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Minimalist Packing, Like the Name Says – Simplifying Expectations

Posted on January 15, 2017

This week in Portland, Oregon we got hit with a whammy of a snow storm.IMG_1218 All this snow has given us a lot of indoor time and aside from playing chess with my work schedule (seeing which clients could come in when), sitting by the roaring fire and playing competitive games of Qwirkle we have also been dreaming a lot about our travel plans.

In the planning for our trip, I am taking a lot of notes about some of the subtler areas of preparing for travel that may not be as exciting (although I find it tandilizing) as a destination search but, certainly just as important for a successful trip. Two areas I have been reading about are in the packing and minimalism.

I want to be a better packer in any of my travels. I don’t like spending time worrying that I am missing something and therefore, can’t really tune into my experience. You know what I am talking about; the FOMO (fear of missing out).

I first heard about this at The World Domination Summit that I have attended for four years. An amazing gathering of like-minded individuals that want to live “an exceptional life lguiueqplhw-inbal-marilliin a conventional world. I would recommend learning more about this gathering and community here through Chris Guillebeau’s website. I am certain I will write more about his community and work as we go along  but, I digress.

Two things I am excited about are these travel helps aka hacks. Smaller bags and unique packing tools to help one take everything in on a carry on (I have yet to master this) as well as help you find things more easily. Diane Smith of Kid   has some great suggestions in her 8 Hacks in Traveling with Kids. Their website Kidtripster is a fun overall site to visit. Who would have thought the travel cubes would be so helpful! Also, love the silicone liquid carriers.

The other awesome resource is Tsh Oxenreider whose site The Art of Simple has some fun places to poke around in to feed your desire to become more ‘simple’ as well as soothe your travel bug. I really like her list on a packing list for women.

Tsh and her friend Stephanie Langford gave a great presentation at the WDS Academy last summer on how to travel for six months or longer. fhblheica-k-clem-onojeghuoI was so inspired by their work I came home and told my husband about the possibility of changing our trip of a year-long move to Brussels to a Yeear Long Round the World trip. And here we are planning it all!

Thanks Tsh and Stephanie! I am sure I will reference them again but, here I tip my lightweight, crushable travel hat to them! More to come!

 

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New Year, Travel Plans, Ready, Steady Go!

Posted on January 5, 2017

The calendar has turned over to 2017 and we are that much closer to our plan to wander out in the world with our seven and nine-year olds. These next months are chock-a-block with plans to get ready. There is so much to do! 3oiymgdkj6k-dariusz-sankowski

I’ve decided I am spending any free time on these goals as well as personal wellness and to avoid unnecessary lurking on internet sites of click bait news stories that boil my blood. Check out what I find here as I find little gems to share.

This blog is going to help me be accountable for our plans as I share them with you. I love accountability! (mostly). I will still write other adjacent musings as appropriate as my life as a counselor brings many issues to the forefront of conversations.

However, here we go… to get on the road we have to

  1. Pick a departure time: Mid August
  2. Buy tickets. Gasp! This is a biggie as we are still debating the benefits of round the world tickets and one-way as you go. I have found myself hanging out on the site Bootsnall which has such lovely eye candy for travel dreamers.
  3. Decide destinations: So far – SouthEast Asia, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. There was a vote for China (big country) so, we may add that. Then to Southern Africa to S.A, Mozambique and Rwanda. Big hopes for a stop in Israel  as we head back to the Northern hemisphere where we will go to Croatia, and into Western Europe to call upon all my good friends for floor space from Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Scotland and a few other assorted places.
  4. World schooling strategies.
  5. Sort out insurance.
  6. Plan my sabbatical from work and Kelvin’s next steps when he leaves Le Cordon Bleu.
  7. Sort out finances (this should be on top, really). Save, save, save… Getting some advice from this amazing family.
  8. Set up ways to rent house and pay bills while gone.
  9. Sort out other ways to have income or access resources while we travel. So far our jack of trades include: counseling, chef-ing, writing, house/pet sitting (check out house sitting resource), volunteering, teaching.
  10. Sell our stuff! Getting rid of our ‘extra’ stuff that we really don’t need or want to put into storage. Kelvin’s big project is centered around this. We are hoping to clear out our heads as we clear out house. Already feels good thinking about it.

