Bag Replacement

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I bought a big black duffle bag at some point in college and it’s served me quite well. It’s nice and light which makes it great for checked baggage since anything over 50 pounds tends to get quite pricey and we’re traveling for quite a while. So, anyway seemed like a good choice and I thought it would survive one more adventure. Not so.

The shoulder strap had broken back in December and I never got around to fixing it, mostly because there were four other handles by which to schlep it around and that seemed like it would be plenty. We checked it into baggage claim on the train and had our ride down. When we got in to claim our bags Randi tried to pull it off by one of the handles and it ripped straight off. At this point we noticed that the matching handle on the other side hadn’t even survived the luggage handlers on the way down. Still two handles left, that should do…

Looking urban sheik with my backpack straps deployed meandering down the street near LAX

Suffice it to say by the time we got to the hotel there were no straps remaining and I had carried quite a bit in a bear hug. It seemed like it was time to find a new one that would last the rest of the trip. Staying near the airport it seemed as though this should be the mecca of luggage sales. Thought that wasn’t the case we did find a Kohl’s a bit over two miles away and trekked over to it. Thankfully, they had a pretty good selection in the store and we were able to find quite a suitable replacement. It’s a roller duffle and though it weighs more it’s quite versatile with various handles and backpack straps.

Thankfully, we had taken the early train and there was plenty of time in the afternoon to take care of this. Randi took care of that planning and kudos to her.

Pets Adjust To Their New Home

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I know a lot of pet lovers out there that worry about their pets. Sometimes pets seem like children. We worry about them; we want them to be well taken care of. We don’t want them to be sad or to miss us while we’re gone regardless of the time-span. So traveling for long periods of time can be stressful for pet owners.

The first thing to think about is who you trust with your pets and who would want to keep your pets for the length of your traveling. For us there was only one option: parents! I mean really, what other suckers will take in a dog (Cattle Dog) and cat (Crazy Cat) for 6 months and love them as they would their own. Luckily, we have been able to stay with my parents for more than a month to help with the adjustment.

This brings me to the zoo. My parents already have a dog (Big White Dog) and a cat (Old Man Cat). Bringing our pets into the mix has resulted in quite a few changes around the house.

1. The house erupts in barking whenever anyone thinks about walking near the house, a dog hears a strange noise, or someone knocks on the door. Cattle Dog isn’t used to barking at people outside windows, but she very willingly joins in the ruckus.

2. The cat food can no longer be kept on the floor. The Big White Dog is terrified of clanking sounds that dishes make, so it was safe to keep the Old Man Cat food in a little bowl on the tile floor. Big White Dog wouldn’t go within 5 feet of it. Cattle Dog, the newcomer, doesn’t have any qualms about noise so the food had to be moved.

3. Exercise needs to be coordinated. People cannot be outnumbered by dogs, especially not these dogs. Cattle Dog is a born herding dog. She will herd other dogs, people, bicycles, horses, cats, and really anything else that moves in an effort to exhibit how good her genetics are. She needs to be watched with at least two eyes.

4. Food no longer flows from the table into the Big White Dog’s mouth (much to her disappointment). Cattle Dog doesn’t get much human food and the small scraps she does get come from the kitchen. This has been the hardest adjustment for the parents. We keep telling them that those big brown eyes are lying.

5. Big White Dog has become much more active (although part of this might be the 20+ glucosamine pills she found on the floor, care of Crazy Cat knocking them off the shelf). The two dogs have become playmates; they may even become besties while we’re gone.

6. Old Man Cat is angry. He is set in his ways and doesn’t appreciate Cattle Dog’s herding efforts. He has taken up residence under the parents’ bed and sneaks outside under the cover of darkness. Hopefully he’ll join the rest of the family soon.

Here are some pictures to sum up the dogs’ behavior. Big White Dog sits and watches while Cattle Dog wants to play (always!).

Preparation: A Whole New Beast

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The longest trip away from home that I ever took lasted about 2 months. I don’t remember doing anything special. I stuffed all my clothes in a backpack and went. I didn’t have trip insurance, I didn’t look into special health care options, I didn’t cancel my mail or sell my car, I didn’t worry about how to get money, and I certainly didn’t try to learn any new languages. This trip is a whole new beast.

Below is an account of only some of the organizational things we have thought of in preparation for our trip:

Permanent residence: We do not own a house and I imagine there are very few reasons why someone would be compelled to maintain two rentals simultaneously. So we moved out of our rental house. Our nearest family lives in an adjacent state. Graciously, we were allowed to store the aftermath of our minimalist endeavors in their garage. We changed our permanent residence to match the location of our stuff. Some things we had to consider were: Change of addresses (U.S. Postal Service can be done online for a $1 fee and they will forward your mail for up to a year), driver’s licenses (A note from a family member confirming that we were actually moving in and two bills in their name seemed to be sufficient), voter registration (can be done at the DMV), and car registration (we decided that selling our cars would be a better option).

Health Insurance: It turns out that health insurance must match the state in which you are a permanent resident, so we had to make some changes. We enlisted the help of a health insurance agent who was certified through a variety of agencies. He was able to put together various quotes for different policies and look into policies that specialize in international travel (without any success). European health care is familiar with insurance companies in the United States, but we were told all bets were off in other areas of the world (i.e. the ones we’ll be visiting). We will probably have to pay up front for any medical care and file claims with our insurance later. We are currently looking into additional trip insurance with a medical evacuation rider in case we need to get back to the states in an emergency.

Money: ATM fees, international credit card fees, international bank fees? We are currently undecided as to the best and cheapest way to get our money abroad. We have been told from other reliable world travelers that getting as much cash out of an ATM at a time and doing this as infrequently as possible is a good way to keep a handle on fees. Also we’ve been told to avoid using credit cards because the fees are really high, although at this point it’s just hearsay. Also, if you are going to order currency prior to your trip you can do so through your local bank, but it could take up to two weeks for “unpopular” countries.

Again, these are just a few of the things that we’ve thought of before our trip. There are numerous other things that we have either thought of and dismissed, or haven’t thought of and will come back to haunt us in one way or another.

A step towards Minimalism

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This trip has really gotten all of us thinking about our possessions. Mostly about how we have so many of them. The separation of us from our possessions was a necessary part of our trip, but we’ve met the task with varying levels of enthusiasm. Miranda and I downsized from a three bedroom place to a one bedroom place. Along the way the reality is that there are plenty of family treasures and prized items, everything from trophies to stuffed animals to high school yearbooks, that have been sold, donated or discarded. Almost everything we decided to keep is now in storage and we’re living out of our car. (As an aside, pets take up a lot of space in a car.)

For me, the whole experience has been cathartic. It was hard identifying the cruft from items we really did need. We got more than a few cock-eyed looks as we sold and eventually junked tools that were perfectly good. When it comes down to it we don’t need 6 wrenches or pliers or screwdrivers that are all the same size. I found myself saying, on more than one occasion, “I know they’re good and I’m selling them anyway. Go ahead and take them if you really need them! Please!” I hate junking things but if no one needs them we’re wasting resources by carting them around.

I’m really enjoying having only a few possessions and, at least for the time being, not having a house. The only part I don’t like is that I don’t get to see much of the fruits of our labors because we’ve moved in with Miranda’s parents for a bit until we leave for Uruguay, so I can’t see the fruits (or lack of fruits) of our labor.

The next step in the process is probably the hardest and really the key to making the reduction worthwhile. That is not refilling our coffers with junk. Focussing on the closet for starters, there was a timely ad on patagonia.com‘s front page (related blog post). The cliff notes are: strive to reduce, repair, reuse and recycle in that order. First step, don’t buy stuff you don’t really need. Second, don’t buy stuff when you can repair the old item. Third, if you really want to get rid of it let someone else use it (eBay, donate, garage sale). Fourth and finally, recycle the old stuff and keep it out of the landfill. The take away for me is, now that I’ve downsized my wardrobe I want to make sure that I don’t grow it again for no reason. I get a lot of teasing for my attempts to perfect my wardrobe but at least any time I buy something I get rid of something else. In this way, I don’t tend to accumulate a whole lot of junk in a dresser or in a box stashed away for the one day I might want to use it (that day doesn’t tend to come anyway). I suppose, that puts me somewhere in the middle of reuse and recycle. I could do a little better there, but it’s a start.

Until next time, keep it simple.

TL;DR – Find and get rid of cruft. Don’t replace it. Rinse and Repeat with every facet of your life.

Our Journey Begins

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Our journey really started early one Saturday morning. We had already moved out of our house, secured our furniture and belongings in my mother-in-law’s garage, and dealt with all the associated paperwork. We loaded our car while it drizzled. The dog came willingly; the cat was probably saying F you. Luckily they are both fairly good travelers. The dog usually observes… everything! When she gets tired she lays her head on one of the front seats and observes. The cat just stays quiet. Whether this behavior is the result of complete terror or apathy is unknown, and frankly, it doesn’t matter.

Asa drove. We managed to avoid the pothole on the freeway in town that claimed my hub cap last week, but after that I don’t remember much until I woke up in Alabama thinking I must be going crazy because the clock only said 9:15 AM. Oh time changes. Asa and I fortified ourselves with a stop for Hardee’s breakfast, switched drivers, and soldiered on. We had a good laugh when we passed Chunky, Mississippi and had a good time trying to guess the equipment being hauled by big rigs. We crossed the Mississippi River in the late afternoon with the sky as blue as the river. At the day’s close we found ourselves 100 miles into Texas at a La Quinta and walking to a nearby mexican restaurant for dinner.

Day two started by scraping a thin layer of ice off the windows of the car and trying to figure out the most efficient way to put things back in the trunk. Our only goal for the day was to make it out of Texas; a formidable task when one starts the day at mile marker 556 and there’s still 200 miles on another highway to make it out of the state. Luckily, the speed limit was 80 mph. It’s not surprising, considering that there’s nothing there. We passed through Dallas and Fort Worth which were pretty much the end of civilization as we know it and the beginning of small run down towns with cars on poles advertising long defunct garages. Just outside El Paso and Ciudad Juarez we began to see Border Patrol everywhere. Going the opposite direction they stopped and searched every vehicle. Our day ended with a half hour of meowing from the cat (we didn’t blame her; being stuck in a car carrier for 12 + hours can’t be a fun experience) and a sign saying “Welcome to New Mexico”.

By day three we had no desire to get in the car again, let alone drive the entire day. Also, the weather threw us a curveball, or should I say some snow flurries and 35 mph winds. As luck and planning would have it, we managed to avoid traveling on Highway 40 through Flagstaff and Albuquerque, which received enough snow to close down parts of the highway. Asa managed to keep the car going in a straight line at a good clip, although passing some of those 18 wheelers was a bit hairy. We made it to Tuscon in time for lunch and continued on. We saw more cops on the road this day than we had seen in the last two, most of them in Arizona. Asa drove for most of the day in an effort to conquer some demons from his past. Two of his friends died in a car accident on Highway 10 between Pheonix and Indio a couple years ago. They will always be missed.

Day three ended at the only place (or what felt like the only place) in the Indio/Palm Desert/Palm Springs area that allows pets without charging an arm and a leg. We walked to get Italian food and then crashed in our hotel room watching “The Blind Side”.

Day four started unexpectedly early (4 AM early) with the cat knocking change off the table, jumping on and off the bed, and being generally annoying. We tried various ways of silencing her until we decided that it might just be a good idea to get up and get on the road before we went crazy. Unfortunately, no matter how early in the morning one tries to get through Los Angeles and it’s associated suburbs, one always gets stuck in traffic. We played a little freeway hopscotch with the help of Asa’s IPhone and the carpool lane and made it out of the chaos before 8 AM. We made it to our destination a bit earlier than expected; safe and sound, and very tired.