We haven’t felt this excited about booking into the future in a long time. Although we’ve left South Africa several times since we arrived in January 2021 during the pandemic, most likely, we’ll be gone for one year, returning with much enthusiasm at the time. Today, we’re finalizing the details and will get back to you in tomorrow’s post, outlining everything we’ve booked and why we’ve booked them.

A lot will transpire over the next year, and soon, we’ll update our itinerary to post here. This morning, we were busy researching and handling bookings since I find once I’ve uploaded the post, I want to be off of my laptop and have less motivation to research than I do first thing in the morning.

I’ve always been a morning worker, with my mind fresh and alert, allowing me to zero in on important projects. But, by early afternoon, my interest fades, and lighter work is more appropriate. Also, this morning, I baked a double batch of my flax and coconut bread, which I have every morning with two fried eggs and keto barbecue sauce, a weird combination I’ve come to love.

Tom always has four eggs and about five pieces of streaky bacon, all of which I cook for him, making my meal simultaneously. I’ve gone a good routine and can knock off the two plates of food in about six minutes. I cook Tom’s eggs in a large skillet and mine in a little non-stick pan. He likes his eggs over-easy, and I like mine well done.

Tom gets up a lot earlier than me and usually has keto blueberry bread with coffee when he first gets up, and we have breakfast a few hours later. The bacon cooks on a plate (no paper towel) for 5½ minutes on high in the microwave while the two pans of eggs are cooking on the gas stove top. The single piece of keto bread is popped into the toaster and is done when the eggs are done. It’s all a great start to the day.

Today, we did our walk before having breakfast since Vusi arrived to clean earlier than usual, and we thought it would be nice for him if we were out of the way. It all worked out. When we returned from the house, Vusi was just about done.

The keto bread loaf is out of the oven, and I’ve already sliced it into 24 pieces, placing them into sandwich bags of three and freezing them. I take out one bag every three days and use one slice daily, keeping it in the refrigerator. With the humidity here, it keeps better in the fridge for a few days rather than sitting out. Toasting makes it taste perfect.

Oh, I love the simplicity of our daily lives. The routines are rewarding and familiar, while the amazing interspersed travel experiences and adventures are a welcome break from that routine, often making us appreciate it all the more.

Each step of the way in our travels is cherished for its uniqueness and opportunity to expand our horizons, our knowledge, and our vast experiences over these past 10½ years since we began, totally oblivious to what the future held. Now, all this time later, with many tumbles along the way, we feel more in touch with our lives, each other, and the world around us than we ever imagined.

Sure, sometimes it’s tough, and sometimes decisions are hard to make, as you’ll see in tomorrow’s post. But, somehow, we always manage to figure out our next best move and carry on with love and hope in our hearts for a full and rewarding future, for however long we’re granted to continue in this dream of ongoing world travel.

We’ve even surprised ourselves that it’s been so long. We never imagined we’d travel for more than a few years, let alone for as long as it’s been now.

Oops, I just had to jump up to take the main photo today, three giraffes walking through our garden. What could be more heavenly?

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 4, 2022:

Late yesterday afternoon, I received a return call from the Cape Town immigration lawyer we hired to assist with our extensions. Keeping in mind, Tom has a 90-day visa he received when returning from the US weeks ago after his brother’s funeral. He can stay until June 15 without incident.

After yesterday’s post about new rulings, which may be found here, a recent ruling from South Africa’s Home Affairs (immigration) stipulates entirely new guidelines for visitors who’ve applied for extensions, such as us. We requested we could stay until our planned departure date of June 8, 2023.

That’s out the window now with the new rulings, which are vague and unclear, as admitted by the lawyer who clearly understood our concerns and confusion. She, too, is confused by the lack of clarity regarding dates we need to exit the country. Unless some clarification comes through in the next ten days, we must Africa by April 30, 2023. That leaves us one month to make travel plans and to clear out of this house.

As it turns out, there are 7000 visa extension applications, such as ours, in the works. Based on staffing issues after the pandemic, there is no way they will be able to process all of the applications. Hence, we fall into the category of having to leave by April 30 or be considered “undesirables” if we go one day later.

Initially, when we filed, the rulings stated we could stay without issue until the extensions were granted. At that point,  three months ago, the lawyer felt confident we’d have our approval in plenty of time, based on history. Filing earlier wouldn’t have helped since they don’t allow earlier applications.

So now, we are facing April 30 as our departure date. As the lawyer explained, our only option is to leave the country, not to a bordering country, and try to get back in, as we’ve done many times. Right now, we are discussing our options and will report back here what we decide sometime in the next ten days; when we commit to each other, we’ll make a decision.

Last night, I contacted Louise and asked her if we left the country would this house be available for us upon return? No matter our plans, we have to be in Edinburgh, Scotland, by July 31, the day before we sail away.

Here we are once again, trying to figure out immigration issues when we’d settled into peace of mind that the extensions would work out well. I guess we were wrong. Unless the South African government clarifies its rulings in the next few weeks, no matter what, we are leaving here on April 30.

The lawyer explained that if we continued to stay and wait to see if they ever get to our application, if we had to leave and it wasn’t approved, again, we’d be considered “undesirables.” We’re not willing to go through that again when it occurred when we overstayed after my heart surgery four years ago.

Many would say, “Why bother? It’s too complicated to stay for longer periods in South Africa.” The reasons are many. Those of you who have been reading our posts for years certainly understand, but I won’t get into that again today.

Soon, we’re off to Koomatipoort for our appointments with Doc Theo. This will be my first cardiac stress test since the surgery, and I will be glad when it’s over and done; praying for good results. Tom is having the same test, and we’ll receive his test results from the past week. We’ll report back tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago, March 31, 2022: