Pack Rats

I love to travel and have done a lot of it. I have visited over 40 countries in the past 12 years and I have learned many important things like: Don’t over plan, stay long, and pack light. I write this knowing full well it is definitely easier said than done. For example, we are going to South Africa in high season this winter, and unfortunately that requires advance booking, otherwise we may find ourselves without a place to stay. So being spontaneous is out of the question this trip. Also, in a country with so much crime, being well prepared, and knowing where you are going at all times is probably diligent. Most challenging however, is taking only carry-on luggage for a four month long trip.

I am certain organizing our bags for this trip to Africa will take a few trial runs. For Stephane the task is monumental given the size of his feet: one shoe takes up half his carry on! Then there is all his hair products. Funny thing that is.

There is one good travel tip I try to keep in mind when packing: unless you are heading out to the far reaches of the Amazon, almost anything can be purchased once you get there (except maybe super large shoes in Latin America...).

Another trick I have learned is to keep a small zip up bag in your small carry-on personal item that has the following items in it: 24 hours of medications (if you require them), earbuds, a credit card, lip balm, eye patches, ear plugs, 1 mg Ativan, toothbrush, Clorets, and reading glasses if you need them. These are all the things you will likely need when on a long flight. The whole zip up case can be placed in the seat pocket in front of you thus avoiding the nightmare of having to crawl over two people to drag down your suitcase and dig through it to try to find what you need. Unfortunately, no one has yet solved the issue of how to not have to pee once an hour on a long flight...

In general, I try to avoid overnight flights, but when going to South Africa from North America it is quite unavoidable if you want to arrive there during the day. I have also learned that more often than not, aircraft entertainment systems are broken and it is worthwhile to have some movies downloaded onto your tablet or phone. Steph and I always carry an earbud splitter so that we can plug into the same movie. Syncing our seat back screens has become an art and we are quite good at it (I know, our talents are endless!).

A few years ago I bought a kindle which takes up less space than a book and can be read on the beach without glare. It took some getting used to, but means I can carry several books with without the weight and space issues. Alternatively I have found that no matter where I have travelled to, there are always good books to be found...books other travellers have left behind.

All in all, packing light requires thought, but has so many benefits...no lost luggage, no waiting around on arrival, allowing you to get through customs first before the long line ups form, and less back aches dragging all that weight around.

Now if I could just solve the shoe issue...

Two Star Retirement - Part Two

I first started blogging about our two star retirement in October 2017, and after nine glorious months of travel, we had to come home to renovate our house which had been trashed by some unsavory tenants. It was a horrendous and infamous renovation from hell, so I stopped writing for the better part of a year while I finished the house and got my vacation rental business up and running. Now, after an eventful summer, I am ready to start writing again.

Discovering Stephane and I were not cut out for renovating houses together, did not kill our two star retirement plan altogether: It simply helped us define and clarify what we each needed, and what we each could or could not tolerate. So ultimately, while that was a difficult process to go through, we are now back on track with new clarity. No more renovating houses - together! That means if I find a great house I just have to buy and renovate, Steph will gladly go hang out in Montreal with his family, and when it is all over, he will return. Having said that, I am in no mood to do this again anytime soon.

The house turned out fantastic, and the yard is amazing (if I do say so myself), and even though it was our first year, the vacation rental unit upstairs was solidly booked, bringing in about 25% more revenue than I had expected. Next summer should bring an additional increase of 25%, so I am very pleased. This was our yard in March

And this was our yard two months later

Living below the rental unit, in our newly built "owner's suite" was comfortable, and not as bad as I thought it might be. People are generally pretty quiet, and with the exception of two groups who were quite loud, our Safe and Sound insulation did a good job of buffering the noise.

Now that it is fall, we are back upstairs, and have a six month tenant in the basement. He is here on a temporary contract with the prison, and will be leaving about the time we return from our winter travel and are ready to move downstairs again for next summer. We also found a short term tenant to move into our upstairs unit for the four months we will be gone. That was always the plan: have short term rental income coming in up and down, and that effectively pays for our winter travel.

