booked a one-way flight to Managua, Nicaragua, for the 89th day. If we find we can stay out of the country for two or three days and come back to Costa Rica without incident, we’ll spend a few nights at a hotel in Managua and return to Costa Rica after that. 

Besides, this might be a fun side trip, especially when we may be there during our fifth anniversary of traveling the world, which is on October 31st. We’ll see how it all rolls out once we arrive. 

If we discover we can stay longer by applying at the local immigration office, we’re OK with losing the cost of the non-refundable one-way flight for both of us, which was $128.70. That’s considerably less than we’ll spend if we stay three or four nights in a hotel. We’ve already been to Nicaragua in the early days of our travel.

San Pedro Cactus…please correct me if wrong.

That’s it for today, folks.  It’s Sunday, already 100F (38C) with an expected high of only 108F (42C) with a cooling trend for the upcoming week with high temperatures expected to range from 98F (37C) to 106F (41C). Nice, eh?

Have a pleasant day!

Photo from one year ago today, July 16, 2016:

Tom, situated in his rickshaw as we meandered down the busy streets of Phnom Penh. It was a hot, humid, and a very bumpy ride. For more details, please click here.

Scorching heat… Scenes in Henderson, Nevada… Sweet photo from one year ago in Cambodia…

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Massive homes overlooking Las Vegas, located in Henderson, may easily be valued in the $10,000,000 or more range.

By the time I took my sister’s dog Owen for a walk in the 108F (42C) heat, plastic baggie in hand, I was sweating up a storm. However, the ultra-dry heat evaporated the sweat on my clothes in a matter of seconds. 

Many homes are nestled into the man-made terraces to offer good views of the Las Vegas Strip from afar.

A few days ago, I laid out a nightdress I’d laundered to dry on a chaise lounge by the pool, and within 15 minutes, it was scorched. Other than the time we spent in the Middle East in Egypt, Dubai, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Arabic Emirates, we haven’t experienced much dry heat in our travels.

Climate data for Henderson, Nevada
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 75
(24)		 86
(30)		 91
(33)		 97
(36)		 111
(44)		 114
(46)		 117
(47)		 112
(44)		 110
(43)		 100
(38)		 90
(32)		 78
(26)		 117
(47)
Average high °F (°C) 54
(12)		 59
(15)		 67
(19)		 75
(24)		 85
(29)		 95
(35)		 101
(38)		 99
(37)		 91
(33)		 78
(26)		 64
(18)		 54
(12)		 76.8
(24.8)
Average low °F (°C) 41
(5)		 44
(7)		 49
(9)		 56
(13)		 65
(18)		 74
(23)		 79
(26)		 78
(26)		 71
(22)		 60
(16)		 48
(9)		 40
(4)		 58.8
(14.8)
Record low °F (°C) 11
(−12)		 12
(−11)		 25
(−4)		 31
(−1)		 37
(3)		 41
(5)		 56
(13)		 59
(15)		 43
(6)		 30
(−1)		 4
(−16)		 9
(−13)		 4
(−16)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 0.70
(17.8)		 0.96
(24.4)		 0.57
(14.5)		 0.23
(5.8)		 0.11
(2.8)		 0.11
(2.8)		 0.46
(11.7)		 0.72
(18.3)		 0.42
(10.7)		 0.36
(9.1)		 0.49
(12.4)		 0.60
(15.2)		 5.73
(145.5)

As we’ve often mentioned, humidity is the toughest to endure of all non-storm-related weather conditions. It wears out everything we own from the zippers on our luggage, leather products and wreaks havoc with our digital equipment, especially cameras and smartphones. It’s no wonder we often need to replace these items.

Sure, we chose to seek out warmer climates, and in doing so, one can hardly avoid humidity which often goes hand and hand. Without a doubt, humidity is the most difficult to physically endure, especially in locations where we’ve had either no AC or limited AC, for example, only in the bedrooms.

We were surprised to see some grassy areas, which required a lot of watering.

In many hot and humid locations, we’ve had only a fan over the bed, in which most cases seem to move too slowly to be of many benefits. Also, when there’s mosquito netting encasing the bed, the fan benefits are limited, seeming unable to penetrate the fabric of the net actually to provide any relief.

Here in Henderson, Nevada, the heat is constant and relentless during the long summer months. At 7:00 am this morning, the temperature was already well in the 90F’s (32C). Now, as I write, at 8:50 am, it’s already 97F (36C) with an expected high today of 111F (44C).

The entrance to many high-end developments incorporates the utmost of landscaping to attract new buyers and maintain a level of appeal for the existing homeowners.

Yesterday, when I returned from visiting Susan and after a stop at Smith’s market for a few grocery items, I almost burned my finger pressing the keys on the metal keypad when entering the code to access the gated neighborhood.

Terracing under construction in Henderson.

On the short drive from Smith’s to Richard’s home, I thought about my groceries in the trunk. I remember grocery shopping in Minnesota in the cold of winter, wondering if my food would make it home in the -20F (or lower) without freezing.  

Many new homes back up to the hills and mountains.

In our days of eating bread, I easily recall a loaf of bread being nearly frozen when I reached home. Yesterday, I wondered if anything would spoil in the 15 minutes it took me to get back to Richard’s house. 

