log off and live!
Down to the final month before we officially depart DC. Phew! Before we can leave on our adventure we’re heading to see family.
Our trek around the eastern US looks like this:
A lot of places in not a lot of time. Probably heading out of the Philadelphia area around March 1st, spending a week or so driving before we sell the car and fly to California and cross the border into Baja. Its gonna be a trip!
Less than 60 days before we move out and pack up. We got the annual new years candy from my grandma today (yay!), the card says “May you have a sweet 2009 no matter where you are.” Who knows what 2009 has in store for us, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
New year= new countries= new adventures.
What does your 2009 equation look like?
This has been an incredibly difficult week in terms of trip planning. As you can tell we’ve been working non-stop on the website, hoping to actually pull this thing together before thanksgiving so we can really start publicizing it to our friends and family. I’m just completely shocked at how long it takes to build a website, I mean I know its very labor intense and granted I’m a complete novice, but I have a new found appreciation for graphic designers and website designers.
So back to the topic of this blog, which I am clearly trying to avoid. I told my work this week that I was leaving. Besides being very difficult for me because I actually like my job and my coworkers it was difficult to get up the courage to say something. Shaking like a leaf I told my immediate supervisor and second line supervisor who were both as supportive as they could be given the situation. I guess I expected them to be outright mad or angry, but they both could appreciate why I was leaving. They offered to discuss a leave of absence, but for the length I would be gone it just wouldn’t work out. I guess it went as well as it could have, but it was still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I do feel relieved in a way that I told them because at least we can be open about it, and I think they appreciated the 90 day + notice, but alas it made the trip very, very real. More real in every sense of the word. No matter what happens,we are out of here sometime this winter… or atleast I’m out of a job. 🙂
In many ways telling them I was leaving was liberating because I’m actually doing something that I really, really, really want to do, not something that I think I am supposed to do just because it’s on the life path. Until this point I feel like I’ve done everything that I should have done with my life…graduated high school, gone to college, met a boy, graduated from college, got married, bought real estate, etc… without any blimps along the way. This is a step away from that predetermined life path, a big step away, but I think a positive one. I’m sure virtually everyone things we are crazy for doing this or at least naive, but I’m glad we are following our own path and not just doing what is expected.
For today at least, I am positive and upbeat about taking this trip. Determined to see it through all the way through no matter what may come our way. Courage is the word of today. 🙂
Spent today checking out travel health insurance and immunization costs… that was fun. Health insurance for six continents is a little difficult, but we’re not really sure what we’ll need it. Most countries would treat us and it would either be free or relatively inexpensive. We only have experience in Europe, any suggestions or advice out there?
I guess the major concern is really if something happens to us overseas and we have to come back to the US to be treated. Getting treated here without insurance is expensive and difficult in some places… hmm… so many questions.
The good news is that we probably don’t need rabies shots. Yay! 🙂
When you think about planning a trip around the world- what comes to mind? For me it was exotic places, interesting people, new foods, probably some “unique” bathrooms and hopefully lots of fun and good experiences. What doesn’t come to mind? Vaccines and immunizations. Yes, that is right… and lots of them.
A few weeks ago I plopped myself down in front of our computer to reaseach which vaccinations I would need. I figured it would be probably two or three, maybe a booster or two. As I read through the CDC website listing out the necessary vaccinations the list kept getting longer… and longer.
In my head it went something like this: “Tetanus, ok no problem, probably need a booster anyway. Hepatitis B, ok got that. Polio, didn’t we eradicate that? wait, that was small pox. Ok, moving on. Yellow Fever. check. Typhoid …didn’t my Oregon Trail family die from that? Ok, so Tetanus, Hepatitis B, Polio, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A (hmm i guess its a different vaccine), japanese encephalitis, rabies.. wait rabies?” Pretty soon I had a list of about ten vaccinations that I would need before leaving the country. Go figure. Ten. I give the list to the hubby, “compare it to your records and see what you need.” His list of necessary shots? About HALF that of mine. Great, just great. Not that I’m scared of shots or anything, just that I don’t want to be a human pin cushion.
Fortunately our health insurance covers many of them, so atleast that will save us some $$. I’ve heard stories of people spending more than $1000 to get immunized for around the world trips. Some of the vaccines require two or three dosages, so the prices can be deceiving. Who knew that vaccines were so expensive? For people without health insurance, several local health departments offer travel vaccines at a fraction of the cost at a private travel clinic.
I went to the dr for my first Hepatitis A shot the other day and the RN says to me as she inserts the needle… “this one might burn”… wait what??? It didn’t burn, but it got me thinking about how many of these I could take at once. I think two is my maximum, one in each arm. Plus, some of them cannot be given in combination with others.
<Sigh> Its going to be a long couple of weeks….
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