Last winter, Stephane had decided to go back to work, and so he spent a fair bit of time this spring looking for employment. Eventually, in August, he was offered work - doing the same kind of work as he had before retiring - but he decided to turn it down. After a lot of thought he chose to work instead in the spring, summer and fall for a friend - working on pools, leaving his winters free to travel. This of course delights me, and will mean far less stress for Stephane, which we think is a good idea.

This summer we sold our secondary property here in Oliver. My son and his wife had lived there since 2014 but decided to buy a house of their own in July. After a quick, very minor face-lift reno, we sold it in one day, without realtors, for almost full price! This left us with a tidy profit which we promptly used to pay off the line of credit we grew during the renovation on our house. So Stephane's summer job, combined with my vacation rental income, should be more than enough money to live on. Especially now that we are effectively debt free. We won't have the additional bonus money that house flipping would have provided, but at the end of the day, we do not live large (except for travel), and I believe we can keep our day to day expenses well within our budget.

Our travel budget, is our biggest expense, and I am always looking for creative ways to do what I want to do without breaking the bank. In 2016 I rented a 3 bedroom place for 3 months and rented out the other two rooms on Airbnb, then in 2017 we tried renting for 6 months at a time which generally reduces the cost of accommodation significantly, and this year, we are simply going somewhere where the Canadian dollar goes a long way: Africa.

I have always wanted to return to Africa. In 2007 I spent several months there with my oldest son - visiting Morocco, and volunteering throughout Ghana and Kenya. That was an amazing trip - part of a four month journey around the world with my eldest. I blogged the whole trip and it is a good read - so be sure to check it out at http://corrieandjoelstrip.blogspot.com/2007/09/ After doing a camping safari in Kenya I knew I would safari again - only the next time I would do it in luxury and with Stephane.

So in January, after a couple weeks of visiting Cape Town and its surrounding wine region, we will head to a private game reserve called Timbavati, and will stay at a luxury camp called Simbavati River Lodge...check it out...this is the room we booked. It opens onto the Sabi River where wildlife come to drink. This reserve is the only one in Africa with white lions...and this year there are two sets of babies!

Since we can only afford to stay there three nights (it is over a $1000/night) we will afterwards be staying in a lovely 2 bedroom unit at the Sabi Sun resort - which I got through my travel club for only $400 for the whole week! This resort is near Hazyview, South Africa right beside Kruger National Park so we will spend an entire week doing self drive safaris! After that we will head to the Dolphin Coast for some beach time, then onwards to spend a few weeks driving the famous Garden Route. We have decided to leave the month of March unplanned to give us some flexibility.

We are considering going to Zimbabwe (I have always wanted to see Victoria Falls), Botswana (I really want to do a boat safari in the Okanvango Delta), and Stephane wants to go to weird places with weird names like Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Bujumbura, Burundi, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Flic en flac, Mauritius.

I will, as usual, post blog entries on Facebook and Twitter, and hope you will come along for the adventure! We start our travels on Dec 6 - heading to our favorite place in Conchas Chinas (Puerto Vallarta) for three weeks before heading overseas, and as always, I love your feedback and comments.

Winter Where You Want but Wear DEET

There are only two weeks left in our shortened winter away, and before I know it I will be back at work, finishing my house renovation. All of the exterior work I left for this spring, so I have lots left to do: build a fence, two decks, install a splash pool, excavate a sloped yard into three tiers, and Xeriscape it all. Oh, yah, and I have to paint the outside of the house and replace a couple of windows too.

All this I would have looked forward to after a lazy 8 weeks in the sun, but this winter I have been challenged with health issues and rested up is not exactly how I am feeling right now. My Psoriatic Arthritis flared up a few weeks before I arrived, and it worsened once here until I was unable to play pickle ball or walk to town, or do pretty much anything fun. Fortunately, in Mexico, the health care system is easy to navigate, and one need not wait 6 months to get into the specialist. I just sent an email to a recommended Rheumatologist, exchanged a few emails regarding what was going on, and she fit me in within a few days. I love that about Mexico. When you are sick, you can just go get stuff dealt with. My cost including seeing the specialist and the local doctor (who gave me a shot for pain to tied me over until I saw the Rheumy) was about $120.

