The Departure Lounge: Timelines

This week we're talking about Timelines

by Mary of My Life in Scotland & Christy

 

Mary:
What, you say? There is a lot to accomplish before you ever set foot in the country you're going to live? You bet!

Giving yourself adequate time to complete your list is a must. You don't want to get yourself into a pickle because you were over zealous about your move.

I was engaged, married, and living in Scotland within 5 months. That's fast. I wish I would have given myself more time to be honest.

This is what my list looked like:
-Sell everything I own
-Pack what's left

Naivety should have been my last name. My husband to be was already living in Scotland and I thought he'd have things covered. That may have been the case with a flat and furniture but he couldn't possibly open my bank account and what not.

Let’s see what Christy, is doing to get ready for her move to Rome.

Christy's current list:

I have eleven months to get ready for my move. Some people have probably moved overseas with MUCH less lead-time and some people have probably planned their exodus over a number of years. April 2013 is my goal. The way I see it, here's a list of things I need to do before I can actually get on the plane and head to Europe:
-Settle things at work. I have a great job here in Northern California. Right now, my plan is to take a six-month leave of absence for my move. I'll need to work closely with my boss to make sure this plan stays "okay."

-Sell most of my stuff. I've lived in the same house for five years. I'm not a packrat by any means, but I am a person who likes to be prepared for most eventualities. I've collected stuff. Couches. Kitchen ware. Gardening things. Bookshelves. Books. Stuff. Craigslist is probably going to be come my best friend/worst enemy.

-Pack up and store what I want to keep.

-Figure something out about my house. I rent. And I love my place. It's affordable and located in the perfect place. Sure, it's old and needs some TLC, but if I lived in the latest luxury condo I couldn't afford to even think about moving to Rome.

-Sell my car. I've got an adorable Jeep Wrangler. Obviously I can't take it with me. I'm going to sell it and use that cash to finance most of my trip.

-Decide on a schedule. Sure, I'm going to move to Rome. But before I get there I want to take a good month and travel through Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Also, before I settle in to an apartment in Rome, I want to travel "The Boot," top to bottom. I may forgo Spain and Portugal at the beginning in order to trek the Camino de Santiago...

-Find an apartment.

-Stop all local services and utilities. Gas. Electric. Cable. Internet. Netflix. Cell phone.

-Figure out a banking solution.

Mary's advice:
I really like your list. It shows you are planning ahead and thinking about the future. You’re well traveled enough to know what you’ll need. I would mostly concern myself with these items first:

-Banking {this was the bane of my existence and way harder to procure than I ever imagined}
-Apartment {you don’t want to over pay and location really is everything}
-Mobile Phone in Rome {you’ll need one! Research the options and make sure you have every thing you’ll need to get one}
-Contingency Plan {What if something happens? Have a plan B!}
-Find out what counts as proof of ID. {Did you know your Birth Certificate is NOT a form of ID in Great Britain?}
-Any hidden taxes in Italy you should know about? You don’t want to get fined. {You pay a tax for owning a television in Great Britain!}

There is so much more to do, but those are the big stuff. It pays to not be spontaneous when moving abroad. You need to do your homework and think about each item as a future lifeline. Everything is different abroad. Don't be shocked like I was!

Have any of you made the move abroad? What were the most important things that you did to prepare? Any one have any questions? Come back next week to see what we're talking about!

To Do on Kos: Quad Bike Photo Safari

Quad bikes and Greek Isles: A match made in travel heaven.

I LOVE riding around on quads. The farm girl in me sings hallelujah when I get the opportunity to do a little offroading.

The hotel I stayed at offered a quad rental on-premesis, and I gladly paid an exorbitant 35 Euro (Though I didn't know just how overpriced this was until later on in my trip) for a wussy 50cc Quad without looking around at prices because my hotel was a good 5km walk (in 110 degree F weather from the nearest town). It was the only bike they had left due to my late booking. Ah well, wheels are wheels, sometimes.

 Don't judge. I love pizza and couldn't handle anymore Gyros.

 This little windmill place is actually a highly rated organic restaurant. Gorgeous!

 I mean, really, who doesn't want to sunbathe among the ruins of an old Greek temple?

 I want to live on that teeny, tiny island. That is all.

Faraway Fantasy Friday: The Farm!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you probably know that I've got a Grandmother in Virginia. She lives waaaaaaaay out in the country on a farm. I go there about once a year and dig my toes into the sand, do some planting and weeding and riding and relaxing and driving around country back roads in a little pickup with the windows rolled down. It's a little slice of heaven, or as my Grandfather used to call it, God's little green acres.

