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This is a topic of conversation I brought up with a friend the other day. People who have financial planners often have projections of how long they can live before their money runs out. I have never had a planner. I am afraid that he might tell me that I only have a week to live. Or might as well only have a week to live.

Planning, financial or otherwise, has never been my strong suit. That is not something I would ever brag about. It is simply a realistic judgment on how I have lived my life.

My philosophy has always been to swing for the fence. Go for that homerun. Mostly, though, I have hit singles and doubles and maybe a triple here and there. None of which I would have gotten if I had sat on the bench and hadn’t played the game. In other words, and I say this after years of obsessing about being Babe Ruth, I feel rather content having been a Pete Rose.

Pete never made the Hall of Fame but not due to a lack of hustle. Of course, for those who know Pete’s story, he was banned from baseball because he bet on the game. Personally, I can’t fault anyone who bets on himself or herself.

So, is enough ever enough? Yes, as long as you can be content to live within your means. No, if you are always comparing yourself to Richie Rich and are feeling resentment because you can’t go to the Cannes Film Festival.

Healthcare in Portugal

The good news is that you don’t need to be Richie Rich to get good healthcare here in Portugal. Healthcare is considered a human right. What a concept! Insurance is affordable. Deductibles and copays are minimal. Those who cannot afford insurance still get good healthcare. Insurance companies do not fight with you. The bad news? There really isn’t any bad news that I have found.

Everyone knows that the healthcare system in the USA is simply deplorable. We have great doctors and hospitals in America but the costs and insurance battles are atrocious. If you can afford insurance, you may still go bankrupt with the deductibles and copays. And the insurance companies will fight you every step of the way until you die from what ails you or exhaustion from fighting. Pharmaceutical costs are also through the roof.

The Portuguese Farmacia

We have had a few experiences with the Portuguese Farmacias. There are many of them here and they all have green neon lights which are easily visible. So far, each one we have visited has had someone who speaks good English. We hope to be able to speak some Portuguese one of these days!

On our first visit to Portugal I had forgotten to bring my Prednisone which I sometimes use as an anti-inflammatory. I explained to the pharmacist that I had left my bottle and prescription at home. She gave me a box of them over the counter for about three euros.

The other day, after returning from my 50^th high school reunion in Miami, I knew that I would need a sleep aid to recover from jetlag. I stepped into a pharmacy and took a number. I asked for Ambien and explained that I didn’t have a prescription. She explained that it was risky for her to sell to me without a prescription but did so anyway. Again, the price was only about three euros.

We do have insurance here but haven’t used it. Planning ahead and getting prescriptions is better than than popping into a pharmacy on a whim and putting the pharmacist at risk. We will do that next time.

Dear Bed, I Love You.

Is there anything better than a good night’s sleep? There are many things better when you are in your twenties, but not when you are in your sixties!

Coming back from the reunion in Miami, Cathy and I had caught colds. I don’t know how you catch a cold when it is in the eighties every day but between the germy airplanes and all the hugs and kisses at the reunion, it is understandable. So it was time for some sleep aids to insure a good night sleep.

I had taken an antihistamine for my cold. I also had some hot tea with lemon and whiskey. Just to be sure, I topped it off with an Ambien I had gotten from the farmacia. I fell asleep around 10:30pm. Typically, if I get a six-hour sleep I consider that a success. Seven hours I consider a miracle.

Confusing Time Zones

My Kindle doesn’t automatically reset itself to the time zone that I am in. I can’t blame Kindle. For instance, we were five hours ahead of Miami until Daylight Savings Time ended here on October 27^th. Then it became four hours. A week later, on November 3^rd, Daylight Savings Time ended in the States. So we were five hours ahead again.

I check the time during the night and recalculate the time to see if I need to get up or not. Not always easy in the middle of the night when you’re groggy. When I woke up it said 8am. I recalculated that to be 3am. I thought, my God, that is too damn early!

Rip Van Winkle and Rebecca De Mornay

I tried to get back to sleep but after tossing and turning for 30 minutes I decided to get up. To my surprise and delight, it was really and truly 8:30! My Kindle was right. It was dark only because my blinds were closed. I had slept for over nine hours. That is like Rip Van Winkle for me. I don’t think I have ever done that in my life.

Last night, banking on my prior night’s success, I went to sleep without any sleep aids. I woke up at 4am. After recalculating, it was still 4am. Oh, well. But I did dream about Rebecca De Mornay so it wasn’t a total disappointment. Don’t ask me why I dreamt about her because I have no idea. I haven’t even thought about her since watching Risky Business. I imagine she has changed since then, a lot like me and my friends at my 50^th high school reunion.

