Hawaii, PR, Portugal and Sardinia

It has been months since I posted my blog I committed to writing this year.  I hope you will forgive me and allow me to give a six month update in this same blog.

I thought I would share a little bit about this past year as a world traveler. (and a self-aware therapist)  My decision to put my whole life's possessions (and many tubs of children's memories) in a 10x10 storage unit last July was not an impulsive decision.  I moved to Texas with a clear direction from the Lord in 2010.  It was a great move for my kids.  For me, however, Texas never quite felt like home to me,  (Florida did) even though I had and have an amazing life overall.  Covid made it much easier for me to shift my practice to almost completely virtual and make some other shifts.  After 30 years of being a mom, I was finally an empty-nester with a virtual business.  Not paying a monthly rent freed up income to travel.

Honestly, there were a lot of emotions for months.  I can't quite name them all.  I didn't expect empty nest emotions as there were five years from daughter # three to daughter # four.  It was hard at first to not have a permanent pillow. Although I was welcomed at my daughter's house, I wanted to be considerate of their lives with two toddlers and needing some privacy.  I got used to living out of a suitcase and storage unit.

When I moved, I gave away and sold almost everything.  I have also continually purged things over the last year and have more to do.  Its amazing when you start traveling how little you realize you really need.  I feel connected to many people even though I don't have a space that feels like home yet.  I find myself being more present when I am with people because I don't have the clock ticking or a limited time to stay.  Its been very sweet.  I have been able to say "yes" to things that I haven't had the ability or bandwidth to do in the past.  I have still worked but I seem to have more time.  It's amazing how much time caring for your stuff consumes.  I'm hoping I remember that when I end up in a more permanent place.  Minimalism is a smart idea.

I am admittedly a beach snob.  I am not rich, but lived in Florida for 20 years and set my beach baseline from florida beaches - both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.   Many people are happy to just get to go to any ol beach and I definitely enjoy all the noted benefits and the health benefits from all beaches. 

But in my ability to work from anywhere this year, I am trying beaches, along with cultural experiences from around the world.

If you didn't know this about me, I am fascinated by culture, language, peoples and humans in general.  I was born to be a psychologist and my world travels and love of languages is just a reflection of my interest in knowing how people think and believe. 

I am a holistic energy practitioner, which in and of itself is draining energetically while incredibly fulfilling and satisfying at the same time.  I teach and model good self-care and so I must recharge at the beach regularly.

In addition to this, since 2021, the Lord has had me specialize in working with survivors of Satanic Ritual Abuse.  I resisted this and politely said, "no" for more than ten years before I finally surrendered to this.  I didn't feel qualified, until I did and said "Ok" and it has been the best choice I have ever made albeit extremely difficult.

Because of this, my need to touch sand and see crystal clear ocean water and nature, has increased. loving on animals helps also.

I have been exposed to knowledge of unspeakable evil, deception and programming in individuals and the world.  I cannot unknow what I know.  It has changed me in many ways - it was a gradual red pill but has made life be challenging to model and maintain peace and joy, which is my message (The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy)

Ok - enough about this - here is my six month comparison of all the beaches I have been to since my last blog.  No haters please !!!

HAWAII

My last trip to Hawaii was in sept 1989.  I stayed at a beautiful Hitlon resort in Waikiki and was so grateful for the amazing accommodations.  February/March is the perfect temperature outside in Hawaii.

Not surprisingly, the water was quite cold.  It is still the Pacific Ocean.  I imagine I would have to go south and west to Polynesia area to have warmer water.  I found a spot that was great to cool off when I got hot, but I never really swam or floated.  You northerners would have been happy

Hawaii was beautiful landscape and we did a day drive to the northern part of the Island.  On the east side of the Island the wind made it impossible to enjoy the beach unless you are a kite surfer and if so, then woohoo !!

We stopped to see a massive turtle on the west side of the island.  That was a neat experience.

Ok - so I am allergic (mildly) to pot and have always hated the smell.  Unfortunately shortly after arriving to the hotel we stayed in the first night, I was blasted by the smell.  Disappointed, I realized that Hawaii probably had a pretty large marijuana use.  I did not smell that on the resort itself the rest of the week.

Cool crazy moment - I'm walking down the pathway and I hear - "Did you go to Natick High School"? I turn around and my fb friend and class of '83 classmate, Dan Donovan, is standing there. He immediately recognized me but spaced on my name. He and his sweet wife took me to dinner and I got to hear his story - that was very serendipitous.

PUERTO RICO - San Juan and Culebra

After a LA Trip to see a friend and Seattle trip to see my daughter, I headed to Orlando.  I have timeshares and its easy to book a cheap week in Orlando.  I wanted to catch up with an old friend and also visit my good friends, The Baileys, who I try to visit a couple times a year - it's always a special time when I get to see them. Our old stomping grounds, New Smyrna was a little rough the one day we went but enjoyed the sand and the company.

Off to San Juan - The beach there was pretty - it was hot outside and I know there are prettier and less current/wave beaches in other parts of PR - but I had to choose.  So I took an 8 seater plane flight to the island of Culebra.  It’s a very small island and mostly visited via ferry.  There is a small population of residents.

The island was run down.  Major potholes needed repair.  I found a good organic market that made fresh acai bowls and sold fresh produce and organic food and there were a couple cute restaurants.  I did a dive.  Not a lot of sea life for the Caribbean there but saw a massive stingray which was pretty cool.

There was only one nice beach.  It was the public beach on the north side of the Island - Flamingo Beach.  It was very beautiful and the water and landscape was amazing.  I enjoyed every moment there.  I also did a short excursion to Culebrita island which was also a beautiful beach trip and boat trip.  The trip was restful overall.  (I am always working part of the day) as it was very quiet and remote and a slower pace of life.  Wild horses, peacocks and chickens ran around.  The rustic feel definitely helped recharging!  The other island of Vieques is larger but I only had bandwidth to do one place.  I didn't realize this, but we were very close to St Thomas VI here.  I love St Thomas by the way.

DESTIN/PANAMA CITY BEACH

I was in Destin/Panama City Beach in May.  I held my annual practitioners retreat in Destin close to Crystal Beach. Then I worked a couple back to back retreats in SanDestin. It was not great beach conditions most of the time there until the last week.  (double red flags most of the time) but the last few days reminded me why this is one of my favorite places.  I have great memories of family trips with my brothers, their kids, cousin and aunt along with my kids every summer just before or after the annual family reunion.

If I haven't blogged about this yet - or if you need a reminder, the panhandle is still one of the best beach experiences.  Yes its very hot in the summer.  Under and umbrella and earlier in the day, however, it’s a great beach day.  The sand is amazing and the ocean can be swimming pool calm and clear.  There is a lot to do for the family, but mostly I just love the Destin vibe.  Destin is a nice blended vibe of upper middle class and florida.  Seaside to Rosemary and in between is beautiful and a bougie Dallas vibe.   Panama city Beach is a southern Alabama, salt-of-the-earth friendly and kind vibe. While I can relate to the bougie Dallas and the slightly redneck Alabama vibes, I wish there was a blend of the beauty of both the unbelievably friendly and polite southerners and a little of the sophistication that 30A seems to reflect.  That would be a perfect world.  You would understand this comment if you lived in Dallas or southern Alabama.  My family is from South Georgia and I grew up in the Northeast.  Florida is the only place that ever really felt like home to me. 

EUROPE !!

Some of you know, I am looking for a possible outside-of-the-US-home for at least part of the year.  Some of my travels are also to see if another country is a fit for me.

