Since we became homeless and started our roving retirement, we have gotten into a mindset of moving around periodically. Now it seems to have become a compulsion because I get often restless when we stay in one place for more than three weeks.
I do understand that everyone is feeling more than antsy after being cooped up for the last few months. But the difference for us is that most people are living in their own comfortable houses. We aren’t, more on that later.
France
In France, at the start of lockdown, we were nervous and uncertain about what we could do so we stayed close to home. Then over time, we were more comfortable and we were able to wander around a bit more and see stuff. However, by the end of our stay after eight weeks in Perpignan, we were getting the itch to go someplace else.
On the other hand, it was sad to leave because we didn’t know when we could come back. I’ve read on the forums that Americans may not be welcome abroad because, as a nation, we haven’t been able to follow the facemask and social distancing rules. Many European countries have said that they won’t let Americans enter in the foreseeable future because they won’t follow the rules. We are in a bit of a different situation because we do have residence visas for France, so we think we can go back in the fall, but we will see.
Bay Area
When we planned our trip to the Bay Area, we knew we had to do a two-week quarantine so we figured another two weeks would be a good amount of time to see family and friends. I think this would have been ok if our apartment situation was a little better.
Apartment Challenges
For our Bay Area sojourn, we booked a nice looking two-bedroom apartment in Cupertino through a corporate housing company called Zeus Living. But before we arrived, we were told that the apartment we booked had a water leak and we needed to stay at another apartment while the first one was being fixed. Then a few days later we got a note that the water would be out for three days in the subsequent two weeks. Since we were on quarantine, this presented a critical problem. After much negotiation and quite a few emails, we stayed at the substitute apartment for two weeks.
We really hadn’t planned on moving in the middle of our Bay Area visit and having to do that annoyed me some. Then, when we did get to the apartment we originally booked, we decided we liked it better. But neither apartment was very well equipped. The kitchen was especially lacking. When we asked for a fix, we were told to go buy some stuff ourselves and they would reimburse us, which they did.
So everything was fine for a few days, then we got bombarded by fruit flies, lots of them. Anyone who knows me knows that I am very neat and clean. Not as clean as when we lived in our house, but we don’t leave stuff with food all over the kitchen. Anyway, the flies are disgusting, so more emails to Zeus and a visit from an exterminator a few days later. The exterminator couldn’t find the source of the flies. So, he left some traps and told us he could come back the day before we go. Needless to say, I am more than ready to leave this apartment.
Entertaining Ourselves
Besides the apartment issues, I think my desire to move is even more pronounced when we come to the Bay Area because there isn’t really any sightseeing we want to do. In addition, there isn’t much to write about while we are there (I’m sure you can tell.) All of this is especially pronounced during the lockdown/shelter in place orders that everyone is under.
Now
Our plan has always been to spend the rest of our time in the US someplace warmer and cheaper than the Bay Area. We are here in the Bay Area for a number of reasons. Most importantly to be available to help our elderly parents. We figured one short plane ride away would be fine because staying long term in the Bay Area is out of the question.
Another reason for staying in the US is that they won’t actually let us go back to Europe until sometime after July. We still want to do our original plan of driving through the south of France down into Spain. At the current time, we can’t travel freely because these countries are just coming out of lockdown. We do need to be back in France in November to renew our visas. But we will likely go back earlier.
Finally, I have some medical issues related to my broken leg that needs to be addressed. So, our plan is to go to Scottsdale Arizona for the next 5 weeks and see how things go. We hope to do some sightseeing in Arizona and report on how hot it gets in July.
How antsy are you? What are plans for the summer?
