And the crazy-excitement sets in...

I keep hoping that the cyclonic mess that is my house at the moment will suddenly consolidate into order and precision. My to-do list seems to be a constant length because as I tick something off, I think of another thing to put on.

But I am getting very excited.

It started this morning and seems to have set in for good. For the last month or so I have been experiencing random moments of excitement during the day. But today it was random moments of down time.

I am very glad that I am not feeling meh.

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The Ranting Entry

We need a place to put all our gripes about the trip. Especially those about our travel agent. The reason I want to put them here is so that all the issues I have are not flying around in my head and affecting the trip in a negative way. Plus, it's good reminders for when I plan another trip. So this blog entry is likely to grow throughout the trip (hopefully not too much!).

Rant #1: When I was picking up the tickets, i.e. 1 week before we were due to leave, we were told that the African Safari we are going on requires us to bring our own sleeping bag and mat... Um, what?... Now, that would have been nice to know BEFORE we booked the thing. That should have been in our agent's spiel for example " This is a great trip but are you willing to bring your own..." instead of "Oh, by the way..."

Solution: We already have some mats and we will buy a cheap sleeping bag in Hong Kong and then get rid of it after if we have too much luggage. Bit of a pain , but achievable.

Rant #2: It was perhaps the wrong choice to go with the manager of the Travel agency. Now you night think you are getting the best qualified person. However, in our case, our agent usually wasn't in the office because of "meetings". Also, managers seem to have this urge to get to the top, and may have just a little too much ambition.

Solution: Next planning of a large trip, I will ask for two travel agents to know all details of my trip. That way if one is "out", I can defer to the other.

Rant #3: Our agent didn't reply to our e-mails. So we didn't know if he had received them. This led to him "not getting my e-mail" for my pickup of the tickets asking for an hour earlier (because I had plans later with a friend). Luckily my friend could re-schedule at last minute and come earlier (As in "He hasn't turned up can we do dinner now?"). He wasn't ready at the original appointment time either.

Solution: Ring and see solution to #2.

Rant #4: Mum's Travel doctor was absolutely terrible. He gave her no choice in the Malaria tablets and gave no details on when and where to use them. Also, there was no discussion on which injections might be good and why. No vaccination plan.

Solution: Get opinions of two Travel Medical Centres. It was lucky that I lived in a different city to Mum so we were forced to get two opinions. That way I could relay all the good advice to Mum that I was getting. We also probably discussed the medication more too.

Rant #5: Geckos tours do not have any included meals and the tour guides do not accompany the group to optional activities, which is not made clear in the trip notes. Also, there are many extra costs that are not indicated in the brochure, which you become aware of only when you have paid in full. We feel we have not been given clear information about tipping (e.g. "You can tip if you want to" with no guidance as to how much) and hotel quality (3 star is not equivalent with our previous experience of 3 star). We took the India Golden Triangle Tour and didn't see any of Delhi because our tour guide scared us into staying indoors and didn't turn up for two appointments for sight seeing.

Solution: Don't Travel with Geckos again.

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Neurotoxin? Yes Please!

Continually firing nerve signals does not sound pleasant... but I don't particularly plan to contract Malaria. The only way to prevent Malaria seems to be by employing a cocktail of compounds.

1: Permethrin or 3-Phenoxybenzyl-(1RS)-cis,trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)
-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate

Permethrin is an insecticide, and is a nerve agent towards insects. It kills the insect by causing nerve signals to constantly fire. It is also severely toxic to fish and cats. But apparently mammals can metabolise it efficiently. (Hmm, trying to reconcile those last 2 sentances) Taking this into account, we are planning to drape ourselves in clothes which have been soaked in the substance.

2: DEET or N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide

DEET is supposedly the strongest insect repellant out there, and we need to slather ourselves in lotions that contain 30% of the stuff. DEET can damage plastics, but apparently should be fine for our skin. (It is noted in the Medical book that concentrations over 50% are not recommended) DEET works by blocking the receptors in insects which they use to locate victims. Poor little mozzies, gonna be flying around "blind" and skitzed out!

And then of course there are the antimalarials. It seems the way to prevent malaria is to pretend like you have it and treat it... Our antimalarial drug of choice is Malorone. The two active ingredients are atovaquone and proguanil:

3: Atovaquone or 3-[4-(4-chlorophenyl)cyclohexyl]-
4-hydroxy-naphthalene-1,2-dione


4: Proguanil or 1-(4-chlorophenyl)-
2-(N'-propan-2-ylcarbamimidoyl) guanidine

Atovaquone interupts the energy prodution in the parasite. Proguanil inhibits the reproduction of the parasite once it is in the red blood cell.

Umm, thank you very much but I have no intention of letting those protazoa anywhere near my red blood cells!

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1. Wikipedia, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin
2.Wikipedia 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET
3. & 4. Wikipedia 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malarone

I am the Immunity Queen

I finally have all my vaccinations!!!

I'm feeling somewhat like a pin cushion. I say somewhat because the first Nurse at the Travel Doctor in the City was absolutely FANTASTIC. The needle never hurt going in, and Rabies and Tetanus didn't even sting! It basically felt like someone was scratching my arm... you know, like preparing it for the injection. And then it was
done.

The sufferring did eventually come for Tetanus. The not moving your arm above your head etc. But I thought I had hit the nurse jackpot.

Then. I went in for my 3rd and 4th injection appointments and I had *gasp* someone else. "No," I thought the first time, "no, this cannot be, how dare she go on holiday and abandon me with someone else." When it was apparent that I had actually been abandoned I tried to convince myself "Perhaps this nurse would be just as capable." I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Anyhow, below is the evidence of the procedures.

Week 0: Rabies 1
Week 1: Rabies 2 and ADT (Adult Tetanus and Diptheria)
Week 3: Rabies 3 and Typhoid
Week 4: Yellow Fever, Chickenpox 1 and blood test
Week 12: Chicken Pox 2, Meningitis, Cholera

The part I hate the most about injections is the waiting. The opening of the fridge door, then the nurse has to do some writing and a bit of *rustle, rustle, tap tap*. The suspense is nerveracking!

As an aside, I learnt how they generally test immunity. Apparently, they take some of your blood and check for activity against antigens of the disease at higher and higher dilutions of your blood. The higher the dilutions can go with a reaction to the antigen, the better immunity you have. Cool huh?

My Rabies should be at least 0.5 and it's 4.5 (I'm guessing that means dilutions), Hep B 10 and it's 64 and my Hep A and MMR is also good (they are for life). My TB baseline is zero as expected. And the good thing is I don't have to have a vaccination for TB (ha HA!) because the Doctor said the vaccination essentially didn't work adults so we just do a baseline test to compare against when I get back. Since I had to have a blood test for rabies anyway, they did it all at once.

I guess the positive from all the trauma is that I have really good immunity now.

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