a danziglife field guide to planning an adventure around the world

the danzig life
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

jesse and sherry danzig quit their jobs, got rid of their belongings, and embarked on an international adventure with their sons casey (2.5 yrs old) and sandy (6 mos. old) and their dog rocco. they are now full-time family travel bloggers (instagram @thedanziglife).

quitting our jobs, selling all our stuff, moving out of our house and preparing to take two small children and a dog on a year-long international trip is awesome (well, we assume it will be awesome. we just started). but it also takes some forethought and planning (danziglife tip: a week is not enough time to pack and move out of a house). so we did what any couple would do when trying to figure out how to pull something like this off, we googled the sh** out of it. we find ourselves down the google rabbit-hole all the time (ever spent 45 minutes researching “best toiletry bag”?) so needless to say many hours have been spent in the abyss of the travel-blogging dark web.

thankfully, we’re not reinventing the wheel. there are other travelling families out there who have paved the way and provided their own helpful tips. below are 3 of the most common pieces of advice we’ve read and how we put them into our own practice:

#1 tip: the more you can plan in advance, the better off you’ll be.

a common post we read from travel bloggers goes something like this: “can’t wait for our next adventure, which will consist of brazil, argentina, columbia, chile and then the galapogos!”

we’ve been planning our trip for about 9 months, as of the date this blog we are currently in our first country, and this is what we have planned so far:

leg 1 — europe (6-ish months)

- portugal for a month (flights and apartment booked)

- greece for 2 weeks (flights and hotel booked)

- croatia (no flights or apartment booked, but sherry’s parents show up at some point, soooo. we need to get on this one)

- tbd

- tbd

come home to make sure our family doesn’t disown us, do laundry.

leg 2 — central/south america (6-ish months)

- tbd (except that we’ve been to costa rica a couple times and we love it so we want to go there).

as you can see, we really took this #1 tip to heart. hey, at least we know there will be 2 legs and that laundry will be done.

#2 tip: sell all your stuff to help fund your trip.

we have read about so many travel bloggers who funded their trips by having a big yard sale, sold all their stuff for $30,000 or $50,000 and used the money to fund their travels.

so we had a big yard sale and sold all our stuff. but we only made $700 and an old lady fell face first down our driveway. (danziglife tip: when an old lady falls face first down your driveway, she gets the $5 dumbbells she wanted for free).

we made another couple thousand dollars selling stuff online, lost a couple thousand selling one car and made a few thousand selling the other car.

basically we ended up with $2,000-$3,000 when all was said and done (danziglife tip: this is not enough money to travel for a year). where the hell does the other $27,000-$47,000 come from that these other folks made?!?!? thankfully we’ve been saving our pennies for a long time and are proud to be able to afford what we’re doing (but still, send money. we need it).

#3 tip: create a routine so you can balance your time with yourself, your family, and your travels

are you for serious? really. we have some of the chillest kids around and it is still impossible to predict what might happen any given day, hour, or minute. i’m literally writing this article with a baby strapped to my chest while our toddler is napping because he’s been sick and my wife is napping because she was up all night with the baby. to all those families who have a perfect little routine that always works so you can get everything done and still have alone time…we really envy-hate you.

#4 tip: make an announcement video to share with your friends and family

here’s ours:

after our oodles of research, here’s our danziglife tip to add to the knowledge library: learn from others, but you don’t need to do things exactly as they did. there is no one set way. figure out what works for you. there is no single path. we are just doing what we think is going to work for us. so far, so good?

)

the danzig life

Written by

parents + kids + dog: full-time international travelling family (instagram @thedanziglife)

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