One of the images that I have always had of the Provence area has been of lavender.
Somehow, though, I had completely forgotten about the season and so when my social media started showing pics from others of their forays into the fields to get that quintessential shot, I determined we needed to make a visit to try our hand at our own picturesque moments.
Apparently, there are two types of lavender and only one is actually used for the lavender products that we find for sale. You can Google about it if you’re interested in details. More importantly, I learned that blooming season is rather long from the end of June into August. (If you want to get the sunflowers 🌻 as well, then sometime in July is recommended.)
My research found that while there are a number of fields, Valensole is the most popular and it was closest to where we were staying.
It was well worth the trip and we did catch the sunflowers as you can see. I’ll do another post on Sunflower Season as we caught fields of them in Italy as well. 😀
Although we may not have gotten the glamour shot, we enjoyed experiencing the fields and see with our own eyes what the fuss is about. ☀️
So… the Universe heard my pangs of frustration and loneliness by providing us with our plan of action for Phase II Part 1 and 2.
Part 1Recap
I already covered most of Part 1 in the previous post. We ate as a coping mechanism, but thankfully it was only one real meal a day in early afternoon applying daily intermittent fasting so that our bodies could use as much time as possible to digest the tasty offerings of the Italian cuisine.
Basically, our visa situation both got simpler and more complicated at the same time. Our Internet woes were only really remedied by taking advantage of cafe culture, which generally works best for me anyway, but isn’t as good for running an online magazine as my big screen iMac. 🤷🏽♀️
Our plan to move to a bigger place has become reality, only in a different country….
Part 2 – The Visa
It seems that the procurement of the mystical Type-D visa is reasonably straightforward from the Italian embassy. Since our last “residency” is considered France, thanks to M’s ability to get it swiftly and my dependency (not so thankful), we think we don’t have to consider the US aspect for me.
Although we were led to believe that we could simply go to Nice, which isn’t far from where I wanted to be based anyway, to be near my friends, we learned that thanks to the Pandemic C, all consulates have been closed and the only place we can do this visa processing is through Paris.
The upside is that we get to visit Paris. It’s a city that I’m not all that enamored with after visiting it once on my own for a few days in a very cold and wet November a few years back. M loves the charm, which I deem cliche and over-hyped. So, he is determined to show me the reason why it is considered a city of love 👩❤️💋👨 …. We shall see. 😜
Unfortunately, the earliest appointment we could get is for June 10th. This is about a month away. Luckily, the consulate is communicating quickly and clearly via email, so I feel a bit more at ease with that.
So, why are we in France now?
Well, M has to travel around the EU for work. Now that the borders are open again with just a negative PCR, he is eager to go away. As it has been about 15 months since we spent a night apart, I’m equally eager for him to go away. 😉
Since M wants to travel and I really cannot go across borders unless by car, where the likelihood of being checked is slimmer, (have done two crossings now and not been stopped 🤞🏽) I felt that it was safer for me to be in France should anything happen as at least I am in the system here for my residency application. Plus, I have friends here and can speak some of the language. I could not say the same for the tiny town that we were living in; and the dark stone-walled apartment that I would end up hiding away was not conducive to stability in my mental health, which is a bit on edge as it is with the stress all of this is applying to my carefully constructed sanity. 🤹🏽
Therefore, we have rented a lovely place near where we were before (and my friends) for the next six weeks. At the time that we rented, we didn’t know that it would be possible to get our visa on the same day as the appointment as we had heard it could take a couple of weeks. So, we wanted to be safe….
We will have to be out the day before my birthday, so am not sure what we will do as that is a long way away and our plans are ever-changing. However, I am already a million times happier having only been here for about four hours. I’ve got my friends on notice and plans in motion. 💃🏽🥂
I’ll share some photos next time. For now, I’m just reveling with lighter air! ✨
Well, it’s been less than a week and I’m already missing my friends and wondering when we can move back to France….
Let’s just get the challenges out and cleared.
Challenge1 – The Visa
Remember how I said that I’m constantly needing to remember to stay fluid and flexible? Well, the promise of a smooth Italian transition was not to be…. A few days before we were set to leave, we were informed that there is some need for a Type D visa, aka National Visa, aka WTF? This is before we can finish our Elective Residency Visa (ERV) that we were told would be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Too good to be true? “Pfft”, my husband said as he waved off my inner angst at this new twist…
Well, “pffffft” right back at him as I re-learn to breathe, meditate and tell myself not to lose my cool.
