A Five-Week Winter Visit to New England – Never Again! (And Our January 2026 Expenses)

Making our Christmas Day flight from Santiago de Chile to Boston, Massachusetts, USA was tricky. First, we had no idea if Maya’s neck injury — and the side effects of all the drugs — would be cleared in time for the trip.

Then, we were faced with extremely slow and long lines and inefficient officials at Chilean immigration to receive our exit stamp and be able to leave the country. Impatience. Frustration. Running. Sweating. Being the last two people on the plane…

But we made it! And we looked forward to some rest, comfort, and social times in the US.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Week 1: Fun Times

The day after Christmas (Boxing Day), Mark, Maya, and I arrived at our “home base” (aka official address) in Newburyport. The temperature contrast couldn’t be bigger. We went from 90°F (32°C) to 12°F (-11°C), and the sun set at 4pm! Snow decorated the ground and trees. This would become a theme; our surroundings remained white for the entire time we were there.

After reorganizing our belongings (what stays, what comes to Europe, what gets packed for our next camper, what gets donated), doctors’ visits for Maya and me, and catching up with my mother-in-law, helping where necessary for a handful of days — we already left her again to celebrate the New Year with good friends.

A trip to New England isn’t complete without a multiple-day stay at Denise and Ryan’s place in Uxbridge, MA. This time, our visit coincided with a New Year’s Eve party next door. This was the first real party Mark and I attended in two decades! I learned about Yankee gift swaps and the Saran Wrap ball game. Separation-anxiety-prone Maya had to stay at our friends’ house, so we checked on her every hour.

Unfortunately, Mark wasn’t feeling well, so we left early and started 2026 getting ready for bed. Hopefully, this was not an omen for the new year.

Week 2: Being Sick

Despite wearing masks on the plane and in public buildings and being super careful not to catch anything, we both got sick, most likely from a family member.

It started with Mark first, and I followed. For some reason, this particular strand of flu was stubborn and lingering. After two weeks of throat aches, congestion, lots of coughing, and little sleep, we finally started feeling better. For Mark’s almost 90-year-old mom, recovery took even longer.

On a positive note: after a lame attempt to sell our Ford F350’s tailgate that had been stored at Ryan’s place for four years, we managed to sell it. In winter. With crappy photos. Doing little effort. The last remnant of Thirsty Bella … gone!

Week 3: Caretaking in Connecticut

Months prior, I had agreed to take care of a family member in Greenwich, CT, for the second week of January. Since I wasn’t feeling great, I took a Covid test (which was negative) and chatted with Brian’s wife about what was going on the night before I was supposed to leave. She wasn’t worried, so we stuck to the plan and I took a 7-hour journey by trains and metro to my new destination.

For a week, I made sure Brian had healthy meals to eat, didn’t forget to take his medicines, kept him company, and took care of — and loved — the property’s dog, Lily. And two cats. Those of you who know me well might snicker at the thought of me actually cooking for someone else. Yeah… It was something! I only messed up one lunch and one dinner. Luckily, Margaret had provided some prepared food and frozen snacks.

One of the reasons I had looked forward to my time here was the promise of me-time and rest. But, due to the tasks at hand and feeling sick (needing naps during my spare time), I didn’t manage to catch up on my writing at all. But I am happy to report that Brian was doing much better by the time I left. I’m sure it wasn’t due to my cooking skills!

Week 4: Work and Health

On my last day in Connecticut, a gigantic translation project landed in my inbox. Just like that time in Rio de Janeiro, my priorities had to shift to full-time work for at least a week. So that’s what I focused on during our fourth week back in the US: making money. Someone has to do it! 🙂

The same week, I also took care of more health checkups, which all went fine. Mammogram. Dental care. Tests. Trying out the bus system, since we didn’t have a borrowed car anymore.

Week 5: A 90th Birthday Party and a Blizzard

The main reason Mark, Maya, and I returned to the US in the midst of winter was a special occasion. Mark’s mom, Carol, would celebrate her 90th birthday. And what a party it was. Despite some issues securing a venue, almost the entire family was present for a cozy, tasty, and social birthday lunch.

Again, we had to leave Maya behind, this time in our room in Carol’s condo. Maya doesn’t do well without one of us. She has separation anxiety, and living with us 24/7 for the seven years we’ve had her doesn’t help this condition. Despite being familiar with this room and us being able to talk — and yell — to her over the internet, she hated being alone. On a video screen, we could see her being anxious and restless, pacing, climbing and scratching on the door, knocking our clothes off the shelf. We heard her bark, whine, and howl. After three hours, I returned home early.

There was talk about a massive winter storm, predicted for the weekend of our departure to Europe. As time progressed, we worried our Sunday flight would get cancelled. On Friday, a call to TAP Portugal confirmed our flight on January 25th would be cancelled and we could rebook the trip for free.

We knew we could pull it off to leave the day before, on Saturday, but this was not possible. All flights were cancelled for the entire weekend. How about that same night? There was room on the plane. Could we get ready to leave within eight hours? I thought so. I didn’t want to have anything to do with a New England blizzard! We committed to leaving that Friday night but needed confirmation about Maya.

We frantically put everything in order for our imminent departure. Around 4pm (a couple of hours before we’d have to drive to the airport), we learned that the free voucher was only valid for rebookings AFTER the storm. So we rescheduled for Tuesday to stick with a direct flight and thinking the snow and ice would be cleared off the runway by then and delays would have been solved. Right.

