Prep time

How do you prepare for a trip spanning three months, two continents, and at least nine countries, in climates covering all of the U.S. seasons?

First, because your first stop is Iceland, you check the webcam of its latest live, unpronounceable volcano … frequently.

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga-2/  

Then, you prepare an itinerary that looks something like this, breathing deep about the gaps that contain no particular plans whatsoever. They are full of question marks, phrases like “road trip,” and possibilities.  This is the stuff of adventure, you assure yourself.

You make arrangements with three different women to babysit your dogs … before settling on your brother-in-law.  You hope he will also weed the garden.

You try to calculate how many bottles of contact lens solution one needs for three months.  Do they have this stuff in Thailand?  Surely Thais don’t stumble around wearing glasses or suffering dry eye?

You write up ten pages of instructions on dog language and idiosyncrasies.   

You interview for, write up, and submit 10 newspaper columns at once, to cover every other week while you are gone. 

After having gained stress-related weight from planning for this trip, you might have to purchase a new wardrobe. 

You’ll probably decide to leave most of it behind and buy new once you hit Thailand.