Foolish me; nothing would spoil in that short a trip. However, a shopper should be mindful of not making any extra stops on the way home after grocery shopping in these hot climates. Bacteria could easily manifest on a package of chicken or ground beef if one stopped at Walgreens pharmacy and got distracted for a few minutes.

Most homes are built with stucco exteriors and tile roofs that appear to withstand extreme heat.

As we drive around the area exploring our surroundings, we’re amazed how so many manage to live in such a climate in the summer. In the winters, it’s often cool enough here to wear a warm jacket. Obviously, as we’ve shown here over this past almost five years, we decided against it in 2012.

As we continue on our many year’s long world journey in only 16 days, heading to the tropical climate of Costa Rica, where the average high is 85F (29C) with humidity around 70%, it will feel normal to us and most likely, even with the moist air, certainly feel cooler than here in the middle of summer in the Nevada desert.

Las Vegas/Handerson doesn’t have a historic building since it didn’t begin to attract a population of any significance until the 1950s.

Today, we plan to try out Richard’s pool for the first time, now that we’re a little acclimated to being outdoors. Perhaps, we’ll even get a little dose of Vitamin D!

Wherever you may be this season, enjoy your days and nights to the fullest.

Photo from one year ago today, July 15, 2016:

When we visited an orphanage in Cambodia, this young girl’s smile took our breath away. For more photos, please click here.

Here’s our newspaper story with a video…

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The Lymans
‘This is the main photo in the Chanhassen Villager newspaper about our world travels.

Today, we’re posting the actual story, photos, and video Southwest News and Chanhassen Villager newspapers used to share our story. There’s a limit on how many times it can be viewed from their site, so we posted it here verbatim to ensure it will work in our archives indefinitely.

Here’s the link and also the actual story which we’ve copied from the online newspaper: 

