Practical implications of a sabbatical to disappear on tour.

[GrahamG]

My other half and I are awaiting to hear the results of a job application, and if she's successful, we're planning to take 12 weeks off (June to August) before she'd start. I'm trying to think of the practical side to arranging home life and the amount of cash likely to be required to bugger off around Western Europe for the duration.

We're renting so would just give up the flat and look to find something new and cheaper on return. I may be able to get storage space for free/very cheap thanks to family with lots of unused space. Should be able to arrange the time off work or if not I'll just quit. The car will live with any friend or relative that wants use of it, or just sit on my dad's driveway for the duration.

Any pointers on 'suspending' life for three months? I'm not sure what to do about a registered address (revert to a parent?) for post and anything else as neither of us have family in the local area.

Also, any pointers on avoiding spending too much money by being abroad during the summer holidays? We'd wild camp a fair bit but with the anticipated heat will probably want regular showers. Also cooking everyday on a bushbuddy wood stove using gas only for back up. Any other miser tips?

 

[andym]

Royal Mail do a service called Keepsafe which lasts for up to 66 days (don't ask me why they fixed on 66 days), which might just about do you.

It might be worth asking someone at home to be a quartermaster. You can send stuff to yourself (or they can send stuff to you) poste restante/lista de correos.

There's a page on moneysavingexpert.com on the best deals on travel money/withdrawals abroad - for a long trip it's worth the trouble of organizing something like a Santander Zero or fairfx.com card.

I'd say allow yourself at least 25 euros a day. You could get by with less, but it is a holiday and not a penance.

 

[onlineamiga]

Sounds awesome what you are doing. I wish i could find someone to do the same with. Just escape life for a while, take the open road, live each day as it comes visiting places. With giving up the paying any rent youre already good. If you need lots of showers then use camp grounds rather than wild camps, can be like 10 euros or so. So all good there

Enjoy!

 

[GrahamG]

We were thinking wild camp about 50% of the time, especially when the peak prices kick in. Also considered cheeky use of showers anywhere we pass

I reckon we can get by on less than €15 a day but will budget for €20 - the only thing that blew this on the last tour was buying coffee twice a day. This time we'll have a travel cafetierre!

 

[rich p]

The obvious big expenses are eating and accommodation and you seem to have them covered. I personally wouldn't fancy 12 weeks of scrimping and would rather do, say 8, and indulge in a bit more luxury like wine and beer!
Good luck to you though, it should be an adventure!

 

[GrahamG]

Had a good talk about this last night, we're going to take the scrimping approach in July/August to avoid the high season charges and make sure there's plenty of cash in reserve should we want for more luxury. Just got to speak to the boss tomorrow and see about getting three (maybe four) months off work - then we can start rolling things into action.

 

[JackE]

I came across this: http://cyclocampingforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=t49m6qhnf3185craa2tio5utm4&topic=24.0 recently. He's got some interesting (and wild) ideas about budget touring

 

[friedel]

My only advice would be to take a bit longer! It hardly seems worth it to clean out the flat, rent it, quit your job etc for 3 months. How about 6 months or even a year? Okay, okay... I'm spoiled from our recent 3-year trip.

If it's 3 months then what about a reliable housesitter? For example, the woman who runs this site - http://theprofessionalhobo.com/ - is looking to house sit in Europe this summer. You might work out a minimal rent deal, where you get some $$$ but don't have to move anything and she takes care of your post.

As for budget, I think 25 euros a day is more reasonable, unless you're really going to scrimp. Depends where you go though. Portugal is cheap, Scandinavia less so.

 

[GrahamG]

Can't do more than three months unfortunately, if it had been less spur of the moment then we might've been able to plan longer. We don't own the flat and need to move somewhere cheaper anyway so it's basically just sandwiching a bike tour in between moving home!

 

[jay clock]

as Life of Brian would say "you lucky, lucky bastard"

 

[GrahamG]

Jay, it makes a very, very pleasant change to be on the receiving end of comments like that

Booked the ferry and train yesterday - hitting Santander on 23rd May, need to be back in the UK last week of August.

 

[Banjo]

I am green with envy. Good Luck