It’s been a long time, but it feels like it was only yesterday that we decided to travel the world. We had known for a long time that an adventure somewhere outside Germany would be waiting for us. With the unique experiences we have had so far in South-East Asia, one thing is certain. We do not regret our decision one bit. If you’re not sure yet and are thinking about taking the next step, you’ve come to the right place. Maybe you’ll find your final push to be brave and decide on your adventure.
Below you will find everything you need to know about our to-dos and what to consider before your trip. The topics mentioned are based on our personal experiences and are tailored to our individual needs. We hope that the information on preparing for your trip will help you and hope you enjoy your preparations.
Job terminations
It is very important to set your own time frame, because only then will everything really take shape. Take a look at the notice period in your contract. Our notice period was 3 months in each case, but we informed our employers well in advance, as Rebecca was in a management position and it was important for her to ensure a good and planned departure for both sides. This meant that all sides had enough lead time.
There are now also various ways to keep your job and return after traveling. This form of working life is usually called a sabbatical. A sabbatical lasts around 1 year and you can even continue to receive a salary during this time. However, you need to plan in advance, as your salary will be reduced in the months before your sabbatical and you will then receive the rest each month during your trip. If security is important to you and you only want to travel for one year, this form is advisable.
You can also take unpaid leave for a certain period of time. As the name suggests, you don’t receive a salary during this time as you simply have extended leave.
It’s always important to talk to your employer as soon as possible and then decide which option is best for you.
We didn’t choose either option because we wanted to be flexible and spontaneous, plus we don’t know how things will continue to go with the medication and we hope to get some income in between as freelancers through Joshua.
And who knows, maybe we’ll like it so much in one place that we won’t even want to go back to Germany 😉
Quitting our apartment
After we quit our jobs, we quit our apartment near Frankfurt at almost the same time. This was also 3 months. So it’s best to check your contract. As we live quite minimalistically ourselves and only had a 1.5-room apartment, moving was easy for us because we sold most of our furniture and other items on eBay and Vinted. We also both have a large family, so we were able to store the rest of our belongings.
Alternatively, we could have sublet our apartment for a year in consultation with our landlord, but we wanted to remain flexible and spontaneous, which is why we gave notice.
Reregistering your place of residence
To re-register your place of residence, it is best to make an appointment at your local citizens’ office. In most cases, you can also visit without an appointment, but this often involves a longer wait. We needed our IDs (passport, identity card and confirmation that we had changed our main residence to Rebecca’s mother. She had to fill in a form from the citizens’ office, which we then handed in. Keeping your main residence in Germany has many advantages and is also necessary for some things, such as existing insurance policies etc.
So that Rebecca’s mother didn’t incur any additional costs for waste disposal, we were able to opt out of the basic fee with proof of international health insurance.
Our tip to ensure that all letters arrive at the new address by post
We applied for a forwarding order from Deutsche Post for 1 year. The whole thing cost us €37, but it’s definitely a good way to ensure that no letters get lost and you have enough time to give and change your new address to all the relevant offices & companies.
Travel vaccinations
Take your time and start the necessary vaccinations in good time so that you are fully vaccinated at the start of your trip.
Seek advice from a certified tropical medicine specialist of your choice and have a vaccination plan drawn up. After the consultation, you can decide what you want to be vaccinated against. As we have many destinations and were unsure about where to start, we chose the full program to be on the safe side. We made a really good choice with our tropical doctor and started the vaccinations about 3.5 months in advance.
We are insured with Techniker Krankenkasse and are over the moon because Techniker has covered all the costs so far. Find out in advance what the costs will be so that you don’t get a nasty surprise, because after our first 2 vaccination appointments we were quickly up to around €400 per person.
Employment office
As a rule, it makes sense to register as unemployed but not as looking for work. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to do this before our trip, or didn’t pursue the topic sufficiently alongside other things. We will try to catch up on this during a trip to Germany and can only recommend that you look into it, as it can only have advantages. In the best case scenario, the so-called blocking period, which is imposed if you quit your job yourself and are therefore not directly entitled to ALG I, will expire during your trip.
We are happy to provide a link to the Geh-Mal-Reisen blog and the topic of the employment office, as long as we do not yet have our own experience in this regard.
Applying for an international driving license
If you are planning to drive a vehicle abroad, it makes sense to apply for an international driving license. We had to send 2 passport photos and a copy of our driving license to the relevant authority by post. This was a great advantage, as we didn’t have to go anywhere ourselves and received the international driving license directly in the post just a few weeks later.
Insurance policies
Entitlement
With some insurance policies, it can make sense to find out about a possible qualifying period. Simply put, this means that you pause or “put it on hold” and take it up again at a later date under the same conditions. This usually costs a small monthly premium, but with some insurance policies it can be wiser than canceling them and taking out a new one at some point.
Possible insurance policies include private long-term care insurance, disability insurance, private health insurance, supplementary dental insurance and other insurance policies that cover health in some way. This is because sometimes you have secured good conditions at the time of taking out the policy due to your young age and good state of health and would lose these if you terminated the policy.
International health insurance
Good international health insurance is an absolute must for a longer-term stay abroad. It can also be used to temporarily deregister from your statutory health insurance, which saves you further (high) costs if you also want to quit your job or have quit.
We opted for Young Travelers Premium health insurance. The company behind it is HanseMerkur and so far we’ve only had good experiences with it. You can also take out the policy for 12 months, but if you end your trip earlier, you can also terminate the policy early and not be stuck with the remaining months.
Whether for serious, acute emergencies with hospital stays or minor issues such as gastrointestinal illnesses or skin rashes. You should be able to see a doctor at any time with a clear conscience and not have to pay a large sum yourself afterwards.
Health insurance
As described in the previous paragraph, it can be economical to temporarily deregister from statutory health insurance when you leave your job and take out health insurance abroad. The best way to do this is to contact your own health insurance company in good time.
Once you return to Germany, your health insurance company must accept you again. We will report on how the whole thing works and what you have to bear in mind as soon as we have gone through it.
Savings installments
If you put something aside privately and perhaps even invest with savings installments, it can make sense to pause these savings installments. Most brokers who offer savings plans or similar have these functions. If not, then it’s best to save the respective WKNs and savings rates in an Excel file and stop them completely and when income starts flowing again, you can resume them. I now also take this flexibility into account with all pension plans.
Cell phone SIM card
It is advisable to keep your own German SIM card either as an eSIM or physical SIM card in your cell phone, as this also makes it possible to keep the number in Whatsapp. This means that even with a SIM card from Vietnam or an eSIM in Indonesia, you can specify in advance during activation that the German number will be retained. This ensures that you can continue to stay in contact with your loved ones via the usual channels.
Diabetes
For preparations relating to type 1 diabetes, we have pages & articles on our website that we are increasingly linking to here.
Conclusion on travel preparation
We really hope that our experiences and tips have helped you and that you now have a better overview of what else you need to think about. If you are looking for further inspiration or are thinking about where you would like to start, please take a look at our other articles and pages.