“On Oct. 31, Tom and Jess Lyman mark five years traveling the world, enjoying extended stays in rental homes, and assimilating themselves into other communities and cultures.
It’s an unlikely retirement for these two former Chanhassen residents, who were previously homebodies. Jess had a long career in real estate and retired in 2010. Tom, five years younger, worked 12-hour days for the railroad. Weekends were spent visiting Home Depot for projects around their house, entertaining, and hosting dinner parties. So their decision to sell everything they owned and hit the road to travel was, to some people, madness.
Earlier this summer, the Lymans returned to Minnesota for the first time in five years. They spent six weeks at the Country Inn and Suites in Plymouth, their home base, as they spent time with family, former neighbors, and friends. They even hosted a meet-and-greet for local followers of their website and blog (started in March 2012), www.worldwidewaftage.com.
In January 2012, the couple discussed Tom’s upcoming retirement at the end of October. They considered doing the “snowbird” thing. But it didn’t excite them.
“Snowbirds have two homes,” Tom said. “If you’re in Arizona, you’re still heating a house and paying property taxes in Minnesota, and when you’re back to Minnesota in the spring, you’re worried about the extreme heat in Arizona. You’re always worried about the home you’re not living in. That’s not my idea of retirement.”
So when Jess posed the question, “What should we do?” Tom quipped, “Travel the world.”
Little did he know that his flippant comment set off something in Jess.
For a week, Jess worked on her computer, creating Excel workbook after workbook, and then announced, “We can do it.” “Do what?” Tom asked, not remembering what he’d said in jest.
“Travel the world,” Jess said. “But the way to do it is to have nothing. No storage, no car.”
 They got rid of everything except what they could take on the road.
“I had three closets of off-season clothing, including a closet for the current season,” Jess said. “Now, I have one suitcase for clothes, five pairs of shoes and no handbag. I stopped using a handbag when we were in Kenya and were told that bandits would cut off your arm for your purse.”
MIRACLE
How does a couple, Tom, now 64, and Jess, 69, go from couch potatoes who loved their favorite chairs, comfy bed, and cable TV to two nomadic retirees?
The catalyst was Jess’s health. Before 2012, Jess endured chronic pain due to a spinal condition. Her life changed once she adopted a diet consisting of only meat, vegetables, and a little dairy: no sugar, no starches, no fruit. And, after three months, no pain.
“I thought it might have been a placebo effect,” Jess said. By November, I was still pain-free; in January, we decided to travel the world. I get goosebumps when I think about it.”
BLOG A DAY
Jess started their blog to document their process of preparing for their adventure.
“March 12, 2012, is my favorite-ever post,” Jess said. In it, she lays out the beginning of their story. Nearly five years later, the website is comprehensive and filled with information about living the life of nomads; how they sold their home, all their possessions, the necessary medical and dental checkups, immunizations, medications and antibiotics, their health insurance, the types of passports and visas required to travel to the exotic, off-the-grid areas of the world they wanted to see, and more.
It’s not an exaggeration to call their website an encyclopedia of travel know-how, tips, and workarounds for the many travel inconveniences and snafus that are bound to occur.
And Jess has found that, despite her restricted diet, she can eat well no matter where in the world they have been. They food shop and cook at their rental homes as much as possible to accommodate her diet, save money, and get to know the local area.
CRUISING
No fans of flying. They travel from continent to continent, destination to destination by cruise ship whenever possible. It makes their travel time leisurely and carefree. And Tom gets to indulge his sweet tooth and his craving for french fries.
They blog every day and post photographs, sharing their adventures, delights, and mishaps with their readers, numbering nearly a half-million from around the world. Over the years, people they’ve met have suggested the couple write a book.
“It’s already written,” Jess said with a laugh. “It’s all there on the website. Besides, writing a book would be too much like work. Everything we do is done in a way that lets us be stress and worry-free, and happy.”
24/7
The most frequently asked question the couple is asked is, “How can you spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week together?”
“We have no trouble being together,” Tom said. “Jess’s friend says we’re lucky we found each other years ago and that we can do this together.”
“A big part for us is to travel and be stress-free and happy,” Jess said. “We’ve found that with less stuff, the happier we became … In our naiveté, we started with 15 pieces of luggage. Now we’re down to three pieces, limited to 50 pounds or 23 kilos. We each have a case for clothes, a wheelie duffel bag for miscellaneous stuff, a carry-on with medical supplies, and a backpack for all our electronics.
“All the things we dumped were stuff that we thought we had to have and to prevent discomfort, but once we got to Africa, talk about discomfort,” Jess said. “If you have 100 bugs crawling on your arm, don’t whine or complain. Just brush them off. Whining won’t get rid of them.”
NO END IN SIGHT
From the first, they agreed they’d stop traveling if either one of them said, “Stop.”
“When we first started, we said we might do it for 5-10 years,” Tom said. “But now, we see no end in sight. Our health is a factor. But we have no intention of ever renting or owning a house again.”
“I told Tom, when my time comes, just take me to the Drakensberg in South Africa and kick me off the mountain,” Jess said with a laugh. “Leave me to the lions.”
Their nearly five years of travel have changed them in many ways. They avoid big cities, preferring small towns and out-of-the-way locations. Tom’s philosophy is “the further from tall buildings, the nicer the people.”
BUDGET
While their lifestyle might seem extravagant, they are tightly budgeted.
“We realized that we paid a lot (in our former life) to have stuff,” Jess said. “Now, we have no cable bill, no utilities. If an average homeowner added up what it costs to live, with fuel, snow shoveling, mortgages, car payments, and insurance … we live in the world for that amount. If we did the snowbird thing, we’d pay twice that much.”
“Here’s the thing,” Jess said. “People are curious about it, but very few want to do what we do. In all our travels, we’ve never met a couple that is as free of stuff as we are. Most have an apartment or condo, or they have storage or treasures. We have no storage.
“To do this, you have to have the mind of an accountant,” Jess said. “I enter everything we spend on a spreadsheet. If I buy a water bottle from the vending machine for $2.50, I have to write that down. We have a budget that we stay in.  And, based on what we’re doing, we can continue until we die.”
Surely, our regular readers have heard this story repeatedly during the past five years since our first post on March 15, 2012. Please bear with the repetition as we are excited to share this with many others throughout the Southwest Suburbs of Minneapolis and now, here on our site, throughout the world.
If you know anyone who may enjoy the continuing saga of our day-to-day lives on the move without a home, storage, and only one suitcase each of clothing, please pass on our link:  www.worldwidewaftage.com or send today’s link for this story specifically.
Here’s the link to the video that our reporter, Unsie, shot during our three-hour interview two weeks ago today:
http://www.swnewsmedia.com/jess-tom-lyman/youtube_15977986-26ee-54db-84f7-63734ec5f127.html
We never intended to be the topic of any such publication and do not, in any manner, pursue publicity for our story. But, we’ve surprisingly discovered that many people glean some pleasure reading about the details of the ups and downs of living such a life throughout the world. 
For some, they recall their former lives of travel. Many that travel now finds morsels of information that may enhance their experiences in the future. And, for the many others, they revel in the prospect of travels yet to come. 
Of course, we also appreciate those who read merely out of curiosity being able to peer inside the intimate details of a senior couple who’ve stepped outside the box of traditional senior living to chose a life of uncertainty and adventure. 
Regardless of the motivations of our readers, we appreciate every one of you and hope you’ll continue to enjoy our experiences as we continue.  Our heartfelt thanks to all of you and SW News Media for sharing our story.
Enjoy your weekend!
Photo from one year ago today, July 14, 2016:
Selling crickets for consumption is a big business in Cambodia.  These lighted (at night) plastic bags attract the crickets overnight, which are later collected and often sold to other countries worldwide. Due to wi-fi issues in Cambodia, there was no post on this date one year ago. Here is the link from the date of this photo.

Reminded of stresses in our old lives…Am I complaining?

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Susan’s chubby and very funny Chihuahua, Owen, poses like this several times a day, totally unprovoked.

On occasion, people may ask, “Did you run away?” We always answer with the fact that my health returned and I was pain-free which inspired us to travel “while we can.” It could change on a dime, and we’d be forced to modify our lifestyle seriously.

From time to time, the question still lingers in the minds of family, friends, and readers, “Did we run away?” In part, we may have. But, being back in the US for the past seven weeks, we’ve begun to feel the stresses of the fast-paced life while in Minnesota and now, here in Nevada.

It’s not only the traffic, the people, and the waiting in lines for various services. It’s the self-induced process of a strong sense of responsibility that drives us while in this environment. One can’t erase a lifetime of living even when spending almost five years away from it all.

Now that I’m cooking again, which I don’t mind, I find myself busy grocery shopping, chopping, and dicing and spending each morning until 11:00 or 12:00 am preparing a post and laboring over which photos I can add.

Then, with more clothes to launder in the hot weather and the sorting and with the repacking of the boxes of photos and documents we left in Richard’s garage in plastic totes and, the every other day visits to my beloved sister Susan with two total hours of driving each trip, I must admit I’m feeling a little pushed.

I pulled over while driving to Susan’s distant location while is relatively unpopulated along the way.

Surprisingly, I’m not tired. I’ve slept better here in Richard’s home than anywhere in the past year, getting as much as seven hours a night, mostly without waking midway through the night. 

Undoubtedly, the home-cooked meals with less likelihood of contamination have been instrumental in assisting in my feeling better physically. In addition, my chronic and the annoying gastrointestinal condition continues to improve daily. I never expected it to go away quickly, but the continuing improvement has left me hopeful that it will completely resolve in time.

So why do I feel pressured? Perhaps, being in the US is merely a reminder of our old lives and the constant sense of responsibility. Undoubtedly, many of our readers can see themselves burdened with many more tasks than we have at present. 

I don’t mean to whinge (Aussie word). But, I‘m observing how the fast-paced life “in the big city” (and it could be any city in the world) is not necessarily for us. But, place us in a remote area surrounded by vegetation, mountains, sea, gorgeous scenery, and of course, an abundance of wildlife, and we’re calm and at peace, free of all stress and worries.

Also, we should probably stop watching the news. That in itself reminds us of the troubles in our country, which seem to escalate by the moment. I won’t get into that here, but no doubt, it affects us. 

In many countries, we don’t have a TV, and if we do, we don’t have access to US news other than that which may be from international outlets. So here again, it may be biased based on their media sources’ point of view. Who knows how accurate that may be?

Also, with our upcoming departure to Costa Rica on August 1st, we still have to figure out the added supplies we’ll need to bring for our three-and-a-half-month stay and purchase them before we depart the US. No doubt, many items we use regularly won’t be readily available in local shops.

There are some homes, condos, and apartments in the distant location, but not Henderson and Las Vegas.

On top of that, we’re working on how we’ll extend our visa beyond the 90 allowable days Costa Rica provides for US citizens entering the country. We’ll be contacting the Costa Rica Embassy today with our list of questions. which includes:

1.  Do we have to have proof of an exiting flight upon entering Costa Rica?
2.  Can we visit an immigration office while in Costa Rica to apply for the 23-day extension?
3.  What is the minimum number of days we can leave and then return with another country’s stamp on our passports?  At what point during our stay should we do this?

Why we’re behind on a few of these tasks has been predicated by the pace. After almost a week in Nevada, we still haven’t tackled everything we’d planned to do. So now, with only 18 days until we depart the US, we have to “pick up the pace!”

In any case, it has been wonderful spending time with Richard and my sister.  Tomorrow, Tom will join me in visiting Susan, and we’ll make a stop at our mailing service to pick up many items awaiting us there. After that, it is more stuff to sort and figure out how to pack.

OK, enough of that. In our continuing desire to “tell it like it is,” sometimes, it’s not pretty, it’s not exciting, and it’s not relaxing. But, once we get settled in Costa Rica, we can look forward to “downtime” except, of course, figuring out the visa extension. We don’t want to be “illegal aliens” again as we were in Australia in March!

May you have a happy day, free of stress!

Photo from one year ago today, July 13, 2016:

Local danger and musicians greeted us with a ceremonial dance as we entered the hotel in Cambodia. For more photos, please click here.

Visiting my sister in North Las Vegas…A meaningful and yet sorrowful experience…

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The extreme heat creates a cloudy appearance in the desert, fog, blowing sand,  clouds, and/or smog in the valley.

Visiting my sister Susan (four years my senior) was one of our two reasons for coming to Las Vegas during this time in the US, spending time with my son Richard as the other. We have a few friends and a nephew of Tom’s we’ll also see while here.

My dear sister has been lying in bed, unable to walk for the past 12 years, suffering from the same spinal condition I have for which I have no pain after changing my diet in August 2011, almost six years ago.

Once I became pain-free (after three months on the “diet”), and Tom faced retirement, we decided to travel the world “while we can.” At any given time, I could awaken one morning and be faced with the return of the excruciating pain affecting what felt like every nerve in my body. 

We hope to dine at this restaurant when they have several options that work well for my way of eating, based on their menu found online.

That is the reason I so diligently follow this low inflammation diet excluding all sugar, fruit, grains, and starches, limiting my daily carb allotment to 15 grams, fat to 100 grams, and protein to around 65 grams. 

These restrictions leave me eating only grass-fed meat (when available), organic free-range chicken and eggs, organic non-starchy vegetables, and a small amount of full-fat dairy. 

Tom follows suit with me in this manner of eating when I’m cooking most of our meals, as we’re doing now during this three-week stay in Nevada. When we dine out, he prefers to indulge in some starches to supplement his meals, such as a bun on a burger, fries, and rice included with some dishes. 

In years past, when we visited Henderson, we dined at this popular restaurant and meeting spot, Elephant Bar.

I don’t have the liberty even to take a bite of such “luxuries,” and because I’m pain-free, I have no desire to taste any items not included in my plan. I haven’t had so much as a tiny bite of a cookie, cake, or fruit in these past six years. Why take the risk? 

Unfortunately, my sister has chosen to continue to find pleasure in food and, in reality, cannot prepare the sometimes more elaborate dishes that may require time standing in the kitchen chopping and dicing to put together an occasional interesting dish. She has health care helpers preparing her meals, not professional cooks, and they prepare only basic meals.
 
I understand how food can be such an important aspect of one’s life. As a long-time “foodie,” I may appreciate that fact all the more. As a former avid and enthusiastic cook with an attitude (at the time), “healthy whole grains,” fruits, and starches were good to incorporate into one’s meals.

Years ago, we frequented this popular chain restaurant.  But, with many choices of local establishments, we doubt we’ll return during this visit.

These days, I cringe over how I continued to literally “poison” myself with foods that ultimately caused a rise in blood sugar resulting in an inflammatory response.

This may not be true for everyone. Our bodies are unique in our response to a variety of foods. We see healthy individuals able to eat whatever they want, or a diet comparable to that in my “old life” who continue to thrive on a lower fat, high carb, and high sugar diet. 

There’s no benefit in my “preaching” to my sister on how she may be able to find substantial pain relief over the long haul in following this way of eating. She already knows, having tried it for a year to find her pain too, dissipated considerably, if not entirely. 

A stone marker designating the entrance to the Green Valley Ranch area in Henderson, where we’re located at this time.

Yet, with severe damage to her legs and feet from diabetic neuropathy, she was still unable to walk. This fact would hardly motivate a person to restrict their diet to such a huge extent. A short time later, she returned to the typical American diet (SAD, standard American diet) of high carbs and many sugary foods, starches, and grains. In no time at all, the pain returned. 

Of course, it’s difficult for me to see this lovely woman, a former highly successful businesswoman of the world, who traveled extensively and played a hand in many exciting business transactions, now lying in bed, basically helpless and in pain.

Her beautiful spirit and upbeat demeanor make being with her purely delightful. Few individuals could maintain such a positive attitude with her current situation. Somehow, she revels in the experiences of her long-ago past and seems to live vicariously through the joy and excitement of our world travels. 

One of the roads in The District in Green Valley Ranch where there are unique shops and restaurants.

There’s not one iota of sadness or jealousy in her demeanor when she asks many questions about our world travels. Having owned a major travel agency in her past, she too had an opportunity to travel the world and loves sharing stories of places we’ve mutually visited, only at different times.

On Monday, I visited her for three hours and will head out soon to see her again. The drive to her home is over 30 miles away and takes approximately 45 minutes, considering some traffic on the freeway. 

Driving all the way on Highway 215 seems to be the best route but is a boring drive through the barren desert with not much in the way of interesting scenery. But, once I walk in the door to her apartment and see her smiling face, the boring drive is long forgotten, and all is right with the world.

May your day be filled with events that make your day feel “right” for YOU!

Photo from one year ago today, July 12, 2016:

It was scorching and uncomfortable on the long walk to and around this site, The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. For more photos, please click here.

Updating Meet & Greet for Henderson/Las Vegas, Nevada…

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The Choctaw Casino and Resort is located in The District in Henderson, Nevada.

Hello, fellow Nevadans! After we’ve finally settled in and working our way into a comfortable routine, we decided it was time to mention our intended Meet & Greet in Henderson, Nevada, on Friday, July 21st at 5:00 pm.

With the awful heat since we arrived this week, we plan to get out and check on a few possible locations and will post a choice by the end of this week.  So far, we only have a handful of confirmations. Any suggestions for the area of a right bar near Green Valley Ranch are appreciated.

Currently, we’re staying in the desirable Green Valley Ranch area, where there are many major shopping areas, restaurants, business centers, and a few casinos.

If you would like to attend, please email me by using the email link on our homepage located above our main photo (in Petra, Jordan) and below, where it states “Select Language” for the translation. 

Please let us know if coming to meet us in Henderson on July 21st works for you! We had a good-sized turnout in Minneapolis in June and looked forward to meeting some of our readers in the Las Vegas area. 

Our newspaper article will be coming out this week. Once we have the link and videos, we’ll post them here.  We’re looking forward to sharing this article with all of our readers throughout the world.

There are plenty of excellent dining establishments in this area, but after dining on cruise ships and in restaurants over the past almost three months, we’re enjoying some home-cooked meals.

As for Las Vegas, our days and evenings have been complete, although we certainly don’t have many family members and friends in Nevada. We’ve had several “business” related items to attend to, online shopping to complete, and a job we didn’t look forward to tackling.

Almost five years ago, we left several large plastic totes in Richard’s garage that we needed to address. Since plenty of time has passed, we needed to dispose of several bins with old tax records and others we’d forgotten we’d left, including several bins containing old photos.

It wasn’t easy to maneuver the little white car in perfect spots for taking photos.  Tom did the best he could.

We’d distributed all of the paper photos to our four adult children and scanned those of significance to a cloud.  Now, we find this box in Richard’s garage with even more photos. Good grief. We had no idea these photos were there collecting dust and bugs. 

Now, at least, we’ll be able to clear all this out to leave Richard more space for storing his stuff in his garage. Homes in Nevada don’t have basements leaving garages as the only possible spots for storage.

In the next few days, we’ll go through all of the photos, and once we pick up the new scanner waiting for us at our mailing service, one we purchased to replace the Doxie scanner that bit the dust last week, we’ll begin scanning the photos and dispose of the paper copies.

The like the Southwest architecture so typical in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and other states in this region of the US.

Yesterday, Tom spent half of the day going through the boxes. He found several boxes of Christmas decorations from the years of my son’s growing up in the process. We’ve always stated we don’t have any storage and certainly didn’t save any personal effects other than a few plastic bins with tax records and memorabilia.

We’ve gone through each tote and will send them to Greg, Camille, and three grandchildren in Minnesota, who hopefully will appreciate the memorabilia. We didn’t give these bins to them when we distributed memorabilia to our kids baffles me.

We drove around the District’s parking lots, a popular shopping, dining, and entertainment conglomerate.

Perhaps at the time, we weren’t confident we’d enjoy traveling the world and didn’t want to let go of the special Christmas items in these totes. At the time, letting go wasn’t easy. Now that we’re certain we have no intention of “settling down” anytime soon, it’s easy to send them to Greg and family.

It’s a bit cooler today with the 1:30 pm temperature at a cool 99F (37C); we’ll head out to the pool for a little “fun and sun,” which had been impossible over these past days with our busy schedule and with temperatures ranging from 110F (43C) and up.

Even the parking ramps, office buildings, and apartments maintain the popular and familiar Southwest design.

Sorry for the late posting today. With it a bit cooler today, we took off to the grocery shop and to take a few photos to share here today and over the next few days. Have a wonderful day!

Photo from one year ago today, July 11, 2016:

Hỏa Lò Prison, aka Mason Centrale (meaning the main house in French), was nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” during the war in Vietnam. “Hỏa Lò Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War. During this latter period, it was sarcastically known to American POWs as the Hanoi Hilton. The prison was demolished in part during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.”  For more photos of our tour of the Hanoi Hilton, please click here.

Interesting technology in USA these days….All new to us!…

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Lighted cupholder in the sofa in the event one can’t find where to set their drink in the darkened room while watching a movie. 

It’s been so hot, neither of us has felt like going out for a drive to look for photo opportunities. It’s hardly outdoor weather with temperatures ranging from 110F (43C) to 118F (48C). 

Last night after we dined on a tasty homemade low-carb dinner, we watched the sweet movie “A Dog’s Purpose,” in Richard’s sophisticated “viewing centric” audio/video setup in his living room, typical in many homes US today.

Between shows, we took a break while I made a low-carb cheese plate, and then we watched the recent Amelia Earhart documentary bringing up excellent fodder for conversation. With the two-hour time difference from the six weeks in Minnesota, I started nodding off by about 10:30 pm.

Tom did his usual, waving his hand over my face to see if I’d respond and when I admitted I’d dozed off for a minute or two, I knew it was time to head to bed. We’ve both slept reasonably well these past three nights since our arrival, although we both tend to wake up a few times during the night.  

A panel drops down in the sofa where there are numerous plug-ins for electronics.

Awakening during the night seems to be an ordinary course of action for us as we’ve aged. Luckily, we’re both able to fall back asleep fairly quickly. Overall, we tend to get no more than about six hours of sleep each night.  It doesn’t help that we aren’t very active right now staying indoors in air-conditioned comfort.

It felt good to cook a meal after an almost three-month hiatus finally. Richard doesn’t have the utmost in cooking accouterments in his kitchen, but his appliances and Keurig coffee maker are over-the-top in quality, design, and digital function. In no time at all, we had it all figured out.

His shortage of bowls and variety of cooking utensils leaves a little to be desired. For us, living this life of world travel, that’s nothing new. As always, we improvised and made a nice meal with great leftovers for tonight.

This type of plant is typical in the desert, which can withstand a long hot, dry summer season.

Today, Tom is going through a few boxes of tax records we’d left in Richard’s garage, and since enough time has passed, we’ll have them shredded. Our forms are now kept in a cloud with no necessity of maintaining paper documents and receipts.

While Tom works on the totes of papers in the garage, I’ll drive north to visit my sister Susan, whom I also hadn’t seen since 2012.  Like Richard, we’ve stayed in close touch over these years thanks to the magic of the Internet, but there’s nothing like seeing those we love face-to-face. 

We’re still reeling from the beautiful time we had with family and friends in Minnesota and look forward to continuing similar levels of enjoyment while here in Nevada.

We hope all is going well with all of our readers throughout the world and that your lives are filled with love and “purpose.”

Photo from one year ago today, July 10, 2016:

Entrance to the Temple of Literature in Vietnam. For more photos, please click here.

We made it to Las Vegas after a frustrating experience at the McCarren Airport…Glad to be getting settled…

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Tom’s taco salad at Lindo Michoacan in Henderson, where we all dined last night.
After my flight booking error, we were hoping for a seamless experience in getting to Las Vegas on the early flight I’d booked on Thursday night when I realized I had booked the original flight for the wrong date, August 1st, as opposed to July 7th.

My error cost us $719 since the flight I’d booked in June for July 7th was entirely non-refundable. Human error.  Plain and simple. By the time we arrive at Terminal 2 in Minneapolis, I’d decided to stop beating myself up.  After all, we hadn’t made a booking error in almost five years. It was inevitable that eventually, that would happen. 

With sheer will and determination, I plugged away online to find an alternative flight. I couldn’t believe the high prices for last-minute flights to Las Vegas. I’d always assumed that last-minute flights to Las Vegas would be a bargain. Not the case.

Awakening at 4:30 am, I bolted out of bed and showered and dressed as quickly as I could to allow Tom plenty of time to do the same. By 5:30, after packing the last of the toiletries and digital equipment, we were out the door and on our way, hoping to arrive at the airport two hours before the domestic flight.

Recently, we’ve discovered that getting to the airport one hour before a domestic flight isn’t possible anymore.  With beefed-up security, long lines, and passengers paying for their baggage, the wait can be longer than anticipated.

Richard, at dinner last night.

Tom dropped me at the terminal, leaving the three checked bags and two carry-on bags with me while he returned the red SUV.  In no time at all, he returned, and we headed to the ticket counter to check our bags. We willing paid $5 for a cart to hold the bags since we were both a little sluggish and didn’t feel like wheeling the five pieces. 

In other countries, there’s no charge to use luggage carts. Why do they charge so much for these in the US, we wondered? When our bags were overweight by a total of seven pounds (based on the allowable 50-pound max per checked bag), the ticket agent suggested we unload the seven pounds. 

There was no way either of us felt like digging through the tightly packed bags when we had no room for seven pounds in the checked bags. On many international flights, the checked bags can weigh up to 70 pounds each. 

Had our bags not been overweight, our cost for baggage would have been $85, $25 for each of two allowed bags, and $35 for the third checked bag. Instead, we agreed to pay the $135. With the last-minute booking, we hadn’t been able to choose our seats or prepay the bags. The agent gave us good seats in row 4 at the bulkhead, which worked well for us with the extra legroom.

From there, we found our gate and settled in while I prepared yesterday’s short, photo-less post. Sorry about that. I hope to do better going forward, but I must admit this 115F, 46C weather in Las Vegas hardly motivates either of us to get out sightseeing.  We’ll see how it goes.  It’s in the ’80s every day in Costa Rica, our next stop in our journey.

Tom, last night at dinner in Henderson, Nevada.
“Las Vegas Temperature Yesterday, July 7, 2017”

Maximum temperature yesterday: 115 °F (at 4:56 pm)
The minimum temperature yesterday: 90 °F (at 4:56 am)
Average temperature yesterday: 104 °F”

The flight was pleasant and uneventful. I sat next to a lovely woman from Minnesota, living in Las Vegas for 30 years. The time flew by as we chatted endlessly on a variety of topics.

Getting off the plane was also uneventful. We carefully followed the signs to “baggage claim,” taking a tram to the baggage pickup area. The flight attendant announced our bags would be arriving at Carousel #25. When we arrived at the baggage claim, there was no Carousel #25. 

Searching for an information desk, we were told by the rep that we were in the wrong terminal, and based on having left the secured area; we’d have to make our way to Terminal #3, very far away. The only means of getting to Terminal#3 was by taking a bus. 

Then, we had to make our way (another long-distance) to the waiting area for the bus to take us to Terminal #3.   After a 15 minute wait outdoors in the heat, the bus finally arrived. We boarded the bus, which took no more than 10 minutes to arrive at Terminal #3.

There were many other travelers on the bus who’d done the same thing we’d done, following the signs that said “baggage claim” upon exiting the plane. They, too, were baffled that their checked bags ended up in another terminal.

I had my usual shredded beef salad with lots of sliced avocado.

We entered Terminal #3, easily finding Carousel #25 to discover there were no bags on the carousel.  Apparently, so much time had passed since we got off the plane that the bags were moved to an office within the terminal, where we were relieved to find our three bags. 

Since we couldn’t take the cart with us, we finally had to pay for a third cart, another $5, which we eventually ditched when we had to board another bus to the car rental area.  Oh, good grief. This was by far the most confusing airport we’d ever seen. 

We’re hardly inexperienced travelers. We’ve never encountered such a mishmash of “where to go and how to find it” at any airport in our past years of world travel. 

Finally, we made it to the rental car area, found Avis, and picked up the little white car into which we managed to fit all of our bags. Thank goodness we hadn’t booked through Budget, where there was at least an hour-long line.

We were first up at the Avis counter, and twenty minutes later, we arrived at Richard’s lovely home in Green Valley Ranch, which he’d remodeled and also added a gorgeous pool and landscaping since we were last here in 2012.

We’re unpacked and settled. We grocery shopped yesterday, purchasing enough food to last a few days when I was determined to make a few home-cooked meals for all of us. Last night we dined out with Richard at yet another Mexican restaurant and had a very nice evening. It was so much fun catching up with him!

We are as comfortable as we could be at Richard’s home, anticipating the next three weeks will also fly by in a blur. On Monday, I’ll drive 45 minutes to see my sister Susan.

Have a great weekend!


