We fish have traveled a fair bit since the first day we teamed-up a few years ago. We won’t call ourselves travel professionals quite yet, but we are getting really good at packing (and re-packing) our entire existance into backpacks, suitcases, duffel-bags & boxes and moving to a new place. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Trust us!

Anyway, here’s a how-to on dropping new roots:

(n+1 socks)

First and foremost, the most important factor that goes into planning an “exit strategy” is the duration. Are you going away for the weekend or for 5 years? If you’re only going away for the weekend just grab some clothes, charge the camera battery and go. Of course, do travel light! (n+1) pairs of socks is the fishies’ motto, where n is the length of your trip). Leaving for longer than the weekend? OK, now we’re starting to get into the subject of this article…

counting down

Start a to-do list and a countdown for your departure. If you’re leaving for a month, your to-do list will be small and will likely include things like doing your laundry a few days before you leave, or calling VISA so they don’t freeze your card when you use it overseas. If you’re leaving for a few months or even a year, then you’ll want to start managing your to-do’s a little earlier. Give yourself a few extra weeks to take care of the important stuff like buying travel insurance and saying bah-bye to all your friends & family. If you’re leaving for good (or at least for a very very long time) then you really need to get a rock-solid to-do list and stick to it. Leaving unprepared and in a hurry is stressful! (and often expensive, you’ll see…) So don’t do it.

leaving for good

If you’re leaving for good, you will need a month or two to get everything ready for your departure: Quit your job, list and sell the car, put your furniture on craigslist, give the landlord notice on the apartment, cancel your cable/internet, get any vaccines/inoculations you need, donate old clothes and belongings to the salvation army, give away your plants, check & double-check the airline luggage limits, (re)pack your suitcases kilogram-by-kilogram, box & store your sentimental things at a storage facility, get a ride to the airport, etc. It takes major planning to ensure that nothing is forgotten and that everything happens at the right time (ie: if you drive to work, don’t sell your car before quitting!) The first step in ensuring your new life starts smoothly & stress-free is not leaving loose ends when you leave!

boxes & shipping

If you leave things in boxes, make sure they’re packed properly. Buy good quality boxes, DON’T wrap them in plastic (cardboard boxes need to breathe or your things will ROT), make sure your boxes are not sitting on the ground (empty rolls of packing-tape make nice spacers). This is especially important in humid and warm environments.

If you are thinking about shipping your stuff overseas, then first take a moment to re-evaluate if you really need to keep all that junk? It’s often cheaper (and very emotionally liberating) to buy new things instead of having your old stuff sent overseas. Still want to ship? …OK. Look into shipment by sea. If you can live without your things for a few months, you can save lots of money. The local post companies are also usually the cheapest option, so check them out. Make sure all your delicate items are wrapped up in spare t-shirts and placed in the centre of each box. Use lots of padding, and TONS of tape (not just packing tape, use duct tape too. Its stronger.)

bits and pieces

Get used to the idea of having your things spread all across the world. Sometimes its necessary to leave things behind wherever you go; you’ll be reunited with them someday! We fishies just moved to Estonia, but we have 2 duffel-bags of clothes stored in London, 7 giant boxes ready for shipment in Taiwan and a suitcase in Vancouver.

And one more thing: Check your airline luggage restrictions and weigh your suitcases properly. Now that airlines are starved for cash, their luggage restrictions are tighter and their penalties are steeper. We once paid luggage penalties that were over 200% the price of our actual tickets. Don’t do that.

Edit: Another good tip: Have friends! Leave your luggage with your friend if you don’t have enough weight limit to fly all your stuff to your final destination. We left 40kg of luggage in London so we can easily retrieve it later from anywhere in Europe.