A “simple” Google search, as I was nonchalantly told to do, reveals nothing clear regarding how to get this mysterious Type D visa. A brief message exchange with someone else suggests that the aforementioned ERV should be the same thing as this D-visa. Other inquiries bring up more questions and confusion.
Breathe. It’s fine….
Or not…
At worst, I would have to apply for said visa at the Italian embassy/consulate in the US. At best, we will look back in a few weeks and wonder what all the stress was about…. In between is the more likely scenario, we will be heading back to Nice to apply for said D-visa at the Italian consulate there using M’s French residency and my application for it to get the visa, then we come back and continue as planned.
As a recovering worry-wart, who occasionally relapses, I am concerned being a US citizen who has overstayed my Schengen visa with nothing but a registration number legitimizing my presence and should an official be having a bad day could blacklist me from the Schengen area altogether for ten years, which would greatly hamper our current European settlement. Also, with COVID, there are extra issues at play with vaccines, travel, etc.
So, while a forced visit home would not be the end of the world, leaving it could be a challenge as would be being with my man as a non-US citizen…. Anyway, will keep fingers, toes and everything else crossed that the best scenario happens or go with the in-between.
Challenge 2 – Connectivity
Everyone knows that being connected is life. Despite my loathe of social media and avoidance of most things online, I am heavily dependent on the Internet for entertainment – including reading a book – or basically anything AND, most importantly, I can choose to not use it when I want to disconnect.
Furthermore, M’s work requires Internet. The very meaning of digital nomad requires the ability to be digital. Without it, he cannot work, make money – thus provide our lifestyle needs/wants -, etc. and his mood reflects on the ease in which he can do these things; thus, also affecting my sanity!
Like anywhere, it takes some effort and time to work out how to get a new SIM card or access WiFi points. Without either of us knowing the language, there is the everyday/regular stress of figuring out how to communicate and understand what we need or what is available to us.
We are staying in an old stone-walled apartment that is cold, dark, and small. Our Italian SIM cards, while successfully and rather easily obtained, cannot defeat medieval structures meant to keep out everything that was not originally permitted within. This means, TV cannot be watched. Computers cannot be used. Livelihood cannot be achieved. Therefore, M stresses causing T (me) stress!
The remedy?
We shall likely be moving to a bigger space with an outside garden (also the cats will prefer it) and easier permeability. We shall figure out with the help of “friends” what exactly we need to make the WiFi work within rather than sourcing it from outside.
At least this is a fairly easy fix. <sigh>
So, those are the main challenges that are making life feel stressful. They are challenges of the privileged, but so is my life. 😛 However, to end on the bright side:
Restaurants and cafes are open. Since our apartment kitchen is too small to inspire the in-house chef, we have eaten out for every meal. Pizza and delicious pasta has been my daily happy moments. Thank goodness we only eat one big meal a day around midday or we’d have to add on a gym membership! 😉
Also, the countryside is absolutely gorgeous – dare I say, even more so than in France!
We had a number of different variation of how my “old man” would ring in the new decade at half a century years old. However, none of those came to fruition thanks to the changes in COVID-19 (shame it was 20, huh?).
Even as it was, we were technically in violation of lockdown rules when we snuck over the border to get to Monaco.
More images on Instagram @footnersinfrance
Since it was a big birthday, we splashed out to tick off one of M’s bucket list items – to stay in the Hotel de Paris Monte Carlo.
Hotel de Paris Monte Carlo behind on the right with the Monte Carlo Casino on the left
It was a lovely area to walk around and enjoy the festive spirit of Christmas as well as a birthday.
I’ll let the rest be told in images:
Christmas tree in foyer of Hotel de Paris
Balcony with a view
The Mediterranean Sea
50-year-olds need a unique signet ring
Birthday Boy!
Dinner at Rampoldi
Monaco at night
Monaco Castle
Sunrise view
We are hoping to make another visit, as it’s about 2.5 hours from where we are now, when the weather is nicer. Though, the budget will be smaller, so perhaps a little less fancy. 😛
It had been a while since Mom and I had taken a mother-daughter trip, so with life starting to return to normal, we made plans to reinstate them. With lots of options, we decided on Mongolia.
Many people gave us quizzical looks respectively whenever we mentioned where we were going as it is not a common travel destination – yet. However, this sort of made the journey even more exciting.
Our tour started in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, with just one night in a hotel before meeting the rest of our group and a driver, who took us all to the airport in the morning. Then, we were left to our own devices to figure out where to check-in and catch the morning flight to Murun (Moron as spelled on our boarding passes – was that a hint?!). Luckily, there were five of us together, so we figured it out. It was a short flight and then we met our tour guide and driver for the first three days of the tour.
A rather long and bumpy car ride took us toward Lake Khuvsgol in the northern part of the country which shares the waterway with Russia. It was a beautiful area with green mountains, herds of animals, untouched lands and fresh air. Actually, just the scenery reminded me of Trillium Lake at home in Oregon, but the Blue Pearl lake is called such for a reason. The water was rather chilly, but it was gorgeous to see.
We spent two chillier nights in the Ger camps, experiencing how the local nomads might live in these homes. It was a bit like ‘glamping’, only less glamorous.
During this time, we visited a reindeer herd and explored the area with a visit to a couple of local families’ homes.
After a couple of days of this area, we then headed back to Ulaanbaatar for another night in a different Ger camp outside of the city area and compared the differences in herded animals as well as culture of the people.
We also experienced a bit of the spiritual side of the country in visiting temples both in and out of the city.
Of course, the highlight was seeing the festival with all its competitions from ankle-bone throwing to archery to horse racing to wrestling and the opening ceremony.
We toured the city and saw highlights as a close to the tour.
On the whole we enjoyed the trip. It was fun to see a completely different and fairly unknown country. While the history is rich with stories of Genghis (Chinggis) Khan, there is little known about its current status in the world.
With that said, I do not need to visit it again anytime soon. I might be interested to see its development in another 20-30 years since it is indeed a developing nation. Also, much of the tour was spent in a car getting from locations, which is not as fun. It reminded me a bit of the tour I took in Turkey.
As for recommending it, I’m not sure. I think if one has an interest in Mongolia or seeing a still fairly untouched country, then it is worth it. However, don’t expect the food to wow you or to be overly impressed with the tourism industry.
Click on the pic to see all trip pics!
Still, I’m glad I got to do another trip with my mama and to revive the travel bug in me! Now, the real question is, where to go next…? 😛
The downside of going back to work and working for a business rather than an academic institution is that vacation days are limited. Add to that other life challenges, makes for a bit of a difficulty in taking summer holidays.
However, I’m not at all complaining as life is a far cry (positively) from what it was just over a year ago – still trying to work out how to update on that….
Anyway, we were finally able to manage a trip away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo life over a long weekend.
Both of us needed the bit of rest that the beautiful blue waters and sun of Okinawa provided us.
Most of our time was spent on the beaches as we tried out most of the popular ones thanks to being able to drive around the main island. The weather was absolutely perfect and so here are the photos that say it all!
It has now been two months since we left the desert and all that life there encompassed. The last year or so proved to be the most challenging of times because living outside of the bubble, that most expats survive in to convince themselves that being there is worthwhile, causes your eyes to open and never be shut again.
While we may have read stories in the papers or heard them from third, fourth or more sources, we tend to never believe that bad things – life changing things – can happen to you. The truth is that as long as you stay within the confines of the bubble, these bad things never happen.
Now, there is a lot of personal responsibility that must be taken before this story begins.
On my end, I lived and worked where my salary was never going to be higher as all of my living expenses were basically covered. A more responsible adult would have been more frugal and financially responsible to put money away for those rainy days that inevitably come or the challenging periods that could happen in life.
I did not.
I traveled. I fully enjoyed life and absolutely lived beyond my means despite the extravagance of my income. I admit it. However, I do not regret it. Sure, it would be nice to own a piece of property that would have been an investment. Or, it might be more comforting to my parents and those who are fiscally-minded if I had a sweet cushion to fall back on should something happen to me.