When I saw the specialist, she prescribed a new medicine and a shot of Depo-Medrol (Methylprednisolone - a corticosteroid given by injection), but instead of giving it to me herself, I was to go pick it up at the pharmacy (no prescription needed), and give it to myself. Yikes! That took some psyching myself up to say the least. In the end, it was far less terrible than I had imagined, and in fact, it was actually quite funny: an intermuscular needle needs to go into a big muscle - I chose my thigh. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, I decided I would freeze the area first with some ice (soas to reduce any potential pain). Well, when I stabbed myself, fearing I would stab too hard and go too deep, I actually stabbed so lightly the needle went into my leg about 1 centimeter - it felt like I was stabbing a frozen steak! I had to pull the needle out, and go at it again, only this time knowing I would have to stab much harder if I were to get all two inches of the needle into my muscle. So re-freeze, re-sterilize, and re-stab...1,2,3 - I stabbed hard, the needle went all the way to the hilt, and I pushed the plunger! It worked...no pain whatsoever, and I felt quite proud of myself for not chickening out.

Anyway, after the needle, I was so looking forward to finally feeling better, but over the next two days I actually began to feel worse. Little did I know something more sinister than psoriatic arthritis was brewing...

Stephane began having similar symptoms to me, and after a night from hell where Stephane literally was crying in pain his head hurt so bad, he went to the Doctor the next morning who confirmed he had Dengue Fever. I was too sick to go to the Doctor with him, but knew I had what he had, as we had exactly the same symptoms. For the next three days we were both so sick we were unable to get out of bed. Pain in our muscles, muscle weakness so bad we could barely lift a glass of water to our mouths, joint pain, head pain, and overwhelming fatigue. It was just awful!

Doctor Victor, who runs a local clinic here in Bucerias, told Stephane to come back to have his blood checked a few days later, explaining that some people with Dengue will have trouble with their platelets dropping, so I went in with Stephane to have mine checked as well. The Doctor took one look t me and said, "I don't like what I see." Interestingly, he did not think I had Dengue, he thought I had the flu, because unlike Stephane, I had developed a bad cough. Anyway, the blood work confirmed Dengue, as well as dangerously low platelets, and the Doctor said it would be too dangerous for me to go home.

At the clinic there are three overnight rooms, and when you are "admitted" the Doctor literally stays there in the clinic 24 hours a day to watch over you. His wife cooks the meals. So, for the next three days I was on an IV and several different meds trying to get my fluids stabilized. My blood pressure had dropped quite low and I was very dehydrated. They let Stephane stay with me, even letting him sleep in an extra bed beside me!
When I was stable and able to leave the clinic three days later, I was presented a bill - with everything clearly itemized (IV's, drugs, food, etc.) and the bill was only 39,000 pesos. That is just about $2700 Canadian dollars. The amazing part of that was the portion of that bill for the Doctors time, was only 15,000 pesos - about $1000. Can you imagine, 24 hour a day personal care by a physician - for 2 nights and 3 days - for $1000? And there were no nurses...it was the Doctor who checked on me in the middle of the night, the Doctor who changed my IV bag and gave me my meds. And it was the Doctor who hugged me and gave me a kiss when I left, and gave me his cell phone number to call if anything changed in my condition while I was in Mexico city (a trip we had already booked and paid for so could not cancel). Indeed, things are different in Mexico. Different good, in my opinion.

I did some research about Dengue Fever, and it is an interesting disease. It affects everyone differently. Many people can get it and not even know they have it as they are asymptomatic. Others, like me, can have platelet issues. Others still, go on to have hemorrhagic fever, where they begin to bleed spontaneously from various orifices, and shock syndrome or death is a potential outcome.

