I’ve now been traveling around the world for some time. While I have moved cross-country in the United States several times over the years, and learned a lot from those, they did virtually nothing to prepare me for the insane challenges and difficulties with moving overseas.
Now that I have moved overseas once, and am about to move to a new country again (for reasons I will describe in future articles), I have learned a tremendous amount of things that would have made my moves tremendously easier, had I known it beforehand. So, hopefully by reading about the challenges faced and the solutions, you can get a clearer picture about just how to do it, if you too want to move overseas.
Today I will be discussing what I am going to call a “mock move”. That is, it’s a trial run. Why should you do a trial run? I will explain in a moment. But first let’s look at some people experienced in trial runs, such as Bill Gates. When you are planning a worldwide fake pandemic to implement global lockdowns, secret 5G rollouts, and worldwide experimental injections, it isn’t easy. There are so many variables to consider, that you can’t possibly have thought of them all.
So, a few months before the final plandemic, Bill Gates and friends staged a mock pandemic, called “Event 201” (which is still publicly available on youtube) in October of 2019, running through the scenario of a worldwide “novel coronavirus” pandemic. That is wise. When you are a megalomaniac bent on destroying the world, it’s always good to have a trial run first! You should do the same when you are planning a huge event, like moving to another country and leaving it all behind. Learn from the experts.
You are not ready to go yet. Trust me
I cannot stress this enough. Even if you have everything packed and are ready to go, you have miscalculated the amount of time it will take to do all the little things, like packing your towel, packing your soap, and the things that it seems will take only seconds – except the rality is, there are so many that even when you are fully packed, you will find another 1 to 2 hours when you stayed somewhere for 1 month, or more – days’ worth of work, or even weeks’ of work if you are moving your entire home.
Trust me on this. If you are packed, unless you are literally walking out the door right now and prepared to leave your home behind forever, YOU ARE NOT READY. Please, trust me on this. Despite the most extensive planning, the most extensive perparation, and days or weeks of packing and getting ready, you will not be prepared for what happens the moment reality hits and you realize that you are not coming back. You are not ready yet, and you will absolutely need more time.
The solution is not to give yourself 1, 2, or even 10 hours before your move. Even if you give yourself days or weeks before your move, trust me, there is no amount of time that you can plan before your move. What will happen, every time, is that the day comes, and the hour comes, and before you know it you are 1 minute away from missing your flight or your bus. It’s not worth the stress.
So by trial and error, I have discovered the only reliable way to be sure you are ready. It is to stage a mock move, but you must pack everything – absolutely everything, yes, food, clothes, towels, bedding, soap and shampoo – everything – so that you are literally ready to go out the door and leave the place behind. I would even recommend to actually walk out the door with your stuff as if you are leaving. You will be surprised what you remember. Oh! I forgot this, or that, or the other thing, or I should clean this or that, and so on. You will be amazed how much the little things add up.
Pack everything and head out the door
At the very least, in your mock move, you should have everything, and absolutely everything, packed up and by the door. The house should be clean and spotless so someone else can move in. There are no sheets on the beds. The bathrooms are empty and the fridge is empty too. Trust me on this, do not skim and think, “oh, it’s ok I’ll get that later, it’s not much”. Trust me leave nothing, you must believe you are leaving TODAY, right now. Your toiletries and a few changes of clothes should be in a separate carryon bag or at the top where you can easily access it. Both for the mock and for the final move.
Think about it like this. You are moving out of your home. And it just so happens that the hotel you are going to be staying in looks just like your house and happens to be in the same place. Basically, what you will do is move out, and then, move in like a hotel for the last day or two or three days. You’ll have your travel bag and live out of that for a couple days, or at least until the next day.
When you do this, then and only then can you be certain that you are truly ready to move. If you are not fully packed with an empty house and everything at the door ready to leave right now, then you are not ready yet. When you are doing an international or very long-distance move, and are leaving your home behind, not to return, then your entire itinerary is dependent on you getting to your first connection on time.
My mock move today
I had my next trip to a new country planned for a couple days from now, after planning it for over a week to coordinate every possible angle to save money and make it feasible to take 3 bags and a carryon. Yes, I accumulated an extra bag after the first move overseas. So over the last couple days I packed, and decided I was going to try to make it today, instead of in a couple days, since today would also be possible for my itinerary. Well, I am so glad that I did.
I finished packing and was just about ready to go, and if I had left at that moment, then I would have arrived for the first leg of my journey within minutes of departure (they said I need to arrive 15 minutes early), and very likely would have missed it. By the time I got the Uber-type service, loaded my bags in, arrived at the terminal, and unloaded my bags, and so on – there was not enough time. And really I needed at least another 15 minutes before leaving to finish the last couple items.
And this is all after I was “fully packed” last night, the entire place cleaned and everything. By the time I finished the shower, breakfast, and all the little stuff here and there and there this morning, packing the electronics, packing the cables and cords, packing the items in the nightstand and the bedding, and so on, I ran out of time. And had I had another hour, I would have easily used that as well, and been in the exact same predicament.
Fortunately, it was a blessing from God, because I had already booked days ahead of time. I felt God telling me to go today. What He was really telling me was to try to go today, so that when the day comes, I really would be ready to go.
I could have changed the booking to today at the last minute, as it was still available; but turns out, I was not ready in time. Yes, I could have skipped breakfast. I could have showered the evening before. I could have emptied the fridge the evening before, and so on. But this is my entire point. This is why a mock move is so important.
Then on move day, you can relax, knowing you already thought of everything. You can have a relaxing breakfast, there is nothing more to figure out, just put the travel items back in your travel bag as if you were staying at a hotel, have a relaxing breakfast or lunch, and be on your way and get there an hour early. All will be well!
