Nomad Preparation

1. Food: Use up or donate food in your refrigerator and freezer so you can turn off that appliance. Use up or donate the food in your pantry that could expire before your return.

2. Subscriptions: While you may choose to access some streaming subscriptions while you are traveling, others need to be cancelled or placed on vacation mode. In our case, we had streaming subscriptions tied to our Verizon phone plan. When we cancelled our phone plan, we had to cancel and change the streamlining subscriptions paid by Verizon.

3. Banking: research the international fees associated with your debit and credit cards. Your international transactions should be made with low or no fee cards. Acquire numeric pin numbers for these banking cards. In some cases you will need to order those pin numbers.

4. Identity: Check the expiration of all your important documents (passport, driver’s license, credit cards, bank cards, etc.). Update your documents and freeze credit card accounts to protect your identity.

5. Credit: Agencies have made it easier to freeze your credit. Unless you are planning to buy a vacation house when you are on vacation, freezing your credit is a good peace-of-mind action.

6. Stuff: This is a good time to down-size things you won’t need during your trip or afterward. We sold or gave away many things including our second car, trailer, second house, extra furniture, unused kayak, exercise bike, and food.

7. Utility Services: Most people want to have a cell service while they are gone, this might mean closing accounts you have had for decades. Other services you might turn off could include your internet, cable, electricity, trash, water, housekeeping, home/car insurance, delivery services, shopping, etc. Some services have a deactivation/reactivation fee(s), so see if yours do, and simply turning it off yourself, (water main, gas main etc) may be cheaper and easier.

8. Memberships: Check the expiration of any memberships and update those you can. Gym or other community memberships will need to be put on vacation holds or closed entirely. We closed our gym membership permanently.

9. Mail: Management of your mail service requires you to choose a vacation hold, asking friends/family to collect your mail, or pay for a professional service. In this category, you will also want to turn off as much of your paper mail as possible. Opt-in for electronic statements from all your accounts.

10. Medical Needs: While at home, you want to visit your doctors and notify them of your travel plans. Get up-to-date prescriptions (teeth, eyes, medical, or other) and make arrangements for annual check-ups you might miss. Work with the provider to get paper copies of all your prescriptions as well as enough supply to get you to your next destination.

11. Taxes: Plan for the completion of your annual taxes. Our year is scheduled from March to March, and therefore, we were able to complete taxes before we went and after we return.

12 People: Your friends and loved ones will want to spend time with you before you leave. Make sure you get their phone numbers, physical addresses, and/or media connections to stay in contact. Then, get your calendar ready because you will feel like the belle-of-the-ball as everyone schedules quality time with you then hugs you good-bye.

Do you wonder what we had to do to prepare for living abroad during long-term travel? Have you listened to Nomad travels who “sold everything” and left the USA and questioned how they got started. Some people make it sound so easy and might need to be done in stages. Here is a checklist to help you begin to understand the nuances of nomad preparation.