You’ve Got a Departure Date. Now Work Backwards From It.
Once you’ve got a rough season and a rough month in mind, it’s time to turn that into something real. This is the bit where a departure date stops being an idea and starts being a plan.
Here’s how to actually narrow it down, and what to do once you’ve got it.
– For all your Caravan and Camping Gear: Caravan RV Camping
Circle the Month First
Get everyone travelling with you involved in this, your partner, maybe your adult kids, and put down on the calendar the month you’re going to go. Just start with the month, maybe it’s January to keep life easy, maybe it’s something else. Circle the month on your calendar, and that starts narrowing it down. In the next conversation, start working towards an actual date.
Sort Work, House and Finances Around That Month
This is where you’ll need to have a chat with your boss, get your finances in place, and work through a few bigger-ticket items. That month might even start changing as you go through this. But once you’ve got at least a month, you’ve got something to work with, and that’s what you’re going for.
Work Backwards From Your Actual Date
Once you’ve narrowed it down to an actual date, that’s your departure date, and you can change it if you need to, but it gives you something to work towards. Work backwards from it: the month before you depart, sort this. Three months before, sort that. Six months before, sort the van, especially if you’re getting one brand new, that can take up to a year, so give yourself plenty of time for it.
Once you’ve got your departure date and worked out exactly what you need to fit in and when, you’ve got a real list of stuff to do.
Tell Your Friends and Family the Real Date
Now when you talk to friends and family, you can say, we’re actually leaving on the 1st of July, and this month I’m putting stuff onto Facebook Marketplace. They’ll go, you’ve actually got a departure date, that’s exciting, and they can start planning too, catching up with you before you go, or flying or driving out to see you somewhere on the road.
Our Thoughts
The month-then-date approach works because it gives you something concrete to react to without demanding certainty on day one. You’re allowed to move it, the point is having a real date to work backwards from instead of an open-ended someday.
Once the date is locked in and you’ve told people, the last thing to sort is how much you’re actually going to spend and how long you’re going for, because those two go hand in hand with the date you’ve just picked. Get that number sorted next, and you’ve got the whole plan in place, season, date, timeline and budget, instead of just a nice idea.
- Stuck Talking About Your Big Lap Instead of Actually Planning It? Here’s the Trap
- Best Time to Travel Australia by Caravan? Start With the Seasons