As if this hadn’t been enough stress, we were contacted by a scammer pretending to be working for TAP. He urged us to pay rebooking fees and was very insistent and threatening. He seemed to have access to our booking information, and after realizing he wasn’t legit, we worried about him making changes to our booking. By then, we learned that the Tuesday flight was sold out. Needless to say, many more hours were spent rectifying, confirming, and guaranteeing everything was okay for Tuesday.

Saturday was the coldest day of my life. The temperature was 3°F (-16°C), feeling like -16°F (-27°C!). Taking Maya for walks caused instant tears, snot, numbness, and pain in the face. This visit taught me a lot about the winter climate in New England. In general, the cold and rain are easy to deal with. It’s the icy sidewalks that are scary. I’ve walked all over the world on all kinds of trails, but none were as dangerous as my 45-minute walk home from the doctor’s office during a rainstorm that turned to ice under my feet. Why would anyone live here? It’s a question Mark and I pondered for the entire month.

We used the extra time of our cancelled flight to book accommodation rentals in southern Spain and Portugal for the coming two months and spent precious time with family members. Mark had to be creative cooking dinners as there wasn’t much food left.

The blizzard arrived on Sunday. It snowed for 24 hours. There was so much snow that the sidewalks had been stacked with five feet of it. To take Maya out, we had to first clear the front door with a shovel, create a path to the road, and walk her on the street. When she tried to squat, her bum touched snow. It wasn’t easy for her to do her business as she sank into the snow up to her belly. The white stuff had covered all the smells as well.

On Monday, it kept snowing and all flights were still cancelled. We feared for Tuesday. We had already lost a free taxi ride by rebooking our Lisbon rental, which we could not postpone any more.

Leaving the US for Europe

Everything was arranged for Tuesday travel day. Mark’s amazing niece gave us a ride to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

We arrived 3.5 hours ahead of time, boarding passes in hand. Without checked luggage, we were ready to go. Except. We couldn’t. One flight after another was cancelled or delayed as we watched the departures screen. Our plane had a two-hour delay. Apparently, Portugal was experiencing a massive storm, so planes couldn’t land. We were sandwiched between winter storms.

Eventually, we boarded the plane after an unorganized process. And then, we sat there, in tiny seats on the second-to-last row. This direct flight from Boston to Lisbon was supposed to take six hours. One hour after the next passed without the plane moving from the gate. Everyone was hungry, uncomfortable, antsy. Mark and I were the only ones wearing face masks. Frustration set in.

After two hours, the captain told us the plane was overweight, so we couldn’t use the runway, which hadn’t been totally cleared of ice. They had overloaded this overbooked plane, the first TAP one to fly in four days. What a mess!

After three stationary, claustrophobic, uncomfortable hours, the pilots had a solution: run the engines hard to waste fuel and lose weight. Our plane was de-iced and moved to a quieter corner of Logan Airport, where we listened to and vibrated with the rumbling engines for an entire hour. It felt like going through a turbulence zone, sitting on the runway. It was crazy. Unheard of. Unprecedented.

Passengers complained, but were not being treated nicely or courteously. After receiving a sandwich, we had quite a bit of trash around us and little space. When I asked a flight attendant if she could take it, the answer was that they didn’t have room for it either. Dealing with TAP Airlines on this trip was awful.

But, eventually, we took flight. My TV screen didn’t work, so I tried to rest. After ten hours (instead of six) in the plane in addition to the extra two hours of waiting in the airport, we finally arrived in Lisbon with a 54-hour delay. Our European adventure could start!

Two more things:

• Fellow traveler, adventurer, sailor, and author Bron Hogan interviewed me for her podcast “Travel with Us a While”. You can listen to it here.

The blog version about my nomadic lifestyle chat contains photos and less rambling. It can be read here.

• Since I’m not posting monthly expense reports anymore, I am going to show a quick overview of our January 2026 costs here, for anyone interested. It was the second-most expensive month of our 22 nomadic years, after that month in 2014 when Mark and I had to fly home and leave our sailboat in Tahiti because of Mark’s cancer diagnosis.

January was extremely expensive because it covered some of our upcoming rentals, plane tickets, a rental car for two months, Maya’s travel permits, contributing to Carol’s 90th birthday party, and random costs. Let’s hope this was a one-off!

January 2026 Expenses:

• Accommodation: $1,090 (apartments)
• Travel: $649 (plane tickets)
• Transportation: $633 ($623 rental car, $10 Bolt taxis)
• Dog: $429 ($410 import permits, $19 pills)
• Gifts: $375 ($350 Carol, $25 donation protester)
• Dining out:$110 (take-out Chinese, two meals Lisbon)
• Groceries: $109
• Clothing: $72 (jeans Mark, shoes Liesbet)
• Miscellaneous: $50 (driver’s license Liesbet)
• Car: $33 (fuel)
• Medical: $17 (bandages, masks)
• Utilities: $11 (internet via e-SIM)
• Alcohol: $9
• Postage: $7
• Drinking out: $2

TOTAL: $3,596

Next up: Four days in Lisbon, Portugal

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Curious about a previous ten-year chapter in our nomadic lives, which includes eight years aboard a 35-foot sailboat in the tropics with dogs? Check out my compelling, inspiring, and refreshingly honest travel memoir: