Getting ready

First thing we did after deciding to travel for an extended period of time was to start building up our savings. Our finances were already dialed into a lifestyle where traveling had top priority, so it only required small adjustments to optimize our effort.

Initially we expected self imposed responsibilities would prevent us from leaving within the next 5-10 years. For that reason we didn’t go all in on saving up and continued to travel as usual.

Early in the planning phase we decided to get rid of most of our belongings prior to departure. That included selling our house. The reason to sell everything wasn’t to boost our travel savings, but rather because we wanted to be completely free and have the opportunity to begin anew when we decide to settle down again. Our intention is to use the money from the house as a foundation to build a new life when the time comes.

In 2020, much earlier than expected, we were suddenly free of the responsibilities that had prevented us from leaving Denmark. As a result we stepped up our savings and started to prepare and plan for the journey in earnest.

We decided to start the journey in North America. Previous visits to the US and Canada had whetted our appetite. There are numerous exciting areas to explore and abbreviations like BDR, TAT and TCAT made us drool. Besides that we have several friends across the continent we would love to visit.

The Corona virus reinforced our decision to start out in the US, as it would allow the pandemic to further run its course and hopefully make overland travel easier before we head into more challenging parts of the world.

As part of our preparations we created a travel chart which consisted of 3 parts: A packing list, a shopping list and a time schedule/to-do list.

A Packing List

With experience from previous month long motorcycle journeys, we didn’t start with a clean sheet. We like to travel relatively light, but at the same time we needed to bring everything to live indefinitely in a variety of conditions. It was a fun and interesting exercise to boil down our belongings to the bare essentials that would allow us to live comfortable as motorcycle nomads.

A Shopping List

Even though we already had most of the gear needed for the trip and were very conscious about not wasting money on unnecessary stuff, there were things that we decided to add, upgrade or optimize, namely riding gear, tools and electronics.

A Time Schedule/to-do List

We set a specific goal for our savings that would determine when to depart, and worked out a time schedule to make sure that we were ready to leave when we reached that goal.

We had to decide when to put the house, bikes, cars and everything else up for sale in order to make sure it was all gone prior to departure. Sort out issues related to health, insurances and finances. Apply for visas, renew passports, driver licenses etc.

It’s no simple feat to leave your old life behind.

We enjoyed the whole, albeit at times challenging, process. It gradually changed our perspective on many things and helped us mentally prepare for the journey.