As the clock chimed midnight, taking us into 2026, we felt very blessed that we had had another wonderful retirement year, filled with adventures. I also realised that early in this coming  year I would reach my next significant birthday.

Well, the said birthday has been duly celebrated and become another memory in the memory box of life.

However I have been reflecting on, not only the adventures we had in 2025, but all my hopes and dreams I had as I retired almost 9 years ago and listed on my Countdown to 65 page.

🥰🥂☘️🤗☘️🥂🥰

1: Amazon Warehouse Tour – This is something we thought might be quite interesting. The tour promised to show us the journey of our items, from the moment we click buy now to its delivery to our door. It’s only an hour long tour, so we have attempted on several occasions to combine it with another trip we had planned.

Unfortunately, and for obvious reasons, the tours are only scheduled on certain days and we haven’t been able to tie anything together. A bit frustrating, so I decided to take a virtual tour, which states it is exactly the same, just from the comfort of your sofa and no need to wear a hard hat, (unless that helps you get the full experience) 👷‍♀️

 

Offering a 45 minute tour online, I dressed for the occasion, and settled down on the sofa to discover the inner workings of Amazon across the World.

We commenced our journey in Minnesota USA, where products are purchased and stored in huge warehouses, prior to distribution around the World. A tiny onward receiving airport code is printed on the bottom corner of the label. Simple but slick.

Next stop Turin as goods were received ready for storage until someone dropped them into their basket. As goods arrive, they are checked, scanned and placed seemingly randomly in pods and only computers know where they are hiding. 😳  Once full the pods are moved by robots into storage areas.

We travelled to Poland to understand what happens after customers click buy now. Your order is immediately sent electronically to your local fulfilment centre, where a clever little robot seeks out your items from their storage pods and transfers them to another pod, with items from numerous customers baskets. Once full the pods move to a manned (or womanned) picking station.

The picker is working to fill several boxes at a time. On a screen above the station he/she is advised where to find an item and which box to pop it in. Once a box is complete a green light above it flashes and the picker moves that box to a conveyor belt on its way to the designated pack station.

Transported to somewhere else in Europe, we met a packer, who had received the boxes. She scanned each item and was advised, by the computer, which size box to use and which other items, if any, to add. Once complete, the box was sealed, the system works out the most cost effective way to deliver the items and a label is produced.

The filled and labelled boxes continue their journey to the shipping department, where scanners decide, which items are priority ie Prime delivery and they are automatically diverted to the correct section for loading onto trucks.

They are sent on their way to dispatch centres and subsequently reloaded to smaller lorries for onward delivery to your door. Such a smooth operation 😮.

We were advised that by 2030 they aim to have 100,00 energy efficient trucks making deliveries around the World. …..AMAZING

The virtual tour possibly worked better for me, no security, no travel and within easy reach of the kettle. It was an interesting trip around some, amazing, futuristic sites.

I have blogged on the trips we took in 2025 and early 2026 which are also listed on the Countdown page. We have visited some wonderful places, seen some spectacular sights and experienced some amazing events.

If you wish to revisit any of the posts, just click the blue link and you will be redirected 🥰

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26: Titanic Experience – More exploring 

27: Gobbins Cliff Path – Belfast

28:  See the Giants Causeway – Belfast

29:  Experience the Edinburgh Festival – Edfringe

30: See the Royal Military Tattoo – Royal Military Tattoo 

39: Visit Belfast – Belfast More Exploring & That’s a Wrap

44: Explore The Jurassic Coast – Road Trip Dorset

46: Discover the history of Portsmouth – Road Trip Portsmouth

64: Visit Copenhagen – Four days in Copenhagen

It has been a busy, but fulfilling year. I am very lucky 🍀 

51: Make a memory box – Over the years, I have been a bit of a hoarder, in respect of keeping tickets to shows & exhibitions I have attended. I often also buy souvenir brochures. Unfortunately they were scattered all over the house, cluttering shelves, filling drawers and stuffed in cupboards.

In an attempt to store them all in one place, I bought a box, that could sit neatly in the corner of my lounge, close to hand if I fancied a rummage and a reminisce. I don’t do that often, but it has been nice on a cold and wet Winter afternoon, to take a look back in time.

However I have been fortunate in retirement to visit lots of places, both home and away, and my memory box is now bursting at the seams 😬, it’s contents spilling onto the floor. I am again starting to find tickets in drawers, waiting for me to sort the box or get a larger one.

It does make its little corner incredibly untidy, and I will at sometime get around to sorting it. BUT, every time I catch sight of it, my heart skips, as it is a reminder of just how lucky I have been. ☘️

 

54: Set myself a monthly clothes budget & try not to exceed it – This was initially a tricky goal. Having worked in the town centre, being used to popping out at lunch time to mooch around the shops, dropping things randomly, in my actual, rather than virtual, basket, and over filling my wardrobe. It had become a habit, rather than a need.

With a reduced income and lots of plans, I sorted out my wardrobe, found things I’d hardly worn and brought them to the fore. After giving myself a good talking to, I fixed a monthly clothes budget and was determined not to exceed it.

In my defence, I do spend most of my life now in jeans and t shirts, and have mostly stuck to the budget I set. I also discovered Vinted and when I do my half yearly wardrobe sort, I sell items that I have not worn regularly, on the site. Any proceeds can be added to my clothes pot, which in recent times have aided me through the cost of living crisis.

I still have a bulging wardrobe, but many items I have had several years and they are still worn, so in my own head, at least, I have achieved my goal. You can voice your own options 😂

 

We have had quite a retirement journey, as my long suffering hubby, has indulged me in achieving the dreams I hoped to achieve before my 65th birthday.

Despite our best efforts, we didn’t quite make it, with No 38: Walk at least part of Hadrians Wall & No 40: Visit Whitby Abbey, still on the to do list.

However, with both on the agenda for June/July this year, we will hopefully fulfill these dreams before the hubby hits 65.

☘️ I feel very blessed. With a very understanding hubby, life has been kind ☘️