It's incredible to
believe we've reached the final few weeks before we leave, July 7th. We (and in
"we" we mean Jim, as Carolyn is working until July 1st.) are making
it through the pre-departure list. Items have included:
- Figuring out where to go and how we will get around. We bought our around the world plane tickets awhile back, so know the main places we're going, but we're continuing to work out the in between details. It's a yet-to-be determined balance between flexibility and certainty. It's good to know where you're going but then we want the ability to go where we don't know we want to go yet. We also need to shift our typical type of travel of action packed 2-3 week adventures to a more relaxed sustainable pace. We're starting out strong with a RV trip around the Iceland ring road in a week, but are slowing things down a bit with a multi-day stay in Texel, and island off the North coast of the Netherlands. The next 4-6 are more of the "winging it" variety. We will be traveling in the luxury of a new from the factory Peugeot- Jim found this amazing deal where for much less than a car rental you can short term lease a brand new car as long as you are not from the EU and keep it over 21 days-- they'll fully insure it and buy it back and the next owner can avoid the 20% VAT tax. Let's hear it for French tax loopholes. Overall, we continue to get great advice and contacts from everyone we know and appreciate the advice and suggestions; keep it coming!
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| Around the World hub stops |
- Working through our list. In planning for a trip this long there countless small details to figure out and complete. For example, since we are renting our house we've undergone a crash course in real estate management and maintenance (e.g., figuring out rental contracts, postings, how to receive electronic payment, etc) and Jim has made amazing progress completing a huge list of (mostly self-imposed) "honey do" list maintenance items. We also have figured out some essentials such as health insurance, visa requirements, cell phone plans, the best ATM and credit cards, and at least another 100 items.
- Getting stuff. It's
quite a shift to go from saving all your money to spending your money, but
Jim has embraced his new role as personally boosting the Amazon and REI
stock prices. Exciting purchases have included Microsoft Surface tablets
(turns out they really can replace your tablet and laptop), a mirror-less
camera with a surprisingly smaller footprint than a DLSR, warm poofy
jackets that squish down into pockets, and performance underwear.
Hey, when you can only bring 4 changes of clothes for a year, you
can justify fancy fabric technology purchases.
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Liam
accessorizes his
new rain coat
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Xander
tests out his new pack camping in the Colorado Sand Dunes
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- Getting rid of stuff. We're
renting our house and putting most of our stuff, with the exception of
things with heartbeats and desirable loan outs (like the pinball machine
and foot massager) in the storage room in the basement. This has
necessitated the Great Purge. We have had about 8 car loads of stuff
for Goodwill and found treasures including Carolyn's trip to DC photobook
from 8th grade (which was shockingly similar to Xander's trip to DC photos
from this June...) and finally transferring old VHS movies to DVD.
Oh, the 80s.
- Figuring out school. To home school in Colorado you have the onerous tasks
of 1) writing a note to the district saying that you're homeschooling, and
2) turning in the note, at which point Jefferson County says "good
luck with that" and washes their hands of you and your children.
Luckily, Xander's new middle school principal (who, in an incredible act of
making our life easier when we get back, said we could defer the lottery
admission from 7th to 8th grade) and Liam's 5th grade teacher were
extremely helpful in providing us with the curriculum documents.
We're in the process of scanning math textbooks and developing
themes to discuss throughout the trip, but mostly relying on the advice of
a great friend and awesome homeschooler of 3 kids: Just go.
- Getting vaccinations. This has been way more extensive (and expensive)
than we originally anticipated. Vaccines we need include: Hep
A/B, Polio booster, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis, Meningitis, TDAP,
and Rabies. We also had to get 60+ days worth of malaria pills and a
boat load of antibiotics. Good times.
It is refreshing
to streamline our lives and to prepare for such a fabulous adventure. Thanks for checking in!
