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| Six Months |
We are here for six months. To be sure, that is a long time, which is what we very much wanted. We like long trips. In fact, if you ask Mike, he will share an empirically derived math formula about trip duration. That is what engineers do. Skipping over the math, suffice to say that a six month trip is astronomically better to us than a one week trip.
We have gone on a couple of six month trips before. We volunteered in Hungary with Habitat for Humanity for six months, one of the best times of our lives. We went to Tanzania to volunteer for six months; since that trip ended up being one of the worst times of our lives, we cut it short. We previously tried to do a six month volunteer trip to Edinburgh; Covid cut that one short. So here we are, optimistic and excited about this six month trip.
To state what is perhaps obvious, it takes a bit of preparation to be gone for six months. Sure, the downsized house in a HOA community helps, as do the automatic backup generator for that house, the security system and cameras, the internet thermostats, the internet water control, the internet smoke detectors, and the internet yard irrigation. However, mail can only be held for one month (and forwarding overseas is a non-starter), indoor plants need watering, adjustments need to be made to auto insurance, the refrigerator had to be cleaned out, cars prepped for inactivity, last minute doctor and dental appointments were needed... On and on. Good thing we have a master check list.
