2023: A Year of Challenges and Fun

Last week we did an article that described the “Best of” for 2022 to answer the question, what is your favorite place? The next most frequently asked question is what do you have planned coming up? Our first and foremost goal for 2023 is to travel even slower than we did in 2022, which won’t be too hard because we still seemed to move a lot in 2022, visiting 20 different countries. Here is a rundown of what we currently have planned for 2023.

2023 Ski Season (Challenge)

As usual, our ski season starts with Christmas with the family in Lake Tahoe. When we made our plans, it wasn’t clear if I was going to be able to ski this year due to a bad right knee. While I was willing to try, my family strongly encouraged me not to ski for fear of me falling and hurting something besides my knee. Knowing I was going to have my knee replaced early in the year, we decided to stay in the US for ski season this year. Our plan is to spend two weeks in Park City Utah and then drive to Colorado for another three weeks. My challenge is figuring out what I’m going to do while Mike is skiing. Any ideas?

Knee Replacement in Scottsdale (Challenge)

In mid-February, we will drop off our ski gear in the Bay Area and fly to Phoenix. We usually go to Scottsdale in the summer when everything is cheap. It turns out that February is still part of the winter “snowbird” season and March is baseball spring training. As a result, the housing is really expensive so we have already booked a single-story home for our stay. The required pre-op scans and checks will happen as soon as we get there so that I’ll be ready for surgery just after Presidents’ Day. I’ve given myself five challenging weeks after surgery for physical therapy before we leave for Mexico. We also hope to see one or more spring training games as well.

Recuperating in Mexico (Challenging and Fun)

Our go-to recovery location this year is Playa del Carmen Mexico, just south of Cancun. I spent a month there in February 2020 after my fall at Victoria Falls. I’ve already identified a physical therapist I can see while we are there. For my last knee replacement, I saw a therapist two to three times a week for three months and I know I can’t let up. Other than PT, I plan to relax in the sunshine and calm breezes. There probably won’t be any diving on this trip. Perhaps some snorkeling.

Before we go to Miami to get on a cruise, we will visit San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (SMA). SMA is a colonial town in the mountains in the middle of Mexico. It has a famous artist community and is popular with our nomad buddies, so we figured we would check it out. I haven’t found a physical therapist there yet, but I will.

Heading to Europe on a Repositioning Cruise (Fun)

Even though we didn’t really care for the Celebrity cruise line we took across the Atlantic last year, we still like the idea of a repositioning cruise. So this year we will try another repositioning cruise from Miami to Marseille on MSC. The cruise heads to a few Caribbean islands before heading across the pond. We picked a 22-day cruise but most of the ports are places we have never been. Even though MSC has had mixed reviews, we are looking forward to traveling by ship again this year.

A Month in Ireland (Fun)

We disembark the ship in Marseille and travel the short distance to Nice to pick up our residence cards. From there we plan to fly to Dublin. Mike has been to Ireland but I haven’t and it was on my list of four places I wanted to visit this year. Because we don’t want to move too much and we will have a car, we figure to spend a week in each of three or four places around Ireland. From each of our bases, we will take day trips to other sites. That is as detailed as our plans for Ireland currently go.

Three Months in Paris (Fun)

After a short visit to the Bay Area, we plan to spend about three months renting an apartment in Paris. Aside from living la vie, we figured we could do short trips nearby. There are lots of places in France we still haven’t been to. I’m sure we won’t get to half the places on our list but it will be fun to try.

Finish Our Trip to Africa (Challenging and Fun)

I had four places on my wish list for 2023: Ireland, Iceland, Africa, and South America. Our current plan includes two of the four places. After Paris, we head to Cape Town to begin a month-long journey in southern Africa. Our goal is to see everything we missed three years ago when I broke my leg. We will spend about 10 days in Cape Town before going to Namibia, then Kruger park, Victoria Falls, and Botswana. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Victoria Falls since we were so close last time.

Back to Mexico (Fun)

After about a month in Africa, we will head back to our chosen sanctuary, Playa del Carmen. After running around Africa for a month I’m sure we will be looking forward to a little downtime, checking in with doctors, and generally relaxing before another Christmas in the Bay Area. I’m also looking forward to being able to ski for Christmas 2023.

At the end of the year, we will have to do the country count again, and hopefully, the total comes to less than the 20 different countries we visited this year. In addition to slowing down, we also have a healthy lifestyle goal that includes daily workouts and cooking more. I’m feeling really positive about our ability to transition to a healthy slow-mad lifestyle.

How do you think we are doing on our plan to slow down?

You may also like

1 comment

  1. Looks like an awesome itinerary. I’m looking forward to learn where you end up in Paris. Inside the Periphique is probably the most alluring, though a suburb with good rail connections to the city might be worthy if you don’t expect to spend every day on the streets of La Ville Lumièr.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *