Tag Archives: flights

May4

The Process of Leaving – Part 7

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April, 2024 – Stripping Down to the Necessities


Storing, Shipping, or Selling.

Those are the “buckets”, so to say, that everything of mine is falling into.

Some things are obvious – I’m storing my car, since I can’t ship or pack it… and I don’t quite want to sell it just yet. Some things are less obvious – Climbing Shoes, for example… am I going to get to climb during my trip, or can I safely ship them? Not sure… still working on that.

Most fall pretty easily into one of the buckets, though, so thankfully it’s just become a process of making it all happen. Cleaning up the apartment, physically putting things into the storage unit, and then actually posting and selling the things that I don’t plan on keeping.

It’s… freeing, though a bit melancholy as well. I’m able to step back and look at what I really need, and then get rid of that which I don’t really need. I’m being exceptionally strict about what I put into storage – This is an opportunity for me to make a clean cut in life, an extreme version of when I moved to Oregon, and I don’t want to anchor myself to the past too heavily through this transition. Major sentimental value items are coming with me… but the vast majority of unnecessary extras as getting sold off.

In parallel with this, I’m locking in exactly what I’ll bring with me on my adventure. I did a trial run of what I’d pack, back when I went to Oklahoma, so this side is fairly simply… it just requires a bit of finesse on the final bits, along with locking down what sort of checked bag I’ll be bringing, and what exactly I’ll be putting into it.

Snacks, contact lens solution, my first aid kit… It’ll be a light and small checked bag, to be sure.

And that’s the key here, right? Strip everything down to the necessities. Don’t bring more than I need… but don’t forget to bring the things that are critical. It’s not easy, especially doing this in both the material world (what pants do I bring?) and in the emotional world (what memories do I carry into this next phase?).

Neither has an easy answer… but thankfully I’m navigating it well so far. I have friends and family helping me out, along with airlines and trains and busses and boats helping keep me honest with what I’m carrying along.

At least what I’m carrying physically. The emotional side is a different battle entirely.

Apr30

The process of Leaving – part 6

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April, 2024


Soon enough, it’ll be time to say goodbye to my life in Wilsonville. To step out that door one last time, likely never to step back through that same threshold again.

That’s my next step – now that the trip through Europe is planned, with the backups controlled and locked down, and my landing area in Ireland in process… I turn to packing my life into boxes. Boxes to be sent to storage, boxes to be sold, and boxes to be shipped across the world to help me acclimatize into my new life.

Before I do that, though, I’ve been making a point to allow myself time to feel and time to grieve.

It’s sad to think about leaving, and I’m being generous with how much time I give myself to get this done. Could I do it all in a week? Probably. Do I want to? Not in the slightest. I’ve been in this apartment for very nearly 4 years… four years of growth, recovery, memories. Happiness and sadness, connection and distance. It’s the longest I’ve been in one place since I left my childhood home, and has helped me through one of the most trying portions of my life.

I cooked meals, grew plants. Sat by the fire, laughed and cried, both alone and with company. Left for trips, always knowing that my little corner of the world would be waiting for me to return to it.

I still remember the first few weeks after I moved in… I had my couch and desk, but didn’t have much else… not even a kitchen table. When I was finally able to cook meals for just myself, with healthy ingredients that I had picked out from the local grocery… Any outside viewers may have felt sorry for me, sitting alone by my computer and eating a meal of grilled chicken and broccoli… but frankly, it was one of the most freeing times of my life.

These four years have been good, there’s no doubt about it, and I’ve accumulated quite a few pieces of memorabilia to celebrate that. I also have quite a few “anchors” – furniture that I’ve had since moving to Oregon, that’s likely been holding my subconscious back. Those things that are celebrations of happy memories, I plan on sending to Ireland… at least, as many as I can reasonably ship. The anchors, I plan to sell or donate or dispose of.

Things that fall in between those two, I plan to store. My car, for example, is too near and dear to my heart (not to mention efficient! She still runs like a dream!) and so will be going to a trusted garage for long-term stasis. Some of my books will likely follow, along with whatever knickknacks don’t quite make the weight cut to go to Ireland.


As with March – slowly but surely is the name of the game. I stay patient with myself, give my spirit the runway that it needs, and take things item by item and line by line.

Apr10

The process of leaving – Part 4

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March, 2024 – Preparing Contingencies


“When going on a huge adventure, what contingencies should I plan for?”

That’s a great question, Mr. Excuse-for-Exposition!


My next step, after locking in the primary plan, was to create the secondary and tertiary plans. What do I do if something goes wrong… and what do I do if a second something goes wrong?

For me, that was actually fairly straightforward – One of the many skills that one picks up as a Mechanical / Industrial engineer is failure analysis, and failure prediction… combine that with my innate cultural paranoia, and you’ve got the recipe for someone who naturally over-plans things.

I started my backup planning for this trip years ago, in all truth. “What happens if my Passport gets stolen?” was an easy question to answer, and a situation that I’ve found myself in previously. Being a dual citizen, I have two passports – Primary and Secondary plans. As a Tertiary, I have a US “Real ID” drivers license… not quite as good, but good enough to at least get me into an embassy.

(Ed Note: See “And it all comes tumbling down” here – https://talesfromthehutt.com/2011/10/13/and-it-all-comes-tumbling-down/ – for the story of when Ben had his passport stolen previously, and learned that a photocopy of a passport is NOT a viable backup contingency)



There’s a few other contingencies that I prepped previously, just as part of my normal life.

Communication? Cellphone, backup older cellphone, and laptop.

Camera? Cellphone, backup older cellphone, credit card to buy a new camera. Never forget this – Credit cards (and cash) make for excellent all-around backups… but they do tend to draw attention and risk.

Vision? I have contacts, and bought extra 6-month packs so I wouldn’t have to rush when I landed in Ireland. But on top of that, I also have two pairs of glasses… not ones I’d enjoy using, but ones that could keep me safe for a time.

Data? Cloud backup services, along with a small stash of USB drives that I’ll mail back home every so often.

Paying ability? An international credit card (with zero currency exchange fees), along with secondary credit cards in a second wallet, and cash (Euros, Krona, etc…)


As part of my Grand European Adventure though, I did have some unique contingencies to plan for.

Housing, for instance, I backed up with a list of “vanilla” hotels in each city I’m staying in. Places that’re international and safe, like Marriot and Hilton – not somewhere that I’d get a good sense of the city… but somewhere that, in an emergency, I could rely on to either have a spare room or be able to help me find one. I included address and phone number, so I could either call or be able to get a cab.

I also created a list of embassies and consulates for each city that I’m in – not only the phone number and address, but also the name of the presiding ambassador / consular, so I would know someone I could ask for specifically if things REALLY hit the fan.


I stored all these plans on the cloud – but, since the cloud is inherently unreliable, I’ll have a few backups there too. I’ll print everything off as .pdfs, and save them to my various devices… but since electronics can fail, I’ll also have at least two physical copies with me, and will share copies with my friends and family.

Of note – None of these backups are being kept together. That’s a key! If two backups are both in the same satchel or checked bag… they’re not really a backup, are they? I plan on having three bags for this trip, and each will have one backup of each item: My primaries will live in my personal bag. My secondaries will reside in the backpack that has my clothes, and bulkier items. Tertiaries will have to content themselves with my checked back – a small duffel that’ll hold things that I can’t bring on the plane… like contact lens solution and the special dreadlock shampoo that I like to use.

Am I paranoid? Absolutely.

Is paranoia bad when the world actually seems out to get you, and take advantage of any small lapse in attention? Well. Time will tell, won’t it?