There are four strains of Dengue - so even if you have had it - you only have antibodies for that strain - meaning you can still get it three more times! And although there is a vaccine for Dengue, the World Health Organization suggests you never take the vaccine unless you have already had Dengue once. The reason for that is because the vaccine puts you at much higher risk of hemorrhagic fever should you ever get Dengue.

Truly, the best prevention is using DEET, and being diligent about putting it on. Alternatively, as some have pointed out over the past few weeks, you could also choose a different country to winter in. But, to those I say this: Dengue fever occurs widely in the tropics, including the Southern United States, Australia, and the Carribean - yes even those uber expensive rich person places like the British Virgin Islands and Grenada. This is not just a developing world problem. And let's be honest with ourselves, even in the United States, where people often winter in Palm Springs or Florida, there are dangerous diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile Virus. Then there is the H1N1 and all those other deadly flues...and SARS. At the end of the day, no matter where you live, globalization and global climate change mean there are bugs and people that spread diseases worldwide.

There is no safe place. Shit happens.

At least in Mexico, I can afford to pay for excellent, private health care, whereas if i wintered in the United States, I would have had to have paid far more than $3000 - just for the insurance to cover my medical care - which likely would have run upwards of $30,000 US.

New Beginnings

The new moon is a powerful time for new beginnings. If you were lucky the other night, you had an opportunity to look up and take in the spectacle. Throughout history, cultures around the world have looked to the new moon with awe and inspiration. This week's new moon was a red moon - an illusion of bent rays of light - as well as a "wolf" moon - appearing bigger and brighter than usual. Add to that a total lunar eclipse and it was a night to remember for many.

New moon rituals are often about setting intentions for the coming month. New beginnings give us hope that things can be better. Just think back to how many New Year's resolutions you have made - and broken. Looking forward and treating each day or each month, or each new year as a new beginning is easier said than done. Our past shapes us, informs us, and let's be truthful, holds us back sometimes. We are comfortable with what we know and often hang on to the past for dear life - fearing what might be ahead. Habits are hard to break. New beginnings are the start of something unknown - and that can be scary.

I read a great quote by Joseph Campbell, it said, "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." He goes on to talk about shedding our skin - and while the analogy is just plain creepy, it is a good one - reminding us that leaving behind some of the "stuff" is not a bad idea.

New moon's are about setting intentions, and I decided that my intent for the coming month is to have more fun! For me, life needs to be fun, because, well, fun is fun! I like fun, and I want more of it in my life. Nothing warms the heart more than a good belly laugh - and in fact, it apparently will add 10 minutes to your lifespan. A good case for nightly giggles under the covers.

I am usually pretty good at cracking myself up - and often do not even need someone else to make me laugh. I love practical jokes too, and have been scheming for the past two weeks on how to make good use of Twiggy, the giant-ass spider living in my bathroom. Twiggy, or Arachnistein as Stephane likes to calls her, is a Tailess whip scorpion. Her body is about 2.5 inches long, and her legs span out at least six inches on either side. To add to her charm, she has big pincers out front, like a lobster (and almost as big). She lives behind our bathroom mirror, and only comes out at night. So going to pee in the middle of the night is an adventure. You stick your hand through the door to switch on the light first, then you slowly peek around the door to ensure Twiggy is not lurking above the door ready to pounce on you. Once you find her on the wall, you can keep a safe distance and go pee. The first few nights I was not sure if the beast jumped or not, and I had visions of her landing on my face while I sat there helpless.

Sadly, there has been no such excitement. If I could just coax her into a big plastic bowl...

Yes. No. Yes.

After reading my latest blog the other day, Stephane sent me an email suggesting I write a blog about how often we change our minds. I am pretty sure what he meant was, "Corrie, you should write a blog about why YOU change your mind so much." It is true: I change my mind regularly, even after I have made a decision following much analysis. Following my blog is probably downright confusing right? One minute we are going to Columbia, and then all of a sudden we are renovating a house in Oliver. Our plans have changed innumerable times in the past year. I have changed careers six times. Houses 20 times. I admit it, I change my mind - a lot.