I'm headed out to the farm tomorrow and I've been daydreaming of being there for weeks. Back to the sweet, thick, southern heat and my people. Back home.

Where do you want to be today?

New Feature: The Departure Lounge

A few weeks ago I announced that I'll be moving to Rome in April of 2013. I can hardly believe how quickly the past few weeks have flown by! I only have around eleven months to prep, pack up, wrap-up and get myself over to Italia for a bit of La Dolce Vita. I can't wait!

One of my best friends, Mary, of My Life in Scotland and also The Sweet Bookshelf is an American living in Scotland. We thought it would be a great idea to document the prep process for my move. Mary is going to offer up some of her invaluable experiences, insights and lessons learned from her move to Scotland!

Mary & I visiting a castle in Scotland in 2009

Mary is one of my favorite people on this tiny planet and I'm certain you'll love her! Without further ado, I'll let her introduce herself:
 

Getting married in February 2008 and moving to Scotland 3 days later has been quite the adventure for me. My name is Mary and I was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia. My husband and I met online, I really hate telling people that but it answers a lot of questions about our nationalities! My husband was born and raised in Venezuela to Portuguese parents. He got a job offer and moved to Scotland for work. When we got married, I came along for the ride! We've been living in Scotland for 4 yrs now. We now have son, Sebastian to add to our adventure! 

Being an expat has really opened my eyes and I wish that I would have been more prepared. Oh how I wish I could turn back time!! It isn't all roses and champagne living abroad if you aren't prepared. I'm going to share what I've learned--albeit the hard way--to Christy. If you're planning on moving abroad, take notes!

--

Stay tuned for more on my preparations and Mary's experiences with this new feature, The Departure Lounge!

Exploring Kos: Castle (& The Funniest Little Man on Kos)

As I walked up to the entrance of Antimachia Castle, I heard a voice call out:


"Ya Svenge?"
"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?"
"Dag!"
"Australian, mate?"

The little man was a character straight from the pages of history. Part court jester, part musician, all personality. He was dressed in a native, medieval costume to match his surroundings, this guy was the official greeting party for the Fourteenth century Antimachia Castle.

"English? I speak all language! Tell me, where you are from?"

I laughed at his persistence as I walked up the stairs to enter the Castle.

"California."

"American! Ah, U-S-A. Not very many Am-reekans visit Kos. Welcome!" He extended one leg in front of him and bowed from the waist with a flourish of his outstretched hand, then up he went, spry as a mouse and did a little jig, picked up a weird little triangle-shaped guitar and strummed a little tune.

The man must have been pushing 65.

"Thank you." I smiled, snapped a photo of him and dropped a few Euro into the tip basket on the ground next to the main entrance of the Castle before continuing inside.

As far as medieval castles go, Antimachia was pretty darned cool. It was in fairly good shape, having been excavated and somewhat restored. The size of the castle is deceptive. It's huge, but it doesn't look quite so large from the outside:

I blame the optical illusion on the goats. You see, the only thing around the castle for miles and miles is goat pastureland. If there were something (another building) standing nearby, one might actually get a better idea at the scale of the place.

Inside of the castle you'll find quite a variety of things to see: a jailhouse, some very cool ruins, a chapel (that is actually still in use to this day!) And one of the most striking viewpoints of the entire island.

Footpath through what remains of the interior of the castle, looking out on the sea...

 The Chapel

 Even the jail has a great view.

Great castle. But all in all, it may have been the little man who was the highlight of my day.

Details: 
-You'll need a vehicle to get to the Castle from anywhere on the island.
-Cost: Free (but feel free to tip the awesome old man)
-Take: Sunscreen. Water. A Hat. (Seriously. Brutal sun.)
-Don't: Hit the freerange goats in the road on the way to the Castle.

#FriFotos // Holy Places

I recently joined twitter. (Follow me: @deprturediaries - Yes, I know I'm very late to the world of tweeting -- I resisted for a LONG time) There are a couple of features on Twitter that I like very much, one of them being #frifotos. Every Friday a new theme is issued and people around the world post their favorite photos having to do with that theme.

Today's #frifotos theme is Holy Places. Here is my curated collection of my favorite shots of Holy Places, all from my travels. Enjoy!

 The monastery on Amorogos, Greece.

