From Amazon.com to the Real Amazon

My position at Amazon.com has come to an end. It’s time to turn thinking in JavaScript and Python to thinking in various dialects of Spanish.

I mailed back my laptop, closed up shop in the travel office I set up at a house sit, and deleted the email account from my phone... but it hasn’t hit me yet. It’s felt like vacation the last three weeks slowly wandering south from Seattle to Tucson. It really becomes real tomorrow morning when we enter Mexico. Even then I bet it feels like vacation. Does retirement (or “hiatus” as I call it”) always feel like vacation? I’ll let you know in a few years.

This week has been about finalizing plans for connectivity. Let’s hope it works.

Basically it’s ending up like this:

• Port our numbers to Google Voice so we can keep our existing numbers for text and calling over wifi
• Cancelled our US domestic plan (Verizon)
• Use Tello eSIM to keep a different US number for wifi calling and text because some financial institutions don’t like Google Voice numbers for 2FA (that’s what we hear)
• Point Google Voice to Tello
• Get a local SIM from Oxxo when we cross the border
• Use an Airalo global eSIM for backup and for when we don’t have a local SIM yet
• Set up a VPN to use when on local hotspots and (maybe) still be able to get US region locked movies, Audible, and book downloads

That, and download a ton of offline maps using Organic Maps just in case and to save on data. I just can’t spend a ton on Maps.me for no real functional difference.