Leaving on a jet plane.

We have been prepping for our #1 bucket list destination for the last year.

My husband has rented movies,
and shared news articles.

I have read numerous books and
studied every aspect of some of the places.

We chose a tour.
It has been a long time.
This group does not do dinner, and arrives at lunch places.
so we researched places to eat along the way.

You have read about me packing and repacking.

It has been over twenty years since we traveled out of country.
To put that in perspective.
In the last five years of my husbands service
we traveled to twenty countries for
periods of time from two weeks to two years.

My PTSD snuck in a number of times when packing.
Hey, don't you choose between a set of shoes
and a first aide kit?
And everyone has one piece of their bag that they can pull and
be OK with for at least ten days
right?

My sister is here. My husband's brother will meet us there.

Traveling BACK to the Middle East
after how we left
is going to be exciting,
thrilling, enlightening and
hopefully
healing.

Learn some Hebrew!
Shalom!

Ready?

Obsession can be a very bad thing.
Finding yourself awake at 3 am,
wondering if everything will go smoothly,
not the best thing for trying to change time zones.

Will I remember anything that I have read
or learned
in the last six months?

Then I relax at Mass
hearing the worship and praise
from the lips of those around me.
The Gospel proclaimed about the desert.
Telling myself to just soak it in.
Hoping to be able to put so much in context in the future.

Lately I have been thinking of Jesus' age when He traveled
in the areas we will see.
He was younger then either of our own children
when He gave up His life for me
 and you
and anyone who chooses to have their sins atoned for.

I mean, He was a kid.
He couch (mat) surfed at Peter's house.
He walked the road from Egypt to Damascus-
along the lake
along the river
in sandals.
I can hear Mary now,
"Jesus, you really should keep your feet clean.
People will listen to a Rabbi with clean feet."
Or Peter's wife,
"OK Jesus, you can unroll the mat over there
and the baby will probably cuddle up with you
while you sleep."

Thinking of Him, Humanity running into the Godhead.
My faith has always been a part of my life
The journey has not always been clear
I have no expectation
and yet

What is rural? I am learning.

I grew up in a city, Phoenix.
It was a bit rural when I was born
 now it is a major city.

My college years were in Flagstaff.
Again, rural when I lived there
becoming a city now.

Since then we have lived in some cities and some rural areas:
Wuerzburg, Alexandria, Indianapolis, Fort Riley,
Monterey, Honolulu, Pok Fu Lum- HongKong, Riyadh, Flagstaff,
Milford, and now our tiny town in Delaware.

Growing up in Phoenix, I had no idea how much of the country was "rural".

We live ten miles from the capital building
outside of the teaming metropolis of Dover Del(37,000 people)
in a tiny town (280 people and a volunteer fire department).

We often say that if there is a medical emergency in our neighborhood
throw the person into the track
and drive them to the hospital rather then die from the wait.

If you go about five miles from my house to the West
You can travel back to the 1800's to buy your eggs and veggies.
The horse and buggy communities of the Amish are everywhere.

We chuckle when "people" talk of getting rid of cars
and a plethora of public transportation.
Not here.

Tomorrow my car will turn North.
It will be parked in the train station garage
and rest while I board the train to New York.
There is a movie that I remember as a teen
about a young person going from an Amish community
to the big city.
Sometimes, staring out of the train window, I feel like that.

The travel takes about five hours.
One to get to Wilmington (71,000 pop),
two on the Northeast Regional through Philly (1.7 mil) and Newark (285,000),
one to transfer in Manhattan (1.6 mil- just Manhattan not the City) ,
 forty minutes to get to Garrison NY (26,000) on the Metro North
and then twenty minutes to get to West Point  (6,800 - 4,000 cadets).
Rural to rural with a whole lot of people in between.

The US is rural in so many ways.
It is where the food is grown and people are more relaxed.
The trains whistle through and sometimes stop.
The visit to "the city" is fascinating
I always go to a museum or a show when "n the city"
but in the end, rural is where my heart is.
Slow and easy retirement.