 Medieval chapel at Antimachia Castle on Kos, Greece.

 The Blue Mosque. Istanbul, Turkey.

 Remove thy shoes from off thy feet... Mosque. Amman, Jordan.

 Cathedral in Edinborough, Scotland, UK.

 Greek Church. Kalymnos, Greece.

 Ruins of an ancient Greek temple. Now used by sun-worshippers. Kos, Greece.

 Candles and Prayer Knots at the "home of Mary" near Ephesus, Turkey.

 The ancient Romans built this holy place dedicated to all gods. The Pantheon, Rome, Italy.

Holy to the Ancient Greeks. The Parthenon, Athens, Greece.

 The Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah.

 I can't decide which seems holier... the Caldera or the Church.
Blue-roofed chapel in Oia. Santorini, Greece.

 Church on top of "Mt. Sinai" Egypt.

 Inside St. Peter's Church. Vatican City. Italy.

 This is my favorite image of the collection. 

Any place can be holy. Man praying in his shop. Ancient Petra, Jordan.

Inception/Compulsion/Execution

I've been known to do a compulsive thing here and there.  
Or rather, people who don't see behind the scenes (in my head) view my actions as compulsive.

What most people don't see about me is that I'm a studier. I'm careful. I grapple with issues and search them out, sometimes for years, until seemingly, all at once, I make my move. Until I'm ready to do something I usually don't talk about doing said thing. Maybe I'm slightly supersitious about that... I've heard that if you want to make God laugh, you tell Him your plans.

My faith is a huge part of my life. Travel is a very personal, spiritual and faith-building thing for me. I've witnessed miracles, large and small and innumerable Tender Mercies at many junctures during my wanderings.
And to a point, I've found that quote above to be true. But only to a point. I don't believe I should tell God anything, instead I ask. And He answers, in His own time and His own way. He wants us all to be happy.

Choosing where and when to travel has always been an interesting process for me. I often have grand schemes for major trips I'd like to take. More than one scheme, more than one place. It's ALWAYS intimidating to click that "buy ticket" button on a travel website. I've definitely had my share of times when I've tried to force my way on an itinerary, only to have it end up costing me quite a lot of money, time and resources. I hope that by now I've learned to listen to that little voice, call it your gut, or juju or spirituality, whatever you'd like... but when something is off, I feel unsettled. I can never tell exactly why. Sometimes I never find out why. Other times I do. I've felt it while trying to book my last TWO big trips.

The first such experience: I was planning my trip to Egypt/Jordan/Malta/Italy. I'd determined to go on a certain date in the spring of 2010. The date worked really nicely with my work schedule and the tour I wanted to take in Egypt/Jordan. The thing is, when push came to shove, I couldn't pull the trigger and book anything. I had what people of my faith sometimes call a "stupor of thought." So I went back and worked the calendar again and came up with a plan to leave one week later. This time, everything clicked. I booked my tour, flights, insurance, hotels, etc for a very complex and rigorous travel schedule all over two-day period. (Obviously I'd been searching out routes, etc. for months beforehand). It just worked. When my travel dates drew near, a crazy thing happened: A certain unpronounceably-named volcano Iceland began to erupt, disrupting flights, trains and travel all over Europe. The flight I had originally wanted to take, SFO >LHR had been canceled, as had most and then ALL travel in/out of London. People were stuck for weeks. I nervously watched the news and travel schedules as the volcano continued to erupt for days and days. But I also felt, very matter of-factly, that I'd be going on my trip. The day of my flight to London, I showed up at the airport. The volcano had stopped erupting the night before and the skies had cleared. My flight was among the first to actually fly after the eruption and my entire trip went off without a hitch.


The Second: In 2011, while planning my escapade across Turkey and Greece, I had a similar experience. I went a week later than I'd originally intended. And it made all the difference. I won't go into specifics on this one, because they're very personal, but my experience would have been completely different the week prior.


What does any of that have to do with the here and now and being compulsive?

Since 2009 I've had a wild hair that's stuck in my brain: I want to go to Israel in 2012. You know, end of the Mayan calendar and all. Just for fun. But as the year has progressed, I just didn't see how I could make it work. I'm saving for my big 6-month sabbatical in Europe (next year) and already had made plans for a couple inexpensive, low-key trips to keep me on track with my savings plan. I'll be heading to Virginia in a couple of weeks to spend time on the family farm. In late August/Early September, my sister is going to be having twins and I'll take a week-ish off to help her out, and I was planning to go and visit a friend in Bonaire over the Thanksgiving break.

