Sunday Morning 3/27/2022: Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Sunsets were all over the place this past week.

We had a return trip to airline hell once again this past week, this time with our Delta flights back to the mainland. I had just checked our itinerary at end of the week before and all was well, and then last Sunday afternoon Brett received a notification that changes had been made (I made the reservation but he got the notification . . . hmmm). While the route hadn’t changed, long layovers had been added and we would now be arriving in Baltimore eight hours later then planned, in the middle of the night! Also, all of our seating had been changed – we had booked and paid for Comfort+ seats, but on two of the three legs of the journey we had been moved to Economy with all Comfort+ seats on those flights sold out. Finally, beyond the time and seating changes made, we had scheduled a rental car pickup for the short drive to Philadelphia but now the car rental agency would be closed and not open for several hours later, and we’d lose the first night of our hotel reservation. Grrrrrrr.

I fortunately found a new flight schedule that works for us. The original flight was Lihue-Seattle-Minneapolis-Baltimore; the new itinerary is Lihue-Honolulu-Atlanta-Baltimore. We’ll leave Kaua’i earlier in the day and arrive in Baltimore several hours earlier as well. While making the change I received repeated invitations to upgrade to first class, and we had the miles to do so, but every time I tried . . . nothing. I ended up spending 80 minutes on hold to message with a representative only to learn first class was sold out (then why are you offering me an upgrade?). We were able to get the last two seats in Comfort+ for the Honolulu to Atlanta to Baltimore parts of our trip, but for that long flight to Atlanta those are possibly the least ideal seats in the section (in the middle of a row). Funny thing though – when I checked our reservation again a couple of days later there was another invitation to upgrade to first class, but this time for more than twice the amount of miles that were required earlier, and now only for the Atlanta-Baltimore leg of the flight, a less than two hour flight. No thanks.

We are of course worried because our odds for catching COVID are going to go way up, especially with the new sub-variant making the rounds. We’re vaccinated, boosted, will be wearing masks the entire time, but it’s going to be a crap shoot whether or not we can remain virus free by the time we’re due to depart for Mexico. Canada has dropped their testing requirement for entry but we’re in the process of working up a plan for what to do if one or both of us tests positive before then.

Anyway, this morning I am thinking about:

• What we accomplished: 1) The last box for storage was sent on Friday. It was the largest box we shipped (not the heaviest though) and is due to arrive in Massachusetts this Wednesday. All our other boxes have arrived safely and been put away. 2) The buyers picked up all the furniture yesterday so the apartment is empty. Getting everything out of the apartment was a chore, but Brett and the other guy somehow got it done. We of course miss our sofa and bed but are glad to have them sold. All that’s left to go now are one rug, the car, and the yard sale stuff. 3) With YaYu’s input I made dining reservations for her graduation and my 70th birthday. We’ll be eating earlier in the evening than we had hoped for because reservation times are already full due to all the graduation celebrations in the area that will be going on. I’m looking forward to eating at the restaurant we decided on together.

• Good things that happened: 1) A BIG family issue that was up in the air has been settled. Stay tuned for exciting news! 2) The weather was pretty awful on some days this past week with high winds and lots of rain. Even when the sun came out it’s still been very windy. However, we got a treat on Thursday when we woke up to a rainbow on one side of the apartment and then saw another giant rainbow on the other side of the building as the sun started to go down (with rain in between all day)! We are going to miss Kauai’s rainbows.

• What we saved: 1) We needed another roll of packing tape and more rice from Walmart last week, but returned an unused roll of bubble wrap which covered the cost of those items, so we ended up with a completely no-spend week. 2) We were invited to again participate in a one-week Nielsen survey – they sent us two crisp $1 bills to join the survey (which went right into the sandwich fund), and we’ll each receive $10 when the survey is over. When we received our survey kits five days later there were six more crisp $1 bills for us! 3) The large box we just sent to Massachusetts had enough extra room in it for our comforter, comforter cover, and pillow shams. We’re glad we won’t have to buy those items again later.

• What we’re looking forward to: 1) Brett and I will celebrate our 43rd anniversary on Wednesday, and we’ve scheduled another Day of No Cooking. We have three great dining locations planned, and will be getting together with friends for one of our meals. The challenge will be to stay at or under our budget! 2) We’re doing another Not-So-Big Shop on Tuesday which will be our penultimate trip to the Kaua’i Costco. That store has been a lifesaver for us. 3) We’re hoping good weather shows up again and that we can get back to the beach at least one day this coming week.

There’s been some family stuff going on the past couple of weeks or so, burbling under the surface, and a decision was made this past week! It’s something unexpected but good . . . and change is coming. Everyone is healthy and doing well, and everything else is moving along as it should so there are no complaints, and all of us are excited about what’s going to happen. In the meantime Brett and I are still in a holding pattern here although things will be picking up again in the next couple of weeks. I have a feeling we’re going to go through April very quickly.

That wraps up another week! In spite of being under the weather one day, and having some bad weather on other days, it was a good week and what needed to be done got done. We segue into April this week, our last full month on Kaua’i, and are looking forward to getting more done to get us ready for our next Big Adventure. I hope it was a good week for everyone, and that you’re looking forward to the one coming up as much as we are!