Jeff Bezos, who is the CEO of Amazon, and someone I consider to be incredibly intelligent, says the smartest people he knows are those who are constantly reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. It is because they’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking. He says it’s not only perfectly healthy – but should be encouraged - to have an idea tomorrow that contradicts your idea today. Woohoo - someone smart who doesn't think I am a crazy person!

I think the world would be a better place if we all changed our minds more often. Think about how many problems might be solved by us coming out of our trench and letting go of our position - opening up our minds to thinking differently about something: changing our minds could possible change our relationships, our lives and our world.

Malcom Gladwell, another great mind and author of Outliers, Blink, and many other best sellers, said, "your responsibility as a person, as a human being – is to constantly be updating your positions on as many things as possible. And if you don't contradict yourself on a regular basis, then you're not thinking.”

When we settle into a set way of thinking, and think the same thing over and over, constantly reinforcing our beliefs, we basically train our brains - lay down neural pathways - that ultimately make it difficult to think any other way. Now that does not mean that holding true to positions of value is wrong. It is not. It is a legitimate position to embrace incremental change, in other words, to be conservative. Nothing wrong with that - unless of course it creates unworkable positions in life. The world is changing, and we must adapt - to a certain degree - if we want to survive. If humans continued to eat and live and think the way we did a million years ago - we would probably all be dead. Survival requires adaptation. And Adaptation requires we think differently sometimes.

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is a fairly new understanding of how our brains work. Basically, it is the ability of the brain to change throughout an individual's life. We used to think that a child's brain was formed early on - and nothing much changed after that. Research has shown more recently that many aspects of the brain can be altered - even in adulthood. You can re-wire your brain.

Thinking differently about something, long enough to lay down new neural pathways, can change your mind, and thus your behaviour. I LOVE THIS! It means that with some diligence, we can change our bad habits. Conversely, if we remain open to new ideas, thoughts, and possibilities, we won't get entrenched into ways of thinking that hold us back - allowing us to adapt, and survive.

So, here's to change! I say, change your mind folks. Change it frequently. Change it for the better. And the next time someone says, "Man, you change your mind a lot," I suggest you say, thank you!

2019 - A New Story

It has been two months since my last blog. Stephane has been in Montreal since the end of October where he spent some much needed time with family and friends and welcomed the birth of our first granddaughter Jade. Today he arrived in Mexico and I am looking forward to joining Stephane in Bucerias on January 7th for two months.

As I sit here on my new chaise lounge looking at the beautiful lake out the window, I am pondering something I listened to on a Youtube Ted talk video the other day. Who we are is determined by the stories we tell ourselves. If you don't tell the story you want, you'll end up living someone else's.

I have always lived my life proactively with little fear. I am not one to want the winds or tides to determine my path. I am goal-oriented, driven, highly industrious and very conscientious. I was born with a Tony Robins manual in my belly (I have never actually read his stuff, so I do not know if that it true - but you get my point...I am easily self motivated and naturally do the things that result in a certain level of success). While these personality traits have their negative components (discontent and being judgmental are the two biggest), they can work in my favour in that my work ethic and motivation also applies to self improvement: I want to work on myself.

Being alone the last two months of 2018 has really helped me: it has been hard, but worthwhile. I have come to see that in silence I hear my authentic self. When alone, I can blame no one for how I feel - only myself. Having nothing to do gives me time to analyze myself, even though gazing deeply into my own soul is terrifying. If you follow my blog you know we have just finished renovating our house and the stress left us both feeling chewed up and spit out, so our separation has been about renovating our marriage. It was a mutual decision to give us time to do some much needed work on ourselves. Everyone knows I love renovating houses, and I need constant change - but - let's face it - changing the wall colour is much more fun than changing myself! Self analyses is hard, and sometimes ugly. Changing ones self requires telling the truth, it means looking deep inside at my own strengths and weaknesses. And so for two months Steph and I have been scraping the layers of old paint off ourselves, and shining up what is underneath. We are not done yet, it is a work in progress, but we are learning to accept things that are not in our control to change. Acceptance of others and 100% accountability are necessary. So are boundaries and staying true to who we are as individuals and what we value.

