Planning for an Extended Trip

So you have made the decision to go and have decided to travel for an extended length of time maybe a year, maybe for as long as you feel like it. Unfortunately life is a bit more complex these days and you need to do a bit more than planning to put your life on hold than selling the car and carting your cloths and LP’s back to your parent’s spare room!
Houses

If you own real estate you basically have some decisions to make: to keep it or sell it. If you are going to keep it are you going to rent it out to earn some income while you travel? Read more what to do with the house.

Vehicles

Is your car special or just a way of getting from around? Where you going to sell or trade it in the next year or so anyway? Will you loose too much in deprecation never mind insurance, storage costs? The length of the trip is probably key here – less than 6 months its probably not worth selling unless you were planning going to get rid of the car anyway.

Insurances

Which of your current insurances will you keep and what travel insurance will you require?

If you sell you vehicles remember to cancel the insurances on them. If you keep them in storage you probably reduce cover to third party fire and theft or similar if the vehicle will be off the road.

House If you are going to rent your house you may need different insurance. If you are going to leave the place empty you need to tell your insurance company, this is probably also wise if strangers will be living there, house sitting or swapping

Chattels You probably need to cancel your insurance and go with your storage company’s specific insurance.
Income protection Check your policy – if you are not earning you probably have no coverage. You may be able to suspend cover (and premiums) for a period of time which will allow you to resume cover when you return to work.

Health insurance Does it cover you outside of your country of residence? Probably needs to be replaced by travel insurance.

Other insurances Credit card repayment insurance, trauma and crises cover etc. Check the policy and decide whether the cover is valid for your new lifestyle.

Wills and Power of Attorney

It goes without saying that you should have a valid, up to date will. In addition a Power of Attorney allows someone you nominate to act on your behalf in some circumstances. This can be useful if you have business interests or investments which require active management while you are away.

Passports and other Paperwork

Is your passport current? If its due to expire within 6 months of the end of your trip consider renewing it now – many countries require a passport to be valid for at least 3 or 6 months from entry into their country. If you have decided to travel some of the more interesting parts of the world then you may have to do some work to get the requisite visas too, especially for places such as Russia, Belarus Libya which require invitations prior to arrival. However for most of Europe, Asia and South America you will either not require a visa or it will be cheaper to get one at the border or at a neighboring country.