We are thrilled to be wrapping up work on our new itinerary. I can’t recall the last time we posted an itinerary. After searching older posts using the search filter at the top right of our homepage, the most comprehensive itinerary I could find was here on our 9th travel anniversary on October 31, 2021.

The cruise lines canceled five of the cruises listed on that itinerary due to the war in Ukraine, and we canceled the sixth when we were sick with COVID-19 and could not travel. What a challenging time! We were refunded all the money we paid except for the cruise, which we had to cancel only days before embarkation across the Atlantic Ocean. Due to the late cancellation, we lost that entire cruise fare.

We’re hoping the four new cruises we’ve booked will sail as planned, but after the events of the past several years, one never knows. The most exciting aspect of our new itinerary is the number of days we’ve planned thus far. We still have to book a few flights and venues, but overall, the plan is set. We don’t expect to be making any changes.

I will no longer say “good health providing” in our posts. As all of our readers know, all of life’s activities and planned events are subject to health being sufficiently good to participate. We’ve put that phrase to rest after all this time dealing with health issues. If something comes up, we’ll let our readers know.

Packing is on my mind, but we’re still using a lot of items we have out right now, with four days remaining until we begin our road trip. Tom has enough takeaway food to last until Friday, and I will finish most items left in the refrigerator, mostly cheese and eggs. Tonight, I have my last Bibibop salad, and starting tomorrow night, I’ll make omelets with cheese and onions for myself. Easy peasy.

We’ll only have one more load of laundry, which Tom will do on Friday, at which point we’ll pack some clothes for the road trip. If we each wear our shirt twice and wear the same jeans during the four days, we’ll only have to pack one extra shirt each, four pairs of underwear, and, for me, my comfy pajamas.

Then, at night, when we check into each hotel, we’ll only need to bring in the computer bag, one small bag, and one bag of toiletries, leaving everything else in the back of the SUV, covered with my blanket. Hopefully, the vehicle’s alarm system will serve us well.

Once we’re on the road, the feeling of freedom, at last, will surface, making us excited for times to come. We have much to look forward to as we continue our year-long worldwide journey. And, of course, we’ll enjoy the 2½ months stay in Lake Las Vegas as we did a year ago, at the same time of year.

Once again, we’ll celebrate Tom’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s, and my birthday in Nevada. Again, we won’t have a rental car since everything we need is down a single flight of stairs from our condo, including shops, salons, restaurants, and a grocery and liquor store. When we go out to dinner away from The Village, we’ll use Uber as we did last year.

Car rentals in Las Vegas, especially over the holiday season, are about $1800 a month. We never spent more than $300 a month on Uber round trips to anywhere we wanted to go. Plus, we never felt confined or trapped in the fantastic location, especially on New Year’s Eve, when we had fun at the celebrations by the lake in The Village.

That’s all for today, dear readers.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 10, 2014: