Thoughts & Ruminations

Did you ever have a really big event that got cancelled? Disassembling it is nearly as much work as it was to put it together, right? So that's what I'm doing. Breaking it all down, putting it all away. We're still waiting to hear if the airline will make a schedule change so we can get a full refund on the ticket cost. Otherwise - if they don't make changes and WE decide to cancel anyway, we only get 80% refund, which means we take a loss of $450. Such a deal, huh? I wa

... and dodging a bullet .. & missiles & bombs! The world political situation is in complete and utter TOTAL FLUX. Nobody knows when things will settle down. All travel - worldwide - is dodgy and not advised. People are canceling flights right & left. The ones who are stuck are sheltering in place. Believe me, I tried every which way to salvage this trip. But alas and alack .. prudence must prevail. We have decided to cancel - cut our losses as much as possible, and totall

With dangerous travel areas worldwide, it's really hard to find a safe route from Medford to Tashkent. I even considered flying Medford to Seattle // to Denver // to Munich, Germany // to Helsinki, Finland and finally going south into Tashkent. But it crosses over RED zone - Moscow - air space. So the safest route may be to take a chance with Turkish Airlines and risk a layover in Istanbul. It's a yellow zone heightened security risk, but at least it's not the red

I'm asking Dmitriy and our travel agent to consider options: Suspend trip until conditions are safe for stopover areas Cancel the trip and apply refund to a completely NEW trip plan where we both fly to a neutral, safe place for a vacation together. I'm adventurous. I'm dying to finally be with my beloved "other family". But I'm not foolish. Mama didn't raise no dummies. Some risks are not worth it. Two ways to fly from Seattle to Tashkent: Turkish Airlines with layove

What's Going On? We're closely monitoring what our off-the-rails, out-of-control government is really doing with the bombing in the middle East. Radical Christian Nationalist "Rapture Preppers" believe war & bloodshed will bring Jesus back. In the 2020 election, their billionaire puppet masters rigged the election & took over all 3 branches of US government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. This is Putin's playbook. We believe the infamous pedophile, Jeffrey E. Epstei

It's 44 days to departure and now I'm not sure if this trip will happen. Two days ago, our maniac orange dementia addled insane monster illegitimate so-called "president" - whose name shall not be uttered - decided to start yet another war, while he is begging for a prestigious "Peace Prize". Can anybody square that circle? The target is Iran. Americans are in complete flummox, terror and consternation, to say nothing of the poor Iranian people and all those affected by thi

As of today there are 56 days to departure. I'm trying to keep things streamlined, and although the airlines permits two pieces of luggage, I hope I can get by with just one. It will make things much simpler, methinks. However, I keep adding to my collection of gifts for the Menshikov family and now I'm not sure I can squeeze the stuff into my carry-on sports bag. I did purchase vacuum bags - you know, those space bags where you suck the air out of the bag to reduce bulk?