What to do with the house while we are away...

Right from the beginning we knew that going away for 12-15 months was going to mean we would need to do something with the house. Options were 1) keep it empty – no rent/no costs, 2) sell it – possibly not a good idea in the current climate, and besides we have a really good mortgage deal!! Or 3) rent it out – the popular choice, but you really need to set your mindset.

We have finally gone for the rental option. Benefits being:

• Rental income offsets the mortgage – a big plus, and means we can go away with less financial pressure.
• Your house gets used, cleaned and hopefully cared for!
• You limit the storage requirements for things, if you were to sell up
• For us specifically, we get to keep our wonderful 10yr mortgage deal.
• It’s a new experience – being a landlord – so why not?

All the guidance suggests that if you are going to rent and go away, then vacate your place early and rent while still in the country. This will give you some chance of getting the Tenant you really want, also any teething problems can be ironed out. However this could pose a problem as you have to live somewhere yourself!! We are in a wonderful position as my mum and Dad live 20 miles down the road, and therefore we have been able to move out a year before departing and move in with them – Thanks Mum/Dad!

Despite having them so close by we have gone for a fully managed rental service with our chosen agent – Oulsnam (a local group in the West Midlands) http://www.oulsnam.net/ . They offer a fully managed service which I personally think is the best option. They will promote, let and manage the relationship with the Tenant, all we have to do is count the cash in, and authorise any works that might be required. Our house is 4 years old, so the hope is that not a lot of work would be needed. Fingers crossed.

A really good site to check out is the career break site - http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/what-to-do-with-stuff/rent-out-your-house.php#planning they have loads of current info. Summary thoughts are:

• Start six months before you NEED to rent (your departure date). Even rent some where yourself if required.
• Meet at least 3 agents before you decide who to go with – remember if you are going fully managed, your house is in their hands, so don’t be attracted by the highest rental quote, think about the company.
• MAKE SURE YOU INFORM YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY – it’s the law
• Management fees run at around 10%
• What you leave in a furnished house is the landlord’s responsibility to maintain and therefore cost to repair. Think about what you leave.
• Make sure the issues of income Tax are resolved. If you are away for 6+ months, you can claim tax exemption – the Inland Revenue have a form for this – NRL1. Have not done this yet so can’t tell you how the process is.
• Sort your buildings contents insurance out, you will still need some.
• ENJOY THE TRIP, don’t worry about the house.
  

I will post more as we go; currently we have started packing and will keep things updated.

A year to go!

Right well here we are, check point No. 1 approached and passed!! We have a year to go before Urvi and I depart for RTW 2009.

It is strange; a lot has been done so far, mainly related to saving for the trip, and setting the itinerary. There is still loads to do, and judging by the pre trip action plan I have set up – which now contains over 200 actions! – we are gonna by busy.

The main thing to say at this stage is I can honestly say plan early and get moving with the plan. As a planner by profession I really enjoy this, and have set up endless spreadsheets setting out what we need to do and by when. The trick is to do things in time, and don’t leave it to the last moment.

Emotionally is it a great feeling to know that this time next year we will either by on our trip or so close that we could almost touch it! Now the fun will really start.

Of course all this fun is not without cost, it is almost like having a 2nd full time job, as the evenings and weekends often go in sorting plans out, re-planning and then actually carrying out the plan!!! We have also undertaken some practice treks and plan to do a number of weekend treks before we go, lets see how much we actually do!! More posts on these as we go.

We are then also renting our house out, so will embark on getting this sorted, there is a wealth of info on the web about how to rent your place out when you embark on a trip like this, it is clearly worth doing but has its pitfalls and once again, get things sorted early is the motto (more on renting in a bit).

File Note – We can go on our trip!!

Hurray!! Based on the latest version of our plan, we have saved enough to travel round the world. After years of thinking, this is a really achievement, and I personally feel great that we will be able to undertake this trip with no financial tension and no need to work as we go. A major personal achievement of mine has been delivered.

Getting your finances in shape

Interestingly, the first thing I noticed when Urvi and I started thinking and researching a Gap Year World tour was the amount of variation people were suggesting as a budget.

The books talk about setting some expectations regarding the type of traveling you want to do and the type of places you want to stay. Based on this you can get a feel of the amount you need to have in your World trip piggy bank. We have been basing our current thinking (more to do) on £20 GBP per person per day this gives us an ‘on-the-road’ budget of £14,600. In addition you need to budget for:

• Pre trip stuff – kit etc
• Major travel costs (round the world tickets etc)
• Insurance costs etc
• Contingency funds for costs at home (your mortgage etc etc etc!)
• Money for when you come back

All in all we are working on a budget of £35,000 for the year. This may change as our planning progresses (more later)

What this meant for us is Saving saving saving!!

Immediately, the fact we wanted to go debt free, and not work while on the road, determined our leaving date. So far we are talking about the 2nd of May 2009, which at the time of starting this project gave us plenty of time to start saving.

