#2155 travel Tuesday: trip prep

We are about 23 days or so away from our trip to Southeast Asia. Our preparations continue.

Today is a big day. MT and I went to the travel clinic at the county health department to get some recommended vaccinations. My poor left arm feels like a pin cushion. MT actually got one more shot than I did because I've already had a flu shot. Today we received vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), tetanus and Hepatitis A and B. Yes, I'm sure we were vaccinated for MMR when we were little kids, but Ryan, the super nice county guy, told us that for our years of birth, the immunization has proven unstable. Since all three of those diseases are bad news and because there has recently been an outbreak of one of the Ms (measles I think) in Cambodia (or Thailand), we just went ahead and got the shot. We will also be taking an oral vaccine for typhoid.

You may be shaking your head at my lack of memory on this important topic. Honestly, we were there for an hour and got so much information, I couldn't possibly remember all of it. Thankfully, they gave all the info to us in a handy packet. We have traveled many places and I've never even thought of getting any of these vaccines before. It's precautionary since we will be going to very tourist-y areas, but it's all good.

We also got a prescription for antibiotics in case we get really bad diarrhea while we are there. We will be taking plenty of Pepto with us in any case.

You might be wondering about the danger of malaria. All of the places we are going have low risk of malaria. However, it was strongly recommended that we take mosquito repellent with us. We have bracelets AND Deet spray, so we feel like we are covered there. The county guy agreed.

Tonight I will be applying for visas from Cambodia. I think this might be the first country that I've visited that requires a visa. Props to the Kingdom of Cambodia for a nice website that makes the application process easy. The site says we will hear back from them in three business days.

This weekend I will be gathering the clothing I plan to take and making a list of what I feel like I need to buy. I am pretty sure I want a new bathing suit because I haven't bought a new one in the last couple of trips, so I'm due. I'm not sure what else I want or need except maybe for some long pants that I can wear at Angkor Wat so I don't get too many bug bites.

Another thing I think I'll bring along is some aloe vera. That stuff is good for everything.

Our travel agent, Candice, sent me an email today to let me know she will be sending over our "packet" which includes itinerary and phone numbers and stuff. I love to get her packet because then I know that trip time is getting closer. Having all the documents and stuff just makes it feel so real!

More to come...