We’re all set to go except for packing…Posting plans for 90 days The Villages in Florida…

This morning, filling my 28-day pill case with my three prescription meds and vitamins, I started organizing and assessing how many tablets I’ll need to last while we’re gone for 14 months. I still have a little remaining inventory, and when Doc Theo writes me a one-year prescription for the others, I’ll be good to go until we return in mid-June 2024.

I disposed of a massive batch of useless packaging materials and reduced the amount to bring with us, which I’ll do again when I get the years’ worth next week. As for the supplements I take, I will buy those in Florida, most likely from Costco or Amazon. There’s no point in paying to haul those with us.

Each day, I plan to go through a cupboard or drawer to thin out what we’ll need to bring, what we can toss, and those items we’ll leave behind in the black plastic bins in the storage room. Again, there’s no point in paying to bring all the spices and condiments we’ve accumulated in the past 11 months in this house.

We’re trying to use up as much food as possible and won’t be grocery shopping again unless we need a few items for our meals, such as bacon, eggs, and salad ingredients. We’re working our way through all the meat in the freezer.

On top of that, we have lots of wine left from my birthday party, but each time we have sundowners, I have one small glass of regular wine (not light) and perhaps have a second glass of low-alcohol wine with 75% less alcohol than traditional wine. We’ll store the rest of the unopened bottles for our return, along with some items Tom drinks. All of that will stay fresh without a problem.

Also, we’re both leaving some clothing behind. When we return, it will be winter, and we’ll need some warm clothing. However, we’ll need warm clothing for the upcoming cruises to Norway, Greenland, and Iceland, where it will be cool even during the summer months. Also, it could begin to be cool when we arrive in Boston and Minnesota in September.

One thing I am looking forward to while living in Florida is easy-to-access products we use for cooking and general items one may pick up at a Costco or Target store. Plus, we’ll be able to place orders from Amazon and receive orders while staying at The Villages.

Speaking of The Villages, as mentioned in yesterday’s post and today’s heading, we look forward to sharing the details of what life will be like while living in one of the most popular and desired retirement communities in the United States. We’ll share photos, pricing, and information about many of the venues we’ll experience at our leisure, including dining out, shopping, and entertainment.

Perhaps our expectations are too high for meeting people. We plan to partake in as many activities as possible to improve the odds of making new friends. Plus, we expect some of our readers to live there, and we’re hoping those who do will contact us for dinner or a drink out at our location. How fun that will be! Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you are there and when we can meet.

Even if you live outside The Villages and if it’s convenient, perhaps you could visit us for sundowners on the veranda at our new place. We also have a lot of old friends who live in central Florida, and we hope to get together with some of you while we’re there if it works out for them.

Of course, we plan to see friends Karen and Rich at some point. Karen’s mom Donna lives nearby, so surely we’ll see each other when they get together. Many of our “snow bird” friends will have left Florida for the summer months, and we won’t be able to visit with them. But we’ll see how it goes. Some may stay through May. We’ll be leaving at the end of July.

Once we arrive, we’ll be busy getting our passport applications mailed to the US State Department. We’ve already completed the forms, so all we have to do is send them to the appropriate address. Once we get one good night’s sleep, this will be on our agenda.

This morning, after an excellent breakfast and a few tasks completed, including booking transport from the Orlando International Airport to our holiday home for US $33, ZAR 600 per person, we went for our walk, which we’ll continue until we leave and pick up again, once we arrive and get a night’s sleep in Florida. It feels good to be walking again, but it may take a while to build my stamina after being relatively inactive this past year.

The weather has begun to cool considerably. No longer are we plagued with zillions of insects and courageously high humidity. This could change in a day. After all, TIA and one never knows.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 6, 2022: