While there is a lot to prepare for the trip itself, there is a lot of logistics that go into putting your state-side life on hold so it’s ready when you come back. This part is not so glamorous and doesn’t get talked about much when you read the real travel blogs but man, it sure was important to sort out.
Renting the House:
One of the hardest things was renting our house for one year. This was a little more difficult than you would think because this required a very specific tenant. Most people want to move into a house for more than a year, and if you get a house you likely want the garage. Our initial plan was to keep the garage for our own storage so we didn’t have to pack up again and move across town. This would also offer us the ease of slowly moving things over a few days, packing systematically and leaving the tools and bikes in the garage (which is a lot to move). Everyone either wanted to move in early, stay for 2 years or want the garage. The lease term was non-negotiable but we started offering the garage with an increase in rent to off set a storage unit since we were getting desperate for renters. Luckily, when I was starting to reach my peak stress level on this situation, the perfect couple came! They only wanted a year lease, didn’t want/ need the garage, like doing yard work and will be using some of the furniture we don’t care about. A total win win! Now we have a lot of packing to do.
Vehicles:
Like the house, we have cars the we want to come back to. Tom sold his little Subaru with the bumper falling off (thanks CarMax). Thankfully his friend is taking the camper van to GA for the year, along with the dog. Him, Tom and Izzy have done a van trip in the past so he’s no stranger to van life and it will be a good tester if he wants to get a van (and a dog!) when we collect ours. My friend who lives in Denver will be using my car as a backup which will be great because it will get driven every so often and we will have wheels when we land back in Denver! I mention friends a lot in this blog, but we are so thankful for our amazing friends who will be taking care of our stuff while we’re gone!
Travel Insurance Research:
They say if you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel. I absolutely agree with this but at the same time we are trying to stay on a budget. Our credit card offers amazing travel benefits for trip delays, cancellations, lost luggage, etc. and a very small amount for medical. We already pay for this so I was trying not to double up. The catch is we have to book everything with that card, which is our plan anyway. I wasn’t feeling good about their medical coverage so I did a lot of mind numbing research for a more “travel medical” specific insurance and I found one with IMG. Most people recommend World Nomads, which covers a ton of stuff and looks great, but I was trying to avoid paying for as much overlap coverage as possible so I didn’t go with them. Plus they were more than twice as expensive as the policy I ended up purchasing. Hopefully now that we have insurance we won’t need it, but you never know! And for all the places we’re going and things we’re doing I want the peace of mind that we have back-up.
Medications:
As a female, I have a few more personal things to consider than Tom does (careful guys, this might be TMI). Instead of carrying and buying tampons all the time I’ve been trying out the DivaCup. The pro is that it’s one thing I have to carry and will always have it with me. The con is having to rinse it with clean water and boil it to keep clean. It will be interesting to see how this actually plays out but I think we’ll be at Airbnb’s enough to do a thorough cleaning.
For birth control (yes, I still take birth control because it helps with my break outs), this was tricky. I was only able to get 6 months worth because of the time my current prescription is but thankfully I’m coming back to NM in May to meet my new niece or nephew (eek!!) and will be able to get a resupply then.
Additional Details:
Now that the big things are sorted, there were little things to do:
– car registration renewal (happens when we’re both gone)
– forwarding mail temporarily – we ended up getting a PO Box so we didn’t have to bombard anyone with all of our mail.