Preparing My Business to Travel the World for a Year - Part 2

THE WISDOM OF EXPERIENCE
Thankfully, the upcoming 2019-2020 Year of World Travel will not be my first rodeo (curious how I did it the first time?)  The places we'll be based for an extended time (Shanghai & Paris) are also places I'm comfortable navigating on my own, despite still not fully understanding the local language without some help.  What IS different this time is that I don't yet have permission to work in any of the countries I'll be traveling in.  Now, this could change if the Chinese or French government find my skills valuable enough to grant me a special working talent VISA, but I can't count on that.  This means that any work I do will need to happen with online clients, rather than with local clients.



HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DID I BEGIN PREPARING?
Technically, you could say I started preparing at the end of 2017 with my announcement of retiring from photography.  I loved my recurring clients in NYC, but knew that in order for me to grow new projects and business models in 2018 to help support a full year of traveling in 2019-2020, my recurring photography clients were going to be much better finding a new photographer sooner than if I were to continue working together through 2019 and still had projects to wrap up or deliver while traveling.  Retiring from photography, rather than just putting clients on hold for a year, made it easier to stop continuing some of my ongoing services and business bills like online photo gallery hosting, upgrades of expensive equipment, client management services, post-production services, and other ongoing expenses that I kept going the first time I traveled extensively with the possibility of doing photography work overseas, but aren't as necessary for different business models.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED FROM PREVIOUS TRAVELS
Email delivery is slow and inconsistent at best while in China.  Everything feels like it's going through a tiny bandwidth strainer of a connection, even while using a VPN service.  Attempting to do Skype or streaming video communication is frustrating at best, and often cuts out or requires people to repeat themselves multiple times.  Sometimes download speeds will be fine, but upload speeds will be dramatically slower.  The connection at NYU Shanghai and on Eduroam is one of the better options for international communication, but even then, there are are still challenges when pairing up personal connections to people in other parts of the world.

ASYNCHRONOUSITY
Having these previous experiences, I knew that if I were going to do any kind of work online while traveling this time, it would need to be ASYNCHRONOUS work.  Only work that could be uploaded and delivered to a central service like Amazon or Dropbox with just a basic link sent via email was going to deliver a good client experience.  Attempting to send attachments may not go through, or may prevent the email from being sent at all.

Ironically, certain social media sites and uploads still appear to work well, but sometimes they will take an entire night to upload.  So, sometimes it may APPEAR like the internet is working just fine, even when it's frustrating on the sending end to actually get everything up and online.  All of that is to say, asynchronous work and a generous deadline is the key factor when working online from other countries.  You can't do high pressure tight deadlines for online delivery when you're traveling, it's just a recipe for disaster and disappointent if you want to keep a high professional standard of working with clients online.  Some social media channels will make it seem flawless, but those are the times when it actually works, and is not reflective of all the times it doesn't actually work.

So what the heck am I going to do if I have to go from being an in-person service business to working asynchronously?!

BOOK
I'd been wanting to write the Pricing Workbook for Creatives for a long time, but working as a full-time photographer really only left me time to occasionally write business advice posts on PhotoLovecat.  Retiring from photography finally gave me the headspace and time I needed to put all of my pricing and consulting experience into a format that other people could use as a DIY method for their own creative businesses.  However, when I looked at what expected sales might be for the first year of publishing any book, and I saw how niche the market was for this workbook, I also curbed my enthusiasm about book sales resulting in any kind of significant income.  I knew I needed to publish the book regardless of anticipated sales numbers, and thankfully was able to complete the book in 2018 despite traveling over half of that year.  I sacrificed a lot of income and opportunities to save in 2018, but it was one of those years where I knew the 5 steps backward will eventually become 15 steps forward.  If nothing else, at least 15 years of working for myself has taught me that calculated risks really do pay off in the long run.

I do plan to write more as I travel, and not having the regular demands of in-person clients should also give me more head-space to write.  I have at least two more books in my head around my creative journey as well as my reiki journey, so we'll see what happens over the next year with regard to creating more books.  In the end, books can lead to other things that generate more revenue than the books themselves, so it will be interesting to see how that all unfolds and what people actually end up valuing the most.  This is also why multiple income streams is important as a creative or as a freelancer- we just can't rely on one offering to do all the heavy income lifting for us.

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY
I've had stock photography online for a while.  Not a ton of it, and nothing that's all that great, because I don't put work I could sell at a higher rate on a micro stock website, but sometimes it actually delivers some surprising moments of income at just the right time when I need it.  I'll likely be uploading some travel photos along the way to be used as stock, but since internet speeds are sometimes throttled, this process can occasionally be more frustrating than it's worth.  I've also learned that I don't need a professional camera to sell stock photography.  High quality iPhone photos have been accepted by multiple stock image sites, and sold for use in commercial projects.  If you think your equipment or lack of experience is stopping you, it really isn't.  A good photo is a good photo no matter where or who it comes from.  If you're interested in uploading micro-stock, the current general consensus is that Shutterstock has the best return for photographers.

FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
I have the capacity to create more fine art photography and sell it online with services that produce fine art products for clients and drop ship anywhere in the world.  Whether or not I actually do this is again something that is often curbed by my own patience to deal with the upload speeds I encounter wherever I travel.  Fine art sales are never automatic or without work.  They still require marketing and sales and knowing what your buyers find most valuable when they could just go and take their own photos.  Working as a commercial photographer often meant I resisted getting into fine art photography work, just because it's a totally different business model and I didn't want to have to manage a ton of different business models or marketing methods.  Who knows, maybe my passion to create fine art will return now that I'm not doing commercial work anymore.  However, I'm really liking being super lazy with my compositions and images right now since they are mainly just for personal memories.  Art can come with a lot of pressure for perfection, and while I'm picky enough to do great commercial work, I also enjoy laziness enough to not care so much when it's just my personal work.  If you're looking for an international drop-shipped fine art option with a variety of licensing and permission controls, check out Fine Art America.

FREELANCE WRITING
This has been an unexpected development and addition to my workload in the last year that I didn't plan on doing, but kind of landed in my lap.  It makes sense.  I'm always writing long-ass posts on instagram and long-ass descriptive, thoughtful, or instructional blogs.  I guess it was bound to happen sometime, and thank goodness I was able to get some commercial and business experience writing in 2018 so I could get a better sense of what it requires of me with regard to time and environmental head space if I'm going to do writing work on deadline while traveling.  Writing is definitely the easiest type of creative work to deliver from another country, especially when the formatting and layout really only requires paragraph breaks or small font alterations to be useable in other commercial contexts.  I see how travel writing is extremely appealing to people, but also very important to monetize properly in order to not starve or go broke while traveling.  My commercial writing gigs so far have been personal connections with business owners who want to increase their SEO online through relevant content that I'm comfortable writing about, and I'm probably more comfortable in the business writing space than in the storytelling narrative space.  If you're considering a freelance gig, one of the most popular freelancing sites currently is Upwork.

DISTANCE HEALING WORK
This was something I had a chance to test last year while I was in Shanghai for a period of time.  I tested the upload speed of images and audio, as well as what would and wouldn't go through easily over email.  With some extra patience around upload timing and retries on sending emails, I was able to make sure the work I did was delivered properly and on deadline.  Most of the time I could do energy work with the permission and payment given up front by the client, even if I was doing the work while they were asleep in an opposite time zone, but I did run into two occasions when I needed to have some synchronicity and get a second round of permissions from the client before I could do any energy work, so it works for some people asynchronously, but some clients still require synchronicity based on their energy protection practices.

I was able to combine my medical intuition and distance reiki into an intuitive type of distance healing reading that allowed me to look at the energetic systems of the body, mind, and spirit and deliver hand-drawn images and audio walk-through recommendations to help clients tune in more deeply to their energetic self-care and soul-needs.  It's still crazy to me that distance healing is a thing that can be done with relative accuracy, but so far each client has found it to be very relevant, insightful, and helpful for their healing journey, so I keep trusting in the process and allowing the work to unfold on its own.  Pushing my own skepticism out of the way is often the hardest part of the process!  Most clients have found me through word-of-mouth and personal referral (which I prefer for healing work), but Thumbtack has also delivered some leads who were willing to work online or over video conferencing.

AFFILIATE REVENUE
Currently, I don't do much to promote affiliate revenue or content, but I do have an Affiliate Account with Amazon for the products, books, and other things that I recommend along the way.  Even so, I often forget to grab the referral link or build an influencer page of things that go together, but it's there, it's something small, and I can definitely make better use of it along the way.

The options above are ones that I already have in place and have *some* experience with, though admittedly, I have not invested heavily in those directions while running an in-person service business or been focused on writing a book.  The options below are additional ones that I'm considering for the year ahead, depending on how much time I can invest between travels to develop new things... 

AUDIO/VIDEO DOWNLOADS
I have a series of meditations that I've been working on and have considered putting into an album or making available on iTunes or some other downloadable content platform.  I have barely spent any time in this direction because as you can see, I already have a lot of outlets I can focus on, however, it's still a possibility that I can see ahead of me.

TEACHING ONLINE
Unlike consulting, which requires more synchronous communication, teaching online with content that then can be uploaded and then commented on asynchronously with written posts or video recordings is a bit easier to manage when the internet connections aren't cooperating.  Creating something that can be delivered online but doesn't require synchronicity is really the key, and helps prevent a lot of communication failures and issues around audio quality dropping out or failing.  So, perhaps I'll be doing a bit of that as well to help people navigate various parts of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  I don't have a dedicated plan for this yet, but perhaps as feedback from the Pricing Workbook starts to come in, I'll be inspired and motivated to create additional helpful content for the workbook.  I've considered a lot of different online teaching platforms, but also love the simplicity of a simple online payment and email delivery program.  Why make things more complicated or expensive than they need to be?

RESEARCH WORK
Things that require basic website research are still easy to do and deliver online, as long as access is still available over a VPN connection to all of the appropriate websites.  I've done quite a bit of research work in the last year that has spanned everything from market research around digital learning strategies to researching one hundred years of home history for a friend who bought an old home that had some lingering energy inside.  I've also done a lot of ancestry research work for my family that just requires a ton of time spent looking for and sleuthing out the right resources between various libraries and online access points.  I never really considered myself a researcher, but  it's something I've become quite good at doing despite my inability to sustain focus for very long while reading.  Research searches can actually be enhanced by an intuitive and broad meandering approach, so sometimes it delivers me things that more methodical people might miss out on.  The key with this type of work is always finding the right people who will value it and pay for it since it's so time and resource intensive.

VIRTUAL ASSISTING
I share this one for the 20 year old me who would have probably preferred this option over some other jobs I did in college.  There are plenty of companies that will trade your time and administrative skill for dollars, which is fine when you're getting started and have time to spare, but at this point for me, if it's not top billing, I'm probably not going to do it.  However, for someone in their 20's or early career 30's who wants freedom and doesn't have large expenses, this would certainly be a viable option if you have a solid internet connection when you're traveling.  Like I mentioned earlier, it would need to be OK to do the work asynchronously and on an extended timeline.  Travel and tight deadlines don't go together well.

HUSTLE SMARTLY
Everything else that I might do while traveling will likely come from just being a savvy business person who sees opportunities, needs, and matches them with what I can offer.  Smart hustle doesn't mean working every day or all the time.  It means making the most of whatever opportunity is presented and taking advantage of resources in smart and creative ways.  I find that this is just a good life skill in general for people who desire to travel frequently.  Being able to identify opportunities as you go, rather than relying on everything being the way you've planned in advance, is ultimately the difference between traveling well and ending up stuck in a bad spot.

One last thing that seems important to mention...

TRAVEL TOGETHER
I've traveled plenty of places solo, and it's far more fun to travel with people I love and enjoy spending time with.  Not only do you watch out for each other, but you can also share resources that can make travel easier or more affordable.  Even during just a short trip in Sedona recently, my friends and I shared a house, a car, and even some massively portioned meals.  All easy ways to save money that make travel more fun, entertaining, and memorable.

I'll be traveling most of the 2019-2020 year with my husband, and he's done a ton of leg work on setting up places for us to stay that I would otherwise need to figure out on my own if he weren't on top of it.  He's also the picky one when it comes to accommodations, so it's just better that he picks it anyway.  I'm perfectly happy sleeping in the back of a van, and that's definitely not the case for him!

I think it's also important to travel with people who can operate independently when one or both of you need some alone time.  Inevitably you'll have bad days, and being able to feel comfortable alone is a good way to reset in those travel days.  It's nice to have flexibility and independence even when traveling together so that every day isn't a 24/7 relationship with one other person.  No matter how much you love them, a little alone time can be good for everyone, just as traveling together can make some amazing memories.

Has this series been helpful for you?  Do you have any extra questions?  Add a comment and let me know!

Preparing My Business to Travel the World for a Year - Part 1

"I WISH I COULD DO THAT"
Many people talk about how jealous they are when other people travel, but when it comes down to it, very few people really want to give up their comfortable surroundings and routines in order to travel for any extended time.  Traveling the world regularly means not having a predictable bed, or predictable internet connection, or predictable phone service, or predictable shower pressure, or predictable food, or really any form of predictability.