Packing challenge

My husband has been wondering about my ever
increasing joy when the door bell rings
with another Amazon package.

Packing cubes, they are an obsession.
Why were these not present when we moved our family overseas
twice
with suitcases
and little else?

We called one of our suitcases "Big Blue".

The current, smaller version of Big Blue.

She was about 35 inches
and often weighed in at 80 lbs!
After 10 major moves
(three with my son and his family)
Big Blue finally went to suitcase heaven- GoodWill.
(We think we saw her on the bottom of a grocery cart downtown.)
In those days I found huge bags that I
 could pretend to squeeze air out of
and fill each suitcase as if it were a dresser.
That is how it was used for six to twenty weeks.

But I digress.

Packing cubes.
It has been twenty years since we last traveled, together.
In my wisdom, we choose to carry on everything we can.

E bag of choice weighs almost nine pounds.
Choosing organization is heavy.

The suit cases have to be
under 22 inches and 35 lbs.
Twenty-one inches and
under 25 lbs
 since my husband chooses to let me
be the feminist
and lift my own case.
(Water workouts are helping that range of motion.)




There are many different packing ideas for these bags.
Don't worry, You Tube provided me with
hours of enjoyment - reviews and ideas.
Do you have any idea how many You Tube Travel channels there are?

And so the quest for packing cubes began.

Rick Steves Cubes

Rick Steves. He is the king of light travel.
Watching his presentations, I am amazed.
He does one set of shoes and, well, not much else.
The cubes were a gift from my son.
He had used them in Thailand.
They are well vented
(after living in Hong Kong,
I appreciated the air flow).
They were awkward for me otherwise.
They now live in the "in case someone needs these" Rubbermaid bin downstairs.

Found on Black Friday on Amazon
for half price.

E bags has ultra light cubes. They are made of rip stop material and ARE very light.
Shaped for E Bag luggage, a big plus.
Expensive?  I bought one set and sent them back,
could not justify the expense. Suddenly there was Black Friday!
The smaller ones are keepers. Three of them live in my suitcase now. They contain my coat, rain jacket, nightgown and sweater.
One is in my "personal item" with my compression socks, scarf and skirt. Sturdy. Not going anywhere.
I sprung for their small toiletry bag as well-
for everyone in the family- LOL. Black Friday rules!
Easy to unpack and pack.
The bigger ones live in the Rubbermaid bin.
Yes, it was cheaper to buy the set!

IKEA packing cubes, bought in a set of three
Now sold in a set of six. 

These are thin and...IKEA!
Ah, the Swedes think of everything
First Aide kit, ultra light sandals, and snacks.
None live in the Rubbermaid bucket.







The last sets are Eagle Creek.
Wow! These puppies were pricy
until the PX decides to end the relationship and
they go on ultra sale!!!!

Eagle Creek compression cubes.
Found on ultra sale.


Compression cubes.They zip down your stuff.

I am not a small woman.
My stuff is rather large. OK- large.
So....I gave it a try.
Small- swim suit and micro towel
Medium- Cold: four long sleeved shirts, a pair of pants, four pr socks and undies.
Medium- Warm: Three short sleeved blouses, convertible pants, undies and socks.
These are AMAZING. They zip stuff down, big time!

There is one small left over.
It lives in my husband's suitcase. (Don't ask, don't tell)

Eagle Creek Specter half cube

One last glance at the sale board the other day- bingo!
This, not a compression, bag ended up in my basket.
It is perfect for ALL of my electronics.
This dandy slips in my personal item like a champ.
The kindle, I pad and phone.
Why bother?
When you get to the airport,
you will understand.



And with that, my packing cube (and Amazon package) obsession
has come to an end.
My husband is SO happy it is over!

What is in that clearance rack over there?

Our Golden Years

My last post gathered an interesting response.

