We have been traveling for more than a month and I knew we would have to jump over hurdles every now and again. I was correct. I read numerous books, blogs, articles about RTW travel with families and felt fairly prepared for what lay ahead.
I am a natural controller and worrier. I know, yay for me. One of the reasons why I wanted to embark on such an epic adventure was to refine this part of my personality. I knew that it would give me ample opportunities to practice patience and trust and to “let it go”.
It’s always easy to see the good (thanks Instagram) part of peoples travels. This world is incredibly beautiful and diverse!! The good is so dang good; spending so much time together, experiencing new cultures, customs, food, landmarks, etc. Seeing your family adapt and engage with others. It’s been better than I expected to be quite honest.
Also, something VERY interesting happened within the first couple weeks of travel. Those “things” that cause conflict MUST be dealt with and pronto! Life is busy at home and kids take up so much time that these “things” don’t seem so intense. BUT, when together 24/7 and traveling, they become HUGE! I HATE confrontation, hate it. Dan has taught me that confrontation, in a loving way, is love. Well, we confronted a couple issues that have caused tension for years. It was hard but so, so good for all of us. Thank you long term travel!
Of course, you see the good but I want to peel back the layer a bit and hopefully encourage and enlighten those of you wanting to travel RTW one day. There are challenges along the way (and we will surely have more to come) but I thought I’d share our “bad” with you to give you a clearer picture because life is not always rainbows and palm trees….instagram lies sometimes and/or omits when convenient.
-On the third day of travel, I received an email that our bank account was compromised. A few phone calls later, we learned the email was bogus! Our account wasn’t compromised and the sender was looking for passwords and such. We are fairly savvy to this kind of thing but I tell you, when you are miles away from home and need money to travel and the email looked legit, you worry.
-My email account was blocked. Thank goodness, I could receive emails via my iphone but all my saved folders in my email account on my ipad were gone. These were folders containing ALL confirmation numbers for hotel, airfare and visas. Thank goodness I made several hard copies of the information. I highly recommend you ALWAYS bring hard copies of your itinerary and confirmation numbers. I am an organizational nerd and I was never happier about that fact when this happened.
-When checking in at Christchurch, NZ for our flight to Sydney, AU, they had no confirmation that I applied for my visa to enter the country. Dan and the kids were fine but I was not. Thank goodness we always arrive early because it took about an hour to resolve this issue. They ended up having to call Australia’s immigration to clear me.
-Again with my bank, my password was compromised and I spent a couple hours online resetting it because my calls were getting dropped while trying to do it over the cell phone. I hate this kind of thing and typically think of the worst case scenario.
-Lastly, Dan got sick in Bali (but feels better now) and Sophie is currently sick.
I hope this gives you a better picture of life on the road. It’s life and it’s always going to throw you a curve ball and it is our CHOICE to CHOOSE the attitude in which we will handle it.
**Good news, I now have access to email on my ipad along with all my saved folders!! Woot woot!
Curious Travelers 