Upon our late afternoon arrival in Flagstaff, we unpacked the truck, went through the mail and headed out for Thai food. Later, I scanned two dozen magazines and watched several Hallmark movies before turning in. What is it about the holiday Hallmark movies we are so addicted to? I guess “hope over experience” trumps all! Early the next morning Paul went off to run errands; grocery shopping, banking/paying bills and washing the truck after our long muddy road trip. I did the laundry, made service appointments for the month and prepped my material and sewing supplies for the next day’s sewing session; I have several dresses, tees and scarfs to complete before the holidays. I quickly instructed Paul to bring in the Christmas decorations as we have family from California coming for the holidays. This took him awhile so, in the meantime, I went back to writing and building my blog which I am determined to launch before the end of December.
We did have one re-entry debacle. Paul forgot to pack my plastic bin of woven rugs and table mats, all of which were to be Christmas presents and, which represented dozens of hours of work. I went off like a ruptured duck after which I spent 24 hours convinced someone had stolen them, and nothing else, out of the back of the locked truck. Paul finally dared to suggest my rag rugs were an unlikely first grab for items of value by thieves. After several frantic calls, a helpful lake friend located, repacked and mailed them to us in Arizona. All is right in the world again!
So back to my blog which is time sensitive as I want to post real time experiences from our winter trip to New Zealand. Yes, you read it right; we are headed to the southern hemisphere for the winter. We fly to Auckland December 30th and will spend January on the North Island, February and early March on the South Island and several weeks in southern Australia before flying home from Sydney on April 1st. It will be summer there so we must pack accordingly as we watch the snow fly in Flagstaff. It won’t be as hot and humid as SE Asia or Italy and folks speak English there which will be helpful. We will be traveling through the country via a rental car so it is a good thing Paul is comfortable driving on the other side of the road. For the most part it is a rural country, with more sheep than people, so should be quit relaxing. My most imminent concern is getting through the 12 hour flight from LA to Auckland. My plan is to break up the time in 1-2 hour segments as follows: reading, games, movies, music, contemplation, journaling, eating/drinking, talking to Paul and sleeping with the hope this strategy gets me through the physical and mental challenges associated with such a brutal travel tunnel. This is just one of many “prices paid” to enjoy the personal enrichment that comes from foreign travel. Upon our return, we will first recover from jet lag in Flagstaff, take a road trip to California to visit numerous relatives and then head back to the lake in May. After this extended travel halfway around the world, I don’t plan to budge from the lake house next year, although Paul is already talking about Chile and Argentina. Yikes!
You might not hear from me for several weeks as we rumble into New Zealand. We must first adjust to our new time zone and get Wi-Fi established along with our electronics functioning properly. My articles January through March will focus on our travels and I plan to post pictures on my new blog: myoverthemoonretirement.com. Happy Holidays All! 2018