DAY 2 and DAY 1: Let's Gooooo!
Saturday, a.k.a. DAY 2, more panic hit as we were not receiving text messages now that our numbers were ported to GoogleFi. Kind of important for us to be reachable on our last few days in the U.S.! I'm not a techie and tried following troubleshooting tips. There was a note that it may take 24-48 hrs from porting a number until a customer can send and receive texts. In hindsight, I should have started that process sooner, but how was I to know...?
The day was spent at my in-laws' home in Phoenix. It was a casual pool day with a guest appearance by Zach. I briefly left around 1 to meet Lilly at a Car Title Transfer shop, only to find out our car needed emissions testing in order to be sold. I signed the title over to her, and she'd have to have the test done during the week.
I also stopped at Chase Bank to deposit some $100 bills we had from the casino - $50s and $100s from the U.S. are not accepted in Belize. I am so glad I thought of that before we left! I grabbed some extra cat food for our senior cats, a new box of cat litter (figuring unopened was the least likely to be flagged by security) and a few cans of cat food to hold them over when we arrive.
Phoenix decided to grace us with a weekend of 110f+ temps, as a final kick to the crotch.
At our vets' recommendation, we started dosing the cats with gabapentin to see how they would react and make sure the dosages were correct. Shadow, our black rescue cat, who literally ATE GARBAGE before we adopted him, can somehow sniff out meds in his treats he would otherwise devour. This is going to be a challenge to medicate him! He must have taken in at least some of the dose, as I found all 3 snoozing in the curtains at the AirBnB.
Selene (front) will ordinarily growl if she so much as senses Shadow near her. Allowing him to sleep on her butt means she has no cares to give. We have her dosage correct!
SUNDAY - Our last day as U.S. residents!
I finally figured out our texting issue on GoogleFi - we needed to "turn off" the SIM card for Verizon, our old provider. Poof! Texting enabled! WHEW!
In real estate, lenders, title companies, and other businesses attempt to lure your business via Starbucks Gift Cards. Guess who doesn't like Starbucks..? Nathan and Sharon. I had accumulated over $200 of gift cards that we worked our way through, buying iced teas and snack boxes, the occasional brownie...I spent it down to $11 on Sunday, quite a feat.
We started the "final pack" which included doing laundry, a final weed-through of what we last-minute moved to the AirBnB, and washing out the cats' litter box and scoop.
At 1, we met my mom and her boyfriend, James, for one last meal, and a photo.
Sunday is where my anxiety and nausea really ramped up; my body doesn't process stress well and it tends to congregate in my stomach. When I came down to San Pedro on a Monday-Friday trip to furnish our villa, the days leading up - and entirely through the trip - I could barely eat, constantly felt nauseous. I was pleasantly surprised I made it as close to departure as I did before hitting this level of discomfort.
After lunch, we went to Safeway (grocery store) and picked up some sodas and snacks, plus bananas (my go-to for sustenance when I feel like crap), placed a to-go order at Silvermine Subs, our favorite sandwich shop. This would be our final meal in the U.S. Not fancy, but also something we will miss! We figured cold sandwiches could be eaten whenever hunger hit for us, we still had packing to do.
Nathan went to his parents' home to pick up the boys and Lilly; since they were at their mom's for a dinner, we had Zach pick up Ethan and Lilly on his way there, then had them drive to Clayton and Mela's home, where they could leave Zach's truck while he was in Belize. Nathan brought them to the AirBnB, then Lilly could drive our (old) car home. They brought Catan with them, a game they introduced us to last year. It's a lot of fun, but it is also exceptionally long, especially with an expansion pack for 5 players. I anxiously watched 10 PM and then 11 PM tick by, and at 11:30, I withdrew as I had to get the cats to take their next dose. And now Shadow AND Selene were refusing it...UGH. Even mixing the powder in with wet food treats, they turned their noses up. I added some kitten kibble in, and they had a few bites, but not nearly enough.
One thing I do every trip is to prepare envelopes with cash for each expense, so I have only the necessary amount ready and am not pulling out wads of cash. I made envelopes for BAHA (cat importation fees), Carts Belize for the second half of our cart rental, and Tropic Air for our island flights.
Every year before we go to Belize, we debate staying up all night. The first flight is between 5 and 6 AM, so it means getting up between 2 and 3 if you do fall asleep. Nathan and I figured between nerves, stress, and excitement, we likely wouldn't be able to sleep anyway and gave an "all-nighter" a go. I tried to nibble on my sandwich, but only managed a few bites, then set up the cats' carriers and emergency bag. Our luggage was in the rooms the boys were sleeping in, so I was dead in the water to finish packing. With that being the case, a little after 1 AM I decided to try to sneak in a little nap. Selene was out-out in bed, Nathan was playing a game on his phone. I set my alarm for 2:40 AM and laid down, but sleep would not come at all, for either of us.
His parents were our airport transport, in two separate vehicles - because 4 adults, 6 checked bags, and 3 cats were not going to fit in 1 truck with a driver. They showed up as requested at 3:15, and we loaded up the boys and checked bags into Clayton's truck, then backpacks, cats, Nathan and myself with Mela in her SUV.
I'll wrap up this blog here - our travel day definitely warrants its own blog!