Pre-Trip Preparation
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For the past two weeks, on the final leg of this retirement journey, Scot and I have have been watching as daily — almost hourly- the flights take off from Honolulu back to the US. This has been making me reflect on what our return after such a once-in-a-lifetime experience will mean. Indeed, it’s caused…
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On Good vs Great Works of Art
On our travels so far, Scot and I have read many, many very good books, among them works like The Transit of Venus, A Canticle for Leibowitz, short stories by Janet Frame, etc. We’ve also encountered a number of nearly perfect works like When the Emperor Was Divine, Hill by Jean Gino, and Young Once…
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When It Rains
We’ve been traveling now for over two months. It’s been a wonderful adventure and, yesterday, we celebrated Valentine’s Day in Queenstown, New Zealand on the waterfront at Eichhardt’s Grille. It was a lovely day and wonderful to talk about the highlights from our more-than-30-years together. We still can’t believe we have reached retirement and are…
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The Romance of Travel
In the past, I used to hear people complain about the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency in advance of travel. But this is a part of travel I have always loved. In recent years, the Euro has made this aspect easier, but something has been lost when the history and character of various nations –…
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Lazy Summer Days
Auckland, New Zealand: January 31, 2024 It seems crazy to talk about lazy summer days on the last day of JANUARY, right? Except we’re in Auckland, New Zealand and it’s the height of summer here. Our life in Auckland has been leisurely and beautiful. We couldn’t have asked for more. By day, it’s mostly in…
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What Retirement Feels Like
Tomorrow, it will be two months since Scot and I officially retired. Perhaps because we started this new phase with a trip ( which we’re still very much in the middle of), nothing felt very different. We were using the word retired to describe our new status, but it was like when you’re on the…
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Tuesday in Auckland
We’re now more than two weeks into our Retirement Sojourn and slowly adjusting to the routine of living in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s a different lifestyle than what we lived in Chicago before this adventure. Of course, we were still working then, so we’re also adjusting to life in retirement and not just adjusting to…
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Auckland, New Zealand: January 10, 2024
Well, we have started a new year and here we are in Auckland, New Zealand. We will be living here for a full month, having arrived on New Year’s Day. After 10 days, we can honestly say that we are loving it here. It’s a wonderful city and we have really begun to feel like…
Scot & Dale: Our Retirement Sojourn 