The Big Adventure

The big adventure is getting closer!
On January 19 we will leave for a six month sabbatical. We will visit six countries for 4 weeks each staying in houses or apartments. The destinations where decided upon after much deliberation and some back and forth along the lines of:
“No, we are not going to Patagonia, I will freeze my butt off and be miserable the entire time” and
“Sahara, are you crazy? I’ll die of a heat-stroke!”.

Max’s contribution was generally the most even-tempered:
“Max, do you want to go to Chile?”
“Chilly? Okay!”

Chile it wasn’t in the end, but Mexico was declared “okay” as well.

So here is the final list:

Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Cochin, Kerala, India
Frigiliana, Andalucia, Spain
Firenze, Tuscany, Italy
Konstanz, my hometown in Germany
and then a random assortment of places in Austria – Uli still has to figure it out. The list will most likely include a stay in Graz – a beautiful city in Styria where my husband spent part of his college years and hence has fond memories.

With the fun part decided upon and places rented or reserved in most destinations the boring stuff is upon us: of course, my drivers license has to expire during the period away so it needs to be renewed (as well as various credit cards), gym memberships need to be canceled, and who knew exactly how many magazine subscritions we had? I love my Sunset, photo magazines, Newsweeks, Economists, etc but not even I need six months worth of back issues.
Health insurance – I say no more, nobody ever wants to read about other people’s problems with health insurance. The house needs to be rented out, which means the grouting has to be cleaned (baking soda and tooth brush, good thing I got that Ph.D. – invaluable ;-), the aluminum polished, the worst design sins need to be removed/replaced/fixed, that awful carpet with a million food stains – documenting every meal our three year old ever ate  – needs to be cleaned. I could go on but I spare you the details and myself the agony of thinking about it on this evening as I am writing this.

After that the travel preparations will begin, as in deciding what to take on a six month trip. Do I love any of my T-shirts well enough to want to wear it for six months? (no, not straight but frequently!) Do they have the right kind of dental floss in Spain? How many stuffed animals does Max get to take? How much extra room in the suitcases should be set aside for buying saris while in India and if the answer is none – who of our friends and/or neighbors will have to put up with largish packages arriving from all over the globe with stuff that is (mainly) not for them? Will I be able to talk Uli into taking one jacket or long sleeve shirt or will he insist that is warm enough to get by with a t-shirt everywhere and will that set a bad example for Max who categorically declares “I love cold” and throws a screaming fit whenever I suggest he wear a sweater.

The logistics feel daunting – but I really don’t expect any of you to feel sorry for me ….

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The map of the world is from www.geology.com