by We now have a departure date: March 6, 2020.
We’re planning a major road trip across the United States, where we’ll visit more than 25 states over four and a half months. During that time, we’ll visit several schools as well, since we also want to find a new place to live after the trip. Will it be in Canada, the United States, or somewhere else? Who knows!
We’re selling the house. What an adventure. We rented a storage unit to store our personal belongings, especially the kids’ things. We had the house inspected and repaired it. We’re also making some improvements to the kitchen and the floors. Home Depot has become our friend—and… not necessarily the best kind of friend.
We found a real estate agent. we tried, as best we could, to sell the house myself to avoid the agent’s commission, but we are severely lacking time—so that’s that. We’re also preparing a huge garage sale; we’re getting rid of everything, keeping only memories, the kids’ toys, books, and our personal belongings, of course. Furniture, TV, tables, beds—everything will be sold. We’ll be living without a permanent home. I actually think it feels good—to do a serious cleanup of what really matters. It’s through moving that you realize how many objects prevent you from moving freely and being active in life. Are we tired? Yes, absolutely. But that’s what it takes to move forward. The kids are excited.
Distance learning
Isabelle continues homeschooling the kids.
S. continues with her online school through K12.
C. continues with homeschooling.
N. will only be kindergarten age when we return from the trip, so no issues there. We’ll be doing worldschooling.
Work
Robin continue working for his company while traveling. He has the opportunity to work remotely, so he will (of course!) going to take advantage of it!
Legal matters
Since we are U.S. permanent residents, we can’t leave the country for more than six months without losing our residency. We therefore need to apply for a Re-entry Permit (I-131), a fairly expensive process that requires biometric data (fingerprints and photos) for the whole family. We’ve already had our biometrics appointment, so all that’s left is to wait for the permit, which should be issued in the coming months.
We also set up a virtual mailbox, which allows me to read my mail remotely and have it forwarded if needed.
And the cherry on top
We’ve already bought our tickets to Paris. There was a very good deal, and I used credit card points to pay. We’ll be traveling on a Boeing Dreamliner 789. A total of five tickets for $800, which we then reduced to $0 by using points. Wow!! You just have to be flexible.