I am looking forward to seeing my husband again. I have missed him. Time apart to re-set things was good. Our relationship is worth it. But most important, I have a new relationship with myself, as does Stephane with himself, and these two renovated souls are really looking forward to some time together to begin creating the story we want for 2019.

Bad Jujus

I was not planning on blogging while here in Mexico. Since we are only here for two weeks, my goal was to have no goals - except to listen to my body, and give it everything it needs. So for a week I have been sleeping, eating, drinking, reading, mindlessly surfing the net, and sleeping some more. Normally that would be a very hard thing for me to do, I struggle to sit still for any length of time, but I am so exhausted from two months of hard work on the reno that I am not even bored yet. I even took a nap one day - almost unheard of for me. Relaxation may have to be put on hold now though...things are about to get pretty exciting around here.

At this writing we are now watching closely as two severe storms, Tropical Storm Vicente and Hurricane Willa, pick up speed and strength and head our way. Hurricane Willa is currently a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to get even stronger. Fortunately it is expected to weaken before making landfall, not too far from here, as a Cat 2 storm...maybe even Cat 3. Now for some people, that would be “bad jujus” as my friend Leann says, but if you know me, you know I am a storm chaser, and so the prospect of experiencing a hurricane is really quite exciting, and reading hourly forecasts for me beats the hell out of watching 14 Night Shift episodes in a row on Netflix. I LOVE storms.

I started storm chasing when I was in my twenties; back before storm chasing was a thing. I was a stay at home mom and would often pack the kids up, strap them in their carseats, and head out on a chase. (I know, I know, in hindsight that probably could have gotten me arrested for child abuse). In those days, chasing wasn’t a tourist thing, or a tour...it was a volunteer job to report funnel clouds, wall clouds, or tornadoes to Environment Canada.

Most of my chases were busts, (storm chaser jargon for seeing no tornados) however, I have seen the most amazing cloud formations. Liquid sky. Breathtaking beauty. I even snapped some great photos of the epic storm that produced the tornado that killed 12 in Pine Lake, AB on July 14, 2000. After the storm I drove and walked part of the path of destruction...a kilometer wide path of flattened trees. The power of nature is awe inspiring. It humbles me. I knew two people who died in that storm that ripped through a campground tossing RVs into the lake like dinky toys. It was very tragic and I do not take storms lightly.

I did a couple of radio interviews after that storm (I was the only registered female storm chaser at that time, part of a group called the Fighting Prairie Weather Dogs, so I often got contacted by media). I remember the interviewer saying, “why in the world would you want to go anywhere near a storm like that?” And all I could say in response was to describe the beauty of a backlit supercell racing across the golden yellow canola fields - a sharp contrast of colours - like a beautiful canvas, blue black against electric yellow - with wispy virga trailing and a rainbow framing, and how it reminds me of how small I truly am...an ant in the universe. Chasing a storm is like being an astronaut...striving to reach something unreachable. A reminder of my powerlessness.

Although Hurricane Willa is likely to make landfall some distance from here, we are in a unique position here on the Bay of Bandaras as we are in the direct path of Vicente - coming from the south, and just to the south of Willa. Air travels counterclockwise around a storm, and so where we are puts us in a small area where the destructive winds and storm surge from both storms converge.

Winds in this area are predicted to be sustained at least 60mph, and the storm surge could be quite a serous threat.

We will know more tomorrow, and I will be following the Hurricane Center’s regular updates, and will try to post pics as things evolve. We are located in Punta de Mita at the northern end of the Bay, just south of the Hurricane watch zone. We are currently under a tropical storm warning. Some people might not be taking this storm serously, however, I have too much respect for the power of storms. I have been within 2 miles of a storm that killed many people and I was scared shitless. Nature is truly awesome. I would be stupid to not be frightened of what is to come, but it will remind me of my place in the universe.