Wednesday 22 September 2010

A-Z guide to travelling for a year

A - Addresses.  Because I might try to send the odd postcard!!

B - Blog.  Tick!

C - Camera.  Contact lenses.  Currency.  Chargers.  Cotton everything.

D - Documents.  Scanned passports in inbox, insurance details in duplicate, visa information somewhere in the bag where they may survive..

E - eBay purchases - teva sandals, rucksack, camera, international plug adaptors! (All bought with the proceeds of stuff I've sold on there, result!)

F - Face paints.  Because there are no doubt plenty of small thai children who need butterflies on their faces!  & enough random hippies.

G - Glasses, sunglasses.  (Getting a new pair of glasses is one of the things you can leave until the day before you go on holiday.  For more information, why not check out Tim's website www.thingstoleaveuntilthedaybefore.com!)

H - Hand sanitiser.  I knew there must be a reason Mum keeps giving me the stuff!

I - ipod.  & really cool little travel speakers, which were a leaving present form work.  I'm loading up some CDs as we speak.  (I managed to delete my entire iTunes library from my laptop earlier in the summer.  Who said girls never clean up their files?!  Squeaky clean.)

J - Jabs.  Bizarrely there doesn't seem to be much agreement of which ones to get, but it seems to be a good plan to get someone to stick some needles in your arm.  Within reason of course.

K - Katt.  Or if you can't pack her, arrange to meet up in Bangkok for some South East Asia exploration :)

L - Lonely planet guide.  We'll take the first one, then trade as we go round.  I'll need plenty of books too so I'm hoping this strategy will work!  ('Dune' should keep me going for a bit!)

M - Malarone.  Agghh!  OK, so if you've spoken to me within the last two months you've probably heard by anti-malarials tirade already.  But this is my blog and I may well be repeating myself, or missing out huge sections of relevant information.  Probably both.  So.. there are four types of anti-malaria tablets out there, varying from cheapy cheap to costing a substantial bite of the travel fund.  The cheapest option won't deter the hardy mosquitos in the areas we're going, so that's out.  The next one can cause psychotic episodes or exacerbate depression - I think not.  the third option makes you intolerant to the sun..  So, it's a no-brainer.  A few hundred squid each to Lloyds online pharmacy; I'm not going to think about what that is in rupees.

N - Net.  A massive mosquito net.  One lesson we've learnt after managing to get eaten alive in Portugal, is that we're going to stay inside this net 24/7.  It's just not safe out there.

O - Open mind.  This is one for me.  The kind of person who has it in them to write an A-Z guide for the hell of it, probably needs to loosen up a bit & go with the flow!  (Not just yet though, still a few things to sort out!!)

P - Pills.  We're going to India, I'm not taking any chances.

Q - Quick dry towel.  (Where does the water go??)

R - Rules.  No thai prostitutes.  Enough said ;)

S - Snorkel & face mask.  (Lou, I have a confession - you know the snorkel & face mask I borrowed about 5 years ago..  it turns out I still have them!  Do you mind if I borrow them again!?)

T - To-do list.  Somehow Tim has managed without one of these.  I don't understand boys.

U - Universal plug.  The type that goes in the sink, & the type that goes in the wall!

V - Visas.  Mission.  Ideally get someone else to sort them.

W - Waterproofs.  Sounds mental I know, but we will be stashing these just in case.  After booking up the flights and starting to dream about our first month or so living in Goan beach huts, we hit a bit of a brick wall.  It turns out the monsoon season lasts till the end of October, and the beach huts are kept under wraps till then.  Rubbish timing!  It may be 29 degrees, but it's heavy rain showers right now!!  Oh well, we'll get an apartment, see who we can chat up and hopefully we'll be drinking from coconuts, in hammocks on the beach by late October!

X - X-job, hooray!  X-house, sad face.

Y - Younger man, hehehe :)

Z - Z?  Nah, I'm trying to pack light!