Boomerang kids and Rubbermaid bins: Getting ready to travel abroad is a full-time job

Keep, take, store, toss, donate, give away, sell?

For every item in our home, including our home, we had to make decisions. We soon learned that deciding to travel abroad for a few years is the easy, fun part. It’s the million decisions in between then and airplane lift-off for Lisbon that can wear you down.

I’m a natural list-maker, so I was in my element. At first. A major move like this required umpteen lists: what to keep, what to take with us, what to store and where, what gear we needed to buy, what to donate to charities, what to give away to family and friends, what to sell, what to do to get the house on the market, where to go, changes of address to send, how to finance our travels… It required lists of lists. It required a spreadsheet, in fact, with tasks down the side and each week across the top.

First task was for me to retire, so I’d have time to accomplish all this. For the next five months, as I beavered away at my lists and Bill continued to work, we learned seven key lessons.

Lesson #1: Getting rid of all the stuff you’ve accumulated over six decades is tougher than you’d think.

On the scale of “hoarder” to “minimalist,” I fall somewhere around “slightly reformed pack rat.” I began by sorting stuff that should have been sorted years ago: books, my many boxes of travel pamphlets, clippings from 36 years as journalist and communications writer/editor, more books, old tax records, kids’ artwork, photos and more photos and even more photos, fabric and craft supplies, family china and silverware, and more books. For Bill, the challenges were tools and music gear.

The obvious junk was easy to toss, and there was lots of that at first. But then it got harder as I delved down through archeological layers to the good stuff. For days, I sat on a stool in the basement, shredding documents and holding up each child’s pieces of artwork: “Do I keep this finger-painting from senior kindergarten or this glued-macaroni-and-hearts valentine card?” I was proud that I limited myself to one Rubbermaid bin per child for their artwork, schoolwork, favourite books, and baby blankets.

We offered furniture free to family, on the proviso that we could sleep on it when we returned to Canada for visits. Plus, it makes us feel at home wherever we go!

I became a master of Kijiji – our local online selling app. By the end, I was letting furniture and small appliances go for fire sale prices, just to move it out the door. (A word to Kijiji buyers: if you say you’ll show up at a certain time, please actually show up. And no, I won’t accept 10% of the initial asking price.)

The best part was getting rid of all those dusty bottles of liquor that lingered for years. We invited all our friends to a “Clean out the wine cellar and liquor cabinet” party the weekend before our house sale closed.

We decided to sell our home, instead of renting it and having to be distant landlords. Fortunately, a seller’s market in Ottawa ensured that it sold very quickly.   

Lesson #2: Other countries don’t necessarily want you to visit long-term.

We began with lofty dreams of going everywhere and spending as long as we wanted. However, two rules quickly forced us to hone a workable plan.

As Canadians, we can stay in the “Schengen” countries of the European Union (26 states, mostly in western Europe) for just 90 days. So, we’ll be in Portugal and Spain for 84 days, then home for Christmas.

When you enter many countries, you must show “proof of onward travel” such as a plane ticket showing when you’ll be leaving that country; they don’t want visitors hanging around like bad fish. That makes booking one-way flights tricky. We’re still working out our itinerary for Central and South America to comply with this rule.

Lesson #3: Financial, legal, and tax planning, plus finding travel health insurance all takes much longer than you’d think.

We read widely, including International Living magazine and various online websites and blogs, about how to maintain Canadian residency and pay our taxes. We consulted experts, including our financial adviser and a tax lawyer experienced in citizenship and tax issues. We updated our wills and powers of attorney. And we got travel health insurance, after reading all the deadly fine print for several policies. That exercise underlined that we’re right to travel now, while we’re still healthy. The older you are, the more expensive the insurance gets.

Lesson #4: Packing lightly is still a challenge

We’ve honed our packing skills over the years so that we travel with just carry-on luggage. Greece was our latest triumph – just day packs and my travel purse for two weeks. We were rather proud of ourselves, especially when countless people remarked on our small bags.

For Portugal, we’re planning to cycle the Camino – the Portuguese Route – from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. That’s 640 kilometres. We’re taking our own bikes, so our baggage is limited to two panniers each (a total of 40 litres each) plus my purse. We’ve shopped carefully for ultralight gear that does double duty. We’re trying to be minimalists. Stay tuned to see if we’re successful!  

Lesson #5: Prepare for regression.

As we sold off our furniture, we regressed to student-like living. Our mattress was on the floor in our bedroom and all our clothes in boxes around the room. Fortunately, the new owner wanted our curtains, so we didn’t have to hang a flag over the window.

After our house sale closed, we moved in with my mother for 10 days while Bill finished his last week of work. “You’re ‘boomerang kids!’” said a work colleague. At our age, that’s pretty funny, and technically true. And then came the day when I asked to borrow Mom’s car. She gave me the same lecture she had given when I was a teenager – only this time with a laugh.

Lesson #6: Saying goodbye to family, friends and our city was an important mental and spiritual preparation for our trip.

We had good-bye get-togethers with many groups of friends and colleagues. And we had that party to get rid of our extra wine and liquor, which gave us another way to say “So long, for now!” I’m sure many people secretly think we’re crazy but most told us they love our plans. We heard many stories about people who planned to retire and travel, but sudden illness killed their plans.

My mother and I visited all my aunts and uncles. Bill and I visited the National Gallery, our art museum, before our memberships ran out. We had tea at Laurier House – a national historic site in Ottawa that I’ve always wanted to visit but never have before. We ate dinner at several restaurants we’d been wanting to try, attended a powwow, ate poutine and canoed the Mississippi River from Pakenham to Galetta.  

Lesson #7: Slowing down takes practice.

Our plan is to travel slowly, taking our time, since we will finally have that elusive chimera that everyone wants but never has while working. But it doesn’t happen instantly. I started practising before we left Ottawa. I became one of those annoying people who drive the speed limit (mostly) on the freeway. I even avoided the freeway whenever possible. But then I’d get restless and pass the slower person in front.

I was so tired of making lists and decisions that when we got to Lisbon, I had no list of things to do! Very unlike me. So far, we’re taking things day by day, doing what we feel like when we feel like it. We’re working on slowing down.