Setting The Date
Who knows where we will end up, but we will need a beginning.
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Setting the date for your Big Lap
You’ve decided (or still deciding) on ticking the Big Lap off your bucket list. Well done to you! It’s a big step, and one that is not easily toyed with, but very exciting at the same time. Travelling our amazing country for months at a time is a very big deal and is going to take a huge amount of planning, preparing and organising. Not to mention the costs involved in getting your set up ready, if it isn’t already.
From what you will need to take with you, to where to begin the lap, to how long you will travel for, how to fund your adventure, and so much more. But one of the most important things to set for your big adventure is your leave date. There are many different reasons to select a date but be sure to have one. It would be far too easy to keep putting off your big lap due to not having a date set and it never coming to fruition, so this is why a date is very important. If you are ready sooner, then awesome, by all means leave earlier, but start with a roundabout month, or week.
You may want to work around the holidays, some travellers rather holiday while the roads and parks are quieter. This will depend on your own tolerance for traffic and noise. You will work out what is best for you when it comes to these relatively major decisions.
One park we have recently stayed in was totally full, being a long weekend, and there were certainly a lot of people around. Every campsite had a van, or tent, there was nothing vacant left. But in saying that, it was quiet. We were based toward the end of the block and there was very little noise. You have your normal noises, people scuffing their thongs as they head to the amenities block, kids riding their bikes and dinging the bells on them and the occasional dog barking, but there wasn’t that annoying noise that generally comes from one or 2 sites with people forgetting there are others around them. So, you probably either risk getting lucky with a quiet holiday park or camping spot, or wait until the off peak times if you want to avoid noise.
Another thing to consider is that you may not want to miss a family wedding, or birth, perhaps a birthday milestone. You are going to find that you will miss a few of these things while you’re away. For larger events, you could perhaps plan to be nearby and still make it, but remember it doesn’t always work out how you want it. You just need to find what works best for you, after all, it is YOUR Big Lap!
You may find a special event will line up with your travel plans also, sometimes things just fall into place. You could even plan the date around your retirement, or annual leave from work and start there. Many families take some leave entitlements, therefore need to wait until their employer is able to do without them for a while. Other people begin their lap when they retire. Which means having the opportunity to save whilst waiting for retirement to roll around.
For some travellers, seasons are a big thing. They may not like the heat and therefore want to travel to where the weather is cooler, and may start their travels with this in mind. The seasons certainly can guide you and your travels. And there are many travellers who just ‘go where they feel, when they feel like it’.
We will plan to be in the cooler climates when the seasons are at their hottest as we aren’t too keen on the heat, and certainly don’t want to be held up inside the van with the air conditioning on for days at a time. Sure, we are going to get the nasty hot days here and there, it will happen, but we will do our best to avoid when possible.
For setting our date, we wanted to make it the date of our 20th wedding anniversary. We were planning on a special holiday for this occasion anyway, but we think realistically this will be the wrong time. So putting off a little longer gives us plenty more time to tick off many items on our extensive list. And now that little Miss won’t be travelling with us, we have to wait until she has her license before we can hit the road.
With all this in mind, there are many things we need to consider before setting our date. From budget, what to do with our home, work, healthcare, mail on the road, our belongings and much more I would imagine. We will continue to work towards our date, then hopefully as we get closer we can finalising an actual day. Until then, we continue to squeeze our list down as far as we can.
But, in summing up, setting the date is very important, or at least a month type time frame. You want to make sure you give yourself plenty and realistic preparation time. There is a lot you need to organise. It’s a big exciting move, and getting there will be exhausting, but the end result is well worth the hard work you are going to put in. Now, breathe. You’ve got this.
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