February of Patricia Robichaud

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Preparing for a year away

Ten years ago, I left for a year of backpacking in Australia. Back then, my preparation for the trip consisted of buying my plane ticket, getting the work/travel visa, buying a brand new 50-liter backpack, selling most of my stuff and leaving.

Ten years later, I realize there was so much I hadn’t planned for! God was I lucky nothing bad happened!

So this time around, my preparation was extremely different. I went to the travel clinic and got all the expensive immunization, just in case, because better safe than sorry! I purchased a very good travel insurance which is costing me a leg, but I’ll travel with peace of mind. If something were to happen to me, I won’t have to stress about the financial pressure of expensive overseas medical costs. As a freelance, that’s really important, because I’m pretty much living paycheck to paycheck.

Another thing I did this time was to have my will and protection mandates drafted. 550$ in notary fees, but that means if anything was to happen to me, my family will not have to drown in paperwork and search through the few boxes I left behind. Everything is clear and ready, and everyone is informed of my directives. My dad died just over a year ago, and if anything happened to me, at least it wouldn’t be a tedious process for my family, on top of being another big emotional ordeal.

You’re reading my article and thinking that preparing for a big trip isn’t really sexy! Admittedly, as you get older, you get wiser and think about others too. Now that I’ve done and paid all this, I will travel carefree because I will know that I have taken all the precautions I could. Not only for me, but for my family too.

Anyhow, I once again ended up selling all my furniture, while working full time, figuring out accounting for freelance, cancelling all services and bills, changing my address at 16 different places, and more.

The last month has been crazy, and as I am writing to you, I am exhausted, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can see myself boarding that flight to Frankfurt on March 4. That’s where I will meet up with a few members of my Remote Year Group, Balboa, and we will take our connecting flight to Split, Croatia, together.

The Remote Year team has been very present in our preparations over the last weeks, hosting webinars and providing us with tons of useful information. I feel ready, yet I have no idea what to expect and am trying not to set expectations. I want to be surprised. I want to take it all in as it happens. I want to let life happen to me, to let life take me where I belong.

Excitation level: Mindblown

Itinerary for the next year:

March: Split, Croatia

April: Prague, Czech Republic

May: Lisbon, Portugal

June: Sofia, Bulgaria

July: Belgrade, Serbia

August: Valencia, Spain

September: Buenos Aires, Argentina

October: Córdoba, Argentina

November: Lima, Peru

December: Medellín, Colombia

January: Bogota, Colombia

February: Mexico City, Mexico

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About the Author:

Patricia is a freelancer in communications who loves traveling. Both a big dreamer and a very down-to-earth woman, she aspires to live the minimalist life for the next year while spending more on life-enriching experiences than on possessions. The catalyst of her life change was the passing of her recently-retired father, which made her realize she wanted more out of every day. On top of her monthly article for the project, she will share her experiences of the next year on her own  blog www.jemechoisisblog.wordpress.com