“One day we decided to pack in our 9-to-5s and pack a backpack instead”
From Dream to Reality: Preparing for the Journey Ahead
Once my boyfriend and I made the decision of a lifetime to pack up our lives and go travelling on a long-term basis, we were faced with the overwhelming task of organising ourselves and our existing lives in order to make our dreams a reality.
Imagine facing the prospect of flipping your entire life thus far upside down – from an easy and established routine and living in a rental property to the complete upheaval of downsizing everything – and living nomadically? It was a lot to get our heads around.
I found little to no help on this topic at the time online, so once we had sold up, packed up, moved on and did all the things necessary to enable us to go off and travel, I promised myself that I would eventually write up a guide on how to navigate the process, one step at a time.
Truly, I found that the hardest and most tedious part of getting ourselves ready to travel long term was the lead-up to catching our flight out of the UK (please also note that my advice is UK specific).
It may seem like an overwhelming undertaking to begin with, but I hope my straightforward checklist guide can go some way in streamlining the process for you if long-term travel beckons!
Build A Checklist
Not everyone will have to take the following points in my checklist into account as each step is very much dependent on your journey and where you are starting off in life. These steps were those we took relative to where we were at the time we decided to go backpacking.
1. Look at your financial situation
So you want to go backpacking around the world? First and foremost, it’s vital to ask yourself where you want to go, how long you want to go for and how much money you have to work with.
Do you have an existing savings pot that will accommodate your plans?
Do you need to do some more research or take the time to build those savings up a little bit?
I want to be very transparent when I say that planning to travel long-term is not something myself and my partner did on a whim. We had a chunk of savings behind us to ensure we had enough money to take a year off and then some to ensure we didn’t land back in the UK with nothing.
By looking at your financial situation in depth you will be better equipped to plan not only how soon you will be able to leave but also how much more you may need to add to the savings pot to ensure you can travel for the length of time you desire.
Look at your ingoings, outgoings, debt and overall financial lifestyle and review where you could start cutting back or better organising your finances to accommodate any upcoming travels.
2. Check Your Passport
Will your passport run out soon? CHECK ASAP!
Lots of countries won’t allow you in if you do not have 6 months valid before expiring, so please don’t start booking any flights until you have a new passport sorted.
3. Speak to family/friends
By letting people know about your plans to go travelling and openly discussing what that would look like from a practical perspective (in terms of perhaps spending some time living with your parents, for example), you begin to actualise your dream.
I can’t stress how important it was for myself and my boyfriend to ensure we had the support of family behind us, as it meant that once we had moved out of our rental flat, we could spend a few months living with family and saving that little bit more money we would have otherwise spent on rent and bills.
4. Get a diary/calendar
With the power of hindsight, I can tell you that getting organised for long-term travelling/backpacking begins now, well before you land in another country.
Buy yourself a diary or calendar so that you can begin allocating times for your plans and marking important dates so that you can keep a schedule and keep track of what needs to be done to ensure you can board that outward flight without a care in the world, knowing that everything is taken care of. A diary/calendar also works as a great physical countdown to get you motivated to take the necessary steps and get everything organised.
5. Figure out work notice periods
Digging out your work contract and finding out how much notice you will need to give your employer is a crucial part of leaving to go travelling. You’ll want to tie up loose ends in a respectful way and figure out how many more pay days you will have until you leave.
Add a note to your aforementioned diary/calendar to submit your resignation letter accordingly.
6. Sort out notice period for leaving rental property
More paperwork digging up – this time with your estate agent or landlord. Depending on your contract, you will need to figure out when you can leave your rental property and how much notice you need to give.
This point will need to work in conjunction with when you plan to leave to go travelling and if there will be some time you could need to rely on staying with family/friends in between having a permanent residence.
7. Consider vaccinations
I’ve heard plenty of opinions about whether it’s necessary to get vaccines for travelling – some people choose to risk it and go without, but in my opinion, I’d rather spend the money and have peace of mind than spend a second worrying about my health when on the road!
