What our condo looked like 5 days before we left the country.
Five more days to go until we take our one-way flight out of Canada. This will prove to be one of the most grueling “pre-vacation” times of our lives. You know what I mean by “pre-vacation”. The two most stressful periods of time when it comes to taking time off work is right before the vacation and right when you return.
Pre-vacation stress: Packing for your trip, making sure your “Out of Office” is turned on for your work email, closing or transitioning all your work projects, finding someone to water your plants…
Post-vacation stress: Realizing you forgot to take out the garbage before you left and trying to air the rotten garbage smell out of your house, catching up on the 12,634,752 emails that were sent to you in the one week you were off work, getting up to speed on all the gossip work that happened while you were gone….
What I’ll be wearing for the next 6 months
NOW, multiply that by a million and that’s how stressful the 5 days were leading up to our travel start date. We had to-do lists by day (practically by the hour when it came closer to T-2 days)
Our colour-coded To-Do list (by day)
“Pre-6 months travel stress”:
- finalizing the rental agreement with our subletter that we found just 1 week before we left
- packing up our condo
- finding long-term storage
- booking movers
- finding someone to rent our parking spot 12 hours before we left
- Dropping off our 7-month puppy at our buddy’s place (who graciously agreed to care for him for 6 months)
- packing clothes for our 6 months of travel that will cover everything from Mt. Everest climbing to Amazonian rainforest trekking
- Unpacking and repacking for our 6 months of travel after I realize I can’t fit 1/3 of what I had planned to bring
- cleaning the condo and getting it tenant-ready
- making a last minute (i.e. 5 hours before we leave) trip to SAIL to pick up hiking shoes after Jason accidentally packed it into long-term storage. AND the long-term storage facility is now closed for the evening.
By the time we were done and ready to begin our 20-hour journey to Bogota, Colombia we looked like we had already been traveling for 12 hours. I was too tired to even pretend to be happy for the camera.
Finally ready to go!
Although, I have to admit – all this “pre-vacation” stress is going to make the time off from work feel all the more satisfying.
travels of yum 
Omg your facial expression is classic “don’t mess with me, I’m going to Columbia!” 🙂 enjoy and I look forward to updates
Thanks Marianne! and yes I’m practicing my game face…haha
Buddy, your pre-vacation post totally stressed me out, however i am super excited you found a renter…woooo!!! Hope you guys have the best time ever ever, will miss you guys loads xoxoxo
I know! we were so relieved when we finally straightened out the whole renter thing. Will miss you too. Looking forward to updates of the (soon to-be) new addition to the family!
You guys are too cute! But what a great idea…how else will I be able to reassure Mom n Dad that you guys are ok. And can’t wait to be part of your fall issue 🙂
Haha Jeanne! Mom and dad actually have access to the blog to. 🙂 So hopefully your reassuring duties won’t be too heavy 🙂 Can’t wait to see you guys!
Love the blog…especially your tag line….”pressing pause on real life”. LOL @ your organized post its with check boxes! Too funny!!! But I would totally do the same!
Wow! I can only imagine what you guys were going through with the pre-traveling stress! We’re only leaving for a 2-week honeymoon and I still have more than a week to go but I’m already stressing about all the little “to-do”s we still have to take care of before we leave!! Definitely brought me back to when I had to make our move from Canada to Germany…permanently! Well, just be glad that you’re done and are now where you’re supposed to be and start enjoying all the wonderful adventures you’re about to embark on! We wish you guys a super fun and safe trip!! 🙂
Viv! So excited for YOUR trip. Have a great time on the cruise! You guys totally deserve the rest and relaxation 🙂 xoxo
Ok you definitely have to visit this park and report back your findings LOL: http://didyouknowblog.com/post/54260959823/theres-a-sex-theme-park-in-south-korea