Our Florida ‘Winter Summerland’ escape took a strange twist this weekend. I was at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona auto race and saw a random text from someone named ‘Andy’. I looked at it and realized it had something to do with our February month-long AirBNB rental outside of Orlando. Andy was the AirBNB ‘host’ and he said our reservation was immediately CANCELLED “due … Continue reading Homeless in Florida?
I enjoyed watching the Tokyo Summer Olympics 🇯🇵 earlier this month and seeing athletes from countries around the world. With my ‘50 States’ challenge complete, it’s time to focus on my next travel goal: visiting 50 countries. I’ve been to between 32-35 countries already. Why a range? Because it is seemingly difficult to assess what actually constitutes a ‘country’. There is no broadly agreed to … Continue reading Counting Countries – How Many?
We got home for our 6+ week Winter Summerland trip yesterday and quickly unpacked from the flight. It’s amazing how you can be away for that long with just a few bags (although we brought home 1 more bag than we left with). Some friends were surprised that we flew to Florida instead of making the drive in our own vehicle. We were a bit … Continue reading Drive or Fly?
Last fall, we took a wonderful 3 week trip through Europe with some good friends. I frequently think of the terrific time we had in the Loire, Alps, and Tuscany. The hilltop town of Sienna came to mind recently as Settore Polizia Municipale sent me a lovely ticket in the mail. The tracked me down for ‘Circulating In A Limited Traffic Area’. Old town Sienna … Continue reading Postcard From Sienna
We are blessed to be able to live a comfortable lifestyle in early retirement, by almost anyone’s standards. Our son thinks we are sometimes too frugal, but we’ve enjoyed many vacations, entertainment experiences, and everyday luxuries over the last 4 years. In general, our spending is still in line or even slightly below what we planned for our FIRE escape. Still, like most people, we … Continue reading What Are You Wasting Money on?
For the most part, we are living our lives during the CV19 ‘Lockdown’ without a lot of issues. We are blessed. Fortunately, most of the activities that we enjoy this time of year are outside and that’s about the best place you can be to stay safe and keep others safe. Everyday, in my Facebook ‘History’ feed, I see pictures pop up from great trips … Continue reading Minnesota Getaway
Now that we are into Fall, I thought I would share a few travel posts on some potential places for cold-weather vacations. We live in Minnesota, so we are always looking for some interesting places to warm up in the winter time. This past year we used New Orleans as a jumping-off point for a Caribbean cruise. I had already been to the city several … Continue reading Carefree New Orleans
We’re heading on our big trip of the year next month and I’ve been looking into our health insurance coverage. I’ve taken dozens of overseas trips for fun or for work over the years, but I’ve honestly never bothered to understand how I was covered for any medical issues. Recently, a of couple situations came up that caused me to rethink my ‘ignorance is bliss’ … Continue reading Travel Medical Insurance
Kiplinger’s recent published an article that is getting a lot of buzz about their description of three different phases of retirement. They are proposing that retirees plan on spending more early – during your ‘Go-Go Years’ – versus later in retirement, when your energy & desire to be very active may decline. Calling the later two stages ‘Slow-Go’ and ‘Won’t-Go’, they propose people plan to … Continue reading Extra Spending For ‘Go-Go’ Years
We just returned from a wonderful two weeks in New Orleans and a Caribbean cruise. Our son is off of college this month on ‘J-Term’, so we took a very early spring break when he has time to enjoy it with us. It wasn’t all ‘No Responsibility January’ however, this was a busy trip with a lot of walking and some fun adventure activities. One … Continue reading Climbing Into The New Year
MrFireStation 