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Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you doing this?
When did you start planning this?
How did you plan this?
Has it been fun planning this?
What are you doing about your house?  Your cars?  Your bills?
What about school?
What about work?
How much luggage are you taking?
What are you taking with you?
How did you decide where to go?
How are you traveling?
Why go west?
How did you find… the safari?  The train trip?  Etc.
How much does all of this cost?
Can I go too?

 

 

Why are you doing this?
(People frequently ask this question as “What on Earth made you decide to do this?”)

Russell:
There are several things that I would like to do before the end of my life:

We were fortunate enough to do the first (several years ago when Cameron was 4 and Joss was 2 years old).  Gail refuses to do the second, predicting that we will either be dead or divorced – or both – as a result.  A trip around the world is the next adventure.  (We’ll save “walking across America” until all the kids are out of the house.)

Several things put this in the forefront of our plans.  First, we discovered a book called “One Year Off,” about a family that sold all of their possessions and traveled the world for a year.

So I’m reading this to Gail and I say, “Hey… do you want to do this?  And she says “Yeah.  Sure.  Right.”  In retrospect, I think I heard a different response than what she intended.

And while we aren’t silly enough to sell all of our possessions, we are silly enough to think that we can do this trip.

Second, we discovered that several outfits sell “around the world” airline tickets specifically to make these kinds of trips possible.  The outfit we’re using is called the “Star Alliance.”

Gail:
This is something that you only dream about (and thank God I married a dreamer).  Why are we doing this?  To expand our culture and horizons.  We’re doing this because we’re curious.  And actually, travel is one of the things that we do well together.  I drive, he navigates… and somehow we get there.

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When did you start planning this?

We informally decided to do this trip a year ago, in May 2000.  For the next several months, Russell thought that we were going and Gail thought that we were kidding.  Then Gail noticed that Russell was actually talking to other people about the trip.  By August, Gail realized that Russell was serious, and that she had better start making plans.

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How did you plan this?

Gail has done most of the actual trip planning… from travel logistics… to researching and making reservations… to packing… to immunizations and visas… to schooling… to getting the house ready to vacate for a year…

Russell has helped mostly by staying out of the way… though not as much as Gail would have liked.  He has been trained to say, “That looks good.  Thanks for your hard work.  What can I do to help?”

Gail began by watching a lot of travel programs on television.  The Internet – and the experiences of friends – have been her most valuable resources.

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Has it been fun planning this?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Next question…

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What are you doing about your house?  Your cars?  Your bills?

We are renting our house to some friends of ours.  This allows us to keep all of our possessions in the house, albeit packed tightly into a few of the rooms.  We are lending our cars for the year as well.  (In the book “One Year Off,” the authors said that one of their only regrets was selling all of their possessions.  And we were certainly willing to learn from other peoples’ regrets.)

Thanks to the Internet, most of our personal bills have been set up on autopayment.  Russell’s sister will manage anything else that comes up in California.

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What about school?

One of the great things about the US is that families have the option of “home schooling” their children.  (We understand that this is unheard of in most other parts of the world.)

Both of the boys attend French school, and Cameron actually “graduated” from 5th grade (CM2) this past June.  If we stayed and converted to the American school system, Cameron would have to change schools for 6th grade, and then again for 7th grade.

We therefore decided that this would be a good year to do home schooling.  Teachers and friends who home school assured us that we only need to specialize in reading and math – the science, history, geography, etc. will be experienced first-hand.

For the reading and math, we will rely on a combination of workbooks and educational computer programs in both French and English.

As Russell says, the boys are old enough to appreciate the travel adventure… and young enough that we can all still stand to be around each other for a whole year.

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What about work?

Russell:
My employer has been wonderful in granting me a one-year leave of absence.  Thanks, HP!

Gail:
I get to take my work along with me… although I do look forward to not having to vacuum, dust, or clean bathrooms for a year.

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How much luggage are you taking?

Russell (that’s right, the same Russell who came up with this “world trip” idea in the first place) had another very creative notion: each of the four of us would limit ourselves to one carry-on suitcase.

After Gail stopped laughing, she immediately started beating him about the head and neck.  The compromise was that we would bring an additional fifth suitcase for supplies (like medications and schoolbooks).

So, we have each shoved one year of our life into a 22 x 14 x 9 inch rolling backpack… but we also get the zip-off day packs.

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What are you taking with you?

With one suitcase each, we are understandably packing light.  All of our clothes are nylon backpack-type clothes, which squish up nicely, don’t wrinkle, can be hand-washed, and dry in 10 minutes.  As the weather changes during the year, we’ll just donate what we don’t need, and buy what we do.

The main challenge has been activities for Cameron and Joss.  Luckily they are both avid readers, and we hope to keep picking up books wherever we go.  In addition, we are bringing Lego, decks of cards, frisbees, and Game Boys.

Each boy is also allowed to bring one thing to remind him of home.  Initial requests included their bedroom and the whole house.  We've had to renegotiate…

Russell:
Being a high-tech geek, I am bringing a digital camera, a digital video camera, a portable DVD player, and a 6-gigabyte MP3 player.

Gail:
… all of which he plans to wear around his middle, strapped to his body.  Seriously, I’m bringing three boys.  What more entertainment do I need?

We kept going back and forth on whether to bring a notebook PC or not.  First it was “yes” for the educational software, then it was “no” for the weight and the nerdiness of being constantly connected.

Ultimately, though, we were not able to plan every detail of the trip before leaving, so we will need the PC to keep making advance reservations.

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How did you decide where to go?

Russell:
Our approach is not to subject ourselves to a marathon of seeing every country in every continent on the globe.  We don’t want an “If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium” travel experience.

Instead, one of the reasons that we are embarking on this adventure is to slow down and simplify our lives.  So we have picked a few places that we have always wanted to see, and we are spending longer periods of time exploring them.  Our goal is to see how the local people live.

One conscientious decision we made was not to include North or South America in this trip.  We felt that since a large investment is made in getting over the ocean, we should concentrate on what’s over there.  We’ll save Peru and the Galapagos for a future adventure.

Gail:
We put a large map on the wall and stared at it for weeks.  First, we put red dots everywhere we ever wanted to go.  Then, we gradually started removing them until we had a reasonable trip left.  We also had to figure out the logistics of dealing with the different seasons, and where to be at certain times of the year.  No easy task when dealing with both sides of the equator.

We also had to limit ourselves to places where it would be safe to take children – and adults.

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How are you traveling?
(People frequently ask this question as “So, are you going by boat?”)

We are traveling in as many different ways as we possibly can.  We’re using airplanes for long travel.  In China, we’re taking trains.  In Australia, we’ll be in a motor-home (caravan).  And in Europe, we plan to lease a car.

Russell is still looking for a sailboat cruise… and Gail is still changing the subject (she may humor him with a falucca on the Nile).

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Why go west?

Russell:
I felt strongly about going west because of the length of the trip.  If we end up with more or less time at the end of a year, it would be better to have that flexibility in Europe than in Asia.

Gail:
Because there’s less jet lag going west.  We discovered that on a trip to Singapore last year.

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How did you find… the safari?  The train trip?  Etc.

The safari came about through a chance encounter in August at Safari West (in Wine Country) with a woman who had just come back from Tanzania.  The other plans were all made through a whole lot of hard work and Internet research.  First we had to determine the time of year in each country and how we wanted to travel through it.  For most countries, we felt secure enough to travel independently.  For a few others – like China, Tanzania, and Egypt – we knew we would need a tour guide.

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How much does all of this cost?

Please refer to the above question, “Has it been fun planning this?”

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Can I go too?

Absolutely!  We are looking for someone who could fill the combination role of babysitter, translator, tour guide, and luggage sherpa.  So if you can speak at least five languages and lift 200 lbs...

Seriously, we are very much encouraging people to meet up with us around the world.  Europe between December 2001 and June 2002 is most feasible, as we are very flexible here.  Also, our unconfirmed plan is to rent houses and villas for weeks at a time, so we would have plenty of room for guests.  Just let us know your plans.

(Our daughter Dawn, her husband David, and their new baby Keegan already have dibs on the end of February in Italy.)

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