Certainly there are hotel chains that have branded themselves on providing a level of predictability for travelers who desire particular comforts, but unless you're planning to spend $300-$500/night, you're probably not staying in those hotels while you travel.  On a personal level, I find that kind of predictability while traveling to be boring.  If I want boring, I'll just stay home.  Predictability in accommodation removes the cultural quirks and hospitality differences that come from staying in locally owned and operated places.  High-end predictable hotels may also prevent against certain language barriers or health standards, so there are some trade offs, however I've always found the rewards to be far greater than the risks when it comes to personal travel.  I will say that work travel, which has less flexibility, does benefit from greater predictability and fewer unknowns.  Personal travel, however, is often enhanced by going more local.



OWNING OUR CHOICES
I think people who say they wish they could travel more mistakenly give the company they work for far too much power over their personal lives.  Every 3 day weekend is a chance to travel.  Even while running my own business, I have fallen into the trap of thinking I could never give up all of my business activities and clients just to take off and travel, but actually, even that is possible.  It just requires saving, planning, letting go, and confidence in our personal tenacity to find other gigs and more clients when we return, or to change our business model to allow for more extended travel.

Nothing is permanent or guaranteed anyway, yet we often act as if it is, and cling to the idea that changes will lead to disaster.  Leaving what is familiar can lead to greater freedom, more opportunities, and a bigger outlook on life.  People who make more changes over their life often learn to develop greater confidence that everything will work out for the best versus people who stay stuck in fear and hesitate to make any changes.  All the more reason to get out and travel, minimize your life to a suitcase, and figure out what you really need to be happy no matter where you are.

So, how did I travel the world before as an independent business owner the first time, and how am I doing it differently this time?

TRAVELING THE WORLD AS A BUSINESS OWNER
This has been the most challenging part of attempting to leave for a year, primarily because my business has long been an in-person, service-based business, and revenue is made by showing up in person.  I love the personal nature of being a service-based business and working with people in person, but the reality of extended world travel means preparing clients for the change well ahead of time, as well as considering an entirely different business model that makes it possible to operate in a different way when there's a continual need for income while traveling.  The decisions around which services to keep on board and which ones to let go of while traveling is always a bit stressful to sort out, so I'll share what I did the last time I traveled, and may need a different post for how I'm changing things up this time...


2012 TRAVELING THE WORLD AS A PHOTOGRAPHER & BUSINESS CONSULTANT
I actually did not intend to work that much locally.  I had a few business consulting clients in the United States that would keep me afloat even though we had to meet on opposite time zones.  I acquired those business consulting clients through a series of workshops I'd done the year before.  However, I only lasted one month of being in pure vacation mode before I WANTED to start working more.  There were only so many museums and markets I could visit before I wanted to explore Australian culture more deeply through working with locals on projects.  So, I did some networking and picked up several commercial headshot projects as a photographer and began freelance contract work as an Airbnb photographer.  Originally I thought I might just assist local photographers, but that didn't pan out as I'd hoped, so being able to see other opportunities outside of the original ones I'd planned was important to working locally.

Thankfully, I had the good fortune of being able to work in Australia, due to the spousal working VISA I received while Alex was hosted on sabbatical by a university in Australia.  This allowed me not to rethink what type of business or service I could provide while traveling, since I could do some work locally under the same business model I already knew well.  This arrangement is different than being hired by US Citizens in US Currency and flying abroad for work.  This was legally working with Australian citizens and AUD currency while being an American overseas.  In order to do this without the spousal VISA with working permissions, I would have needed a company to sponsor me and prove that I was more qualified than the Australians they could find locally.  VISA restrictions limited how much money I could make and how much work I could do in Australia, but being able to pick up work in Australian currency helped a lot during a year when the US Dollar was at a very low exchange point compared to the Australian Dollar.  Otherwise, I would have continued to market myself to United States based clients rather than attempting to work locally.


WHAT I LET GO OF BEFORE I LEFT...
I started planning my business changes for the 2012 trip about a year in advance.  I had a photography studio, assistants, second shooters, outsourcing contractors, interns, and lots of bills associated with keeping the business running.  I had to decide what parts of the business I could narrow down for an entire year so that I could reduce my recurring business expenses while keeping everything that would be essential to have when I returned to hit the ground running quickly again.  Here's what I chose to do at that time, and why I made those choices...