This list is not exhaustive. There are many, many parts but, it is a good round up of the current tasks. 1-29wyvvlja-andrew-neel

So, I hope you will metaphorically join us as we move forward with our goals and plans. I’d love any feedback on travel suggestions and those of you overseas let us know what tasks we can do for a place to lay our wee heads!

Ready, Steady, Go!

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Holding onto Memories from Travel

Posted on December 9, 2016

Last week we got our passport applications in for the boys. A unique experience of paperwork, official documents, checks and the execution of a right-handed pledge to a post office employee in the middle of the postoffice to state that our children are, indeed, our children.

Valid for five years I wonder what their pages will be filled with. In my expired passports I thumb through the stamps from the DDR, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, Britain, an EU work permit for the Netherlands, student visas to NL and UK, many over they years to and from NL, US and the UK as well as an unused visa for Pakistan.IMG_0676 I have memories attached to all these stamps.

Those who know me cite my weird penchant for being able to remember fine details about a day in the past. I don’t have a photographic memory but, I do have a rich memory attached to dates. I can recall events to days decades past. It is my party trick. I admit this skill faded some as I’ve gotten older, became a parent and was more sleep deprived but, it is still somewhat there.

So, with my memories, I look to our seven and nine-year olds and wonder what they remember. I can show them photos and videos from years past and they will remember some of those events and others, nothing. Today, most of us have this odd IMG_0677arsenal of event evidence in our phones, let alone our computers. In a minute I can pull up a 1000 video snippets from the last years.

When I was kid, it took a bit of organization to find the tapes, films or slides from years past and then plug them into the appropriate mechanism to show them. We don’t have the documentation from our childhood we do have of todays events. With that information I wonder what our kids will remember.

I know I have memories that are really memories of being told about certain memories. Then these memories slowly became ‘my’ own memories but, are they? So, again, I look at our boys as we prepare for this year-long adventure in the wide world and I wonder, “what will they truly remember?”.

Part of our purpose of our journey is to impress upon them the diversity of the world around us and the exploration of new cultures in ways that would not be possible at home in Oregon.IMG_0675 Our boys have now folded our plans into their everyday discussions. “So, next year at Christmas time, where will we be?” or “How will we celebrate Thanksgiving when we are not in America?”.

My hope and dream is that we create a rich year full of adventures and life long memories for them to refer back to forever. My worry is that they won’t remember what we experience and it gets filed away in a dusty box. Then again, I do know my travels experiences impressed upon me urges to make various life choices that led me to go overseas again and again. I find more value in travel than in trinkets.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the comforts of a secure life; house, access to transportation, technology, clothing and the odd thing to explore but, I get more excited from the promise of a ticket to travel than I do a new gadget. I find my excitement grows when I know change, adventure and travel is coming up. Anticipation is a very good drug for me.

I have discovered my dream is to instill the hope, love and adventure of travel into our boys. I hope their memories fuel them for decades to come. We are passing on our values. So, that pledge that Kelvin and I made in the middle of that crowded post office seems even more important now. A small memory of hope and anticipation. We pledged to help them create amazing memories and a lust for life. The travel life.

 

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Who Ya Gonna Call? I know, I know but, really, How do we do it?

Posted on October 28, 2016

I am humbled and excited by the feedback I got on my post about our travel plans. Now, I am ready to get my hands dirty! We have been trying to talk about the necessities to make this all come together. In my research I have been checking out other travelers blog and websites. All is exhillerating and a bit overwhelming. I found a site called Bootsnall which has a 3o day online planning course that provides a lot of interesting informtion and suggestions.

