Clean up the home front before hitting the road
Write a will. Yes, that’s right, fix your estate. The way I see it, with the freedom to travel comes responsibility because other people shouldn’t have to clean up your mess.
Say, for example, you drink too much Mekong whiskey in Thailand, pass out on the road, and get hit by a slowly moving bullock cart. It may be unlikely, but family members shouldn’t have to decide what to do with your CV and DVD collection and the thousand dollars left in your bank account.
Do a search for “writing a will template” and find one that suits your needs. Make it witness, leave a copy with your performer, and check responsibility box number one. The process of dividing your possessions is a good exercise, since you have to think carefully and make decisions.
My will says that I want to be buried Muslim-style: wash the body, wrap it in a white sheet, and bury it before sunset in a nameless grave. Consequently, I will not have an epitaph. But if she did, she would say “Some loved her; some hated her; everyone had an opinion.”
Write your obituary. Your obituary is your final statement to the world. Do you really want to let someone else tease you? What do you want people to remember about you?
Like the will, writing your own obituary brings you one step closer to accepting your own mortality. And this is part of the traveling experience. After you’ve finished the base obituary, you can update it from time to time to reflect your situation.
If you’re stuck and want an example, my contact details are in the resource box. Check me out an email and I’ll send you a copy of mine. I had such a good time writing it. Very liberating.
Get a living will. Basically, a living will is making your wishes known so that if you are in a state where you cannot act, someone else will. You may be in a coma or on life support and unable to speak.
Do you want the doctors to keep you alive no matter what or do you want them to tune out? I went for the latter. And I made a pact with a couple of close friends. If I am in that state, they will inject me with Nembutal or insulin. In that way, silently, and without pain, I will deviate towards the final adventure, which is how I see death.
Leave someone with ‘power of attorney’. Careful with this. The designated person has full power to act on your behalf. That includes selling your CDs and DVDs, taking the thousand dollars left in your bank account, and selling your computer.
I once spoke to a woman who said she had no one in her life to trust. Sad, very sad. I left people with powers in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And even though I’ve only had to use it a couple of times in 30 years, it’s still nice to have it in place.
Record the reasons you want to travel. For some, they will find themselves. Nobel in theory, but if you are lost before you go, it is likely that you will not meet the “real you” there is. Others want to opt for adventure tourism. Do it. And then there are those who are right after pure and unadulterated hedonism that they cannot afford in their home countries.
I? I travel to meet interesting people, explore unusual markets, and try different foods and drinks. Oh, and along the way I help when and where I can. Very simple; very doable.
The idea of recording your original reasons is to compare them with your evolution and see how much your perceptions changed when you return.
Forward. Once you get to this stage, you are ready to hit the road. Think of it as “insurance” and chances are, if you have it, you don’t need it. But if you don’t, someone else will be left with the task of cleaning everything up.
You are now ready to receive your passport and the yellow fever vaccine. Happy travels.