31 May 2023: Time flies, when it does…

It’s been just over a week now since we moved into our new temporary abode, marking the ‘for reals’ start of our transition to nomadic retirees.

We’ve been back out to the old house to clean, sort, discard, etc., a couple of times now but the 14 days post-closing occupancy has been SUPER as a stress reduction tool. We need to make one more trip to the old house to load up the last of the recycling and junk, basically a pickup load. Probably get that handled tomorrow.

On Saturday we had our first official interview as nomadic retirees for a pet & house sit opportunity. We rocked it, of course. This success solidifies our commitment to head to England in April 2024, providing a great anchor for our travel plans. Now our focus is on lining up a few more house sits, although it’s likely that we’ll be in Panama by the time we make significant progress due to the fact that most people don’t plan their travel dates that far ahead.

Speaking of Panama, I think I’ll be booking our flights this week. There is a PDX-PTY flight with a few hours layover in Houston that looks good except for the fact that it’s Untied Airlines and they’ve left me high and dry in the past. On the one hand, a single stop is appealing. On the other hand, of all the airlines that make me nervous about their ability to meet their commitments…..

There isn’t a huge variance in fares, really; we’ll fly economy so the range is sort of $230 to $350 pp. I hate being rushed in airports and there are a disturbing number of flight options with a 40 minute layover at one stop and like 9 hrs 52 min at the second stop. Maybe give me a 4.5 and a 5.5 ? <sigh>

I also have a little decision constipation about booking almost 6 months in advance so I need to work through that. I know I will feel better once the tickets are purchased. I also know I will probably wind up just taking the single hop through Houston because minimizing complications is good.

The other big project for this week was switching the budgeting and bill paying responsibilities over. Sandra has been handling our money almost exclusively for like (10? 15?) years now and with the switch in roles to her being the ‘primary earner’ and me being the gadabout, we swapped the money duties.