We are about to have an entirely new life!
However, packing, selling, and planning are consuming most of our time. Preparing for an adventure of this magnitude takes quite a while. It is an unusual situation to look at the next 2 years of your life in a spreadsheet that is managed down to the day. Of course, it’s in a spreadsheet. Why is resolution down to the day necessary? Flights and lodging plans. The around the world adventure is a long chain of events with many constraints. Plus, when you make plans with friends, you should provide a fairly specific time frame out of consideration.
Packing is a entire beast in itself. So what do you want to bring for the next 2 years? It must fit into bags that you carry and you need winter plus summer gear. Those bags fill up real fast. Which bag do I choose and what goes into them? Good luck. You will probably forget what is in each pocket at first anyways. It’s a fun game (sarcasm).
Even simple things like “where will my mail get delivered?”, “where do i park my car?”, “do I keep my cell phone plan?”, “how do i plug this in?” and “how will I bring enough yarn?” become a bit more challenging. I sold my car, switched to an international cell phone plan (no longer the complete solution), my mail is going to my family, and we will have yarn stashes around the world. I decided not to use the electronic open-your-mail service.
Throughout our lives, we have accumulated a bunch of stuff. About a year ago, I was proud of myself for fitting my entire life into a single moving van. Over the last few months, that pile has dwindled down to less than a 5 foot cube of space, and I can still get rid of/sell more. It would be easier if Craigslist wasn’t filled with scammers and sketchy unreliable people. Letgo worked reasonably well.
Moving into storage has not been fun or easy. We needed to move into storage while being ready for 4 different consecutive trips (Thailand, New York Salsa Congress, Cross Country Road Trip, and a week at a friend’s house before Thailand), training for salsa performances, rehoming cats, selling cars, moving out, and meeting friends. These activities added layers of difficulty and confusion. The most popular phrases lately have been “where is the” and “we don’t have time for” followed by an expletive or two.
Since we will be out of the country for a while (1-2 years ish), we are going to start by visiting friends/family across the US, along with stopping at some famous and some ridiculous “sights”. We will be stopping at the largest ball of twine, Antelope Canyon, Bay of Fundy and the “World’s largest collection of the world’s smallest versions of the world’s largest things”. Out of the ~60 day cross country road trip, we only need ~7 nights in hotels. Maintaining and enjoying relationships with people we care about is very important to us. Friends/family (almost interchangeable) are the aspect of living that is most satisfying.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone before we leave the country in November! (for the big trip starting in November. Wondering where and when? See the itinerary tab in the menu)
Travel Knit Dance 