We had our vaccines done in our local Boots store. This entailed having an initial consultation to discuss our travel plans and then the pharmacist recommended a course of vaccines based on the risk of various illnesses/diseases associated with each part of the world we were going to. In some cases we just needed the one dose of injections, whereas with others it was a course of two or three.
Ideally you should bring a vague itinerary of your travel plans with you to your consultation. The pharmacist we dealt with wanted to know the specific dates we would be travelling before we ever planned a solid route (which would always be subject to change anyway as that is the beauty of backpacking!). We cobbled together a vague itinerary based on the likely countries we would be visiting.
We found that, depending on where in the UK you live, getting your travel vaccines done can be a bit of a hassle or long-game process. Not all pharmacies offer travel vaccination services and there seemed to be a general shortage of both staff able to give vaccinations as well as a shortage of certain vaccines too. I just wanted to bring this up in advance to make sure you get yourself organised well ahead of time, as some forward planning may well be needed.
Also, vaccines are not cheap! Factor that into your budget.
8. Cancelling all bills – water, sewage, internet, subscriptions etc.
You can’t start your new nomadic life without yet more life admin…!
Now that you have a moving out date, it’s time to tackle counting down to cancelling subscriptions and utilities.
Before actually getting down to organising cancelling everything, I dreaded the thought of doing it all. I found out, however, that 90% of the time the process was pretty easy and mostly done online. And, if you’re lucky, you might even get some refunds come your way!
9. Start selling/donating/binning/storing
Depending on what sort of living situation you hope to return to after your time travelling, you will need to do some selling, donating, binning or storing of your belongings. We did a combo of all of the above but ultimately it all depends on your situation.
My biggest piece of advice when it comes to this step is START EARLY. Trust me when I say that selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace, arranging pick-ups from the council and deciding what stuff gets kept and what gets the heave-ho takes time.
Some people may choose to sell their car at this point too, whereas we choose not to and store it for when we return. What stays and what goes is up to you.
10. Contact Student Finance
In order to avoid any stressful letters or angry emails being sent your way from Student Finance, demanding why you have stopped student loan repayments, it’s imperative that you contact them explaining your situation.
You will most likely be asked to submit some evidence for the funding of your travels. This process is fairly straightforward and mostly done online.
11. Changing Your Address & Redirecting Your Post
It’s boring but needs to be done.
Make a list of all the places you have an address saved with (e.g. your bank, Amazon, your mobile phone provider, ASOS etc.) and change your address over to where you are residing for the time being and where you will be once your return.
And, before you hand back your key to the landlord, consider redirecting your post to your parents house/new place of residence. It just means in case there is any overlap of addresses being changed with various companies etc., your post will find its way back to you. This is easily done for a small fee here.
12. Research A Route – Let The Planning Begin!
There are lots of great resources out there nowadays if you’re looking for ideas on how to plan your backpacking route. I used travel blogs, Youtube, Instagram and picked the brains of friends who did similar trips to get a well-rounded idea of what I can expect and gauge how long I may want to spend in each place I visit.
Something worth considering at this point is where in the world you want to travel and in what season you will be arriving in. You will have an entirely different travel experience if you arrive in Southeast Asia during the rainy season, than perhaps if you travel during the dry season. The same goes for South America etc.
Depending on your personality and how long you’re travelling for will depend on how much time you dedicate to researching stuff. I would advise you to do your reading, but also be sure to leave a little room for spontaneity!
13. Book Flights, Check Visa Requirements & Consider Onward Travel
Something else I seldom see anyone mention is the fact that you need to be pretty organised when backpacking, especially if you plan on going to lots of different countries back to back.
Checking entry visa requirements is so important before heading off as you may need to account for paying to enter a country and any onward travel requirements too (link to blog post).
