Before we were able to start on our adventure, we had to get ready.
In the weeks leading up to our departure, our to-do list was packed, but there was one dominating item which was only remotely connected to the trip itself: getting married.

GETTING MARRIED

I proposed back in January 2019 on a Tuk-Tuk-Roadtrip across Sri Lanka. There’s not much to say about it, other than “It felt right”.
Having said yes, it was clear from the beginning, that Carole wanted a “proper” wedding and not a rushed one. As a result, we spent the second half of January doing the last preparations for the wedding and the first week of February with the aftermath. The day turned out to be all we could ever have expected. We had the wedding ceremony in the fitting Masoala hall, a nice dinner at the “Altes Klösterli” and an awesome party at Labüsch Bar.

NEW NAMES AND NEW ADDRESS

We decided to cancel the lease on our apartment and we officially moved back with my parents. Woohoo, what an achievement at age 30 😉
Combined with Carole adopting my last name, it meant we had to change or notice more or less all our contracts including all her passports and the car licences. Most of it turned out to be quite easy, however, there were a few places which took a while and we ended up signing the last documents well on our trip.

CAR PREPARATION – PANTHERLI GETS READY

Unfortunately, we were due to renew the licence of our car, as otherwise, they might have ordered us back in the middle of the trip. This was quite stressful as it posed a somewhat serious threat to our adventure. We did a big service and René from the 4×4 Garage in Neftenbach helped us a lot and was super resourceful in general. Luckily we did pass, after having to fix only minor stuff, like getting rid of some water in the backlight, which was easily done with a small hole.

We postponed all major adjustments to the car for after the renewed licence to mitigate at least some of the risk. After successfully renewing it we added with the help of my brother a new fridge (Dometic CF26) and installed a voltage converter to be able to charge laptops and cameras. Otherwise, we decided to keep it as is. We’re sure we learn more about needed additions and unnecessary stuff but we believe in the emergent nature of such things (long live the Agile principles 😉 )

We did look into options for car insurance but quickly learned that there is only so much you can do without going crazy. Until Morocco, we will continue to be covered by our regular insurance. Contrary to some false information by the insurance by phone, we quickly learned that all coverage south of Morocco is excluded in the small print. At the moment there is no motor insurance for these countries offered by any of the bigger insurance companies in Switzerland. Therefore our only option will be the “Brown card” as local insurance, which has the reputation to never pay. To be at least a little more on the safe side we decided to get a global right insurance.

HEALTH AND COMMUNICATION

We did go to a specialist doctor to get all the required vaccination shots updated and certified in our yellow “UN vaccination booklet”. We also packed some basic medicines as well as Malarone, for the treatment of Malaria. Health insurance-wise we kept our current health insurance and did not add anything except the ETI Schutzbrief by TCS. We looked into satellite phones and initially didn’t want one. Last-minute we found one at Transa called “Gen3 Spot” which will allow us to communicate even without normal cell phone reception and call for help in case of a proper emergency. Don’t ask us, on how they do in case of an emergency. We don’t know yet and hopefully never find out. Otherwise, we hope to be able to buy good deals for local data sim cards in the countries we stay more than just a day. Hopefully, it won’t be too much of a hassle.

MOVING APARTEMENTS

Moving was a hassle as always and we spent most of our preparation time on it. At least we were able to sell some of our furniture to the renter after us. Unfortunately, we were not able to sell our car for a reasonable price, so we ended up having to store it at Carole’s parents. All our other stuff got stored at both parents’ houses – big shout out to them for their support!

ARE YOU READY?

And then it was suddenly time to go. We did target Monday the 17th of February 2020. It was never meant to be an exact date but nonetheless turned out to be THE date. We definitely did not spend nearly as much time preparing for the trip as we initially thought. In the days leading up to the departure, we were able to meet some dear friends for beers as well as had a great party with all of them at our wedding. As I write this, I don’t think we prepared everything but we’re ready to go. All other things we’ll figure out on our way. Let’s hope the rest of our blog will not tell us otherwise…