I just didn't see how I could make Israel work too, timing-wise or budget-wise. Last year I priced out a trip to Israel and it would have cost nearly $4k for one week!

So yesterday I saw a tweet from a fellow traveler about how fares to Israel are really low right now. I checked it out, and low and behold: the dates I could go in November were actually CHEAPER than flying to Bonaire.

What do you think I did? Within four hours I had found a friend to split the cost of accomodations with me and booked that flight. We found her a flight from DC for $711 that arrives an hour after mine at TLV.

This all happened yesterday. Less than four hours from idea to execution. But more than three years from inception to execution. Timing is really everything.

I'm thrilled with this. Truthfully, I can't believe it really happened. The trip is booked. And in fact, what I'll pay for my flight + accomodations (thanks to airbnb) is still nearly $300 less than my flight would have been to Bonaire.

All in all, minus food and any tours, I'm only spending around $980 for my flight and two weeks' accommodations in the heart of Jerusalem.


Seriously.

Good juju.

Now we'll see what happens in the next few months. Syria is volatile right now. As is Egypt. Israel has always been. If all goes well, I'll be exploring the holy land in November.

Have you ever experienced something similar in your travels/life?

 photo from www.jerusalemshots.com

Greek Isles: Kos

I spent three lovely days on the island of Kos.

Kos is located in the Greek Dodecanese isles - the closest group of islands to Turkey. It's a couple of hours from Bodrum (Turkey) and a few hours from Rhodes by ferry. Kos is a good-sized island, about 25 miles long. It's a very mellow island. There is a good deal of fun, relaxation and exploration to be done on Kos, so if you're thinking of stopping over for a few days, you'll have a nice time.


Where to stay

I spent three nights on the far side of the island (in Kardamena). It's an expensive cab ride (37 Euro e/w) from Kos town, but the resorts on this side of the island are lovely, sprawling affairs with beach access, pool complexes and all-inclusive meal plans.

I also spent one night in Kos Town proper, aboard a sailboat. While I didn't stay in a hotel on this side of the island, I did spend some time wandering around the downtown area, exploring the restaurant scene, and the medieval castle and I caught glimpses of the (nearly nonexistent) night life.

 The Castle in Kos Town, by the docks.

All in all, I'd go back to Kos - to the far side of the island. But I tend to lean toward reclusivity rather than metropolitan living and exploration of the unknown in nature and history vs exploring cities.

What to do
-Be a beach bum. I lounged in the salty, heavenly med for hours and hours. It was fantastically relaxing.

-Rent a quad bike or a scooter and do some driving around. Given the option, I usually pick quads over scooters. As the woman who rented a scooter at the same time I rented a quad can attest, they're more stable and easier to drive, and you get some offroading power (Yay!). (When I returned at the end of the day with my quad, I saw the poor woman who rented a scooter at the same time as me - bruised, battered, bandaged and on crutches after a trip to the doctor's office. Ouch!)

-Explore the castle in the middle of the island. It's free to enter and quite large.

Believe it or not...
Most of the people who were booked at my hotel were quite posh. Kos isn't one of the traditional party islands (think Mykonos) and it's really out of the way (though there is an airport). People who choose to holiday on Kos are looking to get away and not be bothered by run-of-the-mill tourists and their shenanigans.

 Relax and enjoy the sunset over the Med.

Faraway Fantasy Friday: Capri

Rome: Been. LOVE IT. Going back to live (next year).

Venice: Been. Stunning. Back again someday.

Milan: Been. Cool place.

The rest of Italy: I'm going. Y'all know that I'm moving abroad next spring and that at this point, most of my time abroad will be spent in Italia, primarily in Rome.

But there is SO much more to see... and I'm going to explore the boot.

Capri is high on my list of Italian Priorities. That gorgeous little island in the South. Historically Capri is where the wealthy Romans (of the ancient variety) vacationed in Summer to escape the heat.

Photo from: http://www.italianvisits.com/images/campagna-im/capri-im/capri-terrace.jpg

Today I'm daydreaming of visiting this island paradise, soaking up the sun from bougainvillea-covered terraces, swimming into the Blue Grotto with my camera in a dry-bag to snap photos and see the ancient statues and generally just, well, holiday.

Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grotta_azzurra.jpg

By: Frédéric de Goldschmidt www.frederic.net

Where do you want to be today?