• Ended my photography studio lease.  I actually tried to find someone to sublet from me for quite a few months so that I wouldn't need to move out.  However, after not finding someone else to take it over for me and having some weird issues with the leasing agent that reduced my confidence in leaving anything in the studio for a year, I decided that ending the lease would be the best course of action in order to reduce the risks that came with subletting the studio.
• Sold many of my photography studio props and furnishings.   These were mainly just trendy things that had been purchased for special photo shoots or decorative purposes and often needed replacing and updating regularly anyway.  I knew I could just get more if I needed more upon returning.  Nothing felt so valuable that I wanted to pay for it to be stored for a year.
• Stored extra photography equipment.  I stored the most expensive and valuable photography equipment I wasn't going to take with me, but only if I didn't think that it would need to be replaced after a year of storage or a year of travels.
• Sold the equipment that would need to be replaced in a year anyway.  When you're deeply familiar with the lifecycles of your business equipment, it becomes real obvious which pieces do well in storage and which ones don't.  Certain electronics just have terrible lifelines whether they are used or not, and it's often better to sell them or let them go before they die and are worthless to you and anyone else.
• Assistants, Outsourcing Contractors, Second Photographers.  If I could have taken all my people with me, I would have.  I had to risk that these people would no longer be available when I returned.  This was probably the hardest thing to let go because finding good people is never an easy or effortless task.
• Recurring Local Clients.  This was also super hard to let go of, but to make it easier, I connected these clients with a perfect photographer to fill my place while I was away.  Luckily for me, he ended up moving to a new place when I returned, so I was able to work with all of my local clients again when he went onto a new place!  That's highly unusual and relieved me of so much pressure to build my network from scratch again.  However, I also think that because I had built such a great reputation and working arrangement for my recurring clients that everyone was happy to have me back, and may have still given me work even with someone else already filling my place.  This really demonstrates the power of great client relationships.

WHAT I HELD ONTO...

• Website & Domain Services.  These were going to continue to be essential costs while I was traveling, especially if I was going to market myself as a photographer overseas.  Luckily they weren't that expensive and I was able to pay for the full year well in advance.
• Photo Proofing Service.  At the time, I paid separately for my photo proofing service.  Actually, I may have been receiving it for free since I was serving as a local community manager at the time, so it may not have been as expensive as it normally would have been if I'd not taken on that role.  I continued to help support local community engagement even while traveling, so it was a worthwhile trade-off.  Unfortunately, internet connections in Australia were much slower than the ones I was used to in the USA, so I found online proofing to be a waste of time while I was traveling.  It was far faster to return to a commercial office and just proof the images with the clients in person rather than doing online proofing & delivery.
• Business Phone Number.  I really didn't need to keep this expense since everyone could have reached me on Skype or through email, however, I did it as a convenience to my USA clients who had outstanding projects they needed to continue collaborating on.  I think I maybe used my business phone number once or twice over 8 months, but keeping the same phone number was also important to me for marketing purposes when I returned, so I continued to pay for it.
• Took basic photo and editing equipment with me.  I didn't plan to take all of my working photography gear with me- as that would be a bigger travel liability and make it more difficult to travel lightly.  So, I took the most basic set of equipment that I'd need for commercial and portrait work, or to be a second photographer for someone else.  I figured I could rent or borrow anything else I'd need, or find creative solutions that come with being lean.
• Cell Phone Number.  I've basically had the same cell phone number for over a decade, so it would be a total pain to lose it and change everything, no matter how tempting it is with the onslaught of marketing calls that mean nothing.  Cell phone companies let you go on a basic maintenance plan when you don't need your phone, but it's still a recurring bill.
• International Credit Cards.  Traveling internationally is much easier when there are international credit options available, so keeping those credit lines open and available was important for safety and security as a "just in case" option.
• Consulting Clients.  These clients were still easy to serve at distance, even if it meant really early mornings or really late evening while on opposites sides of the world.  There were times when the audio and video quality didn't create a good consulting experience, but I also offered more grace and time for those delays not to get in the way of the actual work that needed to be done together, and I think my clients appreciated that too.

... In the next post, I'll share how I'm preparing my current business as a Consultant, Author, & Reiki Teacher for traveling the world!  

Have any questions?  Did you see the post about how I prepared my home and personal belongings for traveling?  Did I leave anything out?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Preparing My Home to Travel the World for a Year

Perhaps you've seen me drop hints elsewhere online about the ways I'm preparing to travel the world again.  I don't know if I ever fully wrote about this the last time it happened back in 2012, so I might as well write about it now, since there are a lot of questions that go into planning for extended travel.

