Summer

When I got sick after getting accidentally splashed with river water in Phnom Penh, I didn't anticipate it would end up being the first of several illness events that would eventually lead to cancellation of a few trips and taking 10 weeks off of travelling.

Boy, did I ever need that time.  Even when mid Aug arrived, when I thought I ought to have fully recovered; I still felt like I wasn't ready to pack up and go yet.  It was a return to Guatemala, for more Spanish lessons.  I went, but decided to forgo the lesson part and used the time to slowly wander around Antigua instead.

Even today, I don't feel like I've built back up to where I was yet.  It's coming along slowly but I have acquired some poor eating habits that I need to knock down for me to get the rest of the way there.  Something to do with discovering new Mennonite bakeries...

On a more encouraging note, my lipid levels have been testing great.  My lipid genetics Dr is very pleased.  He told me that he would be quite happy if they stayed the same for the rest of my life.  And that he wishes for me to be far above average for my career, finances, life,  but with respect to long term cardiovascular risk, to be average.

I have no complaints about the casual state of my work week.  Actually I love it and have no plans to make it busier.  D is still in disbelief that his workplace is so balanced and want to ride it out for another 4 years.  He really enjoys the social aspect and it is easy money, he says.

Our ideas of permanently moving out west are fading for now.  We're not sure if they will come back into focus primarily due to lack of similar options for overall conveniences versus where we are.  The geography hasn't outweighed that at this point.  And we seem to be less willing to give up here when we can still get a piece of the action a few times a year.

This was also the first summer without our cottage.  We both get glimpses of moments where we miss the idea of it but miss it really-- No.  We were done with that phase of our lives after 14 years.  And are grateful to have gotten to live out that dream for a while.  

Costs

I spent more time and effort than I'd care to repeat, during the months of May and early June, on the phone with various agents in the fraud department of my credit company.  As I so infrequently call anyone anymore, it was way more than my year's share of calls over that 6 week period.

The issue?  Credit card fraud.  The first incident, 4 days after coming home from Kuala Lumpur, someone tried 10 times unsuccessfully, to take $300 from my Visa.  It was a Malaysian company that bounced the charges to San Francisco.

I did get a notification email about the card going on lock down and I impatiently waited 10 working days to get the replacement.  I cannot believe in this day and age, that it seriously takes that long...

So I get the new card and subsequently go and update my upcoming hotel reservations (Booking.com; of which one of them was for Kuala Lumpur again) using my new card number and within 6 hours, 2 fraudulent attempts from Malaysia... I got a couple notification email of the transactions, called, and the card is blocked again and a replacement ordered and I am seriously furious.

I use a really good travel Visa which includes a very comprehensive travel insurance policy as one of its benefits.  It also stipulates that I have to use it for at least 75% of my travel costs of each trip in order to be able to put in a claim for non medical losses.

Plus there are a whole list of items that come out at different times automatically each month as it was our main card too.  So having to change it again was a real inconvenience.  Pro tip -- Ask the credit card company to rush the card to your branch.  It worked like a charm and arrived in 2 days.  No one had offered that as an option before...

I did look at buying a separate yearly travel insurance policy from Amex, Blue Cross etc.  but my plan under the Visa is superior.

When it happened the 2nd time it forced us to look at separating our travel expenses from our day to day spend.  So we permanently moved the monthly auto debits to a different card to mitigate any future work associated with travel fraud.

With this particular card, we get cash back and it has since proved to be much better value than the points earned on the travel card.  Something we wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

My biggest risk no doubt come from my travels.  Using credit cards in places and countries where their security levels aren't as robust as what we have in Canada.  And I buy all my flights online as well as book accommodations. 

As I am not able to pay cash for everything, what can I do other than to limit my travels to "safer, more developed locales" to decrease risk... Not something I'm willing to consider.