The countdown began around Christmastime last year, and all of a sudden, a trip that seemed too far away to actually occur, or even exist at all, became a huge reality. For the past two years, Deena and I had worked on altering our finances in order to amass a collection of travel points that would hopefully one day pay for major airfare enabling us to pack up and travel around the world, and that day was fast approaching. I wish I had kept a log of the hours Deena spent researching travel points strategies, budget travel, itinerary options, home school, and many other aspects of this trip just to reflect on the amount of time it took to plan this juggernaut of a journey. Six months away from our target departure date, we began to tell family and friends about our trip, and we realized that everything we had studied on paper and the internet for years was about to manifest in the act of boarding a plane and leaving the life we knew behind for a year. Looking back now at that period from the holidays up to the time we left, we realized it probably would have been easier to sell everything and start completely over upon our return.
During the months following the New Year, the days are short, and it’s usually too cold to do much anyway, so we decided we would use that time to get our house ready for rental. Our plan was to take one room or closet per weekend and get rid of any excess stuff to make it easier to empty completely when it came time to leave. We’re fairly diligent when it comes to getting rid of clutter, and every year we make an effort to rid the house of unnecessary items, so we figured our task wouldn’t be that daunting. Hoo boy, were we in for a surprise! Well, it shouldn’t have been a surprise since we were the ones who accumulated so much stuff to begin with, but it’s a gradual process, and we soon realized that we’ve been storing year's worth of garbage for no reason other than the thought that we “might need that someday.” Here’s some advice: you won’t. We spent many a Saturday last January and February dumping piles of books, papers, and all sorts of knick-knacks over the second floor rail into the wide open maw of the giant green garbage can parked in the foyer. We donated as much old clothing as we could, and we got rid of everything that would have absolutely no use when we got back, which was just about everything in the house except for the main furniture items and the dishes. We figured the kids would need all new clothes anyway, and since Deena and I haven’t shopped for ourselves since 1999 or so, we’d treat ourselves to some new duds as well—it helps that I only need one suit for weddings and funerals, and I’m a blue jeans and t-shirt kind of guy the rest of the time.
It took no less than five trips with a loaded car to the dump to get rid of all the stuff we’d accumulated in the garage, and the last trip was on the weekend before we left. As the winter progressed, the house was looking good, and we kept asking ourselves, “Why haven't we done this before?” There are many reasons Americans buy houses and fill them up with stuff, and while I won’t break down the psychology behind all that, I will say that it’s extremely liberating to get rid of it. While the interior was looking good, the exterior needed work, and as the temperatures warmed up with springtime, we headed outside to tackle a long list of projects to fluff up the curb appeal and make life easier for tenants. We pressure washed, cleaned windows, painted doors, dug up overgrown bushes, and took a chainsaw to the Addams Family-looking hollies by the front door. We planted flowers and put down fresh pine needles again asking ourselves, “Why haven’t we done this before?” I can give you the easy answer for that one: I hate yardwork, and I’ll come up with any excuse I can to avoid it, which I’ve done for years. We’ve always kept the yard passable to stay under the HOA’s radar, but we had it looking really good by the time the school year was drawing to a close.
Speaking of school, Deena spent a lot of time over the past year unlocking the secrets of homeschooling and figuring out a way we could continue our childrens’ education on the road. Fortunately, North Carolina is homeschool-friendly, and we were able to put together a curriculum which combined the artistic and historical aspects of our itinerary and the required courses to satisfy the state. Joseph and Deveny have done very well with their studies for the past five months, and there hasn’t been much stress involved with completing assignments. Other than a couple of textbooks that Joseph has to lug around, the kids’ other courses are either web-based or programs we were able to load on the hard drives of their computers, so in the areas where wifi has been dodgy, they’ve still had the ability to study. Of course, there’s no substitute for their friends, but they’ve been keeping up with their buddies through social media while they suffer the constant presence of their parents. Joseph will return to his senior year, and Deveny will be a sophomore, so they should be able to get back in the groove quickly.
The groove to which Deena and I will return hasn’t been determined, and we’re not thinking about it just yet. While Deena had to inform her employer of ten years that she was leaving to travel around the world, I had to answer only to myself and my last few customers as I worked down a backlog right up to the last week. I’ve written before about the love of my work and daily routine, and it’s been weird getting used to not having either one. On the other hand, Deena and I have worked hard for many years, and we’ve enjoyed having a nice long break while we travel with our kids. We still have to support ourselves back at home, so hopefully the work force will still have room for two weary travelers in a few months. Our family had the blessing of health insurance through Deena’s employer. It came to a halt right before we left, but we purchased a travel policy to cover emergencies while we’re on the road. Our myriad of medications turned into a horse-pill sized issue when it came to convincing the insurance company to provide a ten-month supply before we left. It took several months and hours of phone calls, but we finally received our medications a week before we boarded the plane—I thought about asking if they would throw something in the bag to take the edge off the stress they caused us, but that would have been catty.
