Norseh2o

Traveling to AZ to finish a wonderful December. We finished our TA Barcelona-Miami on 12/3/23, then a week in Seattle (rained all day, every day), home for a day then 10 days in Hawaii (it rained all but 3 hours-we played 9 holes of golf during the brief sunshine ⛳️). Home for Christmas, we spent a quiet weekend in Southern California with family and friends. A shout out to all who take care of us while we have time off and holidays, especially the hospice caregivers who took care of DM on 12/24 & 12/25 as she was ‘under the weather’. Looking forward to one more visit (and 2024!) with DM. Thank you for all of the posts & pictures. Happy New Year!

DH did not swim in the evenings but he did check the pool each morning and once he found that “hair helmet” was not in the pool, he swam a few laps.

Have not travel on the Vista, pools on all other O ships are small. Earlier in 2023, onboard the Marina, DH swam laps in the morning, between 7:00 and 8:00. First few days, he swam alone. One morning, a woman was in the pool, walking slowly in the water. He entered the pool, swam a bit and when he stopped, the woman told him not to get her (perfectly styled!) hair wet. And told him that he didn’t even know how to swim. DH, a former NCAA Division 1 collegiate swimmer (think Mark Spitz with less speed, no Olympic medals 😊) left the pool. That evening, he turned the pool story into humorous, dinner conversation.

Home from Europe travel, a Mediterranean cruise on Oceania’s Nautica, a week in Barcelona (😊), and a B2B on Oceania Marina, transatlantic to Miami. The autumn sailings from Europe to the USA are habit forming! Delayed flight from Miami cut into our sleep time, but we managed a next day afternoon flight to Seattle to celebrate early Christmas with DD and family! For years, we have joked about the sunny days we spend in the Pacific Northwest, this week is certainly a first for us with all day long, day after day rain. 🌧️ Next week, off to Hawaii for early Christmas with DD and family, home for Christmas with DS and family, and (hoping for 🤞) one more New Year’s with Dear Mother Ruth, in Arizona. Thoughts and prayers to Daily-ites, Happy Holidays and safe travels.

On the Marina last March, we booked a January-February 2025 Miami-Los Angeles, Los Angeles- Miami b2b on the Vista. This week (we are on the Marina), we moved the Los Angeles-Miami trip to November, 2025 b2b transatlantic on the Marina. We kept the Miami-Los Angeles trip. We did not pay the $150.00 cancel fee as we used the one time change that is available when booking onboard.

Spending our last evening in Barcelona, we spent our first nights in a boutique hotel a block off of Las Ramblas, with cathedral visits, delicious tapas, and flamenco dining and dancing @Tablao Flamenco. We are spending our last 3 nights with sunny skies, 72 degrees (F) on the Mediterranean @Diagonal Hilton. Looking forward to boarding the Marina tomorrow!

A wonderful 10 days in the Mediterranean onboard Oceania’s Nautica. Loved Croatia (my Dad’s parents immigrated from Croatia to US around 1900), cats in Kotor, Montenegro, monastery & vineyards in Greece. We missed Civitavecchia (Rome) port due to rough seas. Delicious food, top entertainment (Julie Jones, cruise director=❤️). We will have a week in Barcelona til we join the Marina (11/13-12/3) for a b2b, Barcelona-Lisbon, Lisbon-Miami. Life onboard=😍

On the Nautica now. Missed Civitavecchia port, rough night at sea, nice stop at La Spezia, Italy yesterday. Last night, enroute to Marseille, experienced the roughest night at sea of any sea travel. Surprised. Marseille is bathed in sunlight and windy.

I was 65+ for yellow fever vaccine in 2019.

Had the yellow fever vaccine last century (as Peace Corp volunteers) and in 2019, for our Amazon trip on the Insignia. We were < 70. The clinic offered great medical and educational advice, we had no problems.

I agree. Neither pension or SS is large. But, the GPO and WEP reduce the money significantly, If I live to 100 as I expect, the lost money will be more than 1/2 million.

