Miscellaneous

Ready, set, go

The count down is on. Just a little over a week to go before I leave on my adventure. It’s been a hectic 2 months. I’ve been busy with selling all my belongings and organising everything. I’m glad I started nice and early and although it dragged out a bit selling things in stages worked out quite well. Have you ever wondered what is involved in giving up your life and going on a trip of a lifetime? Here is what I’ve done and some tips and tricks.

Step 1 – Quit your job

This was actually quite easy. I chose to do it first as I thought that once I quit my job I can’t change my mind. So that’s what I did. The other benefit is that you make your employer happy if you give them plenty of notice. Another added bonus on quitting early was that I could be more flexible with my work hours. That helped greatly with getting everything else done.

Step 2 – Book a plan ticket

This is one of the fun parts. All I really knew initially was I wanted to go travelling. However, I was a little unsure where to go, so I started with writing Asia and Central America on 2 pieces of paper. I when drew one and I picked Central America. I was pretty excited about the outcome.

I when started looking at flights to Mexico and somehow came across some flights to Hawaii. I thought perfect. It’s half way to Central America and I haven’t been there. So the day after I quit my job, I booked a flight to Hawaii.

Some people might wonder whether it is better to buy an around a world ticket. I did look into it, but decided it wasn’t for me. The thing with around the world tickets these days is that you need to have a pretty good idea where you want to go and when. You have to book your flights before you leave. Often there is room to make changes later but that’s usually just in regards to what days you fly. As I didn’t want to plan too much, I decided the around-the-world ticket wasn’t for me.

One tip I can give you though is that if you decide to go with my choice of buying flights as you go, keep in mind, that many countries that you might fly to, require you to have an exit plan. For example, flying into the US, you need proof of onward travel, which doesn’t include Canada and Mexico. So I ended up purchasing a cheap flight out of Mexico. It’s a little annoying but  it’s a small price to pay for having the freedom of travelling without set plans.

Step 3 – What to do with your belongings?

Now the next question was, what to do with all my belongings. Keep most of them and put them in storage or sell it all? I was living in a 2 bed-room apartment with a lot of furniture and 16 years of accumulated stuff. Initially, I was considering keeping some of the bigger items and items that I had recently purchased.

After some research I decided against it. Even if you find a cheap storage facility it will still take out quite a big lump of your budget. The other reason why I decided against it was that having your things in storage could be a reason for having to return earlier than what I wanted to. I’m still quite happy with that decision. I only have a couple of boxes stored in a friends garage and the money I have made selling everything can now be put aside and used for establishing a new life where ever that might be.

Here are few tips for selling all your belongings:

  1. Facebook Marketplace and facebook buy/sell/swap groups were by far the most convenient and easiest way to sell everything. Apart from 2 items everything sold there. Back in the day gumtree used to be good, however I found facebook was a lot quicker.
  2. In my experience clothes don’t sell unless they are good brands. I mostly donated my clothes.
  3. Facebook can be overwhelming, so selling only a few items at a time is a good idea. Depending on what items I’ve sold, I would be inundated by messages. It can be hard to keep track of it all so only selling a handful of items in a week was a good strategy.
  4. Getting the pricing right can be tricky. I usually would check out similar item and how much they are being sold for and go from there. Sometimes I would add $5 or $10 to what I thought it should be, which usually paid off. Of course feel free to negotiate, but don’t drop your price straight away, most times you’ll find someone who is willing to pay the advertised price.
  5. Do you feel emotional attached to an item? Just let it go. You really quickly forget about the item after it’s gone and after all they are just things.
  6. Just keep a few small personal items that can be easily stored, but make a big difference than you move back into a permanent home.

Step 4 – Getting your admin done

There a lot of small things that need to be done before you move. Some of these things take quite a bit of time so don’t leave them for too long. Here are just a few relevant to me in Australia.

  1. Removing yourself of the electoral role
  2. Suspending Health Insurance and buying travel insurance
  3. Applying for international drivers licence
  4. Applying for passports if they are about to expire
  5. Cancel your phone and internet contracts ( I kept my phone number but switched to prepay so I don’t loose the number. Little tip don’t forget to switch on roaming before you go but also switch off mobile data)
  6. Organise Visas
  7. Get Vaccinations and prescriptions for travel medication

…these are just a few I could think of.

Step 5 – Say your goodbyes and go

Once all the hard stuff is out of the way, it’s time to say your goodbyes. Actually, goodbyes are hard too. But luckily good friends are friends for life and I’m looking forward to seeing them all again either in Australia or elsewhere in the world. Time to finish packing that bag and to take off!!!!!

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