Preparing to Travel Full-Time, Part 2: Minimize and Mobilize Your Lifestyle

If you’ve followed the advice we offered in “Preparing to Travel Full-Time, Part 1” and you’re still reading, you’ve probably decided you’re ready to travel full-time. This is when things get real!

Once you’ve made the decision, you have to start making significant changes in your life. Depending on how long you plan to travel and your commitment to the process, these changes may be more or less drastic.

In short, you need to minimize and mobilize your lifestyle to the maximum extent possible. We started this process two years before our departure date. We went from a fully-stocked 3,700 square-foot house to a 5ft x 5ft storage unit. Even with years of planning, we were still dealing with some issues the day before we boarded our flight out of the country. Don’t underestimate how long it takes to get everything in order.

The first and perhaps most difficult step is getting rid of possessions you have acquired. You have these items because you like them. Letting these things go is hard, but you can’t take them around the world. For homeowners who intend to sell, this step is even more critical. It is much easier to sell a home not cluttered with personal items, so this can’t be put off until the end.

At this point, you should only keep the few items you’re taking with you and the family heirlooms or sentimental keepsakes you’re putting in storage immediately before you leave. There are many ways to deal with personal possessions. A few of those options include: selling them, donating them, or putting them in storage.

We donated some clothes, furniture, and other items to Goodwill. This primarily included the stuff that didn’t sell or was not worth the effort to try to sell.

We put the few personal items we didn’t sell or donate in a small storage unit. These were primarily keepsakes and other sentimental items – not pots and pans that can easily be replaced.

We rented a 5’x5’ unit in a new facility that we researched extensively. All your valuables will be there, so you need to be comfortable that the place is secure and will be in business when you return.

Acquiring a storage unit is one step you should consider taking at the last minute. At least in Texas, storage units are relatively cheap in the beginning. After the introductory period, the price increases by 10 to 15% every six months. The increased costs will add up over time. Might as well wait as long as possible to start the clock running.

Our storage facility allows us to prepay twelve months in advance. This allows us to avoid the 15% increase in June (our six-month mark) and not worry about a missed payment.

If you’re currently renting, you can skip this step. Just plan to start traveling when your lease is up. If you own a home, you have to decide what you’re going to do with it. You have a few options: keep it, rent it, or sell it.

Even if you can afford to keep it, owning a home while living on the other side of the world will add an extra layer of stress. One of the biggest enjoyments of long-term travel is the freedom you feel from not being tied to any place or anything (other than your significant other, of course).

You could rent your house while traveling, but that could be more stressful than owning an empty home. This could be a good option if you have a trusted family member that will take care of everything for you while you’re gone. Otherwise, this seems like a bad idea.

In 2023, most things can be handled online, but a few things still need to be done in person. Before you leave the country indefinitely, you should determine what obligations require you to be present and try to make alternative arrangements. If no options currently exist, you should try to extend the time for your appearance as far into the future as possible. Hopefully, other options will exist by the time your appearance is required.

This step will not be a big deal if you have sold your home and all your possessions. However, if you still own a house or a car, you must make sure you have a plan to pay all financial obligations – including taxes. If they can be paid online, then it won’t be a problem. Same if they accept credit cards. Things may be a little more complicated if they require a check (there are services that will issue personal checks for you). If it requires cash payment, you could have problems and should explore all your options.

Once you start crossing borders regularly, you will appreciate the importance of your travel documents. If any of these documents expire soon, you should renew them before departure.

Specifically, you should renew your passport if it expires soon or doesn’t have many blank pages. Most countries require passports to be valid for at least three months after the planned departure date. Also, many countries require a blank page for their entry stamp. U.S. passports are available with a 28-page or 52-page book. Full-time travelers should choose the thicker version.

Also, you should renew your driver’s license before leaving the U.S. While a driver’s license is not necessary to cross borders, it is required to rent a car.

While it’s possible to get replacement credit cards anywhere in the world, it is not convenient. If you have credit cards that expire soon, you should consider requesting replacements.

You should also examine the terms of service for your credit cards and confirm you have at least two credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. If you don’t, you should acquire credit cards with no foreign transaction fees since these are often 3% added to each transaction.

It is also useful to have a mix of credit cards. For example a Visa and a Mastercard.

Also, to avoid fraud alerts, you should notify all credit card companies that you will be traveling to foreign countries.

There are many services available that make full-time travel easier today than it was a decade or two ago.

Mail – the most important service is a Traveling Mailbox. They open and scan all mail received. If you need the original hard copy, the service will forward the mail to any address worldwide for a fee. Also, the service will deposit checks into your bank account. This is very convenient for obvious reasons.

We set up our traveling mailbox a year in advance to test it out and confirm there weren’t issues. Creating the account requires notarized forms, which can be challenging while abroad. So, testing a company before you go can eliminate the need to switch while abroad.

For our Traveling Mailbox, we selected a premium address upgrade. This upgrade allowed us to choose an address in Austin, TX. We needed to maintain an address in the city and state we last had residency for various reasons.

Phone – international cell phone plans are less expensive than they used to be, but they are still not cheap. Fortunately, they are not necessary. There are many services available that were designed for international communication. WhatsApp is a good example. Skype and Google Voice also provide phone numbers that can be used with a wifi connection (as opposed to a cellular connection).

We use a combination of WhatsApp, a paid Skype phone number, and Google Voice. You will need to get your Google Voice phone number and account before discontinuing your current cell phone plan since an existing plan is required to activate the account. I recommend getting all these while still in the United States to test them out and work out the kinks. 

Confirm that your cell phone is unlocked and compatible if you plan to use local sim cards or eSIMs in your future destinations.

A locked cell phone was a minor issue we thought was resolved until we got to Italy. I called Verizon before I left and asked if my phone was unlocked. They said it was. Then, while in Italy, we inserted a local sim card, which wouldn’t work. I called Verizon from abroad, and they said my phone was locked and could only be unlocked by “hitting” and communicating with a cell phone tower in the United States. My only option was to mail the phone to someone back in the United States to hit a tower. Luckily, Jen purchased an unlocked phone directly from Apple before our departure, which we can use for sims.

We used a few local sim cards during our first month in Italy but haven’t purchased any since. Our preferred sim method is eSIMs. They offer country-specific, regional, and global plans. You will need to confirm your phone is esSIM compatible.

Banking – We use USAA for our banking needs which offers a purely digital banking platform. They are no longer alone since most banks now provide all services online.

You should confirm your current bank is a good fit for a full-time traveler. Specifically, review the ATM and foreign transaction fees. Is there a bank that will offer you something better, like atm fee reimbursements and lower foreign transaction fees?

Once you’ve dealt with all your beloved possessions and arranged for any obligations to be handled abroad, the difficult part is over, and the fun begins! Now it’s time to create your travel itinerary and plan for departure. Check out “Preparing to Travel Full-Time, Part 3” for more information.