Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Preparations

OK, so this blog thing seems to be working so I might as well write something relevant to my trip. The general plan is to travel around the world and see lots of cool and exciting stuff until my money runs out (so it could be quite a short trip!). I've planned the first few months, but not more, as there's a good chance that my plans will change during the course of the trip anyway.

First off I'm heading to Mexico to visit my cousins (Kamiar and family and Keyvan) and my friend Lisbeth (hola!). I've got about 6 weeks to potter around there and maybe visit Cuba as well before I have to be in Lima for the start of a monster tour of South America that goes all the way down the west coast (right down to Tierra del Fuego) and back up the east coast to Rio in time for the carnival. What happens after that I've got no idea.

So what have I done so far? Well there's a darn sight more preparation required than I had hoped, but I have done most of it already, all I need to do is pay for most things (which I'm trying to delay for as long as possible). The most annoying and fiddly part of the whole operation has been sorting out immunisations, not an altogether pleasant experience. So far I am now immune to typhoid and hepatitis, I'm getting my yellow fever jab tomorrow (I can't wait), I've got my japanese encephalitis vaccine in the fridge (that is just such a cool sounding disease) and I still need to get the rabies vaccine (apparently the producers are having a bit of trouble getting them to the chemist's, which is holding up things at this end). The most galling thing about the immunisations though, is that I have to pay for the priviledge of having needles stuck into my arm, now that's just wrong. Apart from that I've paid for the South America tour and still need to get my plane ticket and insurance. Hmm, I'm sure there's other stuff, but I can't think of it now; I'm sure it'll come to me.