Recalculating

This is my least favorite word in the English language. Recalculating the time on my Kindle is bad enough. But hearing that word on my navigation system while trying to navigate the roads in Portugal is much, much worse. I am sure that Prince Henry the Navigator had an easier time bringing gold back from Africa.

While driving in Portugal, we have gotten lost a lot. On the way to the airport to pick up my friend, I took three wrong turns. Very wrong turns. So when I hear the word, RECALCULATING on my navigation system I curse and grit my teeth.

Airport Tips for the Lisbon Airport

We used Easy Parking rather than take an Uber to the airport. It was cheaper and less fragrant. I don’t know what it is about Uber and Lyft but I think the drivers get discounts on expired vats of Hai Karate and Jade East. Those were popular scents back in the day, when we were told that all we needed to attract girls was to bathe in one of these magical colognes. Never worked, by the way.

Easy Parking charges five euros a day to park. Seven euros for parking in the garage. It was very efficient and you can pay an extra ten euros to have your car waiting for you at the airport.

The biggest airport tip I can give you is to know how to get to the airport without getting lost. After getting lost three times while picking up our friend at the airport, we did not want to make that mistake again. Fortunately, we successfully found Easy Parking without making any wrong turns on our next airport run. We used both the car navigation and the phone’s Google navigation. It was like an old person’s version of the battle of the bands. One voice even had a British accent and the other American, kind of like the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

About the Miami Norland Vikings Reunion

We made it safely to the Lisbon Airport and flew to Miami for my 50^th high school reunion. It was great to see old friends and acquaintances and to make new friends with people who I wish I had been closer to way back when. There were schoolmates who I hadn’t seen in fifty years. It is safe to say that I may not see them in another fifty.

This was a two-night affair. The first night was informal and the second night was a bit more dressy. Everyone was wearing nametags but the names were printed so small that nobody could read them, even with glasses. That was rather comical. Most people scrapped them on the second night, opting for larger tags with names written with Sharpies.

There were a few embarrassing moments. Of course, everyone was forgiven for not remembering someone after fifty years. Besides, our graduating class had over a thousand kids in it. But it was still embarrassing for me to introduce myself to someone at the beginning of the evening and then reintroduce myself a couple of hours later. Fifty years is excusable. Two hours, not so much. Oh, well.

Another Gelato Experience

Back to the land of gelato. You really cannot have too many gelato experiences. We found a great gelato shop in Ericeira that is across from the healthy Green is Good restaurant. One day I have to try eating at Green is Good but each time I have considered it, I have gotten distracted by the gelato shop behind it.

Above is a picture of the Green is Good car. Behind it and to the left you can see the Nutwood shop where they sell the best gelato. Nutwood? Hmm.. I would have named it Gelato is Good but maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, you can get a tiny cone for one euro, my wife’s choice, or a small cup or cone for 1.90 euro, my choice. Small is actually a healthy serving. Define healthy any way you like. I couldn’t decide between the pistachio or coconut and I don’t like to mix my flavors. I went with the pistachio (green is good, right?) and decided that the next time I would get the coconut.

The next time finally came and I headed toward the gelato shop but realized that I only had one and a half euros. I had to find an ATM. Everywhere I looked all I saw was Euronet ATMs. In a previous blog I warned against Euronet ATM machines. Unless I wanted to end up paying ten euros for a small gelato, I needed to find a Multibanco ATM, which are harder to find.

The Long and Winding Road

Ericeira, like so many places in Portugal, has narrow, winding pathways. Easy to get lost and I did get lost trying to find my way back to the gelato shop after finding the ATM. Google Maps to the rescue, typing in Green is Good.

I’m sure that I got my ten thousand steps between trying to find the Multibanco ATM and the gelato shop. It was worth it to finally get my coconut gelato. I needed to burn enough calories to make room for it anyway. Found the shop and walked up to the counter. “Could I please have a small cup of coconut gelato?” I still cannot ask for it in Portuguese. “I’m sorry but we’re out of coconut today.”

After my initial shock and disappointment, this turned out to be an opportunity (as is so often the case). Chocolate hazelnut was calling out to me and it didn’t disappoint. We did make it back to “Nutwood” on a rainy Ericera day. I finally got my coconut gelato and it was well worth the wait!

Until Next Time

I have a number of things on my list that I still want to write about but I try to keep my blogs under two thousand words. I had a reason for limiting it to two thousand words but now I can’t remember what that reason was. By the way, although “50 is a Big Deal” was the official motto of our high school reunion, “I Can’t Remember” was the unofficial motto. Until next time…