When Adventure Calls You A Million Miles Away...

Well, hello. My name is Luisa and I’m writing this introduction about 36,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, a quarter of the way through my fifteen-hour flight from London to Santiago. How did I get here? Well, that is what I’m going to share with you. Many people have told me how incredibly brave I am for leaving my world behind, but this is something I have always dreamed of being able to do and precisely the reason I chose to study languages. As part of my degree, I am afforded the opportunity to live abroad for a year, not simply in order to improve my language skills, but also, and in my opinion far more excitingly, to sample cultures vastly different from my own. In this my very first blog post, I am going to give you my definitive guide to packing up your life and starting afresh.

I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world – Mary Anne Radmacher

My heart has always longed for adventure, an urge which has taken me to five continents, thus far, and given me an insatiable appetite for travel. It is my passion; there is nothing quite as exhilarating as arriving at a new destination, wide-eyed and willing to let the sights and smells overwhelm you to the point that you never want to leave. That is the thing about having the travel bug, however: despite how much you may have fallen in love with a certain city or beautiful beach paradise, you always want to discover the next place.

My languages are Spanish and Italian, and therefore the next academic year will consist of five months in Santiago de Chile and five months in Rome, Italy. This, as you can imagine, is a dream come true. Since I was a child I have always desired to live outside my native UK and experience the wonderfully diverse ways of life to be found in other parts of the world. I have never liked the idea of accepting the way of life in my culture as the only possibility; I want to have as broad an understanding of the different ways I could live my life as possible.

As my year of adventure creeps ever closer, however, I am realising the profound nature of literally leaving my whole life, my whole world behind to start again. I am beyond excited now, with my cases packed, goodbyes tearfully declared and camera ready to capture every exhilarating moment, however when this process started I was understandably very overwhelmed at how exactly I should go about packing up my life. I wonder if any of you fellow adventurers have ever felt the same? On the precipice of the past and the future, hovering on the edge of a new start, but still reminiscent of the old life, the old skin you are shedding. I wonder, too, if anyone also feels called to make a new start somewhere a million miles away, like me, or even just one hundred. If so, here is my best advice for how to pack up your life, and start afresh.

1. Get your official documents sorted out as early as possible. Whether your move has been years in the planning, or simply a spontaneous decision, it is best to deal with the often boring, tedious paperwork as soon as you can so that you can focus solely on the far more exciting aspects of your trip. For me, this meant applying for a student visa so I could study at a university in Santiago; it’s safe to say that it’s a very drawn out, expensive process for which I was completely unprepared. (I will write my ultimate guide to visas soon, to save my lovely readers from the same palaver I endured!) ‘Official documents’ also include travel insurance and making sure your passport is in date – imagine turning up at the airport only to be turned away from boarding the plane and chasing your dreams simply because you forgot to renew your passport! Other necessary, but often neglected, steps to take include making sure your mobile phone provider has coverage in your destination and stocking up on any medical prescriptions you have to last you the whole trip.

2. Once the official paperwork is taken care of, the next logical step is to make sure you know exactly where you’re going to stay. For me, this is a student halls of residence, but for you it might be a hotel or Air BnB for a while while you look for a house or apartment. I would suggest you be very careful if signing contracts for properties without viewing them; I have heard so many horror stories of non-existent flats and terrible landlords that I would always advise you check the place out yourself before signing on the dotted line.

3. Now that you will have a roof over your head, your thoughts should turn to packing. If you’re anything like me you probably dread this part of the process. I have quite a short attention span and therefore find it hard to stay focused for long enough to methodically list and pack all the necessary items. I would, however, suggest putting on a relaxing playlist and making a note of the clothes you will need, consulting your wardrobe of course to double check you have all the necessary items. This will show you where the gaps are and which clothes you will need to buy. I always like to try on the outfits I’m planning on taking to check that they look as good in real life as they do in my head and that pieces work together. For the actual act of packing, I’m a big fan of the rolling approach, for which you fold your clothes ‘halfway’ (ie. you tuck in the sleeves of shirts and jumpers and fold trousers and skirts in half) and then roll them until they form a compact cylinder and pack them as normal. It both saves a lot of space and also prevents creasing!

4. Bags packed and ready, all that remains is to throw a leaving party! Get a flag of your destination to decorate and base your party food on the cuisine of the place you are going. We had chilli con carne. Get it?… Assure everyone you’ll be be safe and take lots of pictures and then, hey presto, you’re all set to start your new adventure! Bon voyage!

*This post is from my old blog and was written in 2018.