FULL TIME TRAVEL – PACKING UP & CHECKLIST

We’ve decided to take off again for another year of full-time travel, a family gap-year or life on the road. Whatever you call it, traveling long-term is so incredibly fun and rewarding and we just can’t wait to get back out there.

It was a rather spontaneous decision to go, even though we have wanted to set off for ages. I’ve given myself the very ambitious task of packing up in four weeks. Very ambitious… and there are three and a half weeks to go.

I thought I’d share what I’m doing in real time, a weekly ‘what I’ve done’ update with a list of all the tasks to help anyone who is considering or planning to travel long term – make sure to give yourself more than four weeks though..or not..sometimes it’s good to get it all done on a tight deadline. I probably would have procrastinated til four weeks out anyway.

Let’s see if Emmie and I can get it done!

Why we are traveling

If you’ve been following our adventures you’d know I’m not really cut out for a static or suburban life. I love where we live and I love my friends as does Emmie. But I’m a solo parent and I have full responsibility for everything including our financial position and to be at home in Sydney and live well means I have to work fulltime in the city – and that means I don’t get time with Emmie. We are at our best when we are together.

If I could afford to stay in Sydney and work from home and be there for Emmie then maybe I would feel differently. I doubt it though, I love being home but I find it suffocating, it makes me anxious. I don’t know what it is but we really are both at our best when we are together and exploring.

So I had a choice to stay and work full time or to take off again. So we are leaving – with very little money and a passion for life and travel. Fingers crossed.

We’ve done this before

On 1 February 2016 we left for a year of travel that turned into 2.5 years away from home. We loved it so much we wrote a book about it. We bumbled our way around and fell in love with the nomadic life. We are itching to get back to it.

Money

Money is a bit tight – I’ve had to pay out for things like a new fence at our house (so expensive) and I have a rental property in the city that was vacant for a while and sucked our cash. Plus I’ve had to buy new electronica after being robbed, and I spent a lot on un-necessary holidays over the past year! I’m doing what I can to build up some reserves…like selling EVERYTHING. Even our beds and thermomix! This is an awesome list of 60 saving tips I should have been following for the best 12 months.

Where are we going?

First stop is the Philippines. Can’t wait to just chill there on the beach and actually get a bit of a routine happening this time. I will not let Emmie get away with not doing her school work this time. We are going to have structure! It’s a goal.

From there, who knows! We are free and we don’t like deadlines. But Myanmar, India and Laos are in our sights, and we will of course return to China and Vietnam – and we are planning and mum and kids holiday to the Maldives in April.

So, what have I done so far:

Put the house up for rent

I contacted the agent who leased our house last time and we listed it and got tenants straight away. The rent is going to be mostly what we will live off while we are away so it’s great to have that sorted already. It’s just a six month lease but I’m hoping they’ll renew. And if not, well I’ll worry about that one in six months.
Changed my home insurance

As my home will now be tenanted I called NRMA insurance and changed my home and contents insurance over to landlords insurance starting from the day we leave.
Cancelled services

Be aware that many services need 30 days notice to cancel. Cancel everything you can in advance. This week I cancelled:

Home internet

This needs 30 days notice. Luckily I was only two days over.

Gas and electricity

These guys were fine. I used Red Energy when we came back because it was super easy to set up. I don’t know how competitive they are on price but their customer service is excellent. Ive cancelled it from te date we fly, and it costs $16 for someone to come out and read the metre for te electricity and $14 for the gas. I don’t know why when they’ve never needed to do this when billing me every months but I guess it has something to do with ending the contract. Anyway, done.
Travel insurance

I need to set this up but I’m waiting to see if CoverMore honours my big insurance claim before I take out another policy with them. They’ve been amazing to me for the past 20 years so I’m hopeful.

If you’re in Australia you can check them out here.
VPN – Virtual Private Network

I always go on about this, but I reckon everyone needs a VPN when traveling (and also at home, but def when traveling). Express VPN has a three month free promo when you buy a 12 month subscription. VPNs protect your data – whether you’re in India or at a cafe down the road as you route through Express VPN’s secure servers. You can also access online sites and shows from other countries by routing yourself through their servers – eg/if I want to watch a show from America that’s restricted to the US, I just route through on one of the US servers so the site THINKS I’m in the US…but really I’m on the couch in Sydney. It’s also how you can get around censorship in many countries. Here’s the link to the offer – Express VPN three months free – it’s an affiliate link so I will make a small commission if you buy it, but it doesn’t affect your price.

I‘ve just signed up for 12 months (with three free months) here.
Luggage

We’ve decided after being robbed that we are going to travel light. We have one awesome carry-on but one of our Kathmandu bags was stolen so we need to get another.

So far we are planning on taking minimal clothes, our snorkels, minimal toiletries and first aid, computer and ipad, camera and hats. There’ll be a few more things I’m sure.
Packing

I’ve started packing with the old boxes I had in the garage and any other box I can find to fit stuff in. I’m also selling more than I did last time – I need the money and I don’t need the stuff, nor do I need to pay any more for storage than the bare minimum.
Selling as much as we can

Ive been selling furniture and books so far but this weekend I’m going to put big items up on ebay, Gumtree and facebook sites and see what I can make some money on. I’m also planning a garage sale out the front of our house in two weekend. Everything must go!
Gave notice at work

Ive given my notice too, which was easy since I am contracting. I finish the day before we leave. Or maybe the day before that depending on how (dis) organised I am.
Booked flights

I’ve booked one-way flights to Cebu in the Philippines! We were heading there for Christmas with family but now Emmie and I are going there three weeks earlier…so excited. We LOVE the Philippines.
Booked accomodation at our first stop

I’ve booked the first four nights at a fancy dancy resort – the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa – the same resort we stayed at in 2016 when we first left Australia on our adventure. It’s peak season so its expensive BUT I had the Webjet voucher I won so I’ve used that to pay for it. We will loooooove a few days of luxury that’s for sure.
Passports

Our passports were also stolen so Emmie’s is with her dad being signed and I’ve submitted mine online. Its an expensive process but it’s happening! If we get them in time I’ll apply for extended Philippines visas.
Medical – get the big stuff done before we go

I’ve had a mammogram and I’m booked in for a pap test. I’m also seeing the rheumatologist next week, and Emmie will have a dental check-up before we go.

That’s it for now. Priorities for the next few days are packing, selling and getting Emmie’s passport application in.