Now Boarding at Gate 132

Los Angeles International Airport
33.9416°N, 118.4085°W

“We’re really doing this?”

Ever since Sarah and I purchased our around-the-world airline tickets late last year, we have asked each other this question at least once a day.

We’ve been talking about doing a trip like this since we first met in 2012, but now we’re sitting at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX waiting for our flight to the first stop on our globe-trotting adventure – Fiji.

Yep, we’re doing this.

This is the first of (hopefully) many posts about our trip. Right now, we have plans to visit Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Turkey and (if this all goes well!) Central and South America later this year.

With the exception of a 2012 trip I took to Australia, Sarah and I have never been to any of these countries. So not surprisingly it’s a bit daunting to try and plan for all of this travel. We decided a while back that to keep ourselves from being too overwhelmed we’d focus on the first few months of the trip and worry about the rest once we’re on the road.

We also agreed with each other that we would aim to stay for extended periods (at least 3-4 weeks) in most of our destinations so we don’t feel like we are constantly in motion. We both prefer to get to know a city, town or neighborhood over rushing to see as many places as possible.

In the months leading up to the trip we broke our exciting news to close friends, family, and co-workers, mostly in that order. There was nearly universal excitement for what we had planned, but a lot of questions as well! For instance….

• What will you bring?
• Where will you stay?
• Are you worried about your safety?
• What if you have to see a doctor?
• You must really like your wife to want to spend that much time together (ok, that’s more a statement than a question, but I thought it was funny nonetheless).

We don’t have definitive answers to all of these questions, but at this point we can answer the first one. That’s because everything we have for the next year of our lives is sitting next to us here outside Gate 132 (see the bottom of this post for the full list).

We’ve also been asking each other many questions about what we are most excited to see, foods we want to eat, what to pack and not pack, etc. We know this will definitely change over the course of our travels, but we want to document our current answers to see how they may change over time. A few of our current answers:

Country we’re looking forward to the most….

• Sarah: So hard to decide, but right now New Zealand. My sisters will be there for the first week and am pumped to explore Queenstown with them.
• Gerry: Vietnam. Not really sure why other than I love Vietnamese food and am excited about being close to the coast.

What we’re most worried about…

• S:  It’s super important to me that I get into a healthy routine right away. I need to workout and eat well to function!
• G: I don’t like the idea of having to think so much about where we can and can’t drink the water, so I’m most worried about what may happen if I drink (or eat) something my body disagrees with.

Item in our packs most likely to be with us at the end of the journey…

• S: My jean shorts. Obviously.
• G: Probably my light weight raincoat. Even though most of the places we’ll be are going to be warm, I can’t imagine not wanting to have that on me for the whole trip.

Item most likely to not make it beyond our first stop….

• S:  The the night before we left, my sister Kerry came over and emptied my backpack, laughed very hard, removed half of it’s contents, and repacked for me. So nothing…I’m keeping it all. Thanks girl!
• G: I bought and packed a white tank top because that seems like something appropriate for tropical climates. Sarah hasn’t seen me wear it yet, so I’m guessing once that happens it will be goodbye white tank top.

Item we didn’t pack that we think we might regret not bringing…

• S: A light weight raincoat. Thanks for the reminder, Gerry.
• G: I have a few pairs of shorts but only brought one pair of pants (jeans), and think I may want another lighter pair of pants at some point….but we’ll see.

Item we packed that probably could have left home…

• S: A lint roller.
• G: I packed a good amount of toiletries that are taking up a lot of space in my bag. I probably could have left the extra bottles of shampoo and body wash at home. And I still can’t believe Sarah packed a lint roller.

Family member we’ll miss the least…

• Just kidding. As much excitement as this trip brings, we also know we’ll miss seeing our friends and family as much as we’d like.

And as promised, the full list of what’s in our bags:

Gerry’s bag

I purchased an Osprey Farpoint 55, which includes a little detachable day pack that reminds me of how the NASA shuttles attach to their carriers….

Here’s what I packed:

• 5 cotton tee shirts
• 3 pairs of casual shorts
• 3 workout shirts
• 2 workout shorts
• 4 pairs of socks
• 2 pairs of flip flops
• 1 pair of boat shoes
• 1 pair of running/walking sneakers
• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 long sleeve button down
• Adjustable mini tripod for iPhone
• Lenses for iPhone
• 7 month supply of contacts
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 2 bathing suits
• Eye glasses
• Sunglasses
• Baseball hat
• Light weight rain coat
• 2 sets of headphones (one wireless and one not)
• Laundry bag
• Earplugs
• Medicines for malaria, altitude sickness, etc.
• Laptop (MacBook Air) and charger
• iPhone 7 and charger
• Portable charger for electronics
• Universal plug adapter
• Travel journal
• Microfiber towel
• Locks for our bags
• 2 microphones for recording podcasts
• Resistance bands and jump rope for working out

Sarah’s bag

Sarah opted for Osprey’s Porter 46, which is a bit smaller than my pack and doesn’t include the detachable day pack.

She packed the following:

• 1 pair of jeans
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 1 sweatshirt
• 5 tank tops
• 3 long sleeve tops
• 5 dresses
• 2 workout tops
• 2 workout pants
• 2 bathing suits
• 8 pairs of underwear
• 3 sports bras (one thing that saved space was removing all the liners from my Lululemon workout tops and sport bras before packing, and bringing two sets to use as needed. Ladies, you’ll know what I’m talking about!)
• Anti-malaria and altitude sickness medication
• Contacts (I wear Daily’s, so this was challenging)
• Sunglasses
• Baseball hat
• 2 journals
• Wallet
• Computer
• iPhone 7 and charger
• Lint roller
• Microfiber towel
• Sneakers
• Flip-flops
• Sunscreen
• Makeup (tinted moisturizer, bronzer, lip gloss)
• Shampoo, conditioner, hairbrush
• Face wash, toner, antioxidant serum, moisturizer and eye cream
• Emergency envelope from our friend Katie Clarke

And on to Fiji we go…..