One week to go – packing up for full time travel

The last week before we left had arrived and I had so much to do, but I knew that even if I’d had three months to pack up and sort it all out – instead of four weeks – I still would be in the same predicament.

I worked Monday to Wednesday and had Thursday and Friday to do the final pack of the house, get it all off into storage, pack our bags and set off to the airport.

I had a few issues, the main one was that by Wednesday my new passport still hadn’t arrived, even though Emmie’s was ready to be collected on Monday.  I tried to stay positive and sorted out the remaining stuff.

Read our checklist for packing up for full time travel and what to do two weeks out and three days out. Make sure to get your VPN and insurance – we use Covermore.

1. Redirected mail

   Well I went to do this at the post office (while I posted off a few things I’d sold on eBay) and it cost $90 so with my limited budget I decided against it given that most everything I get in the mail is junk or bills.

2. Booked a removalist

   Wow removalists are expensive – $160 an hour base to base. But I had no choice and I booked them and they were great and I gave them a $20 tip, a fan and some wine.

3. Finished up work

   I submitted my final payslip and left the building. Oh I had a lovely lunch at Din Tai Fung with my boss, Emma before I left. So nice.

4. Collected Emmie’s passport and waited for mine

   And waited and waited. Make sure yours are ready to go weeks before you leave. Mine had been stolen so that’s my excuse for needing a new one – but don’t take the risk, if you need one, order it asap.

5. Drinks with friends

   Very important. I had a few, and then my cousins came over and we had more and they went home with a scooter and a bunch of yoga gear. I met other friends for coffee and wine over the few weeks before we left. Easy peasy.

6. Bought last minute gear at the shops

   I bought a cossie, our replacement packs from Kathmandu, Emmie got some tevas and I bought toiletries less than 100 ml since we are carry on only.

Thursday came and I did more boxing, selling, donating and throwing away. Mum came to help and Emmie went to school and we seemed to get quite a bit done as well as me rushing off to the shops and meeting a friend for a coffee. I boxed away well into the night, fuelled by wine and in the morning there wasn’t too much to do. Although the last lot seems to take the longest.

Mum and dad arrived and helped finish packing the boxes as I wondered if we would even go.

I STILL DIDN’T HAVE A PASSPORT.

The latest info was that it was on its way from Melbourne to Sydney and might arrive on Friday. Luckily our flight was at 10.30pm so we had a full day – thank goodness.

I kept a running update on Instagram stories and crossed my fingers. When I found an old tooth of Emmie’s and we threw it on the roof I had hope – keeping teeth in the past had caused us bad luck and I hoped throwing them would change our luck as it had before.

The removalists arrived, packed and left and with the cleaner scheduled to arrive the next day and the tenants on Monday my work was done –  it was time to head straight to the passport office.

But first I had to pack my bag and I just shoved everything in, thinking I would rearrange and cull at the airport – if we got there.

We jumped into mum and dad’s car and set off to the city and the Passport Office. I’d decided that with two hours to go til the passport office closed and no passport in sight, the best thing to do would be to wait in the office in case it arrived at the last minute. If it did we would head straight to the airport and if not we would take the train to mum and dads. I’d already checked flights for the next wee and they weren’t too expensive so I was feeling okay about it. Not happy, but I was okay with the worst case scenario.

And OMG it did! With an hour to spare my passport arrived and we grabbed it and jumped on the train to the airport where we had a six hour wait for the flight, smoothed along by a bottle of wine for me and iPad time and a bacon and egg roll for Emmie.

We made it! Let the good times roll!