Medical musings

We need to book our jabs soon, which means deciding which to have. We paid £3.50 for an online "Health Check" from MASTA - good value for detailed notes about each country we're visiting, malaria maps and recommendations of particular drugs. Some immunisations seem clearly a good idea: Tetanus vaccine has few side-effects and catching Tetanus would be a great thing to not have to worry about while in rural Kenya. Yellow Fever is legally necessary. Some are clearly less of a good idea - Cholera vaccine has fairly common serious side effects and isn't very effective. But that leaves the ones that are less clear-cut to decide about: Typhoid (maybe we'll be fine if we stick with good hygeine..), Hepatitis A (ditto, and it's rarely severe in children), TB (usually caught through prolonged household exposure with an infected person). Some would be boosters, some new; some with some worrying side-effect risks, some with quite low chances of catching the disease anyway: and we're not keen on giving our immune systems loads of new stresses (from any unnecessary vaccines) just before they have to cope with loads of other new stresses. Malaria: We reckon we'll have to take malaria pills for five months - and this means that we should definitely go to Cambodia (malarial) before Thailand (most areas not malarial) rather than the other way round, so we can come off the drugs after February. This many pills will cost a bit, and be a little pile to carry - if anyone knows if it's safe and cheap to buy malaria prophylactics in the developing world, please let us know! - Mark

Check out the map!

Click here for a Peters Projection map of our route - Mark

India and Mexico - choices and worries

Two weeks ago I was going to India and Bangladesh at least partly because Heather said so, to be honest. With a little help from Lonely Planet, etc. I'm now very excited about this bit of the trip - maybe fly in to Mumbai (from Beijing), be boggled by the big city for a while; then head for Kerala for beaches, backwaters, lots of fish to eat and coolness to be found in the hills; then off to Orissa (because John Shotton says so!); up to Kolkata and overland (and water) to Dhaka, via the Sunderbans mangrove forest wildlife preserve. We have also to decide whether to take up offers to stay with friends and their families in the Punjab (we'll be in the subcontinent over Ramadan, so not a good time to visit with our Gujerati Muslim friends, sadly). If we do that'll set us up for Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist cultural immersion between October and the following February ... Mexico presents a whole further pile of bewildering options (any recommendations welcome, for any part of the route ...!) - I think the Hintons live near Saltillo, I want to see Mexico City and I think my grandfather Howard grew up around San Luis Potosi - but then there's the Yucatan, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Baja ... - Mark

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Melissa: I was reading Travel with Children - it was quite good. I looked at a book with Heather with pictures of Mexico. It looked quite good, but the whales were too big and the boat was too small [in the whale-watching picture]. What if the whale just came up and bashed your boat? You couldn't really shoot it. Heather: I should hope not! Melissa: Because it would still be alive ... Heather: They're friendly whales, that's why people go to watch them. Sharks would be really interesting to watch too. You think I'm joking, don't you? Melissa: Don't go and look for sharks or whales, or tigers, or lions - unless we're on a big elephant. D'you know when we're on an elephant, do we go on one each?

New look and new comments system

Well, Blogger's had a nice upgrade, so we've dumped the old comments system in favour of Blogger's own. Got tired of orange, hope you like the new look. Comment away, as happily as you like ... - Mark

All very exciting

Here is my first post - I'm so excited about our big trip - can't wait! Scared about heat, sickness and anti sickness drugs, insects, running out of money and having big family arguments when we're staying with people - embarrassing for all! Looking forward to no work, sun, new places and people, feeling enthusiastic about getting up in the morning (can almost remember what that feels like), sea, animals, fun, being close with Mark, Melissa and Rosa and having lots of time together - loads of things. So much to do before we start and so many difficult decisions to make about where to go, where not to go (can't do too much), what to do etc etc. I can almost believe that it is going to happen! - Heather

What's left to do before we go ...

Now Contact people we aim to visit to firm up dates Ongoing Get fitter H learn some Hindi M learn some Chinese Read newspapers and other in-country sources about destination Destination-specific planning By end of May Decide about vaccinations • Statistics • Theories • Govt recommendations • Travel clinic Book to get vaccinated Check out surface transport Finalise route Finalise dates Book to get all visas By end of June Encourage and plan for people to visit us Plan school return and absence Plan summer Organise dog sitting Organise departy party Get on a first aid course Get an ISIC card? Plan money things and organise them By end of July Buy tickets Earn rest of the money Finish dissertation Tax planning Opticians Overall medical check-ups Write a Will (a living will??) Work out what medical supplies to take Plan home education Clean driving license Check credit card renewal dates Check home insurance still valid By end of August Decide what we need to take Buy what we need to take Organise travelling phone/ e-mails/website Travel insurance Dentists Get extra photos to take Rejoin International YHA Prepare lists of phone numbers and addresses Make copies of all documents to take Get business cards Store belongings Mail stuff to pick-up points

- Heather & Mark (with help)