Introduction and background

Introduction and background (Feel free to skip this bit as it is my preamble/ramble)

I don’t know where my wander lust comes from.  I just know that I have always been excited about planning to go places and travelling and stories of adventures. Having spent a year with my family in Sweden when I was 13, the excitement of the new and interesting became ingrained. In my 20’s and early 30’s I lived from one adventure to the next, always planning and saving. This changed somewhat when I got married at 35 and have been a wife and a mother to 3 children since then.  We have had our Australian camping adventures and road trips which we have all enjoyed but the yearning to travel to faraway places kept gnawing at me. . I must add here that Karl had also travelled as a single man and had had his own adventures and that we actually came to know each other planning a trip to USA and Canada with some friends in 1995! To be honest I have felt somewhat shackled for the last 15 years or so, really wanting to travel overseas again but not being able to for one reason or another.

And so it was for one reason or another, that Karl and I began hatching our travelling plan for a year overseas with our 3 children: Tim (15), Annika (13) and Luke (nearly 7).  By the time we actually boarded our JetStar flight to Phuket, Thailand, we were on to at least Plan Q or R or maybe even Z.  Our planning took shape over a year or so, but got serious when we booked our first journey in May 2014.  We were thus committed to flying to Thailand at least and the rest took shape.  Hours of internet research and “social” research, speaking to those with experiences and those with ideas, resulted in a workable plan.  There is a great deal to organise when considering a year away with three children to school and to consider -  it is just not like a backpacking experience where one takes off and takes pot luck in finding accommodation and food.  Parents need to provide and consider their children’s diverse needs.  Suffice to say, I did some little bit of planning every day since May and it has paid off. My life became a mixture of the ordinary daily Mother things versus the extraordinary planning and dreaming for a year away.

For those who may ever be considering such an undertaking there is much to consider; not just for the travel part but for organising house rental, finances, budgets, schooling, and of course  packing (and you need loads of boxes and big zip up bags from the Reject Shop!) and cleaning.   We soon sorted out our roles: Karl’s role was budget, finance and techno (ably helped by Tim and Annika on techno issues) and mine was researching, planning, booking airfares, accommodation (mostly Airbnb – which is cheaper than youth hostels when there are 5 travelling), and schooling and sourcing various things we would need to travel lightly for a year.  At this point can I say “yeah” for the Kathmandu sale where we bought lots of our gear including some 70 litre hybrid travel packs heavily discounted for $199 each? Our luggage limit on our cheap airfares was 20 kgs each so we were mindful of this in our preparation.

We are so fortunate to be in such a techno era in which many resources, including educational materials, can be accessed online.  Even a few years ago, the weight of books and resources would have been prohibitive.  We decided to undertake the schooling through Distance Education College of Victoria which seems like a supportive and appropriate organisation which will enable our children to slot right back into their appropriate year levels when we return for the next school year in 2016. The older children, especially Tim, were concerned that they would not be able to continue school at their current level when we return.  Much as we tried to point out to them that travelling in itself is an education which cannot be taught at school, they wanted something “official”.  Also, as parent/teachers we are now relieved to have external motivators and someone else to be accountable to so it is probably for the best.

Despite somewhat surprising reluctance from the older children, we said our farewells and rushed through packing and cleaning our house.  It was indeed a very stressful time as our departure date came zooming towards us in amongst end of year events, catch ups with friends and the build up to Christmas.  It was especially important for Luke, nearly 7, to do ordinary Christmas things, like we do every year, our family traditions.  He insisted on buying a Lego Advent Calendar from Brett’s shop (Toy Island) with his own money, knowing that we would have to do half of the openings somewhere other than home.  We agreed that it was important for him as was a night at “Road to Bethlehem” walk through nativity play which we go to every year and also our church’s community Christmas celebration.  There was also Old Orchard Primary School’s “Carols on the Green” where all the primary school children participated in a lovely, albeit very secular, evening of singing and community celebration.  The older children also had time with their friends in amongst the boxes and packing bags.  As the rest of the shoppers competed for car parks in their Christmas shopping rush, we dashed in for the last minute new pairs of glasses and technology purchases.

I wasn’t sure when my last shift at the hospital (where I worked on a casual basis as a midwife) would be but it turned out to be a lovely Sunday late shift in Special Care Nursery.  This was the “bonus” shift I agreed to work in order to “fund” our night in a family room at a hotel near to Tullamarine Airport on the Friday night before our morning flight on Saturday. This was indeed a good, if not fantastic, idea which meant we had a deadline to aim for. The other deadline was 3.30 PM on Friday (12 December) when the real estate agent was coming to do a “condition report” on our house and for one reason and another we were not ready with the cleaning and packing but they managed to take the required photos.  It became clear at this point that Karl and I have differing senses of urgency – me being the” think ahead” type and Karl being the “last minute” type – so that is why the night at the hotel was so necessary!!!!

And so began our year of travelling; doing the ordinary alongside the extraordinary.