Still, that is not how I have ever thought about money or life. I cannot take it with me. If I get terminally ill, I will not fight it for when the time comes then so be it.
That’s not to say that I do not appreciate the wisdom behind having ‘rainy day’ money. Our recent experience has hit that home for me – it only took about 20 years, but hey….it’s never too late, right?!
So, back to the fact that I take full responsibility for not having the financial freedom one would expect of me after eight years of bubble living.
For my husband’s side, he has to take his own responsibility for his part.
When we met, I also knew that money was going to be a concern for us as neither of us had a proven track record of being overly mindful about it. Still, love is truly blind and when you decide you want to spend the rest of your life with someone nothing else really seems so important.
Still…when your partner is in a business that is commission-based and living in a country where debts and laws are made and enforced on the whim of the person whom you encounter, there is a constant risk being taken. Sometimes you are lucky to escape and others times….
Well, this is where the story continues next time….
Ever since we met in 2014 we have taken a yearly trip to Fujairah as a getaway weekend.
I remember our first one fondly as it was when we were just getting our hearts around the idea that love was in the air.
Each year when we return, we re-connect and re-kindle the flames of our love that is always alight, but refreshed with time away as holidays have a knack for doing.
This year, we decided to leave late on Wednesday for the three-hour drive so that we could have two full days to relax. It was totally worth the late night!
For me, my first priority was to catch up on sleep and to really relax with my <3. On the first day, I accomplished this was quite a few little naps in between soaks in the pool. I also was able to do some reading and writing as well, which is somewhat new on our joint holidays. So that was nice!
Here’s a picture recap of our first day:
Since the Fairmont Fujairah is still constructing their beach access (to be opened this month), we were able to use the Radisson Blu Resort, Fujairah hotel’s beach. Unfortunately, there had been an oil spill which put a damper on our enthusiasm to swim in the sea. Getting black tar and oil all over us was not ideal. So, we headed back to poolside in the afternoon and watched as storm clouds rolled in. It was a dry thunderstorm that passed over us, but we got to enjoy a lighter humidity evening outside.
Although we had our return drive to make, check out was not until noon, so we made the most of our morning by hitting the pool again before we had to check out. It is nice to be a morning person in these instances! 😛
So, overall, we had a really nice time. M got to finally relax and refresh himself. It may be our last trip to Fujairah since we probably will not be here next year. However, we may still try to get out there one more time before we head out of the country. In any case, there is still time…until then we are basking in the refreshness of a weekend getaway!
In Japan, the best seasons are the fall and spring. These are the times of the year when you can be outside and enjoy all that the flora can offer around town. Or, many people take special trips around this time.
The spring offers views of the famous cherry blossoms where you can see people sitting under trees having picnics or drinking parties. This is known as hanami – looking at flowers. While there are many flowers to look at, THE flower is sakura or cherry blossoms.
My hope this year was to get the timing right for the sakura, but due to the lingering cooler temperatures, they aren’t quite in full bloom yet.
As today is my last full day of my visit, I made sure to take some photos where I could.
Here are some from the weekend as well.
Will keep these handy as I return to the beige desert sands – though the warmth will be nice. 😉
Our last half-day in Kyoto was a cold and wet one. We put on our Oregonian minds and endured the rain drops enough to do the short walk along the Philosophers’ Path (哲学の道哲学の道) where we reminisced about the old days when J and I created our own pronunciation of philosophize to philoSOPHisize because we had trouble saying it correctly. Now, it will never be said properly…. 🤣😂
The Path leads to the Silver Pavilion (銀閣寺) which is J’s favorite place. I think I had a new appreciation for it this time around, perhaps because the rain enhanced the “silver-ness” of the place.
Normally, it is meant to be a place of calm and zen. When I visited the first time as an exchange student I remember being told it was a place for contemplation and to be respectful to other visitors by keeping as quiet as possible. Well…the tourists of today no longer have received this message or perhaps do not care. We had a few moments with some of the other Asian country tourists, but worked hard not to let it ruin our mood and enjoyment of what the historical space offers. 😍
Overall, it was a lovely way to end our visit, though it was not quite a long enough trip. Next time, we will try to make it a longer one especially since I also did not have the chance to catch up with friends there….😪😓
