Preparing for the Big Trip

Well, it's been almost 1-1/2 years that we've been planning for this, and for me a bit longer since I knew during my last trip that I needed to actually go and LIVE abroad. The time did fly and we've said to ourselves SO many times that it's a long way away, we'll do it later. Well, later is NOW, and we find ourselves a bit burdened by the number of things yet unfinished and unsettled, not the LEAST of which is to find a suitable renter for the house. I won't even go into the rent vs. sell issue here since many of you have been privy to Darin's ongoing personal debate. The ultimate factor finally was that we WILL return to SF and we really love our home. So that's where THAT stands... for now.

And here we are, neck deep in preparation - Vaccinations (Hep. A+B, Japanese Encephalitis), New Passport, Long-term Travel Insurance (www.medibrokerinternational.com), Getting a P.O. Box, Making all our statements + bills electronic, Cancelling all junk mail, Calling around to see who/where has the cheapest storage (so far Stockton + San Jose), Downloading Music + Audio Books, Buying a bigger I-Pod, Setting up a Photo Site, Buying a new backpack + gear, Selling My Car, Getting rid of stuff that'll be cheaper to rebuy than store, boxing up the rest, and the numerous other things that just strike you out of the blue as an "Oh Shit!" We're getting there though, slowly but surely.