The planned trip is outlined in the itinerary pages. However, none of us expects that we will stay on the planned itinerary.

We are looking upon it more as a rough outline and expect to diverge off the planned path and the urge takes us. This is partially an exercise in freedom and we are determined not to be bound by a schedule. The only firm reservation being made is the initial flight to Belize and the initial hotel stay there.

The planning has been intense for the last year. Much of it revolves around putting our lives on hold for a year. The part you can't put on hold, must be put on automatic pilot. Here's a list of just some of the pre-trip chores.

• Arrange to home school the kids by trying to fit the "travel
• experience" into a normal school curriculum.
• Getting all those financial lose ends such as life insurance and estate planning completed.
• Arranging for the bill paying.
• Eliminating junk mail and canceling all subscriptions.
• Putting all of the business interests and investment management on autopilot.
• Renting the houses.
• Selling cars and other things that will go down in value by the time we return.
• Arranging for international medical insurance.
• Getting the whole family Scuba certified.
• Studying languages (Sherry been taking Spanish).
• Setting up this Web site. And arranging for its maintenance.
• Getting passports updated.
• Getting all of the required immunizations.
• Finding out what visas are required.
• Arranging for the storage of some goods.
• Developing our packing list.
• Buy all of the trip clothes and equipment.
• Register all electronics with US Customs.
• Review all insurance to make sure it's current.
• Arrange for care of pets. (dog, cats, horses, fish).

Probably one of the hardest chores has been getting our pack list down to a reasonable size and weight. This has changed almost daily and has been not only a constant concern but also a source of friction between Sherry and Ken.

Initially Sherry was planning on bringing luggage almost the size of steamer trunks. Ken was amused by this and just declared that "Just remember, everybody carries their own luggage". Then, it became apparent that all of Ken's electronic equipment was going to be a big problem, particularly when he was toying with bringing a satellite phone. In the end, the packing has become a source of great amusement for everybody. We finally worked with a travel consultant who laid down the rule, "One 24 inch backpackable suitcase and one shoulder bag for each person". Sherry panicked.

Going against the learned wisdom of legions of world travelers before us, we are taking a bunch of high tech equipment. Everyone has advised us that not only is all of this stuff heavy but there is the constant worry about getting it stolen. Oh well, those who do not learn by the failures of the past are bound to repeat them. This equipment includes:

• Compaq 133mhz mutimedia notebook computer with extra batteries, hard disk storage and all sorts of accessories. Much of our travel support material such as books, maps and language translators is being taken in the form of CD-ROMs. At least this offsets some of the weight of the computer. In addition to aiding us, we are also hoping that the computer will be away of showing some of our world to other peoples.
  
  
• Sony Digital Still Camera DSC-F1. This is only slightly bigger than a deck of cards and can hold up to 60 shots. This will be primary camera for taking pictures that will be EMailed and uploaded to this website.
  
  
• Sony Video Hi8 Handycam. This is a compact video camera. We are also taking a "Snappy" video capture adapter so that we can transfer images from the camera to the computer.
  
  
• A world wide cell phone that works practically everywhere except North America and Africa. I ruled out a satellite phone because it is too big (briefcase size) any has limited data communications ability.
  
  
• GPS Receiver. We're taking a handheld Magellan GPS receiver. It is our hope that this will help with our chronic problem of always getting lost. We figure we are always getting lost in the mall, what hope do we have for the markets of Istanbul.
  
  
• Walkie-talkie. Each of us is talking a light weight walkie-talkie. We hope that these will minimize the number of our kids that we will on the trip. They have already proven themselves in use at home.
  
  
• Solar Panel Charger - to charge all of those batteries.

Given all of the space and weight that this electronic stuff, Ken is sacrificing a lot of creature comforts to make it all fit. So far he hasn't been able to convince any of the other family to give up any of their precious space to carry some of this stuff. He's argued that it's for the benefit of the whole family, but nobody's buying it. The steamer trunk is looking pretty good.