Deciding to go away 
(and having one day to come back...)
by Sil (comments by Chris)

Why we decided to go is not exactly the question - Why Chris decided we should be going would be slightly more accurate.
This is my version (and therefore the truth) of how the idea came about:
I just came back from a business trip in Germany when we were invited to a nice dinner at a friends house in Dubai. During this dinner I was told, out of the blue, "so i hear you and Chris are going on a world trip"? BIG QUESTION MARK. This must have been all over my face, thinking they were talking to the wrong friend. But no, my darling Chris had taken it upon himself to talk about a world trip he thought myself and him should take. Not wanting to be a spoil sport I said "great idea". I haven't heard about it yet but sure why not. Of course we immediately started to elaborate about it as our friends had spent a lot of time traveling themselves. I know this sounds a bit strange to many as most people would need to think about this kind of thing very seriously and for a lot longer, but if anything, I have always been very impulsive, and indeed traveling for a year sounded like a great idea. I must say that the fact that we had the funds for it made the decision a lot easier to make.
Later when we spoke about the "when", "where" and "how", a lot more thinking and planning went into it. When the idea first came about I thought my darling meant making a trip at some stage in the future, however Chris being Chris sort of meant immediately (sic!). Hey I am impulsive but not that impulsive. This was in August 2001 and after some consideration we decided to start our trip in South America in April 2002, although at this stage I still thought it was a bit too soon, firstly because I wanted to get used to the idea a bit longer, and secondly because I preferred to go to Asia first (this also makes a lot more sense geographically and being in logistics, I like to look at these things). Then 11 September came and, living in the Middle East, it seemed like the world stood still for a few months. Being so close to the line of fire, we were all waiting to see what the USA was going to do, if they were going to attack, and if yes, who (at this stage, anybody could have been a target...). During these few months we subconsciously both stopped planning and even thinking about the whole idea. Then December came around, things went back to normal again and we started slowly talking about it again, asking each other if we still wanted to go. I told Chris honestly that I still wanted to go, but wanted to delay the trip for 6 months and start in India instead. This meant we could save up another 6 months and have some more financial security for when we would come back, while seeing how the whole economical and political situation was going to develop.
This agreed, we very enthusiastically started planning again and telling all our friends we were going. The reactions you get from people are very mixed: Some were extremely supportive and excited, some were completely indifferent, some did not even hear us. and some were worried and wondering why in the world we would want to do something like this.
Over the past year however, I think everybody has come around a bit from the shock (except for my poor granny) and now everyone seems to be almost as excited as we are. Of course telling my boss I was leaving wasn't the nicest thing to do, but he couldn't have been more supportive. His exact words were "Wow that is great" after me telling him I was leaving. This left a bit of a dent in my self-confidence thinking he was happy to get rid of me. No only kidding, he thought it was a fabulous idea and supported it whole heartedly. I decided to stop working on July 1st to give myself one month to arrange the move, give up the car for export and cancel the rent, electricity etc.
But just two months or so before leaving we decided to leave our furniture in Dubai (after finding our how outrageously expensive storage costs were in Holland), and we decided to sell the cars as we could get a very good price in Dubai; so, instead of stressing much I spent a lovely month having coffee with my friends, fighting the desire to spent every second in air-co due to the extreme heat in Dubai and spending some time (I do emphasize some) in the pool and on the beach (comment of Chris: Sil was perfect in the difficult role of a Jumeirah Jane. I think there is not a coffee place, lunch room, tea house or sushi counter she has not visited during that bumming around period in Dubai. Well done Sil!)
We had several goodbye parties, starting end of June as most people leave Dubai for the summer in July, then some "finish-the-booze" parties, the last ladies night, the company goodbyes and the last evening meal. During this time I had a chance to do a lot of dreaming about what the next year would have in store for us, I can not tell you how excited I am to have the privilege to spent a whole year with the love of my life, getting up every day with nowhere to go and nothing we HAVE to do, exploring the world and everything it has to offer. Thanks my love for this great idea!
The last week in Dubai, we had to get out of our apartment as we had no more furniture, so we stayed with our good friend Ben...
We are certainly going to miss Dubai and our lovely friends but don't fear we will be back.

