Now on the other side of my hip replacement (Jan 2nd), Glenn and I can finally start to plan on leaving the country again.
My husband and I sold the house in April 2022, got rid of SOOO much stuff, and put the rest into storage. We knew we wanted to travel as much as we could for as long as we can. And yes, we work on the road so this is a very doable thing as long as we can stay healthy and safe.
To be VERY honest with you, I thought we might be settling down by now. We were not sure how we’d feel about it all after my surgery. Maybe we’d be ready to put down roots again!
The answer is we are most definitely NOT ready to stop traveling. We don’t have an idea of where we’d want to settle. My only clear desire is to be able to see my son on a regular basis. He is based in So Cal. My step daughter and her husband are in Seattle, so the western USA is a likely scenario.
But not yet.
At St. Pancras Station.
I get a lot of questions about how we do what we are doing. I appreciate you asking! I’ll try to be as helpful as I can.
As I said, our stuff is in storage. It’s an expense. But it’s way cheaper than a mortgage or rent. And I really don’t think dumping everything is a reasonable choice at this point. We accept the storage fees as the best choice right now.
We have a Traveling Mailbox service that is our US address. Our mail goes there and we can have them scan the mail so we can read it. I can have it forwarded to my son to keep for us if we need that.
We’ve registered to vote by mail, and we did that last year, which worked out great.
We are catching up on all medical appointments including updating our eyeglass prescriptions, dental checks, and for me, physical therapy for my hip and back. If you are traveling to some countries that require it, getting those travel vaccines and medications are important. Your doctor can help you figure out what you need based on where you are going.
At Dunrobin Castle. Riding a camel in Turkey named Lemon.
And we are researching ideas on where we want to go.
I have folders in my Instagram account for the different countries we are possibly going to. I’m asking friends about their travels. And I just keep my ears open! Inspiration comes from all kinds of ways!
Currently we are focused on heading to the otherside of the planet, and exploring for the next year in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and any islands that seem to beckon. Glenn and I SCUBA dive and hope to explore the seas over there!
Pat with a hairy cow. The view off Orkney Islands.
That leads me to packing. One thing I get really frustrated by is lugging luggage! I bet only about 1/3rd of my suitcase is clothing. The rest are things I need like medicine or pre-emptive remedies like bandages, or for illnesses like colds or tummy bugs. A lot of countries do not have the same remedies and while I am happy to try theirs out, it’s good to have some tried and true medicine. My few cosmetics and inexpensive jewelry don’t take much room but electronic devices and cables (for working!) do.
Also random souvenirs or wonderful things I pick up along the way. Shipping things home are stupid expensive. We did ship a big DHL box from South Africa and I’m glad we did, but it was over $500. So carrying them is better if you can. Or if you have a friend who can take it home for you, and you pay an extra bag fee ($50-$70) for them, that is pretty ideal.
I do try to have a few items to look nice. We do make an effort to be respectful, clean and presentable.
I have a pair of flip flops, decent walking sandals and my black hiking sneakers (so they blend into my black slacks and don’t look too shabby). My sneakers are waterproof On Clouds. They were awesome and I wore them out in 14 months. Just bought another pair. The waterproofing keeps the dust out (important in Africa) as well as water. And they did that really well. Plus saved my feet!
Pat’s shoe beside a giraffe hoof. Questers in a Botswana boat.
But this next journey I will take as little as possible. We bought and let go of clothes as we went through the UK, Africa and Italy.
In Indonesia I think that will be easy and inexpensive to do. We will pick up some snorkel equipment over there. And that’s a pain to schlep around. But important because of what we want to do. We can rent scuba gear but it’s unsanitary to rent a face mask and snorkel. Eww.
I think I’ll get a duffel type bag that will be good for dive fins. And we most likely will leave them behind when we head back to the states.
The type of travel I am imagining will be in smaller planes to little islands, so we will want smaller suitcases, or maybe, like we did in Africa, leave the big bag somewhere like a hotel long term bag check and pick it up on the way back to Oz or something.
When you’re on the road for a year, it’s pretty cool to be able to live out of a regular suitcase!
Jeep photos from Africa.
I will admit to getting sick and tired of wearing the same clothes over and over but it’s ok. I mean obviously the point is the experience and I can have a wardrobe again later. Who cares.
I’m researching a Global Ticket. The idea is you buy this one ticket and it gets you to several different countries for a very good price. It’s good for a year. I’m still researching it.
I’ll include a couple of links at the end for your perusal pleasure.
I am not an economy flyer. I need Business or First. Premium economy if I can’t get First. I’m being honest. It calms my nerves, gives me a bit of extra space, extra luggage and I just feel so abundant. Glenn can fly coach, but he enjoys my upgrades. I never fly coach unless it’s a very short flight. So I research and use a mileage credit card. If I do a global ticket for us, it will be business class.
We were on a huge trip from Turkey to South Africa. We had to change planes in Addis Ababa. What a nightmare! It was absolute chaos. Travelers had to go through security again even when just changing planes. There were only 2 security screening lanes open for the entire airport. People had been in lines for hours, yelling, throwing things. If we hadn’t been Upper Class we wouldn’t have been walked through and never would have made it.
Maybe you can handle the stress of missing your flight in Ethiopia, trying to communicate to get on another flight, enormous lines of angry stressed people, finding your luggage, etc.. But I really am grateful to be able to skip that part of traveling.
On a Scotland Ferry. With friends in Cornwall.
I hope we have earned enough perks on our accounts to be able to get a good ticket to the other side of the world! Maybe the global ticket is the golden ticket! I’ll let you know.
If you have any tips, I’d love to hear them! You can email me at Pat@questretreats.com
Global ticket resources:
https://rtw.oneworld.com/rtw/benefit/1
