Round The World Trip Begins: Speed bumps

Planning Our Trip Around The World

How are we possibly going to have everything packed and ready to be at the airport for our 4:30pm flight? How does one even fathom what to pack for a year long adventure around the world? It doesn’t matter how many round the world blogs we can read or advice we can receive, it is still an incredibly daunting task to complete. Are we crazy? Are we going to regret leaving our amazing city, jobs, friends and family while we jetset around the world?

The Day Had Arrived

The day was Thursday, June 26, 2018 and that afternoon, we were frantically filling our rolling duffle bags and small backpacks, while taking care of last minute details in our townhouse so it would be ready for tenants in August. After years of working multiple jobs and saving as if we were having a second wedding, my wife Shaleen and I were almost “ready” to put our lives on hold in Toronto and travel for a full year. As we would later discover, we clearly overestimated how much we would need, but more on that later.

Luckily, our townhouse is located steps from the rapid train known as the UP Express, which is a direct line from Union Station to Pearson Airport. With our luggage in tow and our Toronto lives behind us, we embarked on the seemingly easiest part of our trip – to the airport. This easy task, however, would not be without a few speed bumps.

Speed Bump #1

The first of these speed bumps was during our self check in when both our bags were over the allotted 23kg required for Air Canada flights. After some repacking and bidding adieu to some half full sunscreen bottles, we managed to meet the requirements with about forty five minutes until boarding begins.

Being an American Express Platinum member allowed us to skip the long security line, giving us about twenty minutes in the Priority Pass lounge to scarf down some food, beer and wine then hustled to our gate for boarding.

Speed Bump #2

Of course, as fate would have it, our second speed bump would appear in the form of a huge thunderstorm ravaging Toronto at the very moment of boarding. This would delay boarding and flight time by almost two hours.

Speed Bump #3

Shaleen prefers us to be some of the last passengers to board each flight (why spend more time on the plane than you need to right?) so when we finally made our way up to the counter, our third speed bump was upon us. The Air Canada agent alerted us that there was a small issue that could prevent us from boarding. He would not allow us to get on the plane until a supervisor provided approval.

How could this be? We had travelled to the U.S.multiple times, the U.K., South Africa, Namibia and a layover through Germany. We had never encountered a problem like this before! Only when we are ready to board our first flight in a trip around the world does a problem arise.

After about ten minutes (which felt like two hours) of waiting, the supervisor arrived and allowed us to board, but gave us a stern warning that other countries may deny us entry. Despite that advice, we have decided the roll the dice and forge on, with hopes that this isolated incident will be the only time we encounter this issue.

If this speed bump decides to present itself again, we’ll be mentally prepared and look for bigger tires.