Vanchella Vagabonds

How do you self-quarantine when you don't have a home? That's the question on our minds the past couple of weeks. Who knew when we divested of everything with the intention of traveling for at least a year, mostly abroad, in search of our retirement spot, that we would end up in a pandemic requiring self-isolation?! When we were in California with Emily, we would have loved to stay there, but we needed to get our car. Last week we traveled back to Florida to pick up Marina. The travel was strange and eerie - empty streets in Los Angeles, flights less than a third full, Jacksonville airport having one departing flight, the hotels with only a handful of guests. Since last Friday we have been in Cape Coral, Florida, where John's cousin Jim has graciously allowed us to roost for a couple of weeks while we re-group. It's been great to have some time to just 'be' and recuperate from 3 long days of traveling. We've had fun visiting, swimming, sharing meals. And...

Our friend Tamar recently shared this old Yiddish proverb with us, and it couldn't be more appropriate for the last few weeks for us Vagabonds. We've watched as each component of our 10-month travel plan has slipped away, even after multiple adjustments, as we all experience the effects of the pandemic. Just as one example, our cruise went from we'll still take it but debark in Spain instead of Italy, to we can cancel our cruise with no penalty for a voucher to be used in the future, to the cruise is totally canceled and money will (maybe) be refunded instead of  a voucher, to, ok, we'll take a cruise to Hawaii out of San Diego, to all cruises are canceled for at least the next 30 days. "God": 🤣. While this has been disappointing after the months of planning and anticipation, we can hardly complain when we look around and see all the troubles and challenges others are facing, from friends and family on 'lockdown' in Italy to people strugglin...

The questions have started to come in regarding our travel plans ... here's the short answer: Just like everyone else trying to deal with travel plans (albeit ours are probably a bit more complex, with a domino effect), we are frustrated and unsure if / how to alter our plans, how much various options will cost, etc., as conditions change at a fast pace. Our travel insurance, unfortunately, does not cover any pre-paid costs we have incurred. If the companies cancel on us, then we will be refunded. Since our primary purpose in being Across the Pond is to check out Alicante, Spain as a retirement destination, we are focusing on developing a plan that will let us maintain that part of the plan. This may mean canceling Sicily, as we don't want to be in a situation where we cannot enter Spain. As of today, we are still planning on the TA cruise, departing Miami on March 20, and we plan to be in Alicante, Spain for the months of May and June. Other than that, it's up in th...