Lessons we learnt to enable us to do this were:

• Have a clear idea of the type of traveling and lodging you are planning for.
• What you save before you can go, you can enjoy when you are on the road.
• The small savings mount up - £40 is a day’s budget, so saving 1 “Dinner out” pays for a day on the road.
• It is difficult to gauge what the costs will be so allow for contingency.
• Open a dedicated savings account for your trip and don’t dip into it.
• Try and save regularly, each month – it is a good feeling to see your savings accumulate as the months pass!
• Ensure you record your pre trip spending against your World trip account, so you know that when you get on the plane on day 1, you know how much you have left.
• DON’T MAKE MONEY YOUR DRIVER! But if you sort this out before you go your whole trip does not turn into a budgeting challenge

Of course if all else fails approach rich relatives for a loan!

Thoughts on Blogging

I will be honest, both Urvi and I are pretty tech savvy, but until we began started planning this trip I had not contemplated setting up a Blog. Its bit strange really as I read a number of blogs, mainly technology related but also my second love Cricket, but I have never set one up myself. It is a pretty liberating experience really. A bit like writing a diary, but enhanced by the sharing element of it, and of course the ability to drop in a live Map and Pics.

As a technogeek, and someone who attempts to take meaningful photos, the documentary/archiving aspects of this are really exciting for me and in some ways I cant wait to take this on while we are traveling.

Our world trip blog, is the first of what may be many blogs, so please do tell us what you think and how we might improve things.

A journey round the world begins with a simple plan…

One of the first things that we found when thinking about trip was to start planning early. I know that people talk about a trip like this as a voyage of discovery and therefore the more planning you do, the less you may enjoy the experiences, but honestly a certain amount of planning is essential.

First things first, we decided on a number of issues very early on, much of this sounds obvious, but it is important to clear these things at the beginning.

• The trip was going to be for 1 year.
• We were going to fund this trip 100% out of our savings, no money no trip!
• Based on needing to save and plan before we go we decided on a departure year of 2009
• As much as possible we would try and get to ALL the places we both wanted to visit. But also we knew that there would be further trips in the future.

So from here on in the planning began! I tell you, it is half the fun I think!!!!

How it all started...

Sitting in the Tower of London museum, we had a conversation about things to do and achieve in life, I wanted to buy a Merc, She wanted a nice house, I wanted to set up a home cinema, and she wanted to travel the world....

...What? travel the world, how we going to do that? We were in our mid 20s and trying to establish our careers, progress in life and set up a home, family etc. How can you do this and travel the world?

I guess it is all about Risk and how much risk you want to take to achieve your ambitions in life. For me it was about potentially leaving a job for a year to travel the world, but with no real assurance of having a job to return to.

This was the first lesson I have learnt while planning for this trip. Life is about making decisions and sticking to them, there will always be pros and cons, but doing nothing is the best way to go backwards.

That was 2004, this is 2008. Join us in the trip of our lifetime!!!!

Background

About this site: This site is for our families and friends, and also as a keepsake for ourselves. Over time it will give us a place to share the experiences that we are sure will change us for ever. We'll consider it to be a success if our family and friends enjoy it, and if it encourages or helps even one more person to travel, then even better!

About us: We are Urvi and Anand Shah, a married couple of seven years now! Urvi is the wife and Anand the husband. We are in our late 20’s although I (Anand) am gonna be 30. We live in Birmingham, UK. Urvi is a Physiotherapist and I am a Healthcare Manager working in the NHS. We're basically a fairly normal pre-kids couple, looking to find the meaning of life (!)

About this trip: This is a trip inspired by Urvi. We have always enjoyed travel, but have not been able to go to all the places we have dreamt of. Being the inpatient people we are! We decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and travel the world all in one go. The trip will be 15 months. We started slowly saving soon after we met, and with the proper planning, it all turned out to be more affordable than we originally anticipated (let us know if you'd like more info on this). With a few exceptions, we plan to get to all the places each of us wanted to visit and experience.

As we want to get a really feel for the countries we visit, and not stay cooped in western hotels, or bus tours; our accommodations will usually be hostels, homestays, camping where possible and even camper vans! I (Anand) would also like the odd day of luxury thrown in too!

Our travel philosophy: We're more interested in finding out what life is like in a given place than we are in seeing all the tourist spots. That said, we don't "go native" when we arrive somewhere. We have adopted a style of planning well and in detail, but trying to keep as much flexibility for when we are there. We want to spend a fair amount of time just walking around to get to know a place and lifestyle - the "vibe," so to speak.

Travel is going to be a mix of as many forms of transport as possible! From flying on the Airbuss A380 super jumbo, to cruising the Nile, to the endurance of the trans Siberian railway!

What do you think we MUST DO

We would love to hear from you and get some recommendations of the things that we must see, do, eat or experience during our trip.

Please leave advice, a travel story, a tip - or just tell us about your favorite place to visit or a spot not to be missed.

Thanks!!

Urvi and Anand