Then it’s time to book your flights! As you are travelling long-term you should have some flexibility with flight dates and times which should mean you could pick up a good deal. Fingers crossed!
14. Purchase Travel Insurance
Long term travel means you will need to have an extended travel insurance policy to cover all the places you hope to visit, as well as cover any activities you hope to do whilst travelling.
Take a look at World Nomads or Explorer Travel Insurance to get started with your travel insurance search.
15. Packing!
Depending on where and what time of year you are travelling, will define what sort of packing you will need to do.
For South America, for example, we packed quite a bit, to account for all sorts of activities and climates. We needed thermals, layers and hiking boots for example, which meant a bigger backpack. When we travelled to Southeast Asia, however, we packed half as much as we were packing for one kind of weather (hot!) and didn’t need any hiking gear.
One thing I do have to stress is that you can pack much lighter than you think! Our first experience backpacking meant we left behind and shed weight off our backpacks by quickly realising we don’t need that much stuff. There are laundrettes everywhere and anything you do need to buy is more than likely going to be available too. I’ve bought stuff like mini sewing kits, a tape measure and replacement hiking boot laces in some pretty remote places.
Trust me and take less. Being on the move with a 20kg backpack is not comfortable, nor is it necessary.
16. Email & Print Important Documents
I swear this next tip will save you so much stress and worry when travelling!
Get yourself an A4 and A5 clear plastic snap-wallet folders. Then print off copies of all the important documents you may need (passport photocopies, health insurance confirmation, covid pass, entry visas etc.) and put them into your A4 wallet. Then in the A5 wallet put your passport, spare money and yellow fever booklet (if you have one).
The key here is that these wallets are waterproof and keep all your important stuff in one place, so you never misplace anything and never have to worry about finding that lost email at border control and they ask you for your vaccination history or covid passport.
Saving photos of your passport and screenshots of your accommodation for immigration when you first arrive at a border is also super important.
Also be sure to email your important documents to close family members and friends should you need to access them for any reason in case of an (unlikely) emergency.
17. Go!
Phew… the hardest part if done!
You’ve packed up, moved out, planned and are now fully ready to chase your dreams and travel the world.
Lucky you—I’m jealous!
Allowing Extra Time
It can be easy to run away with the idea of galavanting off to go backpacking without making room for things to go wrong or take a little longer than anticipated.
We, for example, encountered various delays when it came to packing up our lives. Arranging for the council to collect our furniture took longer than anticipated. Having my passport get renewed took much longer than anticipated due to the backlog caused by covid.
Delays are inevitable, which is why allocating some wiggle room in your timeline to leave the country is vital.
Work Backwards
By working backwards and using your calendar or diary to guide you in your countdown to going travelling, you will be better able to keep on top of deadlines for things such as vaccinations, or passport renewals etc. and make leaving to go travelling that much less stressful and will help keep you motivated too.
Gather Up A Support System
I think it’s very easy to overlook the importance of having a solid support system to help you when it comes to closing one chapter of your life and to begin a new one – travelling for an extended period of time.
Lots of ‘travel influencers’ I see out there don’t really mention this part of the travelling process and make it look like it’s not a huge factor in the process. My boyfriend and I thankfully had lots of help and support from friends and family when it came to quitting our jobs, leaving our rented flat and pursuing our dream of going backpacking.
The reality is that quitting your job and completely changing your lifestyle is quite the process. And, it means that you will more than likely need to lean on friends and family at times – for us that meant my boyfriend’s parents generously allowing us to stay with them once we gave up our flat. My mum helped to store some of the belongings I did not want to throw or give away, too. It takes the help and kindness from your village to help make things happen.
Bon voyage! ¡Buen viaje! Goede reis! Счастливого пути!
I really hope this guide can help my fellow adventurers to streamline their journey to taking a career break or pursuing an alternative lifestyle and heading off on long-term travels.
If you need any more advice, please feel free to get in touch via the comments.
Until next time,
Lica xoxo
