Nov 24, 2020 - Evolution of keeping and sharing our photos

Before about 2004, our cameras were film, and we had our film developed and kept our photos in albums.  

Around 2004 until 2007, we had our film developed and also put on a CD.  Then we could put slideshows up on the internet.

Starting in about 2007 we went to digital cameras.  In 2007 we started the blogs (and use Flickr as well for the slide shows).  At first we had several layers of photos - all that we kept, grouping all the photos by site, highlights, and specialty albums.  

Eventually we we went through a couple of iterations of organizing and displaying our photos to get to what we do now - photos and text in the blog to tell the story of our trip, and photos in specialty albums that we like and want to keep, but keep them in the specialty albums to avoid having too many in the blog.  We keep:

a. All very good photos.

b. All interesting or unique photos. 

c.. And photos that tell the story of our trip or remind us of the places, people, and experiences we saw and had on our trip.

In 2017 and 2018 we had our physical albums scanned, and no longer have the physical photos.  We do have several boxes of loose photos we have yet to go through. We think at least some of those were left over from the albums or were already scanned.  So those will be dealt with quickly.  The rest may take a while to go through.

Oct 7, 2020 - And yet more cancelations

 Regarding a couple of trips we had previously booked - a Galapagos cruise over Christmas and some time in Peru and Bolivia:

The Galapagos cruise had a webinar - they were opening the cruise back up again, and the first cruise was the one we were booked on.  They detailed their safety and health procedures, which were good.  However, it still is a fact that nothing is different about the covid pandemic, no lessening of infections, no vaccine yet, and we are in a high risk group (old).  So we decided to cancel, and will probably get most if not all of our deposit back.  

For Peru and Bolivia, we are canceling for the same reasons as above, plus both Peru and Bolivia have US travel advisories of Level 4 Do Not Travel by US Dept of State, and a Level 3: COVID-19 Risk Is High (worst rating) by the CDC.  This likely will be a credit, so something else we have to fit into our schedule in the future.

The next trip scheduled is to Brazil and Peru for Amazon cruises in May, 2021.  We will see what happens to these.  And then the next trip booked is August, 2021 to Africa.  Perhaps by then we can travel again.  Summer 2021 was supposed to be with the grandkids to Europe, but that is not booked.

We tend to book well in advance - partly to ensure we get the tours and accommodations we want (for example, Africa gorilla treks need to be booked at least a year in advance), partly to get discounts, and partly to get cheaper air fares.  We now are considering not booking so far in advance for some trips.  Especially if we have the flexibility to book alternate destinations (or no destination) if needed.

Aug 2, 2020 - More cancellations

As expected, our summer and fall trips are cancelled, with some credits, some refunds.  More trips to reschedule.  Before the pandemic we had booked several trips, both land and cruises, into 2023.  And are now trying to fit the trips canceled with credits into our schedule.   

July 3, 2020 - Condo as a base

We have decided, at least for now, to keep our condo as a home base and not to rent it when we start traveling again.  

And we had discussed earlier not being gone for so long at a time, so instead of traveling for 5 - 7 months at a time, only go for 3 or 4 months at a time. 

Since we had given away most of our furniture, kitchen items, towels, and most everything else, we have been busy buying lots of stuff, including a bed, a desk, a dining table, and lots of kitchen and bath items.  And we also are remodeling/decorating the new condo - new floors in the two baths, master bedroom, and master closet; added shutters to replace blinds (there were already shutters on most of the windows); added a door from the master bedroom into the bathroom; painted all the walls; added some nice pullout shelving in the kitchen, and many other things.

May 11, 2020 New home

Two years ago in April we sold our home in California and started our quest as nomads, traveling the world in search of adventure and knowledge and growth and, well, just fun.
And last April, just two years later, we were back in the US trying to avoid the pandemic and hunkering down.  And now, we are back where we started...sort of.  Today we closed on a small two bedroom, two bathroom condo here in Henderson NV.  We have no idea how long it will be before we can travel again so we decided to buy, as opposed to doing AirBnB (hotels are too expensive).

If and when (if ever) the travel can restart we will be approaching it slowly to try to assure our safety.  Once we are back to traveling extensively we will look into renting out the condo.  But for now, it looks like our days of wandering the globe are on hold.  (But we are keeping the same mailing address as we don't have to keep changing it.) 

March 31, 2020 - Pandemic

Our travels were interrupted by the Coronavirus, as were normal lives of  everyone else, traveling or not.  We think we are luckier than probably most - we are retired, so no jobs to lose, no jobs that require a presence.  We do not have a home, and are not going to quarantine with our children, so we are staying at a hotel.  Since hotels are what we stay in almost all the time, this is something we can handle, although not being able to go out except for walks or to get food is discouraging.  On the other hand, we have lots of photo and blog work to do on past trips, so we can keep busy, and perhaps catch up a bit.

We had two months of our long 7 month trip canceled.  Most suppliers are giving credits, not refunds, so we are in the process of rescheduling what we had planned for the next year or so, to take the trips that were canceled this year in order to not lose the credits.  And working them around trips we already have planned into 2023.  And we assume that out summer trips will be canceled as well, though they have not been yet, and we will need to reschedule those.  And possibly the fall trips as well.  Which means that future trips planned but not booked will be delayed by a year or two.  However, if that is the worst we have to do, we will be very lucky.  We are much better off than most people in that regard, as many people are dealing with lost jobs, lost pay checks, the infection, and lost loved ones.

We hope for a reasonably quick end to the virus threat, and recovery of jobs and the economy.  

And as a final thought, we would like to thank all the workers who are still out there doing their jobs that are keeping us safe, fed, and generally okay.  Thank you nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, janitors, farmers, field workers, food distributors, delivery people, sales clerks, teachers, restaurant workers, truck drivers, sanitation workers, first responders, letter carriers, and many other people working critical jobs.  

February 23, 2020 - More Suitcases

Suitcases:  The light 25" suitcase is working well, so we will continue to use that one.  And Mary will order another suitcase, also very light, that has a small light carry-on as well.  We will pack it when we get home, and see how that one does.