So.... What do we do? First, decide how badly we want to go. In other words: what are we willing to give up? And believe me, you do have to give up some stuff if you're going a way for any period longer than 3 months! You'll miss friends, family, birthdays, weddings and even deaths. That is a sure thing.
And other things to consider:
- Can you keep your job, and if not: are you willing to give it up?
- Do you own/rent a house or flat and do you (sub-)let it?
- What about your personal possessions? Give it away, sell it, put it in storage?
- What about insurances, healthcare and legal matters? Get vaccinations if needed.
- How much are you willing to spend?
- And last but not least... Where are you going to?????
The itch has been getting worse during 2015, and we started to seriously talk about going away during our Christmas break. We took a long hard look at our savings. The budget and destination are usually a combined consideration. Going to Asia usually means you need less money than going to Europe. And of course in some countries you can work a bit to boost your budget.
We've been to Asia quite a few times, and decided we'd like toe xplore another continent this time. We got all exited about South America, and then the Zika-virus hit the headlines. After some thinking we felt too unsure about it, so went back to our scratch-a-map. And down under was still solid gold, that's where we'll go! Our decisions:
- One of us should have a job when we get back, this means our back-up budget can be relatively small.
- We will rent out our flat if possible.
- Our furniture and stays in the flat, the very personal stuff can go to brother/mother.
- We have to make arrangements in case something happens to us.
- We want to travel for 6 months, aiming at spending €120 per day for 2 persons on average.
- Probably 3-4 months in Australia, 6-8 wks New Zealand, and the other options depend on time and money.
We made these decisions in January 2016, as I'm writing this its May 2016, and were leaving in one month's time! Exciting! I am expected to be back at work in December, so that worked out fine. We have found someone that rents our flat, so that worked out great. One thing to never forget is to give someone you trust power of attorney. You'll never know what will happen, and this means someone can take care of your business. Maybe you forget your PIN, you need a medical document, a sudden money transfer, or you need to sign a document while you're not in the country etc.. We got that taken care of now, and our travel and health insurance have worldwide coverage.
As for travel planning: we got a visa for Australia, booked a flight to Cairns and a room for the first 2 nights. We have a general idea where we want to go, booked a camper van from Sydney to Perth and leave the rest to chance. Last thing we have to decide it what to pack!
