Our dreaming about taking a big trip around the world took place over several years but once we decided to actually take the plunge we had some planning to do. Below are answers to some of the most frequent questions we are asked about what was involved in planning for our upcoming adventures:
Why are we doing this?
It is a big beautiful world and we want to see and experience more of it together. Traveling makes us feel alive and the chance to spend quality time together seeing the world will be a dream come true. We also believe it will be a tremendous opportunity for personal growth. I suspect we will gain a whole new perspective on life.
How did we decide where to go?
Researching where to go was so much fun and it was tough to narrow down the options into a route that somewhat made sense. We picked our most desired destinations and made a spreadsheet listing them. We researched the seasonal factors and weather patterns in all those destinations to figure out the best and worst times to visit. We also had a short bucket list of items that were musts on the itinerary, including hiking to see the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda, volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa, trekking Everest Base Camp in Nepal, and seeing Orangutans and scuba diving in Malaysia. We ruled out a few countries (Thailand and Laos) due to their monsoon season and one (Bhutan) due to cost. We ended up planning to circle back west to India toward the end of our trip to avoid their monsoon season so we technically won’t be going all the way around the world. We also decided to travel from north to south in Africa instead of the other way around to avoid going to Egypt during the hottest months. We decided on roughly 7.5 months for our trip so we could leave shortly after tax season (Rob’s busy time at work) ended and return home before Christmas. There are of course many more places we really want to make it to someday that did not make the cut this time around. You can view our planned itinerary here.
How are we paying for our trip?
We did not win the lottery unfortunately so we just had to save up the money to pay for this trip. We did that mostly by cutting out unnecessary expenses and living beneath our means so we could contribute to our travel fund every month for just over a year. We also worked on banking credit card points to use for flights and hotels.
What about our pets?
We have two sweet and spoiled kitties and our wonderful friends at home will be watching them while we are away. We are so lucky to have such great friends. I hope we can return the favor someday. Leaving the kitties for so long is not going to be easy.
What about our jobs?
I am grateful for the opportunity to take a leave of absence from my job. Rob is separating on good terms from his employer for this trip but hopes to return to his job once we return home. Mentally preparing to leave a good job and have no income is scary and a hard thing to do. Other than leaving our cats this was the hardest part about preparing for our trip.
What about our house?
We will be renting out the house we own while we are traveling. We spent a lot of time uncluttering the house and got rid of a ton of stuff prior to our trip to get it rental ready and it has been wonderful to simplify and let go of things we truly do not need. We are very fortunate that a relative who lives close by has agreed to be the local contact for the house while we are away.
What about our cars?
I am selling my car before our trip so I don’t have to worry about it. Rob plans to park his car at a relative’s house while we are traveling. We are grateful to have this option available. Our cars are paid for so we will only have to cover insurance and taxes on Rob’s car while we are away.
How will we handle plane tickets?
Instead of buying one big around the world plane ticket we plan to buy a bunch of one-way tickets separately. We will be paying for most of our plane tickets with points and miles.
What electronics / travel gear did we buy?
We plan to travel light with carry-on baggage only so there was not a whole lot of gear for us to buy. Rob bought some nice binoculars and we did get a new camera. Intrepid is providing us with camping gear in Africa and we mostly plan to pick up what we need as we go. We will both be traveling with Osprey Porter packs and Osprey daypacks for luggage. I will be traveling with a laptop to be able to write and keep this little blog updated.
What medications and vaccines did we need?
We’ve had to get so many shots before this trip it, including vaccines for Yellow Fever, Tetanus, Japanese Encephalitis, Meningococcal Meningitis, and Typhoid. We also bought more than 400 Malarone pills between the two of us and a good supply of prescription antibiotics and sleeping aids to have just in case.
What about insurance?
We bought a travel insurance policy from World Nomads and we will also maintain health insurance in the United States while we are gone. Next to all the shots, researching insurance was the least fun part of our planning.
The most important planning step was breaking out of the self-limiting mindset that focused on all the reasons why we should not take a long trip. If we waited for the “perfect time” that doesn’t exist we would never do it. Through our planning process we were reminded how incredibly lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our lives willing to help us out. I honestly thought people might think we are a little crazy for doing this at this point in our lives (and some probably do but are just too nice to say so) but the support and encouragement we have received has been pretty overwhelming.