In our work I am going to cast my web wide to ask for feedback and suggestions to help us make informed decisions.

This week my husband and I are looking at the things that we need to make this work. First off is our cell phones and coverage.images-22 I do plan on doing some counseling work on the road and will need a method of communication that doesn’t cost as much as a mortgage payment. Also, we have grandparents and other family and friends that we want to be in touch with on the road.

In my research, I have heard a lot of good things about T-mobile being a good choice for international travel as it is accessable in many countries. However, I have also heard about ways to ‘unlock’ your phone overseas and use SIM cards in different countries. Does anyone know anything about this? images-21Please let me know if you have any thoughts or feedback on this.

Soon, I am going to sketch out the opportunities that were offered in my last post. Many a good people have reached out to offer good wishes, connections, offers of hospitality and wellness. I am thrilled to clarify those options. Look out for me being in touch and PLEASE, please let me know if you want to be in touch while we are leaving our footprints on the world and in what manner.

 

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The Cat is Out of the Bag!

Posted on October 21, 2016

Last week we revealed our plans to my mother in law and our kids. Different reveals with different reactions. Just to get you up to speed, we are planning a round the world trip with our boys starting in the summer of 2017. My husband will lose his job of the last 12 years and we are taking advantage of the timing and age of our boys to plan a trip away. A long time away and many long distances away.

Travel has been a part of my life since I was a teenager and my husband found his own travels through work in his 20s and together we have found some new paths and memories. Since our kids were born we have not traveled interationally together. This trip holds a lot of excitement as well as trepidation. I feel very soothed when planning trips even if for an overnight getaway.

Travel is a big part of my life and a ‘must’ that I need to feel sated. There are a lot of travel stories in my head that I want to share with our boys but, even more so, I want to create travel experiences with them so they too will be shaped by exposure and immersion in new cultures.

So, our plan. In August 2017 we will take off heading to Southeast Asia and soon thereafter Australia. We have dreams of going to destinations in Eastern Africa as well as South Africa, Israel, Croatia, several Western European countries where I have previously left footprints and have friends. Many of these freinds have kids in a similar age range of our boys. images-20The idea of connecting cross cultures for all of us in these ways feels exciting and a little bit nerve-racking. A bit like the night before Christmas or our wedding day.

In the spirit of this blog, we are trying to figure out how to set our expectations in reasonable and achievable ways. As I have written about before, I see that we all struggle with setting some expectations too high and feeling a crash of disappointment and resentment many times in our lives.

I am trying to consider how to define expectations in three areas. Minimum, Reasonable and Achievable and Dream Scenario (also known as the lottery, bonus, gravy, pie in the sky expectations). Many of us set Dream Scenarios and are let down and stunned when they don’t turn out that way. We forget what we can and cannot control in the grand scheme of things and are deeply disappointed when we pin our happiness on the actions of others.

We all do it. I am not one that knows how to not to do it, however, I am trying to re-adjust those expectations so, that I can safeguard my wellbeing at least a bit. These travel plans will be a lesson and challenge in planning, awareness and life experience.

We have to plan timing, budgeting, where to go, how to school our boys as we go along, flights, places to stay, how long to spend places, how to keep in touch and document, how to adjust ourselves to another’s ‘regular’, how to pack, how to leave our comfortable and predictable life at home and return to it after our time abroad. These are not small tasks and not a comprehensive list of those tasks. unknown-3My husband and I have set up bi-weekly meetings with each other to tackle some of these areas and to process ideas.

I will note here how things are going, however, I really want to hear from others. I am putting the call out to folks to give us feedback on places you think we ought to consider, gems hidden or otherwise to unwrap and explore. Helpful suggestions and thoughts of our plan are welcome. Be in touch and please leave comments here to spark more conversation.

More soon. Be well now.

Audrianna Joy