Reflections on a Year of Vagabonding

 

We found a hotel just for us while we were vagabonding this year!

This is what we were supposed to do.

This is what we did.

Well, it's been an interesting journey and year since we set out about this time last year! Thanks to the pandemic, and then to people's refusal to behave and a lack of leadership, we never went on nor began our retirement journey to travel and explore the places we had researched as potential retirement destinations. That, obviously, is a disappointment. However, pandemic issues aside, we have had a pretty good year. Some highlights:

• We got to try out Vagabonding and learn what works and doesn't (more on that below)
• We were able to be with Emily during uncertain times, as well as to watch firsthand her journey of finishing up her degree and looking for a job
• We spent the majority of the year in our favorite state, and most of that in our favorite city  (Special shout out to local Santa Barbara friends Kristen and Nancy Wood for helping us dig deep in our exploration of their home town.)
• I fulfilled my dream of living on the Coast and made great genealogy strides
• John learned that his Italian citizenship was recognized

Celebrating with Giovanni's Pizza and some Italian wine. Giovanni Impellizzeri* is the ancestor through which John demonstrated his request to be recognized via jure sanguinis (by law of the bloodline).

(Shout out to Francesco Curione, 007 Italian Records, who helped us obtain Giovanni's Alcamo records.)

Here are some of the lessons we learned the past year...

Lesson 1: Every AirBnB is missing something. These are various things that our AirBnBs were missing, that we've collected along the way this year:

I was surprised at some of the things we've had to buy that were missing from our AirBnB kitchens. Really, who doesn't equip their kitchen with a pasta strainer, pot holders, a mixing bowl or a measuring cup!? I can see how a cheese grater or scissors might be more unique items, but the others? I also ended up purchasing some disposable, but reusable, storage containers; they are in use and didn't make it into the photo. Fortunately, there is always a Dollar Tree nearby, LOL! 

Another surprise was how many people do not have dish cloths! Almost every place we've been supplied sponges. Ew! Bacteria alert! 

Most of these items will be left behind, but the knife and jar opener will go with. I previously talked about why the knife was necessary, and the jar opener is just becoming more needed as we age, so I will have to make space (the weight) for it in our traveling kitchen 'junk drawer.' I cannot decide about the scissors. Again, it's a weight issue. I already had a pair of scissors, but they're really for hair; they are small, and I felt daily use would dull them too much. Hhmmm....

The traveling kitchen junk drawer

Lesson 2: A proper pillow is important. After multiple problems with a sore neck, I finally found the perfect pillow. The Wamsutta Extra-Firm Density is perfect for side-sleeping, and at $15 is very budget-friendly. Of course, when we get back to our original plans, or some variant thereof, we won't be able to bring pillows. So, I will probably be dealing with this issue again in the future.

Lesson 3: Budgets are a suggestion. With our planned vagabonding journey altered, our prepared budget went out the window! Although some other anticipated expenses were lower, our California coast housing costs were substantially higher than what we had planned to spend on lodging. We were happy to discover that we were able to manage making it through our first retirement year living solely on John's pension (with a little boost from the COVID stimulus money), despite these higher costs. This is a relief, as we've always said we cannot depend on social security. Even if we do get a benefit when we are eligible, we have no doubt that our age group (and those younger than us) will be the target of cuts to the monthly benefit. We also had hopes to use our other retirement funds for travel and other fun things, as well as emergencies, rather than daily living expenses. So far, so good!

The most frustrating financial challenge of the change to our plans was attempting to recoup all of our deposits and pre-paid items. Even though we purchased travel insurance, none of that was covered because the cause was a pandemic. Although it was frustrating, and to be honest tear-inducing at times, I'm happy to report we eventually recovered everything, minus 25% of the cost of our Italian ferry ticket. What a relief! The only outstanding issue we have is a $400 deposit we had made on our transatlantic cruise back to the States. When it was cancelled, we took the option of having a $400 voucher to apply to a future cruise + $600 onboard spending credit over getting a refund. Since we had only paid the small deposit, this seemed like a no-brainer. Little did we know, cruises would remain a distant dream for this long! We recently contacted Carnival to see what the deadline was on our FCC+OBC and learned that we have until much later this year to book a cruise for up to two years out. Pleasantly, we also learned that we have the option of still choosing a refund of the $400 deposit, since they understand "some people may choose to never cruise again." It's good to have the option, and we'll see how things evolve in the summer.

Lesson 4: Flexibility is a virtue. We knew that Vagabonding would require flexibility, but the pandemic raised that to an unbelievable level. We've been happy to discover that we're more flexible than we ever thought! We know that we can work with anything for a month or so. We also learned that we like the minimalism approach even more than anticipated. In fact, we've found additional stuff we can get rid of! When you don't have to worry about losing 'stuff,' you gain a lot of self-determination and freedom.

To sign off, and for your amusement, here are some outtakes from the past year of taking photos. It's not always fun and games, LOL! 

Talk to the hand? How does this thing work? I'm not sure what was happening here!

I love this photo of Emily, as I can see her little girl face and expression within. Made me think of these photos from when she was a baby:

Scelfie: Senior Citizen Selfie