So, we are now within 90 days of departure and final payment was made last week. Whew! We are starting to make serious preparations for being gone for 4 months. Debbie has already scheduled the complimentary IPS luggage pickup for 12/19/2005. Though when asked to describe the number, weight and size of the bags, she had to confess that she had not actually started packing yet!
We have booked and paid for 2 overland trips. One to the Taj Mahal for an overnight and a 2-nighter to Cambodia. The Cambodia trip departs from Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam on the 2nd day there and visits Phnom Penh and Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and then we meet back up with the RSSC folks in Bangkok for the hotel overnight there that is included in the cruise fare. We had purchased CSA trip insurance that we found online at www.insuremytrip.com back in January when we booked. Debbie last week had the policy coverage upped by $6980 to cover these excursions that had to be paid at final payment and are non-refundable at 60 days from departure, so next month. (Note: insuremytrip.com will not sell a policy over $100,000 total over the Internet, but it is easy enough to shop for a policy there at that maximum to make your choices and then call the 800 number to purchase the policy for the actual amount.)
Between the time of initial deposit and final payment, Debbie's father has completely lost the use of both his arms and legs from ALS. Her Grandfather had his 90th birthday yesterday and he and her Grandmother have had some declines as well during the last 8 months. Debbie has spent some extra time down in Florida during this period to try to help her Mom out with all of them, but not a lot that can be done except being there fulltime to lend a hand when needed and that is just not really possible for her. Debbie's family has continued to insist that we not let them interfere with our big trip plans, but it is hard. Clay's view is that we should do this while we can because you never know when it will be our turn to be disabled. Since Clay is a decade older than Debbie, she agrees that if he feels that way and now is his time, OK.
In any event, we are both committed to making the big full circle of the planet now and are making preparations to be out of the country and on the move for 4 months. We are fairly well prepared for this from our experiences with the round-the-world trip of 2001, the only difference being that this is for about twice as long and will cover tax time.
It is getting closer and feels much more real now!
