What to Do With Your House, Job, and Life Before a Long-Term Trip

Your three real options are: sublet it, rent it out short- or long-term, or put your belongings in storage and let the lease lapse (if you’re a renter) or leave the property empty (if you own it). Which one makes sense depends on your lease terms, whether you own or rent, and how long you’ll be gone — a two-month trip and a year-long one call for different answers.

Subletting only works if your lease allows it — check in writing with your landlord before you plan around it. Renting out (short-term or long-term) can offset your trip cost significantly if you own your place, but means dealing with a property manager or trusted person while you’re away. Storage is the simplest option logistically but doesn’t generate any income to offset your costs.

Mail forwarding or a trusted person checking it periodically, cancelling any bill for services you won’t be using on your trip, and autopay set up on the rest before you leave. A decision on the car: sell it, store it with insurance adjusted for non-use (comprehensive only), or lend it to someone who’ll actually drive it. These are small tasks individually, but they’re the kind of thing that eats your last two weeks before departure if you don’t start early.

Long-term pet-sitting with family or friends, a paid long-term boarding arrangement, or — for some travelers — bringing the pet along, which is a real option for certain types of trips but changes your route and pace significantly. Most choose to leave their pet at home in the care of a loved one — pet-sitting tends to kill two birds with one stone, since your home is looked after along with your pet.

Two to three months minimum for most of it. Lease decisions and subletting arrangements often need that much lead time on their own. Mail, bills, and car decisions can move faster, but they’re also the things people leave until the last week and then scramble on.

B. Adventuras works on more than just route planning, logistics, and bookings. Most of the pre-trip coaching is all about these departure decisions. Having someone who’s walked other people through this timeline before means you’re less likely to be figuring out the sequence alone.