Now begins the summer of Progress. You know how in the olden days the entire British royal court would pick up and travel as a whole for the summer? That's kind of what we have planned for the next six weeks or so.
We wrap up our time in dear, precious Ithaca sometime early next week. Then we drive back across the country - reversing our exact route from last year - to end up in Utah/Idaho for about two weeks. Then it's on to Portland for two weeks.
From there, we fly out to Dubai in mid-September, just in time for school and work there to start up after the month of Ramadan. Ask me how happy I am to miss Ramadan in the UAE. The answer is SO VERY EXTREMELY.
If you've been following our travels recently, you'll realize that the life of the Palmer family from May to September looks something like this:
To add some really fun uncertainty into the mix, we are in-between insurance policies right now. Our lovely Cornell benefits have come to an end but our new insurance won't kick in "until we set foot in the UAE," as put by an HR representative at Jeremy's new job. Of course we are graciously invited to foot the bill for outrageously expensive COBRA benefits, but I hate to pay for the privilege of a low deductible and convenient co-pays when what we really need is a simple catastrophic plan that will cover us nationwide (since we will be traveling all over said nation in the next few weeks). But try as I might, I can't determine that such a plan exists. We found one plan intended for temporary travel but the maximum coverage limits are a little low for a catastrophic plan. And it will only cover us if we are 100 miles or more from home. My damage with that is that I don't even know where "home" is right now.
Meanwhile, I feel like we are four ticking time bombs, walking around uninsured in America. Every time I hear the girls playing rough the next room over, and then a crash, and then a cry, I cross my fingers and hope it won't require any kind of trip to any kind of medical facility. Let's hope we get our insurance figured out soon.
Anyway, the insurance wasn't really the point of this post, except that it adds to the general merriment of our Summer Progress. Good times ahead.
We wrap up our time in dear, precious Ithaca sometime early next week. Then we drive back across the country - reversing our exact route from last year - to end up in Utah/Idaho for about two weeks. Then it's on to Portland for two weeks.
From there, we fly out to Dubai in mid-September, just in time for school and work there to start up after the month of Ramadan. Ask me how happy I am to miss Ramadan in the UAE. The answer is SO VERY EXTREMELY.
If you've been following our travels recently, you'll realize that the life of the Palmer family from May to September looks something like this:
To add some really fun uncertainty into the mix, we are in-between insurance policies right now. Our lovely Cornell benefits have come to an end but our new insurance won't kick in "until we set foot in the UAE," as put by an HR representative at Jeremy's new job. Of course we are graciously invited to foot the bill for outrageously expensive COBRA benefits, but I hate to pay for the privilege of a low deductible and convenient co-pays when what we really need is a simple catastrophic plan that will cover us nationwide (since we will be traveling all over said nation in the next few weeks). But try as I might, I can't determine that such a plan exists. We found one plan intended for temporary travel but the maximum coverage limits are a little low for a catastrophic plan. And it will only cover us if we are 100 miles or more from home. My damage with that is that I don't even know where "home" is right now.
Meanwhile, I feel like we are four ticking time bombs, walking around uninsured in America. Every time I hear the girls playing rough the next room over, and then a crash, and then a cry, I cross my fingers and hope it won't require any kind of trip to any kind of medical facility. Let's hope we get our insurance figured out soon.
Anyway, the insurance wasn't really the point of this post, except that it adds to the general merriment of our Summer Progress. Good times ahead.