The most essential things to deal with are actually not the travel arrangements, but the everyday stuff of life like a home, bills, utilities, phone, furnishings, plants, equipment, etc.  So here's how we're dealing with these things and getting everything ready before we leave...

HOME

We're subletting our place, fully furnished, for the entire year that we'll be traveling.  This feels better than paying for it to sit unoccupied and unused.  We first reached out to friends and colleagues to see if anyone wanted to live in our NYC apartment for a year.  When that didn't yield any solid commitments, we then reached out to a local sublet message board online and found our ideal subletter there.  We received 100 emails within 48 hours (it's a prime rate and location in NYC).  We hosted an open house so we could meet people who might use our stuff.  30 people showed up.  I gave them a form to fill out that listed all the arrangements we wanted to make clear.  We found 6 stellar candidates we'd trust and ended up picking one that felt like the best fit.  Freeing up this monthly payment obligation makes it easier to pay for accommodations and expenses while traveling.

FURNISHINGS
Nothing in our home is so precious it can't be replaced.  If it was, we'd store it.  We travel so much that we've designed our lives around having the basics as needed but nothing so precious that other people can't use them.  Renters insurance is there in case anything catastrophic happens.  This makes it easier to share our home with others and not really worry about what might happen.

UTILITIES
We made an arrangement with our sublet to keep all of the same internet and utility services and even the same cleaner so that nothing needs to be shut off, cancelled, or transferred to another name.  All the bills will continued to be paid as part of the sublet agreement and keeping the same cleaner means being able to return to a home at the same standard of cleanliness that we appreciate.

PLANTS
We're leaving the plants.  Plants are replaceable, even if they have been with us for a long time.

FINANCIAL STUFF
Making sure all accounts can be managed online is important.  Making sure there's access to accounts internationally is important.  Making sure we know the fees associated with international transactions is important.  Thankfully almost all accounts and financial transactions can be managed online.  We have yet to encounter any country that does not provide easy access cash through ATMs.  We often get cash from an internationally serving ATM in the airport after landing in a country so that we have local currency before we leave the airport.  Fees for local ATM currency are usually lower than using exchange services.

MAIL
When we're gone for more than 12months, it's no longer a temporary Change of Address, it's more of a Permanent Change of Address.  We have a family member who has agreed to receive our mail and become our Permanent Address while we're away.  We'll likely be back to the states once over the course of a year and we'll definitely be visiting our family during that time, so this is what makes the most sense.  Since important accounts are managed securely online- most of the mail isn't really important anymore.

CAR
We don't own one in Manhattan.  We got rid of the one we had after four months of living here.  However, when we had a car we wanted to keep the last time we left for months of world travels, a family member gracious let us park the car at their place while we were away.  We offered to let them use it as well as a second car if they wanted to insure it, but they didn't.  We could have stored it in a storage facility or parking garage too as an alternative option.

PASSPORT / VISAS
We're making sure we have all of the important VISAs we need before leaving the country.  This is exponentially harder to take care of while you're traveling, especially if it requires mailing or sending your VISA somewhere else while you're in a foreign country.  We make photo copies of our passports and VISAS to keep in various places, and with family members, just in case anything happens.  When a VISA isn't needed, but we're in one place for an extended time, it's also good to register a residency address with the consulate just in case anything crazy happens.

IMMUNIZATION
Before going to a country, we look to see if there are any local health or safety issues currently happening in the country.  However, I don't think our country is any better half of the time, because other countries give their travelers hefty warnings about the weapons issues and diseases they may encounter while arriving in the USA.  It's not like our issues aren't a serious concern when you compare our disease and homicide records relative to other countries.  Water bacteria and tap drinking quality is generally the biggest caution to watch out for to avoid travel days lost to heavy illness.

PETS
We don't have any.  If we did, we would likely ask friends or family if they could foster for a year.  Travel is hard on pets- and needing to find good vet care when a pet eats something unpredictable while traveling is even harder.

KIDS
We don't have any.  If we did, we would absolutely take them with us for the adventure and experience!  Diplomats and military have to deal with this all the time, so they have more resources around using international schools and finding alternative schooling opportunities.

TRAVEL CALENDAR
We're planning to have at least one designated person in our home country that can access our travel itinerary information online just in case there are any issues and a consulate needs an emergency contact to speak with.

Think I'm forgetting anything with regard to leaving a home you'll want to come back to at some point?  Have any lingering questions?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Have a business you need to deal with?  Check out How I Prepared My Business to Travel the World.