[Maryanne]Anyone that has followed our blog for the last few years will know that we have been travelling around the Atlantic and Mediterranean for some time. At least that was until our boat Footprint was wrecked on the shores of Italy after dragging anchor in a storm.
We WILL eventually get another boat, we had great insurance that paid out fully (thankfully) and because of that we will heartily recommend both
IMIS (the insurance agency) and
Jackline (the insurance policy).
We'd been planning to return to the States even before the accident, this just got us 'home' a little quicker than we expected.
Rather than rush into our next boat, and a cruising life again, we've agreed to return to a So Called 'Normal' life and settle back down in the USA. For now we've decided on New Jersey to give Kyle an easy commute. This will be great for him as the last few years has seen some hairy commutes and too many times when he has been unable to come home (to the boat) at all.
I'm looking for work in NJ or Manhatten, and hoping to return to the world of IT.
All this will give us some breathing space to put extra funds in the bank, and take a good long look at what boat we will need/want next, and time to look, purchase, upgrade, and play with our next boat before we set off on our next major adventures in life. We are pretty sure we won't get a Gemini next, and reasonably happy it might be a Catamaran (but maybe not). We have a lot of research to do.
For now we return to a more 'normal' life, with a box in the dirt for a home.
Returning to the USA has given us the chance to visit friends and family, some of which we'd not seen for a couple of years. We've frisby-golfed, ice skated, watched Christmas Parades, gone shopping (for well needed new clothes and prescription glasses), had wonderful meals and time with friends, and so much more already, but we've still to catch up with everyone that we long to see again.
Our first month back in the USA hasn't all been fun. Although it wasn't my fault, I managed to write off a friends car they had kindly loaned me (Sorry Liz). Kyle managed to reverse into a wall (lightly tapping it) and (unbeknown to us at the time) cause quite a bit of damage to yet another friends car (Sorry Angie). I've found out I'm allergic to Christmas trees after I helped friends erect theirs (and had to take a quick trip to the Emergency centre for medication). Oh, and we still don't technically have a home in NJ, although we do have a roof over our heads, it's still not really ours right now (think of us as squatters, but not quite so anarchic). Some good news is that our 14 boxes we shipped from Italy are currently making their way to New York, and are expected to dock on the 13th December. With any luck they'll be processed and out of customs, delivered to our apartment in time for Christmas.
For now, we're back in the real world :-(
If any of our sailing friends wish to have us discuss any topic regarding sailing and living aboard - feel free to request it and we may just get around to penning (blogging?) our knowledge for you to use, laugh at, disagree with, or ignore at will.
Thanks everyone for following along with our travels, we've always been so surprised at the number of people that make time to watch over us, and it feels good to know you are out there.
And thanks too to all our friends and family that continue to provide us with food and shelter along with great company (and who continue to lend us vehicles from time to time). We are VERY LUCKY to have you all and we know it.
