Before the Journey Begins

Sue's Perspective

I am an elementary school principal, for a wonderful school district that provides their employees with the possibility of a deferred salary program. So fantastic! Five years ago I began deferring 25% of my salary. Now, in my fifth year, I get paid the accumulated sum, and I have the year off! My husband, David, has a different employer so he doesn't have the year off, but because of his schedule he is able to take a month off, three times, to join Katie (13), Cooper (12) and me on our adventure.

We are loosely planning the following route: Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin, Stendal, Dresden), Czech Republic (Prague), Germany (Munich), Italy (Lake Como, Venice, Florence, Rome), Croatia, Turkey, France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona, and either J'avea or Marbella), Portugal, Thailand, Fiji, Australia, Hawaii, and then home. This will take about nine months.

If you are planning a similar trip I have a list of steps we took that might help you prep for the trip:

Doctor appointments. We needed to get prescriptions for the duration and to begin organizing shots... we actually went to a travel medical clinic that specialized in immunizations for travel. This cost about $1000 and, ideally you would do well to have two months or more to get them done as some require a week or more between each injection or pill. You may need to keep proof of some of the shots, such as Yellow Fever, depending on what countries you end up visiting, so the specialty clinics really do help.

Dentist appointments. I ended up getting two root canals and two crowns just before leaving. Fortunately the kids had no cavities.

Optometrist appointments. 

Visas. A million years and a million dollars in advance. We ended up without any visas. It used to be that you could travel through Europe, spending 90 days in each country. Now, You can only spend 90 days in the Schengen countries in a six month period (google "Schengen VIsa";"Schengen countries"...). They didn't seem to like that we were simply travelling. It seemed that, had we been working or studying, it would have been easier to get a visa. I can't advise you much here, since I gave up, and simply altered our itinerary to make it work for us.

Passports of course... at least six months to be safe.

A note from my husband saying he consents to me traveling with the kids.

Shots and a home for our dog. Thank you so much Mom and Dad, and Kyla, Tom, and Ming Ming!

Credit Cards and ATM cards. Also, phone your credit card companies to let them know where and when you're travelling; otherwise your card might end up getting frozen.

Traveller's cheques and a small amount of cash.

Photocopies of all important documents (credit cards, travellers cheque numbers, passports, etc.) to leave with someone at home in case of theft or loss. Thanks, again, Mom!

Organizing technology, including converter kits that we bought at the apple store. Also, a kit that allows pictures from the camera to be downloaded onto the iPad, or whatever device you bring. I brought an iPad, the kids each brought a mini-iPad,and Dave brought a camera. No phones from home, but we plan to buy a "pay as you go" phone in Europe. No laptops either.

School work. We are mainly focusing on math and language arts. I am familiar with the curriculum but you may need to become familiar with curriculum websites or you may sign up for Distance Education through your school district.

We bought backpacks and walking shoes through Mountain Equipment Coop. The shoes are fantastic (Katie and I bought Scarpa). We broke them in for a couple of weeks before leaving.

*Use Alberta Health Services for info re Vaccinations or a Private Clinic such as Private Vaccination Clinic in Sherwood Park, Alberta