How to choose your Big Lap Departure Date

So you’ve got this big, amazing idea in your head. Travelling Australia. The whole thing. And it feels incredible, until you get to the “okay, but what do we actually do first?” part.

That’s exactly where we were, a few years ago now. And I’ve helped quite a few close friends go through the same process since, which is why I put together this little course, From Dream to Driveway , to help get the questions going and point you in the right direction.

My answers aren’t always going to be the right ones for your family. But hopefully this gets you thinking.

So, let’s dive in. Step one is all about locking in a date, and getting really clear on your why.

Why You Need to Pick a Date First

Before budget. Before packing. Before any of that, you need a date.

Not a perfect date. Not a final, locked-in, set-in-stone date. Just something on the calendar that you can work towards.

Because once you’ve got that date, everything else becomes real. It becomes easier. It becomes exciting. You go from “we’ll do it one day” to “okay, we’re going on the 1st of June”, and suddenly all the other stuff (the house, the kids, the jobs, the everything) has something to work around.

We found that was the moment it shifted for us. Your family and friends who’ve been hearing you talk about this trip for years, well, they’ll be relieved too!

It Doesn’t Have to Be Set in Stone

Don’t panic. A date doesn’t lock you in forever.

It just gives you something to aim at. A rough “we’re thinking around this time” is a great start. The point is to get something down so it stops being a vague idea and starts being an actual plan.

Open up your calendar today and pick something. Even if it moves later, having it there makes a huge difference.

Get Clear on Your Why

This one is really important, especially if you’re travelling as a couple or a family.

Both adults need to sit down and work out what they actually want from this trip. Because two people can have very different ideas about what a lap around Australia looks like, and if you don’t talk about it before you leave, it can cause a lot of friction on the road.

Ask yourselves:

• Is this a holiday? A fast-paced see-everything adventure?
• Or is it a lifestyle change: slow travel, home-cooked meals, long stays in one spot?
• What do you each want to get out of it?

Neither answer is wrong. But knowing where you both stand makes every other decision, like the budget, the route, and the pace, so much easier.

What to Do Today

It’s simple. Pick a date, any date, and write it down.

Then have a chat (when everyone’s calm!) about what you each want from the trip. That’s it. You don’t need to sort everything out today.

The full course, From Dream to Driveway, walks through everything else from here, step by step. It lives inside our free community, Plan. Save. Travel!, where you’ll also find budget tools, route planning guides, checklists, and a great group of like-minded people who are either planning their own trip or already out there doing it.

Come join us here → Plan. Save. Travel! Skool community

Once you’ve got a date circled, the next real question is how much to budget for it. We’ve written about how we work that out here: How to Work Out Your Big Lap Budget. We also built a budget planner that walks through those same numbers with you, worth a look once your date’s on the calendar. Have a look here.