T-minus 1 Week

Getting ready for a year long trip is harder than you may think - organize insurance, vaccines, utilities, house lease, house packing/cleaning/organizing, travel packing...the list goes on. People have asked if we are excited about travelling - the truth is, we have been so busy getting everything in order that we haven't had much time to think! While the whole process can be very overwhelming, the key is to maintain focus on the task at hand.

We have spent several days packing up our clothes and other items that we will need to store away while we are gone. This is a good opportunity to purge all of the items that have compounded over the years! We have a small storage room in the basement where we will store the majority of our items and we will keep any valuable items at my parent's place since we plan to rent out our house fully furnished (we are doing a combination of short term rental and Airbnb).

We just got back from the Services Ontario site to extend our coverage up until one year (normally coverage only extends for 212 days). Most travel insurance companies won't provide coverage if the OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) is not valid. I also realized that my driver's license and health card had expired in July - good opportunity to get those renewed before we go away ;)

On top of the packing and organizing, I have been trying to learn how to write a blog! I don't do any of the social media (except some LinkedIn) so I am somewhat at a disadvantage. I spent several hours looking at the various options (squarespace, wordpress, godaddy, wix, etc.) I ultimately decided on Wix - way easier than the other options I had tried.

I think the blog will be a really good way to keep in touch with friends and family and also a good way to document our travels. I will try to keep this updated on a weekly basis as we go.

Well, back to packing!