One Year Away

Joseph

We’ve got less than 2 weeks to go now before we get on a plane and travel west for a year. 

Last week Penny and I were both out of town, she was on business, I was in Las Vegas with friends.  That makes this our last week in Toronto.  Next Monday we pack up our things into a storage locker and head to Montreal to spend a week with our families before leaving. 

Half of our belongings are already in boxes and I think we’ll be in good shape for the move.  Penny will probably disagree because she remembers what a disaster my previous moves were. 

It’s a hectic week.  With all the packing, seeing friends before we leave, and last minute planning we’ve been busy.
Monday:  We applied for new passports when we realized that our current ones don’t have enough blank pages for all the visas we’ll need.
Tuesday:  Finalized our vaccinations and got a prescription for 185 days worth of anti-malarials!
Wednesday:  Looking for storage lockers.  All the options are much more expensive than I was expecting.  Hopefully we get a better deal from a friend of ours who’s family owns a storage facility. 
Also, I went to a sports medicine doctor about hip pain that has been bothering me.  I want to be sure it doesn’t return during our trip since we’ll be doing lots of hiking and trekking.  He referred me a yoga/Pilate’s studio to learn some exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles in that area.  Seems like an unusual thing for a doctor to prescribe…
Thursday:  Going to a private yoga lesson!  The instructor is going to teach me a routine I can do every morning that should help my hip problem.  It will be my first time entering a yoga studio.
Friday:  Extending our health care cards so that the coverage doesn’t lapse.  Usually, after 7 months outside the country your coverage expires.  However, you can apply for and get an extension if you have a valid reason.  One of the allowed reasons is actually called "Once in a lifetime", so we will apply under that one.