Leaving Home: To Do List for Long Term Travel

I have precisely one week until my first trip as a deskless top freelancing travel and festival blogger across Europe and Central America.

It’s not that I’m just selling everything, packing my bag, and going off to leave. That would be too easy.

I also need to take into account that I’m in and out of England until October. I’m basically going on about five ‘holidays’ before I do anything that could be deemed as ‘travelling’. All requiring suitable packing skills, holiday attire rather than travelling rags and military organisation of accompanying friends. It also needs different clothes that will pretty much be dotted about the country from Portsmouth, to London, to Tutbury.

My brain, and my room, are a mess.

To do list for long term travel

Also need to take into account that I’ve only been thinking about all this – a year of exploration – for the last month, thanks to a huge change in my life. I have a very important hen party to arrange in August, and an even more important wedding to be a bridesmaid at in September. So I need to be there for my friend too.

I’ve got a lot going on in my brain at the moment.

Friendships / relationships

I want to see all my friends before I leave. I’m having a big birthday while I’m away and while I’m set in the fact I don’t want any sort of party and just want to ignore it, I still want to say bye. There are a few people who I won’t be meeting along the way who I’d really like to meet up with before I go, seeing as it will be a while before I’m back in London.

To do list for long term travel

Finish the job

I’m finishing work gapyear.com this week and June has been a very busy month. No time for slacking and sorting travelling. I have a few more days to wrap up my work, and say bye to the people I’ve seen every week day for the last 20 months.

Flights and accommodation

Need to actually get booking those missing ones.

To do list for long term travel

Routes

As yet no plan for Guatemala or for Belize. Rough route plotted for Mexico. ‘Holidays’ are fine and pretty much just involve festivals and beaches but my time is really limited in Central America and I want to make sure I get to see the best bits.

Insurance

I [think I] have annual insurance with Virgin. Must check what that covers and when it runs out. During my trip I’ll be cycling, scuba diving, canyoning, water rafting, who knows what else. I need to make sure I’m totally covered.

Travelling long term to do list

My stuff

I’ve got a lot of stuff in my bedroom right now. My dear mother has told me none of it is to go back in their house, their downsizing has been tough for us all. So, I have a box for eBay, I’ve already taken a few boxes for charity, a box for friends, a box for my brother, a few boxes I don’t know what to do with, and a few things that will need to go into storage.

Also need to sell my bike. Anyone in London want it?!

If you have a home you need to secure it before you go off travelling, so follow the steps on that list.

Packing

My first trip as a homeless person is Latitude Festival so I need all my festival gear packed in one bag. The day after I get back [to my brother’s London home] I’ll be boarding the Eurostar. I need to look fancy for France, seeing as one of the four awesome girls I’m going with has dubbed it ‘Paris Fashion Week’ so that will require a whole new wardrobe. Then I’m staying at my parents for a week until the hen party – the ‘fancy for France’ suitcase will do for this – then it’s Blogstock festival so I need the festival bag again. But straight after that it’s Sziget so I’ll need a mixture of festival and general backpacking stuff… then wedding… then Italy… Confusing.

To do list for long term travel

Music

I haven’t updated / sorted the music on my laptop or iPhone for months. Need to go through the festival line-ups for 2014 and find some new stuff to listen to. I tend to get obsessed with an album and overdo it. Then I’m stuck with it because I’ve deleted everything else to show my dedication.

Blog

Argh, so much I want to do on here. I have a list of about 100 jobs I want to do to make me happier with it, but naturally, it’s too long I don’t know where to start and I’d rather sit and stare at it. I have so many stories I want to write and things I want to say. All in good time. I’m really looking forward to having more time to spend on my online projects.

To do list for long term travel

Money card

Embarrassingly I really don’t know the best way to access money abroad. For simplicity I’ve always just got to a country and got it out there, but I understand this is not the best way and leaves you open to fraud. I need to look at money cards, but someone told me they charge you for every withdrawal, so what’s the point? Must look into this.

Vaccinations

Really need to go and get my typhoid vaccination again. The last one I had only lasted a year because there was some sort of shortage, I should probably get that sorted asap.

To do list for long term travel

Electronics

I have way too many electronics. A Macbook, an iPhone 4, a Nokia 1020, a Canon DSLR, two point and shoot digital cameras and a Panasonic HX-A100. It’s ridiculous. I need to look at which ones I actually want to take, and in some cases actually learn how to use them more effectively, and in others, get them on eBay.

Get back up

My laptop is my lifeline. I can honestly say I’d give everything else I own in order to get it back. I need to get some sort of huge back up system to get everything off it. I’d be devastated if I lost everything, but travelling the world with such an expensive item, that’s the risk you take.

To do list for long term travel

Anything else?

I think that’s everything I need to sort before I go travelling, but I’m sure more things will crop up as I go. Help me, have I forgotten anything? 

More help for anyone off travelling long term 

Your Complete Guide to Workaway

How to Live the Digital Nomad Lifestyle 

5 Comments

  1. Wowza your head must be chocka block with all that stuff brimming over in there! Writing everything down with deadlines helps me to calm a little as well as making time to sit and drool at pictures of all the awesome things you will soon be seeing for real to spur you on!

  2. Great article! I’ve been quietly reading your blog for several weeks now. 🙂

    I recently quit my job and started traveling full time a few months ago, so I know how stressful the process of getting everything in order before you leave can be. Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, but all the exciting fun stuff to come makes it all worth it, right?

    For backing up your stuff, I would recommend checking out Backblaze, a cloud backup service. I use it for all of my photos (what I’m mainly worried about losing). It’s great because then you don’t have to worry about losing a physical item, and it auto-syncs, so you don’t have to remember to manually initiate a back-up.

    1. Ooo, that sounds very interesting! Thanks for your advice Diane, I’ll definitely check that one out. Great if it auto syncs. And thanks for reading – hope you’re enjoying your new found freedom 🙂

  3. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with a disorganised scatty brain! Good luck with it all.

    In regards to money card for travelling have a look at Caxton fx cards. They charge a commission to upload but no fee for withdrawals if I remember rightly!

    1. Oh ok, that’s interesting, I just thought they all charged for that. I’ll take a look at them then too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *