Planning the Big Adventure

We thought planning would be just a tiny part of our adventure.
Spoiler alert: it became a full-time job… and an exciting rollercoaster.

The planning phase is magical – you get to dream wildly, nothing can go wrong, and everything is wrapped in pink fluffy clouds of excitement… and more excitement. ✨

So yes, preparation began way early, well… we were excited.
Budgeting, timelines, choosing destinations and activities, integrating world-/homeschooling – all  fun stuff.

After two months, the plan was finished.
Or so we thought.
New ideas! New information! Ok… back to square one.

After one year: YES, we made it!
…did we? 🤔

Planning Tricks That Actually Worked

For anyone wanting to follow in our footsteps – or travel even further and wilder – here are a few tricks that were very helpful:

✈️ Round-the-World Ticket

Once the budget is set, find a good around-the-world ticket. 
They’re economical, flexible, and can be changed when unforeseen is coming your way without worrying over pricy change fees. 

🛬 Choose Hub Airports

To stay flexible, we chose one main hub per continent.
For America: Vancouver

For Asia: Singapore

For Oceania: Auckland

were the winners.

🌤 Follow the Sun

Rule #1: Avoid winter and monsoon.
We researched temperatures, rain seasons ...  

Benefits:

• Lighter packing

• Fewer seasonal illnesses

• No sightseeing while freezing or drowning

At least… that was the plan.
Remember: pink fluffy clouds of dreams. ☁️✨

Reality check:

• No visiting of Central/South America for now

• Weather remains unpredictable

• Seasonal immune system for Europe check, any other places of the world .... un-check 🤒

🏝 Avoid Peak Tourist Seasons (if possible…)

Check local and tourist holiday calendars.

Reality check:

• no off-season in August anywhere

• Japan? No off-season. Only high season and very very HIGH season.

🧳Pack light

Ha! Easier said than done 😅

To be fair, with two boys it’s almost easy — they each rotate the same 3 favorite shirts 👕👕👕, and their shoes take up approximately zero space 👟.

But then comes the real adventure:

🎲 Negotiating why not all toys can come along
💊 Deciding—based on past trauma—which medication to pack (and which ones we’ll regret not packing)
🐻 And then Mama Bear…
Do you really need that many creams, that many shoes, and that many dresses?
Yes. Obviously. Because you never know 🤷‍♀️👗👡🧴

So… deep breath.
One suitcase + one backpack each 🎒
Did we manage?

👉 See photo below for proof (or evidence to the contrary) 😆

🛂 Documents & Health

Passports, visas, vaccines, travel insurance – the usual.
Japan required applying two months in advance for allergy meds with medical letters and translations.

Who knew? 

🖥️ Setting Up the Webpage

To make sure our endless memories don’t get lost — and so friends can follow along. ✨
Turns out… it’s way more work than expected.
So we’ll just ignore all the fancy features and keep it simple. 😎📸

And last but not least important step of planning: PARTY TIME 🎉

Before leaving, we wanted to say a proper goodbye to all our friends and everyone close to our hearts.
– a year away is the perfect excuse for a nice party. 

So thanks to EVERYONE who  celebrated with us.
See you soon with more stories to share. ✈️

Our Final Route or so we  believe

🇮🇸 Iceland – 🇨🇦 Canada – 🇯🇵 Japan – 🇳🇿 New Zealand – 🇦🇺 Australia – 🇲🇾 Malaysia – 🇹🇭 Thailand – 🇦🇪 UAE – 🇪🇺 Europe