What It's Really Like Preparing to Travel the World

When you hear that someone will be traveling the world, your first reaction is excitement, right?! Like traveling the world is all butterflies and roses? How fun and glamourous to be able to travel! But what you don’t realize is all the hard work and preparation that goes into making that possibility a reality. You don’t see the big picture of what goes on behind the scenes to get to that point. Well, we're showing you what it's really like preparing to travel the world!

For our family of 6, preparing to travel the world is a lot of work! And a lot of mess! Moving to another country was a huge task too, so at least we knew what we were in for this time around.

Pack

Months ago, I went through our clothing and set aside the things we would need for our travels. We have small piles throughout our house with everyone’s traveling clothes. Backpacks and suitcases are set aside, waiting to be officially filled. It was important to have that all set aside first so we wouldn’t sell something we ended up needing!

Garage Sale

Then, we have to sell everything we don’t intend to bring with us. We are planning on bringing 4 suitcases and 6 small backpacks on our world travels. I already brought back 3 filled suitcases to the United States with our mementos and favorite items. Everything else we have to sell! And, I’m ashamed to say, that’s a whole lotta stuff!

So, we’ve spent hours weeding through our belongings, tagging them, and prepping them to sell. We had a very successful garage sale and made some great money to put back into creating a new life in the United States when we eventually settle down again. The more valuable items that we didn’t sell at the garage sale will be posted on Facebook or sold on Trade Me (similar to Craigslist).

Donate

After our garage sale and Facebook sales, whatever is left over we are donating! I let our church congregation and friends in the area know that we had a garage full of free items. They all helped us tremendously by picking their favorite things. We sent boxes of picture books and chapter books to the primary school with the kids to donate to their classrooms. Then, I’ve arranged for Salvation Army to pick up the rest!

Mess

Our home currently looks like a disaster zone! There are piles in every corner designated for selling, donating, or packing. Plus, our normal day to day living with a family of 6. Our life is a mess right now. But we must make it through the mess to get to the beautiful experiences we’ll create! It’s been a great team effort and everyone has pitched in to help. We will make it through the ugly so we can enjoy the beauty!