We’re leaving for a month of travel. The itinerary is at the bottom of this message. Here’s how to get hold of us. THIS I S NEW. THIS IS NEW. THIS IS NEW.
The easiest way to get in touch is to send an Email. We purchased the Email plan on the ship. We will have access to Email every day. If you want to call, feel free. If our phones ring, we’ll answer. If we’re outside the US, phone calls are very cheap for us and free for you. If we don’t pick up (maybe we’re at sea and mobile phones don’t work), leave a voice mail. We’ll get the voice mail delivered to our Email. This is what’s weird. If we are outside the US and you want us to answer the phone, call Danita’s number. Her number will ring both of our cell phones.
Dennis: 410-417-8854.
Danita: 410-709-8854. This number receives calls except when we are at sea. When we are outside the US, this number rings both of our cell phones.
It’s been a good week and a good weekend. We’ve had plenty of time to get ready for our trip. The weather hasn’t permitted any drone flying, but I was able to get out almost every day, had several bike rides, and should be able to fly the drone a couple of days before we leave. We had a neighborhood party last night. The menu was soup and salad. The company was great. We have a neighborhood Valentine’s concert tomorrow. Tuesday, we’ll go out to eat with our neighbors the Jones.
It’s a good thing I started getting ready early, because the phones took several days to set up. My goal was to have our phones work normally the entire trip. That didn’t work out. Our phones are virtual numbers at Google Voice. That’s how we get voice mail delivered by Email. We forward the Google Voice numbers to whatever real phone numbers we happen to be using. I set my phone up with Google Fi, because that offers a very reasonable price for international phone and data. But I can’t forward a Google Voice number to a Google Fi number. In addition, setting up Google Fi while keeping my Google Voice number was a royal pain in the butt. I had to chat with tech support to get it working. I got a traveler’s international SIM card for Danita from a company in Estonia with voice but no data. The company offers a decent base price and a good price for voice, but the data is expensive. All together, it turned out to be a reasonable solution with just a little weirdness. But it took me several days to work through the unexpected limitations and find a decent solution. Most importantly, Danita and I can call each other if we get separated, and my phone will have data in case we need a mobile GPS to find our way back to the ship.
Here’s our itenerary:
2/19 – Fly to West Palm Beach
2/20 – 2/23 – Visit with Mom
2/24 – 3/11 – Cruise through the Panama Canal to San Diego
3/12 – 3/17 – Tool around California
3/18 – Fly home
3/19 – 3/20 – Four medical appointments (between me, Danita, and Bud) and a neighborhood party