So it turns out there is quite a lot involved in disappearing for a year, who knew! Since we’ve sold our house, we’ve had to update all our addresses to Jay’s parents’. We’ve moved house eight times in the eight years we’ve been together, so we’re used to this particular irritation, and yet it is somehow much more challenging when you know you’re not going to be easily contactable for a year. And can we get a shout out to the pension companies and insurers who will only let you reset online details by posting a new PIN to your home address (which was out of date three addresses ago)?
But it is also very clear that we are incredibly privileged to be embarking on a trip like this in the digital age. We’ve completed visa applications online, pre-booked refundable accommodation and even bested the astonishing bureaucracy of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd to arrange a 39-hour train ride down the east coast of India. The Man in Seat 61 gets all the credit for making that possible. Once we got through the ridiculous registration process, the IRCTC has become a delight to use. We can book through their app, download tickets to our phone and even order food to be delivered to our seat at a station!
We’re now down to sorting out proxy voting for any elections that may happen while we’re away (People’s Vote, anyone??), trying to choose a VPN, and booking an actual resort holiday for Fiji in November. Things could be worse…
3 more sleeps!