While technology and communication advanced at a dizzying pace over the last few years, our kids were left behind with antiquated ipods as their only thin tether to social inclusion, bless their hearts. We bought new iphones last spring and turned them over to the kids for use on the trip since we won’t need phones for a while. After thirteen years with our cellular provider, we switched to another that had an amazing international plan, and we’ve been happy with the decision. We still have to use the phones from time to time for quick research or email, but they belong to the kids, and they’ll either retain possession of the current phones or get new ones when we return, but they’re getting jobs to pay the bills for the privilege of snapchatting their friends, dadgummit. We canceled all of the other utilities before we left so our tenant could set up accounts, and we’ll have to reinstate all that stuff upon re-entry—I hope they don’t require recent pay stubs. Eventually we’ll be faced with the American dilemma of choosing providers for internet and TV, but after watching almost no television for five months, I can’t say that I miss it—other than Monday Night Football and Rick Steves travel programs, but that’s it. And Sportscenter, but that’s it. And Alaskan Bush People, but that’s it.
While Deena was redeeming points for flights, I was researching gear and computers, and I read many articles and forum posts and watched countless videos on efficient packing and processor speeds. Once I decided on the type of bags that would suit our needs the best, it was time to start spending money allocated for the larger purchases. Not many people know this, but I’m a wizard—well, on ebay anyway. With proper research, time, and patience, one can purchase just about anything on ebay for half the retail price or less in many cases, and I was able to buy three nice forty-liter backpacks for not much more than the price of one. With the money I saved, I was able to go ahead and get the kids’ computers as well as one for Deena and me to use, and I was able to get one a little nicer than I originally planned. Unfortunately, the motherboard on our computer got fried from a power surge during a thunderstorm in Israel, and I felt like a Jerusalem cab driver without a horn—dang.
While all that big planning and preparation stuff was happening over the last six months before we left, Deena and I still had to perform our jobs right up to the last minute as well as run a somewhat normal household for the kids’ sake and take care of minutiae that kept multiplying like heads on the Hydra. I wish I had taken pictures of the many lists we worked through as we updated passports, canceled credit cards, moved money around, researched online security, made trips to the bank, downloaded curriculum, booked places to stay, made trips to Walmart, made more trips to Walmart, investigated phone plans, planned and executed the kids’ pool party, and somehow Deena went on her annual mission trip for a week in March, and we went on our annual family mission trip for a week in July. With the Lord’s help and the support of our family and friends, I think we extracted every last drop of essence from every millisecond of our lives as our departure date crept closer. A few weeks before we left, Deena and I were sitting in our bonus room, and she swiveled the desk chair around from the computer screen to me and declared, “I did it. Two years ago, I started trying to get free flights around the world without knowing if it would really happen, but it worked.” Deena is a tenacious researcher. She sets long term goals for the benefit of our little family, and I’m very proud of her and blessed to be traveling the world as the result of her hard work.
The last few days before we left were insane as we packed the remnant of our clothing in vacuum-sealed plastic, disassembled beds, and cleared closets of their final contents. We canceled the insurance on my van and discovered that we had to make an unplanned trip to the DMV to turn in the tag. In order to have a vehicle to drive upon our return, we paid for a storage policy so Deena’s car can sit in her parents’ driveway with the tag firmly in place. We made countless trips to our garage and stored the last bit of our stuff in boxes in the cabinets we spent months cleaning. We went to farewell dinners and parties given by our gracious family and friends, and finally, we loaded our gear, our dog, and our pulsing emotions in the car, took one last look at the house, and drove away.
We went to Deena’s parents’ house where we delivered Lucy the poodle to her home for a year, and said tearful goodbyes to our family. Deena’s dad prayed for us, and we packed his truck with our gear, and he drove us to the airport. He made us feel better with his ever-present love and good cheer. We were excited and scared at the same time, and we spent our last night in our hometown in a room that smelled like diapers in a fleabag hotel near the airport. We rolled out of bed at 4:00 the next morning, ate our free donuts in the hotel lobby, and took the shuttle to the airport where we boarded a plane that was long in planning. So, that’s basically how we pulled it off, and if I included every detail about the process, I would need to write a full book, and who knows about that? While our preparation for world travel was a huge aspect of the journey, the reasons why we did it are an even bigger deal to us, and I’ll write about that eventually.
Looking forward to your return....and the book.
ReplyDeleteI want mine signed by all 4 of you, please.