Spring seems to have arrived in the Northwest! Which means spring cleaning. In thinking about leaving for a year, we have been working on getting all of our "stuff" under control. Goodwill loves us this month! While we could try to make a few bucks having a garage sale, none of us wants to put in the time or effort to organize it.
I have, however, had a bit of time to add a couple of features to the blog. You can now subscribe by e-mail so you will receive an e-mail when posts are added to the site. I have also added a Where Are We page that will track our current location and route. Right now I have a preliminary route started. This will change once we actually start the trip. For now I am using the tool as a planning guide.
We are still working on our volunteering sites. We spoke with a colleague in Alaska recently that has contacts in Nepal that we are hoping to get in contact with soon. I am also continuing to work on getting our documents together to send off to the volunteer site in Vietnam.
There is a slight possibility that China may have made it onto the list of places to visit. I found out that there is a ferry from Japan to Shanghai. From Shanghai we could get to Vietnam by train (via Nanning and Guangzhou). We are currently looking over the details and determining whether it would be cheaper than flying and if it is logistically possible. But Ray is still not really wanting to go there, so it may require a bit of talking on my part.
Finally, we are going to try some Space A travel this summer. Ray has taken a couple weeks off in June and we are going to see where the flights are going and hopefully be on one of them! We should know in less than a month now.
April 2014 — 17 Months Until Departure
What we've been up to lately:
Itinerary: Trip itinerary has been refined somewhat. It does not look like we will be headed to Bali. Ray promises that we will get back there someday, but I am not holding my breath.
Budget: We have been working on refining our budget. By taking out the alcohol expense for the boys, as well as a few other things (like Bali), I have gotten the budget down to $45,000. I'm still hoping to reduce further, and staying longer where our money goes further will help.
Another way that we have reduced our budget is by taking advantage of train transportation within certain countries. We have done quite a bit of research on train travel within southeast Asia (see train route map below), especially Vietnam and India, and apparently it is the way to go. Not only is travel relatively inexpensive, but it will allow us to see much more of the countries.
Volunteering: One of the things we want to do as we travel is volunteer. This sounds so much easier than it actually has turned out to be. There are so many organizations that offer travelers the opportunity to travel and volunteer. While I think these would be great for an individual traveler, once you multiply the program cost by 4, it becomes too much for us. So, we are finding that we are really having to dig in and do some homework to find out what might work for us. Ultimately, I am not sure that it is going to work out, but we'll see. I think at the very least, we have found one place in Vietnam for a month and one place in Nepal for a month. We're still working on contact with the king of Ghana. Apparently, you can't just e-mail him!
Credit Card: I found a credit card that doesn't have and foreign transaction fees and is all ready for international travel. We have applied and have been accepted. So I can check that off the list!
Itinerary: Trip itinerary has been refined somewhat. It does not look like we will be headed to Bali. Ray promises that we will get back there someday, but I am not holding my breath.
Budget: We have been working on refining our budget. By taking out the alcohol expense for the boys, as well as a few other things (like Bali), I have gotten the budget down to $45,000. I'm still hoping to reduce further, and staying longer where our money goes further will help.
Another way that we have reduced our budget is by taking advantage of train transportation within certain countries. We have done quite a bit of research on train travel within southeast Asia (see train route map below), especially Vietnam and India, and apparently it is the way to go. Not only is travel relatively inexpensive, but it will allow us to see much more of the countries.
Volunteering: One of the things we want to do as we travel is volunteer. This sounds so much easier than it actually has turned out to be. There are so many organizations that offer travelers the opportunity to travel and volunteer. While I think these would be great for an individual traveler, once you multiply the program cost by 4, it becomes too much for us. So, we are finding that we are really having to dig in and do some homework to find out what might work for us. Ultimately, I am not sure that it is going to work out, but we'll see. I think at the very least, we have found one place in Vietnam for a month and one place in Nepal for a month. We're still working on contact with the king of Ghana. Apparently, you can't just e-mail him!
Credit Card: I found a credit card that doesn't have and foreign transaction fees and is all ready for international travel. We have applied and have been accepted. So I can check that off the list!
March 2014 — 18 Months Until Departure
The last couple months have been spent primarily on a whole lot of web searches and have resulted in a whole lot of spreadsheets... timeline, budget, passport/visa information, volunteer resources, to do list along with timeframe, packing checklist, and even books to bring (download) to help with the boys' education.
On the timeline spreadsheet we are focusing on the One Year + Until Departure category which includes:
Let's move on to jobs... Ray will be separating from the service and has already let his boss and staff know of his plans. I have also let my company know my plans and we are in discussion if it is going to be possible to work from the road. I am not sure if that can be answered before we leave, but we are looking at all possibilities. My plan for the kids is to visit with their counselors at the beginning of their next school year to make a plan for when we are gone. Thus, that has been moved to the 9-12 months until departure section!
For our savings, we have taken our $30,000 and put it in a CD to earn better interest before we go. We are going to be saving a bit more for flights as well.
I haven't eliminated any bills yet, but have been rolling all the bills that I can into electronic delivery and auto-pay status from my bank. This will continue as the bills come in and we will look into cancelling things like Netflix and the newspaper when departure is closer.
Pets... we have some options for pet care but not sure what we will do quite yet.
Itinerary and volunteering... as we are contacting volunteer agencies, we are getting our itinerary figured out. I expect this to continue for some time.
Haven't even begun to think about a backpack. Guess we should get started on that one! Or move it to the 9-12 months category - what's the hurry?
I have probably read 200 travel blogs and they all include a "what to pack" section. Many also include a "what I said to pack and what I actually should have packed" section. I have taken much of this information and made my own packing list, which I expect will be change between now and time of departure.
On the timeline spreadsheet we are focusing on the One Year + Until Departure category which includes:
- determining a budget,
- figuring out what to do about your job (and kids' schooling),
- figuring out how to enhance your savings account,
- eliminating unnecessary bills,
- planning for pet care,
- planning an itinerary,
- looking for volunteer organizations and opportunities,
- choosing a backpack, and
- creating a packing list and beginning to shop sales for needed items.
Let's move on to jobs... Ray will be separating from the service and has already let his boss and staff know of his plans. I have also let my company know my plans and we are in discussion if it is going to be possible to work from the road. I am not sure if that can be answered before we leave, but we are looking at all possibilities. My plan for the kids is to visit with their counselors at the beginning of their next school year to make a plan for when we are gone. Thus, that has been moved to the 9-12 months until departure section!
For our savings, we have taken our $30,000 and put it in a CD to earn better interest before we go. We are going to be saving a bit more for flights as well.
I haven't eliminated any bills yet, but have been rolling all the bills that I can into electronic delivery and auto-pay status from my bank. This will continue as the bills come in and we will look into cancelling things like Netflix and the newspaper when departure is closer.
Pets... we have some options for pet care but not sure what we will do quite yet.
Itinerary and volunteering... as we are contacting volunteer agencies, we are getting our itinerary figured out. I expect this to continue for some time.
Haven't even begun to think about a backpack. Guess we should get started on that one! Or move it to the 9-12 months category - what's the hurry?
I have probably read 200 travel blogs and they all include a "what to pack" section. Many also include a "what I said to pack and what I actually should have packed" section. I have taken much of this information and made my own packing list, which I expect will be change between now and time of departure.
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