There are three weeks to go until we leave Australia for ten weeks in the US and Caribbean. Mostly, I am very excited!! It is hard to believe that this time next month I will be on a cruise, or the month after I will be checking out Santo Domingo!! However, I am also quite apprehensive about some aspects. Here are some of the things that I am scared about…
1. We will forget to do something important before we leave
We have a list of jobs to complete before we go, but we are being a bit slack it. There also doesn’t seem to be enough on this list, so I have a nagging feeling that I am forgetting something important. I am trying to convince myself to stop worrying as there isn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed later, but it is not helping.
2. We are not prepared enough for our US road trip
The US road trip is probably the part of the trip that I am most excited about. However, I am someone who is usually super prepared and organised, and I feel like I am only marginally prepared for this journey. We plan to be travelling relatively fast which is going to give me little time to plan as we go, so I am worried we are going to miss all the best things.
3. There will be something wrong with my final university assignments (due a few days before we go) and there will be some problem which will prevent me from teaching next year
I am doing my best to ensure there won’t be any problems, but one of my final assignments has a million parts to it, and the tutor likes returning them for small problems. There are also a lot of parts to the process of becoming a registered teacher, and that needs to happen before I get back. I just got my version of the holy grail of teaching jobs for next year – part time!! – and if all this doesnt come together by the time we return, I will be trouble.
4. My husband not finding a job quickly on our return
My husband will finish his current IT contract before we go and will have to look for new work when we get back. The trip and the costs to keep everything in Australia going while we are away will take most of our savings, so we will be under a lot of financial pressure when we get back if J doesn’t get a job straight away. My pay won’t even be enough for our investment property repayments, let alone our rent and everything else. This one is especially bothering J.
5. Flying 15 hours with such young kids
Overall, we are very optimistic about how the kids will handle the trip. Our Asia trip earlier this year was awesome. BUT, the last flight was only 8 hours. This time it is 15 hours to LA and then 5 hours onto Miami. Also, we bought Z a seat last time, we haven’t this time. Z is also older and a much more difficult age for travel, in my experience. He is going to go crazy. He is big for his age (19 months and 22 months on return trip), and I really don’t know how we will cope if we don’t get lucky and get a spare seat for him. I have no hope at all that it will be anything but a very hard experience. I am just hoping it won’t be so hard that we will be too terrified to fly back and stuck in the US until he is old enough to handle it better!
Thankfully, most of these things are not a big deal. The plane trip will end, we will sort out any problems at home, and most probably, J will get a job quickly. When I look at the big picture, the trip is well and truly worth the worries. We could just stay home in case there is a problem with my teacher registration or to avoid the flight or further planning, but how silly would that be? Either way, J will be out of work, so that worry will still exist regardless. It will be all good, I am sure, but it doesn’t stop us being scared at times.
What scares you about a long international trip with kids?
