I'm in Rio

If you are looking for Waldo, I am in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

I made my way yesterday morning from Phoenix to Washington DC.

The gals at the United Airlines ticket counter in Phoenix were amazed.

I checked two bags. Each bag weighed in at a whooping 49.5 pounds. Just a mere 8 ounces more and I would have had to pay extra or remove some things. I probably should have weighed them at the house. But after carrying four kids around, I guess that I got pretty good as estimating weight. If only I weighed 120 pounds again...

After landing and waiting in the Dulles airport for 6 long hours, I boarded the flight to Rio and got settled in for a 9 hour and 47 minute flight. I guess because I travel so much but I go right to sleep on planes. Nothing bothers me!

I joined my friend Judith in Rio this morning. We met at a grief support group many years ago. I was dealing with the death of my husband. Judith’s husband had died recently too. We talked, cried, and became fast close friends.

My kids refer to us as, “Thelma and Louise.”

Since a boat sank in Antarctica over the past week, I have to admit, both of us are a little nervous. Those pictures were scary. I don’t move as fast as I used to.

So, we have decided that if this trip goes well, we’re off to Jerusalem next. Or maybe Baghdad.

I am not sure how much I will be able to blog from the ship. I will try. My daughter Kim gave me two digital cameras, a slew of memory cards and a media storage gizmo. Look forward to tons of pictures and my stories.

I appreciate all your kind words and prayers. My youngest grandson Ian asked me when I was leaving Phoenix, “Grandma, why do you need to go to Antarctica? It’s not safe. Boats sink there.”

I told him like him, Antarctica is one of God’s wonders. And when you experience one of God’s wonders and think how beautiful it is, you are praising God because he made it. I am going to praise God.

Ian seemed to get this. He’s always been an old soul.

God bless you all,
Waldo

It's 17 degrees today in Antartica, 76 degrees in Phoenix

Packing for Antarctica is exciting. I need two completely different types of clothing. One for 70 degree weather and the other for 30 degrees below zero.

In packing, I am being introduced to all types of clothing I never thought that I would wear. Let’s see, already I have in my suitcase long johns, a ski jacket, hat, scarf, googles, oops, I mean ski goggles, gloves and 14-inch high rubber fishing boots.

Somewhere there is a vision of me standing on the ship all dressed in my bought and borrowed gear not being able to move.

This actually happened to me with my then 6-year-old daughter Kathy.

We lived in New Jersey and we were having a big north easterner snow storm. Kathy wanted to go out and play in the snow. After she was dressed; she stood on the porch and cried out, "Help! I can't move." The poor child.

The bags will be heavy going to Brazil, but light coming back. I will let you in on a little secret of mine for packing.

During the year, I put aside my clothes that have a Clorox stain, a tear here or there, a little fading, failed elastic, pajamas that don't quite fit or time dated writings (Happy New Year 2000) for my vacation wardrobe. My kids laugh at the picture of me in front of the Taj Majal. I was wearing a tee-shirt with the words “Las Vegas” across the front.

Anyway, I pack these things to be worn one last time, and then thrown away during the trip. There are many advantages for this strategy. For starters, peddlers, hawkers and thieves don't bother me.

My luggage is freed up for all the new information I gather about the people and places visited. I don't need to carry dirty, smelly clothes around with me. And, when I unpack at home it much easier and more rewarding. I do wonder what the Transportation Security Administration - TSA people think when they go through my luggage on the way out. They probably call to one another saying things like, "Bag Lady Traveling" or "This old gal can hardly afford any clothes.”

If anyone adopts this strategy, even if you put the items in the waste paper basket in the cabin or hotel room, do one more thing. Leave a note on the stack of clothes saying, "I am discarding these items" and date and sign the note.

Not doing so will cause the cabin or hotel cleaning person to neatly fold the items and try to return them to you. On checkout, I have had parcels of clothes returned to me.

It has been wonderful reading all your comments. My four children are all in helping people careers. And, I am their most frequent client. I am happy when Kim answers one of your questions and it is the same question that I had but did not think to ask.

My life so far

What am I doing here? How many times I have asked myself that question during my life? And the answer is, whatever I am feeling at the moment.

Like the time a Chinese news reporter in Bejing suddenly pushed a microphone in my face and harshly asked, “Why you here?” At first, I was startled at the variation of the very same question I had asked myself so many times. But I quickly recovered and said, “I am here to visit your culture and to understand that our true desires are basically the same.” She liked that answer. I made the nightly news!

Born in Brooklyn, New York, the first child of a young couple who rejoiced at my birth in the late 1930s. They were trying to start a family for over two years. They finally decided to take a weekend in Lake George, New York and it was there that I was conceived.

I wonder why they didn’t call me Georgiana or Georgia. Instead, they named me Virginia. I guess they got their geography mixed up.

I often look at my feet and think of all the places they have been. If I knew what was in store for them, I would have taken much better care of them. Each crease depicts yet another journey they have carried me on.

I married a handsome fellow who got a job with the airlines and it was cheaper to travel than stay home. And, boy oh boy, travel we did. We went first class on the airline and stayed in Motel Six when Motel Six really meant $6.00 a day.

My children love to travel as well in their careers and countries. My first child, my son Richard, is a Financial Advisor. This is really his sixth career. I also have three daughters. Christine is a Psychologist – Educational Assessment. She started as a teacher and now is in business for herself. Kathy is a Chief Nursing Officer who she started as a nurse in the emergency room when she was 18. My daughter Kim hosts a national radio show about living into today’s digital life.

Kim's the one that got me into this blog-thing. I guess I am the one that got her into computers. She started in computers by going to work with me when she was sick.

I went to work at Bell Laboratories in 1975 and they had no sick time. They let me bring Kim in when she was not able to go to school. I would give her some medicine, she would put her head on the desk and go to sleep. And when she woke up, she would play with Unix on the Bell Labs' computers. The rest is history, as they say.

I have traveled to many places in the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. I also love to venture all over the globe.

My passports have stamps from Russia, China, India, Greece, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Germany, France, England, New Zealand, and Australia. Then there are the visits to Canada, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Wales, Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, and Singapore. I've also traveled extensively throughout Thailand, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Tibet, Ireland, Scotland, Tahiti, the Caribbean Islands, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, a Cruise through the Panama Canal, and more.

Soon, I'll be spending time in Brazil and then onto Antartica. And this is why my family calls me, "Waldo." They often wonder where in the world I am or will be heading to next.

People ask me why I travel so much. The truth is that I am not searching for anything. I just enjoy experiencing what different people do with what they are born into.

Who could imagine a kid from Brooklyn would have a life like mine? Only God.