Thanks for the post about SS and teacher pensions. I have the same teaching pension/social security issue. I have wasted hours at Social Security offices, sent register mail to various offices with no response. Currently, some House of Representatives members (including the representative from our area), are sponsoring The Social Security Fairness Act. If passed, the Fairness Act would repeal both the GPO and the WEP. I wrote to our area representative regarding this issue and requested a reply. The reply explained the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) in great detail, a waste for me as I have spent too much time studying the law. I would rather have learned who is sponsoring this, who is opposed and will any change happen if the legislation moves forward. Historically, similar legislation has remained in committee for years. I plan to keep corresponding with representative and remain, ever hopeful.

Good morning from sunny San Diego! We sure enjoyed our Arizona-Wisconsin-Arizona adventure. After spending most of the summer in Washington, on our drive home from Whidbey Island, we discussed trading in the big 250 Ford for something else. While I was visiting DM early in September, DH at home, not only found a car, but arranged for the truck’s sale. We traveled in our spiffy 2023 Audi A5 to Phoenix and spent an afternoon with DM and WA sister (a nice surprise!) who was visiting, spent the night at a niece’s home and in the morning with niece, flew to Milwaukee (1st class seats on Southwest… 😁). Watched the Packers manage a win, 18-17 🙂, drove along the west side of Lake Michigan, shopped at Piggly Wiggly, and watched a Brewer game. Beautiful state, friendly people, proud to visit the land of my birth. Returned to Phoenix, drove to Tucson for a weekend with brother and sil, enjoyed DH’s high school reunion, ate the best Mexican food (home cooked, catered, banquet style, and hole in the wall family restaurant). Ai-yi-yi! I even shopped at a mall with sil! Next up, a long weekend in WA with DD and family closing up the Whidbey Island little cabin for the winter. Prayers and care for all Dailyites, safe travels to travelers, thanks for the Tromso information. We will visit Tromso on a b2b2b2b cruise in the summer of 2024 as part of celebrating 50 years of “wedded bliss”.

Thanks for The Daily! Especially loved @marshawk’s mini golf story, thank you for sharing. Prayers for all with cares and needs. Looking forward to an exciting 2 weeks. First, a drive to Arizona with DH to visit DM (and spend some time with AZ family) then fly from Phoenix to Wisconsin for Sunday’s game at Packer Stadium. ❤️ the Packers!! Thinking about a day trip to Madison from Green Bay, and of course, a Brewers/Cardinals game in Milwaukee! When we return to Phoenix, we will drive to Tucson for DH ‘s high school reunion celebration with more football (love high school sports!), good food snd great company. Thanks to all who spend time with The Daily.

@smitty34877 So sorry for your loss of your DH. Courage & prayers for you.

I am home from a nice week with DM in AZ. We visited Sam’s for a cleaning of her hearing aids, I took care of a bit of her laundry, exchanged some books with her and we took a scenic Saturday drive north and west of Phoenix. I joined her table group for dinner one evening, how nice that she has found such compatible people later in life, Mary from Louisiana, Carol from Michigan, and Vivian (not sure where she hails from). We met older sister for lunch at Olive Garden, (seems as if everyone on CC has enjoyed Olive Garden recently!), and found a thrift store piece of luggage to carry the new books home. ❤️ Wonderful week in The Valley of the Sun except it was:

Have never gambled on an Oceania ship but I have a picture of the casino on the Regatta (July, 2023).

With less than 11 weeks between travel (Regatta trip ended 8/1/23, traveling to Europe mid October for Nautica and Marina trips), I opted to pay the $65 to expedite the passport process. Paper work was mailed August 4, 2023 from San Bernardino, CA to Philadelphia, PA. Paper work was received & checks for renewal cost, expediting of passport and 2 day return mail were deposited on August, 8, 2023. Today, September 8, 2023, new passport arrived at my home (Solana Beach, CA). Nice work, usps and passport processors!

