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2026-10-13 TSA pre-approved!

 Now that I hope to be traveling a lot, I decided to get the TSA pre-approval status.  So on Sunday, I filled out the forms online and made an appt to go for my "interview" today.  It said to get there early, so I did.  Then waited for the person who does the interview to get there.  After about 30 minutes, he finally arrived.  When he called me back to the "room", the machine that records my passport and uploads it to TSA wouldn't work.  He shut it off and restarted it about 3 times.  After about 30 minutes, I decided it was time to go somewhere else.  I knew there was one the other direction from our house (in Hiram) so decided to drive the 30 minutes or so to there.  My phone's google maps and car's Navigator had me really confused.  I kept telling me I was there, but I knew I wasn't.  Finally went in to a store and asked if they knew where it was.  He told me to go to the next street and turn left and I'll see it....
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Sept. 22 - Oct. 1, 2026 off to St Thomas with the Hicks kids!

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Home for our next week or so!  Time to hit the road---or air--- again!  The Hicks kids were heading to St Thomas, so I joined them.  It was Layla's first time to snorkel other than in the pool.  We were all anxious to see how she did.  She did SUPER!!!!  As afraid as she is of bugs, I was afraid the fish would scare her.  But she was excited and would go back and forth between me and Angie and Josh and point out everything---even the really large barracuda chilling out under an anchored boat.  Considering how long Angie and I like to snorkel, Layla really hung with us throughout most of it---even in really deep, choppy water.  Then she would want to go back by shore and play in the water she could stand in.  We even went out to lunch or/and dinner every day.  They had to leave on Sunday the 27th, but I figured I might as well stay a few extra days and didn't come back until Oct. 1st.  When the 27th rolled around, I was a little...
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2026 -9 St. Thomas Margaritaville 3 bd Presidential rm 8404 (lower hillside)

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 When the Hicks kids said they would like to go to St. Thomas during Layla's Fall break, I jumped on the Wyndham site and was only able to reserve them a studio (occupancy 2 people).  I even called the resort to make sure it was alright to have a child in the room with her parents.  Then came the game of constantly checking for larger rooms and upgrades.  About 2 months before their trip, I was able to rebook them into a larger occupancy 4 person capacity studio.  Then I noticed a curious thing happening on the wyndham site---exactly 1 month out, a bunch of rooms started opening up, including the 3 bedroom Presidentials.  I assume it had to do with the reserve held for Presidential reserve members being released---or rentals through Extra Vacations not happening---but for whatever reason, it worked great for me. Since that was within the 60 days mark, our VIP Gold status got us 35% off points.  Then at 45 days, free upgrades are also one of our VIP per...
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