Where to start…
Trip planning
Julia took out a ton of travel books from our local library. We used those, plus lots of internet time and visits to bookstores, to make a short list of choices of countries and trips; and then did a lot of negotiating with each other. We’ve relied on Trip Advisor to find good affordable places to stay, and made almost all of our lodging reservations on Booking.com (most with free cancellation). One of the big decisions we made was to plan out where we are staying every night, rather than showing up and seeing how things went. We may regret that at times—especially if we get off schedule—but we’re hoping it makes everything go more smoothly and simplifies our day-to-day travel.
Route planning
We discovered some great tools for mapping out bike rides and hikes. After putting all our routes into a cool app called MotionX, we found one that seems even better, Ride with GPS. It has great tools for mapping out bike or hiking routes and an iPhone app for navigating without cell coverage. We’re taking our Garmin GPS device but it looks like we’ll mostly be using the iPhone.
Home Schooling
This was one of the big hurdles to figure out. It turns out that Virginia has a well-organized community of homeschooling parents and pro-parent homeschooling rules. We need to notify our local school district within 30 days after taking our children out of the public schools. We need to tell the district the subjects that they will be studying, and then have them take a standardized achievement test (remember the California Achievement Test?) online before August 1. Isaiah and Natalia will be spending a month studying Spanish in Bolivia; they’ve agreed to regularly write for this blog; and they are both voracious readers. Their curriculum will be the places we visit and the people we meet. No coursework or homework. Their teachers and the staff at their school have been super-supportive of us taking this trip, and we’re thankful for that and the positive experience that they have both had at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, in Arlington, VA.
Health
We started a few months ahead of time gathering our past immunization records from the various places we had lived. We brought them to a travel clinic, Capitol Travel Medicine, which gave us great advice on medications and vaccinations. The CDC website was also a big help for learning the specifics about each country. Natalia and Julia took a two-day wilderness first aid course from The Center for Wilderness Safety, where we learned how to pack a first aid kit and provide care in remote settings. And Isaiah and Julia took a bike maintenance workshop at our local bicycle store, Papillon Cycles, to avoid any problems on the road. We are especially grateful to our pediatrician for amazing guidance and support.
Mail, bills, etc…
Gordon’s father, who is a master of logistics, is receiving our mail while we are away. We used Catalog Choice to cancel a lot of the junk mail we get each day; unsubscribed from a thousand and one email lists; and put all of our bills on paperless statements and auto-pay. If all goes well we’ll be on autopilot for five months, and things will be a bit simpler when we get back.
Reading
We each have Kindles and are using the Overdrive app to download e-books from our local library. A lot of the books we want to read have waiting lists, but the library lets you place holds and then sends the book electronically when it becomes available. So we’re hoping to have a good supply of books showing up in our kindles as we travel. And we got waterproof cases for the Kindles.
Stuff
We’re trying to travel as light as possible. We got good advice and high quality equipment at REI, and appreciate their member dividends. For emergencies, communication and navigation we have an Inmarsat satellite phone that should work anywhere we can see the sky, a Garmin Oregon GPS device, an iPhone, an Anker battery charger, and an emergency beacon.
Appreciation
Everyone has been so supportive! We appreciate colleagues at work for graciously pulling through in our absence, and to PICO for providing Gordon with a sabbatical (Gordon will be returning to work at PICO in September). When it comes to practical help, our family has kicked in like champions—Gordon’s brother Jim will be checking in on our house, Julia’s parents will host us during the week we’re in town for the wedding, and Gordon’s parents are assisting with paperwork in the U.S. Our friends in Arlington and beyond have given us warm send-offs, as well as tips about people to see and things to do in the various countries we’ll be visiting. We’ll be sad to miss family events this spring and summer—especially Susan’s pre-wedding party and spending time with Gordon’s family in Massachusetts. But we’ll see you on the rebound full of stories to tell. Stay tuned to the blog!