• Tweet

• Tweet

To keep ourselves on track, and to prevent total melt down in the final month before our trip we have started a checklist. Anyone that knows us should not be surprised, we make lots of lists. This list is well warranted, there are a ton of things to do before leaving for 15 months. The most stressful part of the list revolves around our house, the stuff in it, and getting it rented.

Financial

• Sign up for Charles Schwab Account (Zero ATM fees World Wide)
• Setup layered bank accounts & train parents to dump money between accounts so we don’t have to while connected to shady Wi-Fi spots
• Figure out car insurance – Apparently it can be difficult or expensive to get car insurance when you return home if you have a gap in coverage (Our insurance agent is a friend who will actually be meeting us in Guatemala in the early part of our trip, so he will help us figure it out)
• Sell Hannah’s car
• Spend a few dollars on all mileage credit cards just before we leave to keep miles/points from falling off
• Cancel un-necessary Credit Cards

Friends & Family

• Setup Skype with family/friends
• Host a grand going away party

Gear

• Buy net book for trip
• Buy small clear tackle/storage box for Hannah’s make up
• Buy Large tackle/storage box for medical kit
• Organize Camera / Tech bag
• Finalize Packing of main packs

Health

• Hep B vac for Adam
• Hep A Vac for both of us in May/June
• Typhoid Fever for both of us in May/June
• Yellow Fever for Hannah
• Tetanus for Adam & Hannah (Our insurance covers all of our vaccinations, but from what we have read may insurances don’t; so if that is the case for you, for cost reasons many people opt to get them while on the road early in the journey)
• Schedule Knee Doctor just before we leave (Don’t want to be limping around the world)
• Dentist appointments
• Hannah eye exam June (To keep lifetime warranty on Lasik surgery)
• Change Hannah’s birth control to IUD (We don’t need a permanent tag-a-long, yet!)

Household

• Rent Our House
• Find Tinkerbell a foster home
• Sell unused stuff on eBay / Craig’s list
• Donate stuff that’s not worth listing (5 large garbage bags & counting)
• Put everything else into storage
• Find a place to store Adam’s Truck
• Find a good place to store Hannah’s Wedding Rings
• Order Hannah a cheap wedding band (To ensure others know she is taken!)
• Drink 18 bottles of wine (Where did we get all of this wine?)
• Consume 30 bottles of salad dressing (We eat salads daily and when Hannah sees a deal watch out!)
• Forward our mail somewhere (Any volunteers to collect 15 months of junk mail??)

Travel Documents

• Travelers insurance
• Add pages to passports, although we just heard that doing it abroad is easier
• Get passport pictures
• Scan documents – Passports, all receipts for travel insurance claims, all travel confirmations, credit card contact numbers
• Get international drivers license
• Setup Storage on cloud drive & Show Dad how periodically download (We were planning on using Amazon’s drive or is there a better one?)

Work

• Write letter of resignation – Adam (Is it wrong to be really excited for this one?)
• Ask for leave of absence – Hannah

Other Stuff

• Cancel cell phone service (Just before we leave)

Stuff we already did that you should too

• Buy an unlocked GSM Tri / Quad Band cell phone on eBay (You can then buy sim cards and pre-paid minutes abroad, under $0.10USD / minute in most countries)

Related posts: