Travel & Planning

Travel Health Insurance

November 16, 2008 By Jillian

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! 🙂

Couchsurfing

November 7, 2008 By Jillian

Since last May we’ve been a part of an online community called Couchsurfing. Yes, it is exactly what you think- people travel around the world sleeping on other peoples couches!! Ok, I know 90% of you are right now thinking “oh my god are you serious, you let strangers sleep on your couch!”. The answer is yes, and to be honest with you it has been a truly great experience. The site is set up with profiles (like ebay sort of!) where you post information about yourself and pictures. You can post as much information or as little as you like. Then you select if you are willing to host or if you are traveling (ie do you have a couch or are you looking for a couch). If you are willing to host you need to add information about the # of people you can host and the sleeping situation (ie, floor, private room, couch in the living room). Once you do that everyone can see your profile and request to stay with you. Like ebay you get references and can friend people on the site that you’ve met and trust. There are other security features there that are more boring so I won’t get into them… but it is regulated. Anyway, so say we get a request. We have no obligation to host them or even respond to their request if we don’t want to.

We get requests from all over the world and have hosted people from: Switzerland, France, Germany (so many germans!), Martinique, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Israel and Khazakstan. People are from all different backgrounds: students, doctors, teachers, writers, tv crews, fashion designers, etc… so its not just a group of free loaders.

While it was a little scary the first few times, we have house rules, etc.. so that everyone is on the same page. Seems to work pretty well. Very few people are free loading, most of them are just on vacation and want a real cultural experience, not what you get at a Hilton or a youth hostel.

Will we do this on our trip? You betcha. Spending a few nights with a family in another country is the BEST way to break down cultural barriers and get to really know another culture. Based on all the good experiences we’ve had and the interesting people on the site, I can hardly wait to get moving!

Shots, Shots and More Shots!

October 3, 2008 By Jillian

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….

Travel Health Insurance

Couchsurfing

Shots, Shots and More Shots!

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