The Challenging Part of Trip Prep

When a single parent is preparing to leave the comforts of a middle-class existence, leaving a fairly secure job in a time of economic uncertainty, moving from a home that he rents for $500 a month less than what his neighbors pay, and dragging along his 9-year-old child on an indefinite trip around the world, one could probably easily come up with at least a thousand different things that might be viewed as “challenges.”

Aside from “How am I going to pay for all this travel?” there is the visa research that has to be done, the securing of certified documents that some countries require in order to procure a visa, getting his poor son additional shots, weighing the pros and cons of certain preventative medicines, finding homes for cherished pets . . . well, the list goes on and on. What’s the biggest challenge?

Decluttering. Yes, that oh-so-fun experience where you spend several hours, days, dare I say weeks?, going through all of your belongings and getting rid of them. This stack goes to thrift store for donation, this stuff is for selling, this goes back until we’re closer to departure, that will go into backpack, although I’m quite confident that last category will go through several incarnations before our packs are finally lifted onto our shoulders for departure. One would think that after having moved several times in the last 5 years there really wouldn’t be that much to go through. And one would be quite wrong. I have boxes of stuff I haven’t opened since I moved to Colorado from Texas upon finishing my residency program. Want to know the big surprise when I opened them? I didn’t need a single item.  So why did I keep them? I mean who really needs a grocery receipt showing I bought milk, eggs, raisins, and cantaloupe 5 years ago!

I wouldn’t feel so badly if it was just one receipt, but there were LOTS of things like that. Sure there was the occasional nice surprise. For instance I found pics from when I was in my 20s and practically unrecognizable from my current self. In fact Tigger even looked at them and said “Who is that? Was he your friend or something?” Bigger belly, clean-shaven face, and the biggest shocker was the black hair which is a big contrast from today’s mix of black, white, gray, and silver hairs. “Whoa! You had black hair!”

Pictures I understand. Grocery receipts not so much. And then there was my geek collection: Two portable printers (one a Canon inkjet and the other an HP photo printer if anyone is interested in buying them from me), two laptop bags (one with wheels and a section for holding files from the travel-for-work days), some old cell phones, and my favorite find: A phone outlet adapter so I could plug my modem into the phone outlet without having to unplug the phone from back in the days when WiFi was pretty much only for telemetry, before cable was both TV and Internet, and DSL was probably someone’s dream still. Spiffy, no? Someone suggested I submit it to a museum.

I found it interesting that Tigger and I found so many things we absolutely had no problem getting rid of, but the one that caused me the most perplexion was my massage table. Sure, it was expensive, and it’s in absolute mint condition, but why did this one hold me back? I have no plans on returning. And a big part of this type of travel for me is learning how to do more with less. Yes, admittedly I’m a pack rat, and growing up with having so little to my name seems to have produced the opposite effect in my adulthood. Funny that the idea of carrying only what can fit into a small backpack around the world indefinitely seems to be absolutely no problem, but the table gave me pause. Perhaps it’s the idea that I would have SOMETHING remaining back here, besides friends, just in case this whole crazy idea didn’t work the way I imagined it. I finally decided it would be part of a spiritual practice to go ahead and sell it. One more way to show the universe just how committed to this whole thing I really am.

Tigger's room as he decluttered

It has been somewhat liberating to see more and more of our items leave the house. Tigger’s room is finally off the FEMA database as a disaster area, and I can actually move around inside my closet. It’s also a nice visual reminder that our trip is coming and that my life is getting more & more . . . simple and unencumbered.

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29 Comments

  1. I know how you feel. My wife and I are in the process of getting rid of everything for our indefinite trip around the world (We leave Feb. 13th) It is hard to get rid of a lot of my belongings (Since it took me so long to get them) but I have now come to realize that these items do not make me who I am. They do not define me. I also find it a lot easier when I do this…..

    “Ok, so these record player is awesome….but if I sell this, that’s 2 weeks in Thailand…..What would I rather have?” 

    Hahaha i just convert everything into days in different countries. Then it’s not so hard to get rid of. 🙂

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    • It has been so liberating not having a bunch of “stuff.”

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  2. I understand about the massage table, I do. I was a therapist for 14 years, and then just gave it up. Let my license lapse in 2008. But I kept the table. I did a little massage for cash from ex-clients, family, and so on. When my daughter and I met and became friends with a tattoo artist in our complex, I gave the table to him (well, bartered: he’s supposed to give my daughter a tat for it). I cringed when I did it, and I still miss that table and sometimes think I should have it back. But for what? I’m not likely to go back to massaging for a living, and now that I’m on my own nomadic trek, why should I store it? That is probably the only thing I miss out of all the stuff I got rid of.

    Good job on the decluttering! And the others are right. It’s all just stuff. What really matters is you and your son. Anything else is just gravy (or too much crap).

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    • Definitely too much crap! Lol

      Thanks for the congrats. So exciting to finally stop dreaming & start doing.

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  3. We are in the same boat. So much stuff to get rid of, so little time. Everywhere we look, more and more stuff.

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    • So tempting to just toss everything in the trash.

