By the time you read this, I will be home

 

This is the route of the cruise I am about to take.  By the time you see this post, I will be home and beginning to write entries to log what I did on my trip. But I am writing this entry on the day before I start on my bucket list trip.

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I figure that I will again leave my comfort zone by trying to "fly pretty".  Kim has documented many of her travels in her blog, "Traveling Transgender".  Sadly, she has not flown pretty to often lately, as life has happened while she was making other plans.  Hopefully, she will again be able to do so.  But if not, I will still be able to thank her for showing me that I can live the way I want if I am willing to make the sacrifices to do so.

Given that I still have an issue with how the airline has recorded my reservation, I still may have problems with Airport Security - even though I am a trusted traveler.  I hate the fact that the full version of my name is very masculine, when the familiar version of the name is good for both genders.  If I continue along this path of femininity, I will likely change my name to the familiar version of the name and look to have unisex versions of my image on my legal ids.

Relaxation will be impossible until I am in Honolulu.  Once there, I will be able to have fun.  Until then, I'll try to deal with the little things as they come at me, as it's all I can do to preserve my sanity when I'm nervous....

I'm getting a little nervous

 

Ever since I decided to take my Hawaii cruise, I've said that I'm going to get "bombed" as soon as I am Honolulu.  (It's a bad Pearl Harbor joke.)  People who know me well know that I tend to drink with moderation, and often go for weeks without touching anything alcoholic.  Yet, on this trip, I have the beverage package - and intend to break even on what I'm paying for it.  (I'm only paying for the gratuities, so breaking even should be easy this trip.)

As my trip gets closer and closer, I'm finding so many little things to do beforehand.  Tonight, I was talking with RQS, and she said that I have a lot on my plate for the next few days.  For example, I would like to see Pat again before I leave.  Then I have to go to Mavis to have a slow leak looked at. To make things worse, I have a co-op board meeting the day before my trip.  And then, I must make sure that I have my boarding pass for the flights to Hawaii.

Even if I've done all the necessary things, I'm still worried about going through the security checkpoints at the airports.  Once through, I still have to think about having a bite to eat while traveling.  This afternoon, I received an email from the airline trying to get me to buy a snack and an alcoholic beverage before I board my flight.  Although I have no interest in drinking any booze, I will likely buy a snack or two on the flight.  This is far from the service one used to get on one airline in the golden age of air travel, as there are still people who raved about an occasional dish they were served on their international flights.

I'm not looking forward to sitting in a cramped seat for 12 hours.  But I only have to do this twice - once on the way out, and once on the way back.  Hopefully, the cruise/tour I'll be on is more than worth the headaches I'm dealing with now....

I think I've booked the last important stop on my Hawaii trip

The other day, I realized that I needed to get off my ass and find a place to kill time on my cruise's debarkation day before heading to the airport for an evening flight.  I looked at dayuse.com and could only find expensive options.  It'd cost me $200 for the best option available there.  So, I found another site, resortpass.com, and found a day room for half the price.  There is only one problem that I think I can manage - I'd have to check out of the room by 5 pm, and my flight wouldn't leave for another 5 hours.  Most hotels don't mind holding baggage for a few hours after one has checked out of a room, and I don't think I'll have trouble stashing my baggage for 2 hours while I go out for dinner.

To answer the unasked question: Why didn't I schedule an earlier flight home?  Well, most eastbound trips from Hawaii to the mainland which have Eastbound connections are scheduled late in the evening, so that those mainland connections can be made early in the morning.  This allows for people flying from Hawaii to the East coast to make it home by mid-afternoon instead of the middle of the night. But this causes a problem for most of us.  How do we kill time before our flights?  Thus, the need for day use rooms in Honolulu.

Given that I will be traveling in Marian Mode for this trip, I expect to deal with a few headaches on this trip.  For example, I may need to ask TSA for special screening, as my presentation will not match that on my legal id.  But, more importantly, I will need to deal with a 5 o'clock shadow before going to the airport for my return flight.  Thus, I will need the day use room for both a few extra hours of sleep and for a need to freshen up my face and makeup before my flights.

Luckily, I will be carrying some spare face masks I bought in the middle of the pandemic, and this will provide some cover towards the end of my long trip home.  Even then, I will be dead tired when I get home and will be glad to finally sleep in my own bed.

 

I keep ordering useful things from Amazon

Toothpaste tablets.  Why would I buy them?  Given that I'll be flying to Hawaii soon, the less I have to put in a special liquids bag, the easier my trip through the security checkpoint will be.  This is only one of the purchases I've been making lately, as I have to prepare for travel in a way I haven't done in over a decade.

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Lately, I've been buying things such as auto-on, rechargeable motion sensitive night lights, a cruise power strip (no surge protection), a clear sling bag (for use at Pearl Harbor), and a selfie stick (for taking pictures of me on my upcoming trip.).  I would never have bothered buying much of this stuff had I not been planning on a trip to Hawaii.  Given that I will likely be doing more travel in retirement than I did beforehand, I will be fleshing out an appropriate travel kit, something that can last me from 2 to 20 days as needed.

