I wrote yesterday about being in the bank. I was actually there because I need to renew my credit and debit cards early. They both expire in August, which is just the wrong time since I’m leaving in July. However, they will probably only issue new ones with the expiry date two years in the future which leaves me with a problem. In two years how do I get more renewed cards? The answer is give the bank one of my parents addresses as my correspondence address so they’ll be shipped there and can be mailed on to me wherever I might be. But that brings up more problems. What do I do for money while the new cards are being mailed to me, and do I have to stay in the same place for a month while they are mailed?

I mention this because one of the things I spend most of my time thinking about is how to put my life on ‘auto-pilot’ for the four to five years I’ll be away. Difficulties include, as I’ve mentioned, banking and mail, but also where to store my belongings while I’m gone and what to do about my mobile phone contract that still has a year to run. I’ll need to file my tax return in April or May next year, just the time when I should be in Indonesia or the Australian Outback somewhere.

These are all tricky but not insurmountable problems, and it will be interesting coming up with solutions.