….but NOW is the time for us to consider winter.

We used to leave for a month, sometimes two, in the dead of winter. That was our ‘vacation’ time. Of course, living in paradise for ten months prior was also like a vacation and so we rarely, ever, had to ‘tough it out. We were spoiled rotten.

And then along came Covid.

Mind you, we usually spent at least one winter out of four just to ‘earn’ and keep our OTG cred because, as they say out here, “You are not truly living OTG unless you spend the whole year here.”

We were bona fide OTG BEFORE Covid but after Covid, we were so bona fide we got a bit of cabin fever. Especially this last year. Sal got grouchy! 2021/22 was a relatively hard winter (for paradise) and, as it turns out, it was our third winter in a row. We are overdue for a winter vacation.

Standard operating procedure is to go somewhere sunny and cheap. Foreign culture is a definite bonus. But Mexico is a failing narco state and, anyway, we’ve been all over Mexico numerous times. Same thinking applies to the Central American countries. We still like it down there but I am disinclined to mingle with the various cartels so, Mexico and it’s neighbours are a pass. Same with good ol’ Thailand. It’s very nice but been there, done that. And no one is going to Hong Kong these days. And, anyway, Asia is a very long plane trip and I am even more disinclined to airports and the chaos that is air-travel right now. Shades of spoiled brat are surfacing…..

In theory, that leaves Arizona (we have a welcoming place there anytime) or Hawaii (may have to splurge a bit for that). But, bigot that I have now become in my latter years, I do not want to give the US any kind of support or tourist dollars (I am not a big spender but that is the way I feel). It is really hard to go to the USA without screaming at everyone. And we all know that won’t go over well….especially at airports.

Portugal sounds nice but there’s that ^%^$#@! plane ride and a possible nuclear war that may happen not far away (not far enough, anyway). It just is NOT calling me enough. Nothing is calling to me, to be frank. I yearn for none of it much anymore even though I will whine (like a spoiled brat) if I spend a fourth February in cold mist.

What to do?

Basically, this is a ‘First World Problem’ for spoiled brats. But, I am one of those and so this is all a problem for me.

I was kinda thinking I might try to find a nice house-sit gig in Victoria. It is not much sunnier and it is NOT cheaper but it has two wonderful little grandchildren to see. That’s a huge plus. I could always go to Alberta and see my daughter but, after three days of Alberta, the cartels in Mexico seem do-able. Even Arizona is almost do-able after Alberta.

Anyway, I have some time to sort it out. I will continue to ponder. India, perhaps? It is a hellishly long way to fly but I have never been, so there is that. I am keen to see Japan again but winter in Japan is not a lot better than winter in Canada and it is a lot more expensive. What we need is something like the Canary Islands or a few Caribbean Islands just off the coast of Oregon but unless the San Andreas kicks some up, that’s just a fantasy.

Catalina Island has some appeal geographically but all the reviews say that it is definitely worth only a day trip, three days at most. Plus it is the USA. And the average rent is US$800 a night. The marketing department kinda dropped the ball on Catalina.

If there is no answer, then the answer is to stay home and just chop more wood. And that seems like the inevitable future of winters for me if I do not get creative. If I am not destined to age-in-place and get ‘bushed’ every winter, I have to get creative NOW not later. If not NOW, then near-later. Sheesh.

When they say it is a small world, I really did not see it that way until now.