Way to go Bush Kid, well done!....Just because we prep doesn't mean that we stop "living". Cares, for what it's worth, I say go and enjoy the experience. It may be the trip of a lifetime and you and your DD will regret it if you don't go.

I absolutely agree with Susannah. First of all congratulations, well done! I would say keep on living first and prepping second. Nothing happened last year, the year before, the year before that an so on. Probably nothing will happen next year either. We prep for the possibility not the certainty. Any worldwide economic would probably begin slowly and would be regional. As a prepper you would recognize the signs and take the appropriate action. The general public would not be aware of it until they were personally embroiled in it. Heck the general public are not even aware of the possibility of economic collapse.

It is the chance of a lifetime, seize it and enjoy it!

Good afternoon, before I reply I wanted to introduce myself. I am a father of 5, three are adults and two are under 10 years. I have just joined the community and this is my first entry or reply. I have been prepping for over two years and have discovered that there are only a limited number who I talk about my activities and my global concerns. I have just recently retired from a very public position and have participated in shaping government and corporate policy, so my personal activities and preparing to survive in a man made or natural crisis has been a delicate balance.
So, in broad strokes, I have had to maintain operational security beyond the concept of "keeping our families food supplies" secure and available etc.
In response to your post about traveling and the potential impact that being away from home and hearth in a world that at it's basics is a troubling reality, the added pressure of being away from your known environs and your preparations creates a common dilemma for those of us who do have to travel in their daily lives. My family and I are leaving Canada over Christmas with my wife and small children will be away for seven weeks, while I will be returning home two weeks after we depart. Leaving us separated by thousands of miles, obviously a very stressful decision on all of our part.
We do the best that we can to ensure that we are as safe as we can, but life goes on and we all do the best we can, we pray and we love and we deal with life as it comes, even with all of my efforts where there are times that we are not close enough to access our preparedness items.
So, live life and do what we do to Br part of our world and never isolate, that alone could make us Zombies!!!

Welcome Paradigm2012 and greetings from Northern Ontario.

Thank you... As I said in my post.. New to the blog.. I have doing this for a while and reaching out via a forum is new experience for me... It's nice to get a "welcome" so hello back from the WET COAST..

Welcome Paradigm2012.
I also decided this summer to just .....well, live NOW as well as prep for the future. I flew out west for a visit to relatives. I'm glad I didn't let fear dictate my life...

One of my DD's is planning a trip to Europe next summer to tour with a friend - I could have coniption fits over it but I have to agree with the others - we can't sit out life on the sidelines - we can only do the best we can do. I do however have them trained in situational awareness and they will have finances and a backup plan to use if things go south. Fortunately they have friends all over Europe so I will just pray they are close to someone who will take them in if needed or better yet come safely home with no troubles at all. Some of my other kids fly back to Australia to my SIL's family every year. I've gotten used to it 🙂

Thanks everyone for your thoughts...

I guess I would have less of a problem with it if we were all going together but someone has to keep the farm going, biggest problem will be teaching the boys to cook 😀 yes as Paradigm2012 said when you are seperated it is more of a concern, at least if it was to a place on the same continent so you walk, drive, train etc to get back home...haha I am already suffering seperation anxiety about leaving my garden 😆
BushKid has promised that we can visit River Cottage though so I can sit in their garden and just pretend I am at home 😉
Also leaving a relatively secure place like rural Australia for the highly populated UK is a bit daunting for me, but we are looking forward to it, especially BushKid...thanks Susannah for the congrats, she was soooo excited when she found out, she had been having a bad day so it cheered her up to find out the she got the award 😀