Portugal has had much attention being given as a great place for ex pats to move and retire.  I speak Spanish and have been to Spain, so I thought I would start my trip in Portugal.  My friend, Mila and daughter, Bella were my traveling buddies.  Mila for 2 weeks and Bella and I were gone for over 3 weeks.  We took a total of 10 flights in 3 weeks and a couple of train trips also.  Our trips were only planned a few days in advance but we flew in and out of Lisbon.

We stayed at an Airbnb in Cascais.  This is a cute bougie little tourist area about 20 miles from Lisbon.  The beaches are probably comparable to Virginia or NC beaches.  The water was cold.  There was some lighter blue color.  We didn't go to the south of Portugal (Algarve) where the prettiest beaches lie.   The people were super friendly - the roads were narrow and driving was stressful.  We saw some amazing views and had great weather.  I could understand written Portuguese as it is similar to French and Spanish but the spoken language was hard to understand. 

Again, I'm spoiled by water temperature.  Florida is my baseline.  I kinda knew it would be cold.  It was still early June but in Florida, early June is optimum water temp.  We talked to many people from around the world and even met some girls who lived in Austin (She had on an ACL hat) - its fun chatting with other people who speak English. 

After some camel riding, waterfall swimming, monkey viewing days in and around Marakkesh, (no beaches) we headed for Rome.  There I engaged in the most dangerous activity of the trip….renting lime scooters to travel around the tourist areas.  The Colosseum, Fountain of Trevi, Spanish Steps, The Vatican, Roman forum (ruins) and churches.  We had a day and a half to see it all and squeeze in a pasta and tiramisu making class in Rome before heading to Sardinia. Rome is a wonder to behold.

Ok - so for months I have been saving IG videos about the beaches in Sardinia.  I had mapped out where to stay to get to see some of these beaches and whether they looked like the IG pics or not.

The beaches we visited were absolutely amazing.  In Sardinia, there are no high rise condos or hotels on the beaches.  You see nature and mountains in the background.  The water was such a beautiful color of blue - comparable to the Caribbean.  But….it was still really cold.  The temperature was getting warmer (mid 80s) so cooling off in the water did feel good.  Cala Brandinchi is one of the busiest beaches in the summer.  The sand is powder and there are boats to rent.  There are no waves.  It reminded me of Megan's bay St Thomas (except Megans bay is not ever cold)   We rented a paddle boat with a slide. 

Ok so apparently the slides were not built for 59 year old butt widths but I managed to slide down a few times and we got our workout in  with the paddle boat. 

We tried a snorkeling excursion to some places around Tavolara Island but it was just way too cold.   The good news is that, in spite of waves and wind and riding in a small boat,  I did not get seasick, even though I forgot to take any Dramamine or similar product.  So there's that.  Tavolara Island was cool and actually has its own King (not recognized by the Italian Gov't but is recognized by the British Crown)

I was planning to head back to southern Italy late August/Sept and check out Sicily where the water runs about 10 degress warmer than Sardinia.  I just found out their volcano erupted.  (Mt. Etna) so I'll have to see - but being near a live Volcano might be interesting if they allow people there.   There is a lot of real estate on the market in Sicily - might be some "fire" sales going on - wonder if volcano insurance is included in normal homeowners policies? - so many questions.

BUCKET LIST PLAN

So whale shark season is July and August in Mexico (Cancun) Just so you know, whale sharks eat plankton, and their throat is the size of a quarter.  They are safe.  (in case you thought I was crazy)  They have excursions to swim with whale sharks in Playa Del Carmen, Holbox etc.  so I may be headed there after they clean up from Beryl 

Looking at a visit to St Kitts/Nevis, St Lucia, Curacao and maybe another Caribbean Island next year.  I am still hoping to get to visit the orphanage I am helping build in India and would love to visit at least one Southeast Asia country or island (Bali, Fiji, Vietnam or Philippines' beaches look amazing)  The plane trips are crazy long so figuring out a way to break up the trips. 

If you want to donate to help build the india Orphanage - tax deductible donations can be made on

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