Chris comments:
Silvia can say what she wants, the truth is, she is the one to blame for this whole "going away for a year" thing:
Not only has she been a great life partner for the past three years, but she has also been a great travel companion every single time we went on vacation together, and I reckon that if we could have a ball together in Vienna, Holland, Barcelona, Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, England, Madrid and South Africa (twice), we might as well maintain the pattern in other places around the world.
Another thing Silvia holds full blame and responsibility in is the fact that she too likes to watch Discovery Channel, National Geographics and the Animal Planet.
These television stations should be banned and scraped from the cable once and for all! They are far too dangerous as they incite dreamers like me to force realists like Sil to leave everything behind, their jobs, country and comfy environment, and go travel around the planet to all those places inhabited by little people who utter incomprehensible sounds while gesticulating with both hands, an eye-brow and half a foot ...

I guess I too am guilty as charged, guilty of finding the travels of Michael Palin exciting, the adventures of "what-a-beauty" Steve tantalizing, guilty of being mesmerized by the sheer number of people living on this planet mesmerizing, each with his/her own story, own problems, worries and ambitions, guilty of listening to the travel stories of Nick-DHL, Budget-Bea, AlAweer-Fred'n'Nicolette, MSF-Lindsey, Mongol-Lonel, Geile-Ben and all the other people we've met during the past 3 years...
For me, I hope this trip will bring, in addition to the excitement of discovery, relativism and ???
I know it will teach me self-control and patience, show me a different pace of life, make me learn to accept things that are not necessarily done my way, as well as make me appreciate and value simpler things.
First and foremost, this is an adventure that we are doing together, for and with each other, an adventure that will no doubt enrich our relationship and our understanding of each other, but also a time where we will have to live through discussions, consensus, compromises and hard work. With Sil-the-Wise around, I know that this is just not going to be any issue!

Coming Back
I guess that when you decide to travel in the quasi-unknown for 12 month and agree to live your life without real pre-determined plans, you also assume the fact that your return will remain a big question mark.
Our Round the World ticket takes us, on the 23rd of September 2003, back to Amsterdam. That is the only known variable in our future.
From there, we will decide where to live, on what continent to work, who's career path to follow, and all the hows, whats, wheres and whys that one can think about...
If you would ask us today, we'd say that we would not mind going back to Dubai for a few years, to enjoy the great lifestyle, see again our wonderful friends and refill our bank accounts a little... But we know that so much is going to change during the course of next year, and that we could probably make up our minds somewhere along the way, after falling in love with a place, or finding this great business opportunity in the middle of the Amazon forest (for a Dutch "snekbar", a trendy B&B or a water bottling plant...)
The most likely scenario is that the first exciting job with good salary in a good company will determine our fate for the coming few years.
One thing is sure, we are now going in total freedom, with all options open to destiny...

WHEN YOU FIRST DECIDE TO TRAVEL, THINK ABOUT:
- web site
- horseback riding lessons
- photography course
- Padi (advanced if possible)
- 1st aid course
- International Drivers license
- canceling all memberships and subscriptions
- Give power of attorney to one trusted person to manage bank matters, home, legal stuff, bureaucratic admin etc.
- Get required shots and medial checkups
- Read up on things to see and do
- Research on web sites
- Buy proper gear (research first for best materials, brands to buy... and go there on the first day of sales!)
- research travel insurances to fit the countries you visit and the length of travel
- have this -long overdue- operation, crown replacement, dentist check up, moll removal, lasic surgery, contraception implant, insoles or anything you think you need to have done...
- and, most important, save enough money to be able to travel comfortably (i know that it personal... but still, nobody would refuse a nice comfy room with a warm shower once in a little while!) and not to regret having to leave out the unplanned, unmentioned in the LP once-in-a-lifetime wowish thing that is bound to happen during your trip...