It’s been a long time since I wrote about long-haul retirement travels. All to do with the dogs you will remember. I’m determined to continue looking on the bright side in these blogs although it would be all too easy to focus on the medical side of my life especially after a Monday morning like this one I’m in the middle of.
But no, get back in your box negativity, step up positiveness. So I’m going to write a bit about our up and coming American trip. Just over a month away and we’ve been either making the arrangements ourselves or delegating them to the children. It’s a while since we’ve been anywhere (about two plus years for Ireland) and as far as records (my diary) show, 2012 since our last American trip. By my maths that’s ten years. Wow. And that’s for one of our favourite places, at least it was back then.
I’m sure trips were a lot simpler way back when. They didn’t have ESTAs then but at one point back then there were visas to sort out. Travel insurance has vastly increased in price but given we’re 73 and I have diabetes (type2), I suppose this isn’t surprising. I’ve taken out an annual policy so that should cover Ireland later in the year.
Then there’s money cash and card to be organised, decisions to be made there about how much. We never take enough. Oh and there’s something about suitcase locks that need to meet regulations but then we’ve never locked out suitcases so maybe not a problem.
For this trip there have been train tickets to book, flights to organise. Hotels (4) and AirBnB to book and pay for. Then there’s hire cars and even a train trip from Santa Fe to Albuquerque to see an old friend and other old friends to contact and let them know we’re going to be there even if there is little likelihood of us meeting up. The whole trip is only 12 days and we’re with the kids for quite a bit of this, so not a lot of flexibility.
And I admit there is a degree of concern that the place we’re going – Durango to see what work has been done on our land (no longer ‘ours’ as we’ve gifted it to the children) – may have changed beyond all recognition. That its very appeal all those years ago may have disappeared under a blanket of expansion and redevelopment. So, yes, slightly anxious.
That said we’ve been going ahead with the planning, booking paying for of this trip. Briefly the structure of the trip looks something like this. Take the doggies to our friends to look after. More anxiety but it’s got to be done. Wake up early next day and catch the train to London and then out of Heathrow.
Take the flight to Denver. Stay two nights in a posh hotel. Might not be a bad time just to remind you all that the justification for this extravagant trip is that 2022 is the year of our Golden wedding anniversary. That’s got to justify spending several thousands of pounds, hasn’t it?
Then fly from Denver to Durango and stay for the first night in one of our all-time favourite hotels, The Strater. Just one night there and then drive down to Santa Fe to meet up with children, stay in an apartment (that looks ridiculously Santa Fe from the picture they sent us).
Next day we take the train (I like trains) to Albuquerque and stay one night with an old friend. Next day back to Santa Fe and on to Durango and four nights in an AirBnB the children booked for us. All four of us that is.
There has been some discussion about what we will do when in Durango – ride the train (steam this time – see photo above), drive the million dollar drive at least as far as Ouray, visit the land and see what the preparations so far look like, maybe meet potential contractors for the next phase/s, then there’s the food and drink and maybe some music, favourite restaurants and bars to revisit for us although not for them because they’ve never been to Durango before. They’re in the country for longer than us and are doing Denver, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Gallup, Santa Fe and Durango, so they’re going to be very busy. And I’ve said all this and never mentioned shopping which in past years has always been a huge part of any trip mainly because stuff was so cheap. At an exchange rate of $1.30 to £1, I’m not so sure this will figure so much in this trip.
All of the above, as it relates to us, has to be either booked or at the very least thought about and how it might fit into our busy schedule. But given the many other little challenges that are going round in my brain at the moment, health, music, vineyard and day to day living, at least these challenges are pleasant ones.
Retirement travels summary
So how does it feel writing about long-haul travel and how does actually doing most of the organising of it (the parts the kids don’t do)? Well inevitably it’s quite exciting and then there’s the anxiety. How will flying be (never my favourite holiday activity)? Will all the arrangements we’ve made work out? And so on. No gain without pain or something of the sort. That could be my retirement mantra.