Tag Archives: retirement

anecdotes

Now where?

I usually have someplace I want to visit next after I take a big trip.  Right now, I have to confess, I can’t think of where we should go next.  It’s probably because I’m pretty nervous about what Bill is going to do next.  Leaving the military is a big deal.

April 25 is when Bill goes on transitional leave.  He’s out of the Army on July 1.  It’s going to be odd having a civilian husband.  It looks like the Army isn’t going to have a lot of jobs available when he’s done, either, so we may end up moving.  I think it’s likely we’ll move anyway, because we hate this house we live in.

I was hoping we’d squeeze in one last cruise before we leave the Army… and maybe we can do that, though it might not be the kind of cruise we usually do.

I’d really like to go to Ireland, but that may be more than we can afford this year, since we are still recovering from Spain and Portugal.  I’m still interested in doing a river barge cruise with European Waterways in France or Ireland.

This looks like it’s about my speed!
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The Azores…

As I sit here pondering the last year of Bill’s active duty Army career, I realize that soon he will likely have less leave for good trips.  He will also have lower priority for trips on military hops.  I have never been to Portugal.  Neither has Bill.  The Azores, which is a group of islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is part of Portugal.  It’s also stunningly beautiful.

Bill and I noticed that there are regular flights going to the Azores every week that usually have seats available.  Looks like they also have regular flights back to the US with seats available.  So last night, we were talking about visiting the Azores.  One of my friends lived in Portugal in the 1980s and visited the Azores.  He said it wasn’t a very interesting place to visit.  Having looked around on the Internet, I am inclined to disagree.  From what I’ve seen in photos, the Azores look like a cross between Hawaii and Ireland.  Parts of it are very green, with deep blue ocean and volcanos.  There are hydrangeas everywhere.  And anywhere there’s that much ocean, there is bound to be great seafood.

I have a friend who visited the Azores courtesy of a military hop.  She said when they visited, she and her husband were able to pick up some delicious port.  I am also a port fan.  I like laid back vacations, beaches, friendly locals, and unusual non-touristy places.

I don’t know if that’s where we’ll go next… I do think our next trip will probably be via a military hop, though.  We don’t have as much money in Texas as we did in North Carolina.  We will in February, when we’re done paying off my car… Then things will temporarily be better… but we will also be preparing for Bill’s retirement.  I was hoping we could take a good trip after he retired.  I think that a hop may be the best way to do that.

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Costa Rica…

I’m giving some serious thought to booking another cruise in November or December.  SeaDream Yacht Club is offering some great deals on cruises there at that time.

I had an acquaintance/co-worker who served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica.  Knowing that it’s become quite the tourist destination lately, I can only guess that he was a lucky guy to get to serve there.

I also have a friend who had dental work done there at a fraction of the cost it would have been in the United States.  She had serious problems that required multiple dental implants that would have been prohibitively expensive to have done in the United States.  Knowing that I have two baby teeth with no permanent teeth under them, it’s good to know I could get implants relatively cheaply in a country not too far away.

When we lived in Germany, we visited Poland and the Czech Republic.  Both of those countries are also known for medical tourism.  In Poland, you can get dental work done cheaply.  In the Czech Republic, you can get pregnant via cut rate IVF.  But something tells me that Costa Rica’s beautiful beaches and tropical wildlife might be more enticing… at least to me.

If I do decide to book the trip, I’ll do it when we’re onboard so I can get 15% off the fare.  When you’re paying four figures a person, that discount is very helpful in making the cruise more affordable.

Next year, my husband retires and will be searching for a new job.  We may be poor.  I don’t know if it’s better to take the trips now, or save up the money.  Of course, if he gets a job quickly, he won’t have the generous vacation he gets today.  So maybe it’s best to sneak these trips in while we can…  And if we’re poor, we’re poor.  He will get a retirement, so that’s a good thing.  Unfortunately, his retirement will be cut for the first couple of years because he has to repay money that he got when he temporarily left the Army in the 1990s.

Blame the skank for that decision…

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