I understand how easy it was for my wife to become a spending addict.  Click on an item you want, and "by magic" it appears by your door.  You do not handle "real money".  Instead, you authorize a debit to your account (which you must fund), and lose the tactile feedback that paying with cash provides.  It is much easier to know that you are spending too much when you both see and feel less cash in your wallet.

Part of my spending spree has been to replace both a 20" carry-on suitcase and a 28" suitcase.  It cost 75% more than I planned, but I wanted to get something that would last a decade or two. I'm grateful to be able to do this, as I have a decent amount of money in my bank account from 40 years in the work force.  (If I didn't also have a good 401k and pension, I'd be in very bad shape right now.)  But this spending can't last.  Right now, my 401k is down 30% from its high point, and the yearly distribution I was planning on taking may need to be reduced.  I want to preserve as much capital as possible for now, and still want to enjoy living my current life of leisure.

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Last night, I met up with a transgender person for dinner.  If I weren't lucky enough to have been employed by a top-10 bank for 30 years, I might not have had the discretionary cash to afford this dinner.  I also might not have had the cash to have afforded the voice training, laser treatment and second wardrobe I need to go about in the world as Marian, some of that wardrobe coming from Amazon itself.  I only wonder what my late wife would have thought of the way I live my life today.

Bills, Bills, and More Bills

 

This is a month where I'm doing serious damage to my credit cards.  I've planned for this "disaster" for months, and now the piper wants his due.

Today, I paid for the tires installed on my car this past weekend.  Shortly, I will be placing the charge for the Hawaii cruise I've been writing about for a while.  Am I nervous about spending this money?  Yes.  If I weren't nervous, I wouldn't have the money available for me to spend.  Too many people have said, "Marian, you've got the money - spend it!"  It's because I don't spend it with reckless abandon, that I still have money to spend.

I am looking forward to my Hawaii cruise.  It will be a little over 10 straight days spent in Marian mode.  Getting on a plane makes me nervous.  No, it's not because I'm afraid of flying.  Instead, it's because I fear the headaches of going through security and having something trigger a more thorough security scan.  It could be the metal in my underwire bra.  It could be that I forgot to pack something in my checked luggage that is in my carry on bag.  Who knows?  I'll have to contact Kim and get some advice.  

There are a lot of small bills that come in through the month, and I haven't seen the first of my Medicare Part-D bills yet. Nothing shows up on Mint or my Bank Statement.  So I wonder what's up.  That'll be a call for tomorrow....

Oh... Of course, dear! I'll lend you MY gun.

 

I always found this bit of dark humor funny.  What type of protection does this woman really need?

As I write this entry, congress has agreed on a framework for new firearms regulations.  It's not perfect, but it is movement which we've needed for a long while.  The American public is tired of a political system that is too calcified to get needed things done.  But that's not the focus of this entry.  It's a quick note to give you an idea of one of the issues that concern me.

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Today was my first day back at work after a weekend that seemed pleasantly longer than usual.  It was also the first day that I was able to put on a dress for a while.  And this felt natural to me, as if I was born to wear them.  

Last week, I received the first of my dresses from the Avenue.  I had ordered a Steel blue/gray dress and couldn't track it.  So, I mistakenly thought that I didn't order the dress and ordered two more.  Thday, the other two dresses came in, and I now have to think about how to return one, exchanging it for one in a different color.  There are two more dresses I want to buy, this time from Target.  Both are inexpensive, one of them being on clearance.  So I might just buy these two, and retire others I have in my wardrobe.  This way, I can have some "newish" dresses I can wear when I go to Hawaii later in the year.

While we're talking about Hawaii, the cruise line sent me an email directing me to send them my full LEGAL name.  Ever since 9/11, airport security has gotten tighter and tighter, and I've had to plan things for a mode of transport I haven't used in a decade and will need to use for my trip to Hawaii.  It's hard to believe that this trip will be coming up sooner than I feel it's coming, and that I soon will need to pay for this trip.

When I do take the Hawaii trip, I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures and post them here when I get home.  Hopefully, I'll feel comfortable taking this trip solely in Marian Mode.  (I'll have to ask Kim for advice on this....)

Planning Trips

 

Today's post will be a short one.  I don't have too much to say, and not enough time for a thought piece.

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Lately, I've been prioritizing my future travels. Given that I will be going to Hawaii later this year, I am thinking of the trips I will take next year and the years after that.  One of the trips I want to take is a Panama Canal cruise.  I'm making a lot of effort to insure that the Canal cruise goes through the old locks, as it will be much more interesting.  If the canal IS the destination, then I want maximum value from a trip through the canal.  It is important that I take this trip next year, as I want to visit my (now) 88 year old uncle in California.

One of the issues I will have on future travels is going through an airport and flying on a plane.  I hate going through security, and have lined everything up to get a trusted traveler number via Global Entry.  But this doesn't do much for sitting on a plane with my large size, nor does it deal with the issues of baggage.  I still fear the headaches of flying later this year, and will avoid airports and flying as much as possible in the future.

All things considered, it is better for me to be thinking of the future than of my most recent past....