Preparing to Launch: T-minus 2 weeks

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We’ve only got two weeks to go until our travels start.  For the last four weeks I’ve been interviewing other soon to be travellers to get their perspective on the planning process.

Last week I spoke to Jack and Jill about Post-Its, Voldemort and Lady Gaga.  This week I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Matt from 1 Year Sabbatical:

I’ve really enjoyed reading about your impending adventure as it’s relatively unique in the travel blogging world.  Give us a quick introduction to what 1yearSabbatical is all about.

Matt, 1 Year Sabbatical

I originally started 1 Year Sabbatical as a way to chronicle our family adventure in taking a year career break and moving to Indonesia (my wife’s home country). As our planning has evolved and the site has grown I’ve realized there are a lot of families out there who are either planning to do similar things or are already out there doing it. My vision for the blog now is to provide information for families to help them plan their own sabbaticals, career breaks or long term travel goals.

Now, you’re the first of my interviewees to be undertaking such a challenge with kids in tow. How excited are Zachary and Joseph about the trip? And how much extra planning is required to make sure they stay happy while you’re away?

Embarking on a year abroad with kids definitely adds additional layers of challenges. We definitely have a few concerns about how our kids will react to living in a different culture, being home schooled and basically uprooted from all that they have known. Both of our kids have different levels of excitement and reactions when we talk about the move. Zachary is the oldest and he’s actually been to Indonesia once before when he was 3 (he’s now 8). He’s probably been the hardest to convince that this will be an exciting adventure for him. We try and include him in the planning process as much as possible so he feels that he has a role in everything that is going on and the changes we are making and that has helped a bit. Our youngest Joseph is so easy going that he’s totally excited about the move. As long as he can take his Wii games with him he’s happy. I think our kid’s ages (8 and 5) are perfect to embark on this journey as they haven’t really developed that attachment to school and friends at school. I’m hoping they adapt to their new environment quickly and I think they will.

There is a bit of extra planning required with kids. Two of our biggest concerns are immunizations and schooling. We’ll get the kids all updated on their immunizations here in the US before we leave by taking advantage of my works insurance. We definitely want them to stay healthy and happy. And we plan to home school our kids in Indonesia which has required us to do a bit of research into what the laws in our State are for home schooling and even how we as parents go about it. We do have the option of putting them in a local Indonesian school as they both hold dual citizenship. We considered International schools until we saw the cost. We’re trying to do this all on a shoestring budget so it just wasn’t an option.

What three things are you most looking forward to when you’re away?

I’d say not having a regular schedule that I have to keep. Currently life is so regimental and planned out that it will be nice to not have a schedule and be able to be more spontaneous and able to dedicate more time to my love of photography. I’m also looking forward to being able to spend more time with my family and interact more with my kids. Finally I’m most looking forward to experiencing the Indonesian culture from the people to the food. It’s going to be an incredible live changing adventure.

Is there any part of you that worries that you won’t want to go back home at the end of your year? If not, what other fears are bothering you at this point?

I do fear that this adventure will be so life changing that not only will I not want to go back but I won’t be able to go back. I think secretly part of me hopes this will be the case. And maybe that will be the motivation I need to find other ways of making a living. There certainly are a lot of opportunities out there. It’s all a matter of putting in the hard work to make it happen. But I think my biggest fear and one that probably ends up holding most people back from doing something like taking a 1 year sabbatical is the fear of running out of money before the year is up. We’ve done a horrible job of saving for this and I fear we are not going to grow our savings to the comfort level we would like before our departure date. This is probably the biggest fear that keeps me up at night and causes me to be filled with doubt.

If each of your family (yourself included) could take an endless supply of one food over to Indonesia with you, what would it be?

Matt and his Beautiful Family

I posed this question to my wife and since she is Indonesian and this is kind of a home-coming to her she said nothing. I don’t think she has ever really come to terms with American food. Well she did mention almonds. Zachary said peanut butter and I can understand that based on how often we have to buy it. Joseph would take a jumbo jet full of Goldfish crackers. As for me I think the biggest food I will miss and would bring with me would be fresh organic blueberries. Thankfully we won’t be departing until after blueberry season here so I can fill up beforehand.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering long term travel or a sabbatical?

Don’t let having kids hold you back. I’ve connected with so many families who are traveling the world and they all say the same thing…it’s been the best thing they have ever done, Also, don’t let the fear of money and finances hold you back. Yeah the whole financial thing is scary but there are plenty of places you can travel to in the world where a dollar or Euro goes a long way. It’s probably a lot cheaper than you think to take a year sabbatical or embark on long term travel. If you do intend to take an official sabbatical make sure that you have a plan when presenting your sabbatical proposal to your employer. This is important because you want to sell it to your employer as a benefit to the company and that means you need to know what it is you want to do and get out of your time away and being able to show how that reflects on the company is a strong argument for them approving it. If travel and seeing the world is something you are passionate about and really want to do then don’t wait for the stars to line up perfectly. It’s probably never going to happen that way. Instead take the chance and live on the edge. Life’s too short to live any other way.

One of my favorite quotes is one attributed to Mark Twain. I think it really sums up why we are taking this time away in Indonesia.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

Catch up with Matt on twitter @1yearsabbatical, on Facebook or at his virtual home 1yearsabbatical.com

Related posts:

1. Preparing to Launch: T-minus 4 weeks
2. Preparing to Launch: T minus 5 weeks
3. Preparing to Launch: T-minus 3 weeks
4. Learning new skills and improving old ones
5. The pre-trip fears