Happy Labor Day to all, especially those who must be at the job while many of us labor at home. Thank you Graham, for posting yesterday’s sermon, our Pastor emphasized showing and sharing kindness and love. In the afternoon, longtime friends hosted a get together at their home, A Taste of Minnesota (most of the guests spent some time of their lives in Minnesota or surrounding states) with smelt, walleye, potatoes & salads. So nice to be social with great food and wonderful conversation. In honor of Labor Day, DH is cleaning the patio and both of us are packing a bag, he for a camping & fishing adventure and I am packing for a visit to AZ with DM. When we spoke earlier, she told me that she was making a list of little jobs for me and I mentioned that I was bringing her some books. I explained that I so liked one if the books, Three Sisters (Heather Morris), that DH and I had watched Exodus on television & that I had downloaded The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Morris) and K. Hannah’s The Nightingale, to read again. She laughed & asked, isn’t that the story of the girls who survived Auschwitz and immigrated to Palestine? And that she had read the Three Sisters and had given it to my sister to give to me because she knew that I would like it. Books do brings us together! Safe travels to all, Labor Day travel or onboard!

Ocho, our first black cat, Christmas, 2022. He is a bit bigger now. ❤️

Not a newbie on O but forgot to book “on time” for 2023 July Regatta trip. 30 hours later was able to secure 1 Polo Grill @8:30pm and 1 Toscana @8:00pm. Traveled in Concierge cabin. Was able to change Polo to 6:30 and Toscana to 7:00 once on board and was able to secure an additional Polo dinner for 7:00. For October, 2023 cruise in a PH, (online at 9:01 Pacific!), managed to book the 4 specialties for 6:30, 7:00, 7:00 and 7:30 for 6 guests. Maybe these specialty bookings experiences are normal?!

Yes, sending healing prayers to so many. Lahaina is on my mind, we only visited once, on the Eurodam in Spring, 2019. We booked this cruise for a time to think about & talk about DH’s retirement date. We walked through Lahaina, shopped and spoke with so many shop keepers (and almost purchased a beautiful bird sculpture!). When we returned to the ship, we agreed that we understood how so many feel that Maui is the most beautiful of all islands. We are spending our last week away from home, thankful that we could enjoy a nice summer traveling in western USA. In September, I will go to AZ for a week or so and visit with DM (who has finally been “deemed” eligible for Hospice care 😊) while DH enjoys a fishing weekend with old friends. Thank you all for The Daily, the stories, the cares and concerns, the positivity and the love! P.S. DH did retire in 2019, but when offered a part-time, work from anywhere in the world position last year, he happily accepted. 🙂

Since the restart of post-pandemic sailing (November, 2021 on board the Marina), I have had a great pedicure on nearly every Oceania cruise, haircuts, styling and even lowlights on different trips on different ships. Best haircut ever on Sirena, November, 2022 (rumored that stylist is onboard Vista now). A beautiful ‘Barbie pink’ manicure last week on Regatta should last through the summer. Higher prices than at home, but used onboard credit and enjoy supporting the ships’ staff and crew.

We are enjoying our last day onboard Oceania Regatta In beautiful Victoria, Canada. 🇨🇦 Plenty of sunshine for a long walk into town and back onboard for a ‘back of the boat’ lunch. I added a scoop of avocado with the mahi mahi and even looked at the watermelon slices but confess, the vanilla malt at Waves was the dessert choice. 🥛 Filling out my passport application this afternoon and once off the ship, we will look for expedited passport service in Seattle. Hopeful that passport return time is less than 12 weeks. 🤞

Growing up in Arizona, rattlesnake “awareness” was a big deal, especially when Dad removed a few that had slithered too close to our home. As a science teacher, I one time accepted the gift of a harmless, non poisonous snake for the lab. When the snake escaped, a few of the staff were definitely uncomfortable. The creature was quickly recaptured (found coiled behind a small lab refrigerator) and I happily volunteered to ‘re home’ the snake. Glad about found luggage, love @ger_77 first cruise picture, happy to read about lives of The Daily-ites.