100 Days Until Our Great Big Trip Around The World

The countdown is on! We only have 100 days until our great big trip around the world.

For me, this is both exciting and scary. It’s getting SO close! Tomorrow we’ll be down to double digits, however, there’s still a lot to do before we leave. I’ve made our office into a staging room for our trip. It’s full to the brim of stuff we need to get rid of or sell.

I’ve also turned one wall into planning central.

I stole this idea from my friend Talia, who’s leaving on a big family adventure shortly after us. It’s my favourite! Every time me or Randy think of something we’d like to buy, or get done before we leave, it goes up on a post-it on the wall. They’re even colour coordinated so it’s easier to look at. The pink ones are all health-stuff related and the yellow is tours and transit I need to book. The orange ones on the left…that’s all stuff we want to purchase! Randy’s new obsession with videography has left us with quite the “to buy” list! The good thing is we can leave without any of it and we’ll survive.

So far we’ve:

• Booked our initial flights
• Booked our first week of accommodation
• Inquired about tours in Kyrgyzstan and Tibet (I think we’re scratching Tibet off the list for this trip, sadly it’s just too expensive)
• Booked and paid the deposit on our tour in Bhutan. (the MOST expensive thing we’ll do the whole year!)
• Inquired about visiting one of our sponsor children in Vietnam with Plan International.
• Decided on World Nomads for Travel Insurance, but we’re waiting to buy until closer to our departure.
• Re-stocked the traveling medicine bag.
• Completed our initial pack to ensure everything will fit in our bags (I may have jumped the gun on this a bit, but packing is my FAVOURITE thing!)
• Researched apps to use for the kid’s math and reading.
• Downloaded the Alberta Grade 2 curriculum and briefly looked it over.
• Signed a contract with the rental company to hopefully find renters for our house.
• Patched, painted and prepped the house for prospective renters.
• Signed up for servas.org in hopes of doing a few homestays with them during the year
• Sent off our passports to get our Uzbekistan Visas
• Ordered new Visa cards so they don’t expire mid-way through our trip
• Packed away any personal belongings that we won’t need for the next 3 months.

What do we have left to do?

• Suspend our provincial health care
• Confirm with the school that the kids will be gone next year (and get it in writing that they will return to their age-appropriate grades upon our return).
• Apply for a Chinese Visa
• Pay for Travel Insurance
• Book and attend doctor, dentist and optometrist appointments
• Book our tour in Kyrgyzstan (it’s within the first month of our trip)
• Rent out our house!
• Pack up the rest of our personal belongings
• Sell 2 of our vehicles
• Make all the last minute purchases
• Come up with a semi-plan for Calais’ schooling for the year
• I’m sure a few more things I haven’t thought of yet!

I’ve got a pretty good handle on what still needs to be done. I’m away 3 of the next 6 weekends, then Randy and the girls take off July 1st and come home only days before our actual departure date. This is causing me a bit of panic, especially since the wall is so full of post-it notes. I’m sure it’ll all get done.  Either way, we’re leaving July 22, done or not!