You’d think planning for a long vacation is all fun and games, sadly it’s far from it. There’s plenty of stuff you need to look into before getting on that plane. Here are some examples from my experience:
Medical/Dental checkups:
I’m not a fan of doctors, and I try to avoid them at all costs. Dentists even more so! Well, after some arm-twisting from the family I buckled under pressure and got everything done. Folks let me tell you, go to your dentist regularly as after my 5 year hiatus I had over $1600 of work that needed to be done... That’s almost my airfare! Also good to go get a checkup, make sure you’re not dying before you leave.
Government red-tape:
If you’re Canadian and leaving your province for more than 7 months, you’ll need to look into making sure you don’t lose your provincial health coverage. Otherwise travel insurers here won’t touch you with a 10 foot pole. Ontario luckily has a special exemption that lets you leave for 2 years if you’ve met the residency requirements for the last 5 years (7 months out of 12). You’ll still need to go to the government office, line up and get a letter saying you’re good for 2 years. Otherwise, you can look into International Health Insurance, which is the stuff diplomats get, but at upwards of $3000/year the first option is definitely lighter on the wallet.
Legal stuff:
I wasn’t too big on getting a will done, in the big picture I’d be dead anyways so why would I care? Well in the BIGGER picture, if you make life difficult for your family and loved ones, it might make a difference in terms of whether they bury you in a nice plot at a cemetery, or toss you out to sea.
Tax stuff:
Make sure you’ve got all your papers in order at home. If you can, scan all the important stuff and put it up on a cloud server. Also make sure there’s someone at your address you can trust to open up your T4s, scan them and send them to you. That way you can do your taxes online rather than ship everything back and forth to an accountant overseas. Be sure to have everything in order and check your country’s tax agency about guidelines on filing taxes from overseas etc.
Travel Doctor:
Self explanatory. Pay money, get poked by sharp metal objects... Lots of fun!
Overall the 2 months before my trip were pretty hectic getting everything in order. My days off consisted of sitting in govt. waiting rooms or in a doctors/dentists office getting poked with needles. I swear I felt like a pin-cushion in the end! A trip like this involves a lot of planning and preparation, and the last thing you want is to get dinged for something you could have totally prevented.
Bon voyage!
Medical/Dental checkups:
I’m not a fan of doctors, and I try to avoid them at all costs. Dentists even more so! Well, after some arm-twisting from the family I buckled under pressure and got everything done. Folks let me tell you, go to your dentist regularly as after my 5 year hiatus I had over $1600 of work that needed to be done... That’s almost my airfare! Also good to go get a checkup, make sure you’re not dying before you leave.
Government red-tape:
If you’re Canadian and leaving your province for more than 7 months, you’ll need to look into making sure you don’t lose your provincial health coverage. Otherwise travel insurers here won’t touch you with a 10 foot pole. Ontario luckily has a special exemption that lets you leave for 2 years if you’ve met the residency requirements for the last 5 years (7 months out of 12). You’ll still need to go to the government office, line up and get a letter saying you’re good for 2 years. Otherwise, you can look into International Health Insurance, which is the stuff diplomats get, but at upwards of $3000/year the first option is definitely lighter on the wallet.
Legal stuff:
I wasn’t too big on getting a will done, in the big picture I’d be dead anyways so why would I care? Well in the BIGGER picture, if you make life difficult for your family and loved ones, it might make a difference in terms of whether they bury you in a nice plot at a cemetery, or toss you out to sea.
Tax stuff:
Make sure you’ve got all your papers in order at home. If you can, scan all the important stuff and put it up on a cloud server. Also make sure there’s someone at your address you can trust to open up your T4s, scan them and send them to you. That way you can do your taxes online rather than ship everything back and forth to an accountant overseas. Be sure to have everything in order and check your country’s tax agency about guidelines on filing taxes from overseas etc.
Travel Doctor:
Self explanatory. Pay money, get poked by sharp metal objects... Lots of fun!
Overall the 2 months before my trip were pretty hectic getting everything in order. My days off consisted of sitting in govt. waiting rooms or in a doctors/dentists office getting poked with needles. I swear I felt like a pin-cushion in the end! A trip like this involves a lot of planning and preparation, and the last thing you want is to get dinged for something you could have totally prevented.
Bon voyage!
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