About 2 years ago we started thinking of what to do with our lives. We started naming places we´d like to live and places we´d like to travel. A couple of months later we made a decision. Why wouldn’t we sell our house, quit our jobs and go to the Caribbean?  What an awesome idea! Curacao came out to be the place where we’d like to live. But the U.S.A. was the place we’d like to travel.

So why not do both?   

If we choose to quit our jobs why wouldn’t we take advantage of the fact that we don’t have any responsibilities like a job and just go on this epic trip?! So this became our life goal. It’s sounds so extremely easy when I write it like this. And in a way it does of course. Having the idea is easy. But putting those plans into action is the hardest part of all.    

So for all of you Steemians who are thinking of what we were thinking 2 years ago.
Our experiences and considerations along the way!   

Step 1 | Where, what, who and how?   

You have to make your ideas into a specific plan. You cannot plan this without exactly knowing what you are going to do, with whom and how you are gonna achieve this.  

  

Step 2 | Financial plan   

Probably the most important step of all. Quitting your job is gonna cost you money. So make sure that you can cover a couple of months in case you can’t find a job immediately. In our case we also wanted to do this big roadtrip trough the States. That isn’t going to be cheap as well.  Plus, you have to keep in mind that besides all those costs you probably also have to sell your house  (and if you’re unlucky like us, the house market is dramatic and you will sell your house with a debt)    

Making a financial plan is crucial!   

Make sure you know exactly how much money you going to need.  If you know the exact amount you can make a plan. How much do you have to save and for how long? When do want to reach your goal? Which unforeseen expenses can come along the way? Set yourself a goal and look at it every single day!  

 

Step 3 | Get rid of all excess stuff   

In our case we had a house for sale, a cat (read: our first baby) and a whoooole bunch of stuff we had to get rid of. How are you going to do this? Will you store some things? Will you sell some things? Where are you going to live when you sold your house? And what about your pets? Lucifer (cat) wasn’t for sale obviously. But we can’t bring him with us. So what are you going to do? We we’re lucky that Sacha’s parents wanted to take him in and that Luuk his parents wanted to take us in! But those are things you have to think about.  

  

Step 4 | Paperwork :(    

This part is for most people probably the worst. Maybe it’s a bit complicated and boring. But skipping this step isn’t really an option. There are a couple of things that are important: 

- Insurances.  When do you want to immigrate and does your travel insurance cover your trip until that moment? And what about your health insurance? Probably this will stop on the day that you aren’t a resident of the insured country anymore.  

- Immigrate. Which papers do you need for immigration? Do not wait too long with this cause some papers take time to get while others are only valid for 3 months. Make sure you find out. 

- Travel papers. Do you need a visa? Is your passport valid for at least 1,5 year?  

- Stop monthly services. Probably you have a lot of services that need to be stopped. Think of your car insurance or train subscription. It would be sin to keep paying for this things.  

Step 5 | Planning the trip!   

Finally the fun part! When you come to this point you have to be really sure of doing this. Otherwise you probably changed your mind at one of the previous steps. By now you know when to leave. Start looking for cheap tickets, what are you going to bring with you?   

At the time that we we’re planning our U.S.A. trip we both get so excited! Finally you remembered why you did all those previous steps and you start to reaching your goal. This is super motivating! 

   

Step 6 | Check!   

In just 2 months we are leaving to start this new chapter in our life story. By now we are just prepping and checking the final things. Are we still on track with our financial plan? Are our insurances settled? Aren’t we forgetting anything?     

A must in this final step is to write everything down. Make a checklist to make sure you aren’t forgetting anything. 

  

We are ready!  We can’t wait to leave and explore new things in life! Even after writing this post and realizing where we came from and where we are right now make worth every hard decision we had to make in the past 2 years.     

Are you willing to take these steps? Let us know and be sure to Resteem and Follow us if you like our blog ;)         

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