Apologies for the gap between postings but as our followers know, once DH found out that there was going to be a retirement party for her back in Toronto (and there was going to be gifts and a piper), we had to interrupt our world trip and return post haste. There was also the small manner of selling our home of 17 years as well as selling off the remainder of our belongs that had survived our original purge.

Once we were formally evicted from our home by the new owners, we set up shop in a local B&B (which was actually just a B since Carl would be up all night chasing the local girls around the bar, and couldn’t get up in time to prep any breakfast) .

DH had already completed her goodbye tour with all manner of friends and acquaintances prior to our PNG trip so the only thing left to do while gearing up for her retirement fete was… to do the whole thing again. I’m sure her friends are hoping she stays gone this time if only to save on meal
money.   

Friends, school chums, and work colleagues all went through another round of tears and hugs.

Repeatis farewellis- the highly unusual act of conducting duplicate & highly emotional farewell tours within an unreasonably short period of time (the less charitable might mention the second round of free meals).

For those unfamiliar with the policing community, apparently you are not officially retired until you’ve had your party (and afterward you still cart around a facsimile badge). Also within the community, they love to give each other stuff including plaques, letters, awards, etc . and a formal party is a great place to load up. After an emotional night with good friends we had to quickly run out and rent some additional storage space to accommodate all of the gift items DH picked up to
go along with the storage lockers of all of the other items she had designated as sentimental (how is a rice steamer sentimental??).

The very next day, as newly minted retirees without the seniors discounts, we re-started our big world trip. Deb B, Lorraine M and Anne K dropped us at the airport (more tears and hugs) and we were off to San Diego to catch a boat to Hawaii. Why San Diego? Given the four flights it had taken
to get ‘home’ and all of the security and bureaucracy hassle that goes along with that, we wanted to get back to Asia in a much more relaxed manner, and there was a boat leaving San Diego for Hawaii at a price we couldn’t ignore. DH hadn’t done Hawaii and I hadn’t done a cruise so there was a couple of new adventures right out of the gate .

We were supposed to fly in to San Diego and then bus our way down to Ensenada Mexico to board the cruise ship but at the last minute the boarding location was changed to a San Diego terminal (ostensibly because of safety concerns in Mexico). We were still going to get bussed to Ensenada (with a police escort apparently) but this change gave us a few unexpected days in San Diego.

What a great place! We really enjoyed our time here- we did all the things we were supposed to do like walking the waterfront, and touring the Midway aircraft carrier, but we also stumbled across a downtown farmers market and spent an hour at a dog park- we certainly saw the fun side of SD as
it was Halloween weekend and there must have been a municipal mandate that everyone was to participate in full costume (my winner was the guy who covered himself in inflated latex gloves- not sure what he was supposed to be but he stood out from a very competitive crowd . Throw in sidewalk cafes, great weather, and fabulous people and we unexpectedly added San Diego to our A List of potential places to settle down in when we’re finished our trip.

Tijuana, Mexico, on the other hand, didn’t even make the B List. We spent a day in Tijuana and I’m not sure what the point of this place is- it looks set up to be a late night party destination for American college types and/or a never ending series of drug stores selling cheap drugs including
Viagra in quantity (presumably to former college types). I did like the experience of just walking into Mexico without any checks or pat downs (even walking back into the U.S. wasn’t the nightmare it can be at many border crossings).