Photo from one year ago today, July 8, 2016:

While at a museum in Vietnam, we learned the following; In the countryside, when an elder reaches 60 years of age, a coffin is made for them and kept under the house until they pass away. Once they’re buried, three meals a day are delivered to the burial site to support the deceased in their journey to heaven. After three years, a special celebration is held, and the soul is released to heaven. For more photos, please click here.

Final Expenses for six weeks in Minnesota…Tomorrow, we’re off to Las Vegas!…Busy day!…

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Tom, Tammy, and Vincent last night when we all said goodbye.

Here we are, posting late again today. This morning we had our hands full packing, running out to Goodwill, and making a stop at Target for a few last-minute items. 

While preparing today’s post and our final expenses, we decided to include our living costs during these six weeks and how much we spent on replacing our wardrobes in their entirety.

Vincent’s teeth were hurting a little after the morning’s visit to the orthodontist. But, he enjoyed his meal (I forgot to take a photo), his chocolate milk, and time afternoon and evening with us.

Over these past years of world travel, we’ve found it impossible to find proper sizes and clothing suitable for us when we felt a need to replace certain items along the way. I’m not an easy fit with my above-average height, long legs and arms, and clothes for Tom are equally challenging to find for various reasons.

We’ve found clothing purchased in many countries to be less durable at the prices we’re prepared to pay. Even in Australia, with their modern stores, the cost of many items was two to three times higher than a similar product in the US.

Tammy and Vincent at Avenida with us last night for dinner.

As a result of this visit, we’ve decided we’ll stick to buying clothes in the US, especially when we’re hoping to return for a visit every two years. With our recent purchases, we have no doubt our items will last until 2019.

When considering that we’ve spent $2,062.79 for both of us for all of our new clothing and shoes, replacing almost every single item, that translates to only $1031.40 for each of the two years at a total of $515.70 for each of us per year. That’s very reasonable.

 Expense   US Dollar 
 Hotel – 42 nights    $                  4,494.00
 Flight + Bags-Seattle to MPS  $                     478.20
 Rental Car    $                  1,758.00
 Fuel   $                     390.16
 Clothing to restock luggage   $                  2,062.79
 Restaurants   $                  1,502.29
 Grocery   $                     294.13
 Pharmacy, luggage, misc.  $                  1,983.68
 Laundry, tips for hotel staff   $                     368.94
 Total   $               13,332.19
 Avg Daily Cost    $                     317.43

Of course, everything we purchased was a bargain when Macy’s was practically “giving away” quality, name-brand items during several sales. Add a trip to the Albertville Factory Outlet Mall, and we replaced everything. 

Another expense listed on today’s final costs as shown here as “pharmacy, luggage, toiletries, misc.” included hundreds of dollars I’d spent for expensive probiotics that I will continue to take over the next six months and the replacement of expired and dwindling supplies of toiletries, cosmetics, and over-the-counter emergency medications. It all added up quickly.

These types of expenses will continue to be necessary when we return to the US. With the high cost of shipping items to us, we’ve decided to wait to make purchases if at all possible. Although, at times, we’ll have no choice but to continue to ship items we may urgently need, such as a replacement laptop and other digital equipment we unable to find outside the US that suits our needs.

Tammy’s tacos looked terrific with the blue corn taco shells in the metal holders, rice, and beans on the side.  We’ve noticed how significant portions are in the US as compared to other countries.

As an example, a few days ago, our portable Doxie scanner died while I was scanning all the receipts we’d accumulated here in Minnesota. Today, I’ll order a new scanner and have it shipped to our mailing service in Nevada for pick-up while we’re there, along with several other items included in today’s total expenses (in an attempt to keep our baggage weight under control from MSP to LAS).

This morning we completed our packing, weighed our bags, and headed out to a nearby Goodwill store to drop off our old clothes and shoes. In the afternoon, we’ll take off to say goodbye to more family members.

With all but the third checked bag already packed and weighed, tomorrow morning won’t be stressful, especially when we’ll leave the hotel two hours before our flight. Tom, the proverbial early bird, prefers to arrive long before necessary, and I go along willingly (without complaint) to avoid adding to his usual “travel day” stress.

Tom ordered his usual sweet and sour chicken without peppers.

In almost every case, once we settle at a restaurant in the airport to wait for our flight, I’m usually happy we arrived early, allowing me additional time to complete the day’s post in the event I wasn’t able to upload it before we left our accommodations.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with grandson Vincent. We met up with Tammy for dinner at our favorite Avenida, an Asian/Mexican fusion restaurant not far from the hotel where we dined on many occasions. The four of us had a pleasant dinner while I took today’s included photos.

I ordered my usual chopped salad minus corn, minus beans, and minus tortilla strips with a side of shredded beef and sour cream. As always, it was delicious.

We’ll be back tomorrow with our final Minnesota post, and then, on Saturday, we’ll be checking in from Henderson, Nevada. I received a weather warning on my phone in the past hour stating, “Excessive Heat Warning” for tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada, with highs expected at 114F, 46C, 4 degrees lower than the recent all-time high of 118F, 48C. Oh, boy! 

______________________________________________

Photo from one year ago today, July 6, 2016:

This, dear readers, so much bespoke Vietnam in today’s world. For more Vietnam photos, please click here.