It took us many years to structure the life we currently have with work, home, kids, and friends. Now, we’re trying to make monumental changes in our lives for our own Chapter 2 in just a few months. The task seems daunting sometimes.
Our Plan
First, I should tell you we are selling everything and traveling the world for six months. The idea for this trip developed over the last eight months since we targeted our exit date, which coincides with our kids’ graduation from college. Our plan was always to go live in Europe for a year or two but we decided to make the “grand tour” before we settle in France, Spain, Portugal or somewhere else in the world.
People keep asking me if I’m excited about our trip (more on that later) and living abroad. They say “you don’t look excited.” I’ve had the chance to think about that a bit lately and I am excited, but I’m also nervous about the unknown (sh*t happens). I’m sad to give up my house, my friends, my stuff, and I’m a little scared. Who wouldn’t be? But I know, from past experience, that I can handle the unexpected. I can create another house, buy more stuff, and make new friends if that’s what I want to do. So, these changes are fine with me. But, I understand that it doesn’t work for most people.
Implementing the Changes
I digress. Part of the excitement, nervousness, and sadness involves the major life changes happening over the course of just a few months.
Here is the list so far:
- Sell the house
- Sell all of our stuff
- Get new international medical insurance
- Change our mailing address
- Cancel our house services, utilities, gardener, pool
- Set all bills to paperless & autopay
- Figure out how to get our prescriptions while we travel
- Long-term storage
- Short-term storage for our skis and winter stuff
- Figure out what to pack for a six-month trip
- Find a temporary home for the cat
- Change auto insurance
- Get new passports (we needed more pages)
- Get all required visas
- Confirm reservations/tours/air
And the list goes on…
This list, along with other life challenges, is why we started writing this blog. I’m confident there are other people out there who are thinking about doing something similar, maybe not as extreme, and I would encourage you to be realistic about your own level of excitement. You might be in paradise, but you’ll still have good days and bad days where you’ll be excited and scared at the same time. Don’t let this stop you, just accept it as part of living a “mindful” life.
What adventures are you planning?
