There are so many things to do to get ready for a 7-month trip around the world. Starting with saving up $30,000, for instance.
After 2 1/2 years of saving -- along with some of the proceeds from my book, Planet Backpacker -- i'm starting to see my 30 grand dwindle rapidly with the advance purchase of plane tickets (to and from Tasmania, to Bali from Darwin, etc.), advance fees ($450 to hike Tasmania's Overland Track), hostel reservations (Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Launceton, etc.) -- and this is just the tip of the Titanic...
Ahead lie $5,000 in additional plane fares for my wife Jeannette and me, along with $5,000 in Intrepid Travel fees for India and Sri Lanka. Then there are bus fares, bicycle rentals, campsites and hostels to anticipate, not to mention a food budget. What am i getting into?
Then there are the hurdles of packaging up my middle class life in America for safekeeping 'til we return: • finding someone to house-sit our home as well as the cat and our car (our son is moving his family in for the duration -- good timing since their home is being foreclosed upon).
• Finding someone to replace me in my job as editor (found a qualified freelancer, thankfully).
• Then there are bills and taxes to pay while we're gone, and our annual income tax return will have to be deferred...
• And lots more that involves researching routes, destinations, lodgings, airfares... It's funny how many roadblocks and unforseen expenses jump out at you when you're trying to get a project like this together. But as John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
It's said that anticipation is the best part of most travels. Am not sure that's the case for me, but i AM anticipating having a lot of hassles and expense out of the way once we're on the road.
And hoping there will still be enough cash in our kitty to carry us through.
Bob (Robert) Downes is author of Planet Backpacker: The Good Life Bumming Around the World, available at amazon.com and Apple iBooks. Check out more stories at www.planetbackpacker.net
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