So, here we are at the final countdown: 1 day until our last ditch effort to get rid of our stuff at our estate sale, 1 week until we move out of our house and into a furnished apartment, less than 2 weeks until the sale of our house closes, 2 weeks until we give resignation notices at work, and only 8 weeks until we leave the Portland area to begin our around-the-world adventure. Are we stressing out? Oh heck yeah!!!!
I keep waking up in the middle of the night and start thinking about everything we still need to do. The anxiety of it all keeps me awake the rest of the night. I am so tired all the time, which adds to the stress and additional anxiety. I recently got so sick of it that I spoke to my doctor about my anxiety issues, which I don’t normally have, and he prescribed some medication to help. The medication works great, but it makes me feel wayyyyy too relaxed and I can’t do what needs to be done; which makes me more anxious. Maybe I should try a half tablet.
We have been so busy focusing on selling our house, and everything inside of it, that we have yet to book any part of our round-the-world trip. No airline tickets, no Paris apartment, no nothing. Our whole trip hinges on the sale of our house, which happens to be closing on the 20th; hopefully. We have been frantically having yard sales every weekend and posting items for sale on Craigslist. We have so many people coming and going from our house that I’m sure it would look like we were drug dealers if the neighbors did not already know about our plans. The only place we can sit down in our house now is in two folding camp chairs. Unfortunately, we still have some high end furniture and electronics that need to sell and we would hate to take too much of a loss. Or worse yet, donate it to charity. Once our beds sell, which I hope is really soon, we will be sleeping on air mattresses. Oh fun!
The other issue that is stressing us out is the sale of our vehicles. We just sold our Coleman tent trailer, which was a huge relief. But we still have our VW Jetta TDI that is worth $14,000 and my motorcycle worth $3200. That is a lot of money, and we really hope we can get them sold for a fair price, and not take a huge loss. Our other vehicle, a 2001 Nissan Xterra, will be the vehicle we will use to visit family in Idaho, Utah, and New Mexico before flying to Paris. We’re not sure how we will sell it, perhaps eBay.
So, that is our current status; stressed out and feeling overwhelmed. I can’t wait until we finally get to the actual travel part of our round-the-world trip. Because the preparation sucks!
Soooo, I read your plans to travel, and as a homeschooling family, I wanted to ‘ride your shirt tails’ and follow along. Perhaps travel companioning as you share your experiences!? Very excited for you!
Now any input I offer is purely inexperienced and simply observation and putting ideas forward. I had a few thoughts pop up that I’m daring to toss into the ring for consideration. (I hope you are ok with that?) Besides you may/likely have already considered the very same things! lol
When I began reading your plans I was picturing all the places you’d be visiting, the transition challenges, the team work and increased reliance on each other for support and input, the inevitable stress and tension that comes from being out of ones element and dealing with the unexpected and the sheer joy of travel and exploring, photographing and how close and apart one can be when travelling. The memory building , the mosaic you get to witness all becoming part of your individual and collective family identity.
When I read in this most recent post how stressed you are the thought occurs to me that this is a great time to practice how you as a family deal with stress and the process so you are better equipped when you become world explorers. Perhaps your stress is a good thing here on home turf!…teaching you to figure out how you all work together well, and where you need to stretch. It will make you a better adventuring team!
Everything here, and when away, will happen in it’s own time. If you haven’t booked anything (are those round the world, travelling in one direct…cheaper, tickets still available in the world?), set aside some daily dream and planning time together again. Heck, I sure find there is a great amount of pleasure in the planning!
If you have someone in your corner that is willing to be your rep if selling after you lauch if need be, you could ship them some lovely ‘thank you surprise’ while you journey. You have set your intent, let the puzzle pieces place themselves… all the stressing won’t make it any more well-done.
Breathe.
Your adventures have already begun…
I am all ears for the unfolding and growing this new life is going to invite you to!
Hey, Jason. Hang in there, you’re in the homestretch. Once you’re house closes, you’ll feel better. You’ll buy the tickets and book the Paris apartment. That should be pretty straightforward.
Are the vehicles listed for sale already? Are you getting calls/emails about them? You might want to consider accepting a little less than you think they’re worth. If you end up having to store them, you’ll eat a lot in depreciation and annoyance, so my advice is to be as flexible as possible. You’ll feel better once you’ve ditched the vehicles.
Everything will work out, even if some elements of your departure are messier than you’d like or unfold in differently from how you planned them. Perhaps you’ll pay slightly more for your ticket than you’d hoped, or perhaps you’ll have to give away a bunch of things that you figured were worth a few bucks. Maybe you’ll get to Pris and discover your apartment is the wrong arrondissement or is really crappy. Whatever. That’s just travel; it’s all part of the journey.
Two months to go is a LOT of time. I always seem to end up taking care of half my to-do list in the last week before launch. You sound organized to me. Just keep crossing tasks off your list and before you know it, you’ll be sitting in a cafe in Paris, sipping a €9 espresso and watching the world stroll by.
Also, look on the bright side. You don’t have to make travel arrangements for a dog! 🙂
I can’t stand it…once YOUR house closes.