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  4. I know it’s scary stepping into the unknown, particularly with a 9 year old, but as a person who started traveling when I was 4 (when my family abruptly dropped our lives in Massachusetts to move to Ecuador for what would be 5 years), I can tell you that I loved every single second of those experiences (except, say, the shots…those I hated). Traveling like that at a young age has also had such a noticeable impact as me as a person.

    I also think my 9 year old self and Tigger would have gotten along well…my room also qualified as a FEMA disaster area! Now it’s been downgraded to a mere slum as I, like so many others out there, tend to put off decluttering till I’m moving when it is, of course, a vast project!

    Kudos to you!

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  5. When we finally finished all of our de-cluttering we both had this strange feeling that we no longer really existed because we had nothing to prove we were “there”. That lasted a couple of days and then it was just utter freedom. It will be worth it!

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    • Isn’t it amazing how much we can feel defined by our possessions?

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  6. We took the easy way out and put everything in storage in case we went ‘oh crap what are we doing, this travel with kids caper isn’t for us!’. Of course now that we’ve decided to keep travelling next month we have to go back, open that shed and start selling. But I so don’t want to. Looking at the shed I don’t know how we ever needed all that ‘stuff’. It’s very liberating living without it. I’m actually ecstatic to get rid of 95% of our remaining stuff but the other 5% … my 2000+ books, our breadmaker (sad but the thing we miss most from home is waking up to the smell of fresh bread), our ultra expensive latex mattress that I know we’ll never spend the money on again, the kids giant trampoline we bought just a few months before heading off … these I don’t want to part with. I want these things, no matter where we are living in the world. But they don’t fit in a backpack, we’re not likely to ship them across the oceans … I’m stuck with what to do. So I sympathise. Happy packing!

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    • Those are definitely some tough choices. I don’t envy you that. All I had to be really concerned with was my massage table and bikes.

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  7. Wow, I don’t envy you that job! I was lucky and managed to escape from my parents house with all my teenage clutter still tucked under the bed!
    But after travelling for so long with nothing but a backpack, I’ve realised that I really don’t need any of that stuff! I’m almost looking forward to going how and having a ruthless de-clutter!
    Good luck (I think your going to need it!) 🙂

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  8. Shaun won’t let me get rid of our Geek collection – and we’re gamers. That is a lot of crap. Not to mention we have a giant container of all the video game consoles we have ever had, their controllers, games, power supplies, etc., that he refuses to sell. I guess I have to pick and choose my battles.

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    • Oy! Too bad he isn’t a Buddhist. You could use the old attachments cause
      suffering argument. Lol

      http://1dad1kid.com

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  9. I hear your pain – and I’m still 6+ months out. Thought I’d get a head start but still find myself dragging my feet. Still… I did get myself a Craig’s List account and so far have sold a button making machine for $160 (hey, don’t laugh, I built a website and sold a ton of them), and no less than 4 collectible teapots (good grief!) for $50. So that’s more than 200 bucks for the kitty. Now I’m on a roll (shoot, I even set up a “photo studio” on my wee table, covered with gray fleece blanket as a background and two side lights for even lighting – to photograph the good stuff to sell). It’s becoming a game, and I’m keeping track of what I make in the “Stuff Kitty”. Shoot, I even have an acquaintance who wants to buy my car! 😉

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    • It definitely can get addicting. Happened to me years ago when I sold a
      bunch of stuff on ebay. How awesome things are moving along so well for you!

      http://1dad1kid.com

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  10. We went from a family of 5 in 1700sq ft to a family of 5 in 500sq ft. We decluttered. And like you I was amazed at how easy it was to let go of much of it. Life is so much happier for all of us without STUFF all over the house.

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  11. Even if you weren’t leaving on a lifetime adventure, decluttering is cleansing and soul lifting. My DD helped me do this. She kept reminding me “things are not memories”. 40+ boxes for Goodwill later (yes – 40, and I live alone!) I don’t miss a thing. And the things I had! Does a single woman really need 17 sets of sheets (okay, I like sheets – I’m into purses or shoes – but sheets, I’d put a new set on everyday if I could)? I’ve since cleaned out more. Since you are traveling, sell, sell, sell. People will buy anything. Keep cleaning!

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  12. Wow you got stuff! Patience and you’ll get through it. We ended up making trips to the dumpster at some point. Mantra, stuff is just stuff. Stuff is just stuff. Stuff is just stuff.
    Getting rid of it creates an energy opening in your life…
    Stuff is just stuff…

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    • I think we’ll be doing the same soon. Stuff I think I can get some money for
      I’ll try to sell. Otherwise it’s getting donated or dumped.

      http://1dad1kid.com

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  13. good job man!

    same as you.. ive been busy selling my old stuff… its not as much as what you have though… made a few bucks out of it too…

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    • ROFL! Well, at least you met goals. 🙂

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  14. Decluttering is a tough job – yep, it’s extremely liberating but it’s also very difficult to let go a lot of the time! We plan on coming back eventually so there are a lot of things we’re keeping, but I honestly think that makes it more difficult than knowing you have to get rid of the lot.

    PS. I’m pretty sure I still have one of those phone outlet adapters as well! Ahh, good old dial-up internet (which I got to experience again last week due to exceeding our quota!).

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    • I agree. I think that would be a lot more tough. Bummer about the recent dialup! LOL

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