There was lots of pointing of finger hard against who "you boomers are".

Smile

From 60 to about 75 are the "golden years" of our generation.
Many of us had jobs in high school
I know I started in elementary as a babysitter (translate that to a Nanny for this generation).
My husband had a paper route with eighty customers.

We did not have a "carefree" childhood.
We worked for our 5 cent allowance
and created great ways to sell people services.
Yes, it was a GREAT childhood and we both loved ours.
Both of us went to college and graduated debt free.
My husband took nine years-
 working for the forest service in remote areas every other semester and summer.
I did the traditional four, with tons of help from my grandfather and parents.
Side jobs paid for the extras.

My children did not have jobs,
they had golden years during high school.
Our son chose a traditional route, our daughter did not.
They are both successful, happy adults.
They loved that time so much they have started very early
investing, saving, growing a family  and buying their houses
getting ready for self sufficiency in retirement.

My husband worked in various professions for thirty five years
twenty of those were military, providing a bed for our retirement.
My degree enabled me to teach when it was reasonable.
Children came first,
and we chose that someone would always be home for them until they graduated high school.
This is not the judgement call, or even a possibility,  for everyone,
but it was ours.
We ran sports teams, college fairs, and crazy field trips.

We traveled a great deal with the military- 20 countries- living in three of them.
A later job  gave me the opportunity to see 49 states.

What we learned is individuals are the same everywhere.
They want what is best for them
they know they can work to get it or complain if they don't.

And so, my friend, work hard.
If you don't like something, change it in your own life
and give good example.
Complaining may "help" you now---but your golden years will be lifeless.

It is the economy, silly!

This is not a political post.

Yes, we, as retired people, have our own economy.

My husband is over 65 and I am under.

The year before we retired money was tracked carefully. To the penny, it was tracked. Weddings and first houses, bought. Education, as far as our input, was done. Mortgage was finished.

Our income stabilized quickly.   Cost of living adjustments, addition of my pensions (2022) and my SS ( 2023) will be the only changes. After that, until one of us kicks the can, it will stay the same.

Outflow:

1) Come up with a rough food budget.
All of our groceries, OTC meds, paper goods come out of the same pot.
We add in any food we buy when visiting friends and family- since we do it often.

2) Look at the yearly price of things and divide by twelve.
House taxes, House/car/health insurance, car maintenance, doggie bills, propane, presents, smaller trips, house maintenance. We added all the bills up in each category and started a savings account for each. Retirement money comes in, these savings accounts are filled.
A huge plus this year is we are paying hardly any income tax! Hurray for the new accounting.

3) Spending money.
We are, both, pretty independent. Neither of us likes to "report" to the other. We started an allowance years ago. Right now it is about $300 per person, per month. Neither of us spend on impulse (well, there are times....). The allowance has us saving for things that we want or need. My husband has two hobbies, I travel.

4) Savings
 Currently we save about 10% of our monthly income.
We have a nest egg, but you never know what is coming. This is also the money for emergencies- like the roof- and major travel.  We will withdraw about 2% this year. It is saved in a combination of CDs, Stocks and (gulp) savings accounts.

5) Everything else.
Gas for the cars and electricity are about $100 a month a piece. Dinners out are simple. Runs to Walmart for the little things. Books, music. The only nemesis is Amazon. We are going on an Amazon fast beginning in April. Really, we are!

I keep one other set of books- investments. Our net worth- sans cars/house/Johnnyboat- are kept in a book. I've been doing it since 2005. It is fun to look back to see our money grow.

We don't have a lot, but it works for us.

When you cannot find it, make it

My Memory foam travel pillow is the go to for plane flights.
It has traveled at least 100,000miles.
The pillow case has been washed, and washed.
It lives in a tiny packing cube.
It really needed a travel bag.
There was one on the internet for about $30.
That is how much the pillow cost.

Scouting the closet I found a pillow case that was long past prime.
Not sure where the sheets went.
And so....

Done!