Two Backpackers

Preparing to Travel Can Be Overwhelming

| by Jason on June 29th, 2009 | 11 Comments » | Reflections, Trip Planning

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Preparing to travel has become overwhelming for me.  Last night was the first night I was not able to sleep; awake until 3:00am thinking about all that remains to be done.

When you live in the United States, traveling to another country typically means you have a long trip overseas.  It means you have to research passport and visa requirements, book flights, and ensure things at home are taken care of.  I assume it might be easier in Europe, considering at any given location you are only a few hours away from another country.  Europe offers varying cultural environments within close proximity, making it a travel hot spot.  Leaving the States, on the other hand, well that is going to require more time, money and preparation.  Maybe this is the reason many Americans avoid overseas travel.  I don’t think it is the only reason, but I am sure it makes the list.

We aren’t traveling to Europe for a 2-week vacation.  And if you know me well, you would believe that I would prepare months in advance for that 2-weeks.   I would want to make sure everything was perfect, limiting any chaos or stress during our travels.  But, we aren’t going on a 2-week vacation, instead we are embarking on a year long backpacking journey.  A journey which will be filled with the unknown; new cultures, language barriers and obscure villages.  For me, it is about letting go of control.  I am unable to prevent the inevitable stress we will experience.  Being able to control yourself when in a situation that is out of your control is a skill I hope to learn.

What is involved in preparing to backpack around the world?

That is the question I have been asking myself.  And the fear of not accomplishing everything before we depart kept me awake last night.  I woke Aracely up at 1:00am and said, “I can’t sleep.  There is just so much left to do.  Look, our room appears as if we haven’t accomplished a thing.  All of our clothes are still in our closets and we haven’t sold any furniture yet.  We don’t even have plane tickets!”  It seems funny today, but seriously, there are things we still need to get done.

Completed Tasks

• Set up a store on eBay and sold 35 items profiting $780 (already spent, see below)
• Purchased HD camcorder
• Purchased camera
• Purchased web domain (twobackpackers.com)
• Obtained a web host (bluehost.com)
• Set up on a blog publishing application (Wordpress.org)
• Designed a website (woothemes.com)
• Subscribed to a service for displaying photos and video (smugmug.com)
• Set up a Skype account for calling home (skype.com)
• Discussed plans with our families
• We both have notified our employers that we are quitting our jobs
• Aracely replaced her passport (currently on order)
• Notified landlord that we are vacating the apartment in Hoboken, NJ
• Created a profile on Couchsurfing.org
• Created a profile on Twitter
• Created a fan page on Facebook
• Researched all about backpacking
• Planned a budget
• Decided on countries to visit leading to a rough plan
• Established a departure date

Tasks to be Completed

• Sell much more stuff (furniture, books, videos, clothes)
• Have a yard sale
• Move out all of our stuff that we are keeping
• Drop auto insurance and store vehicle
• Book our one-way flight to Guatemala
• Video: purchase memory card and tripod, learn to use the camcorder, edit the video, FTP the video, and post on Smugmug
• Camera: purchase memory card, learn to use the camera, FTP the photos, and post on Smugmug
• Establish our first point of contact and accommodations in Guatemala (hostel or couchsurfers)
• Equipment: purchase backpacks, daypacks, sleeping bags, water tablets, camping stove
• Immunizations
• Purchase travelers insurance from WorldNomads.com
• Obtain credit cards that are travel friendly (no exchange rate fees)
• Establish a bank account that is travel friendly (ATM partnerships in locations we will be traveling to)
• Test packing and then real packing

In addition to all that, I am hosting my annual Fantasy Football Draft weekend on August 1st, which normally would take two weeks for me to prepare for.

This is why it can become overwhelming.  It is a lot of tasks to complete, especially while you are still working your normal job and trying to visit with friends and family on the weekends.  Most of the tasks revolve around long term travel.  You will notice that when you plan for a short vacation, most of the research surrounds where you will be traveling to, lodging and sight seeing.  This list has very few of those items.  This is the challenging, uncontrollable part of the journey.  It is the unknown.  We don’t exactly know where we will be staying week to week.  We don’t know many of the places we will be traveling to yet.  Plane tickets will be purchased as needed.  We will trust in the kindness of foreign peoples.  All these unknowns are what make long term travel so exciting, and at the same time overwhelming.

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Tags: backpacking, world travel