Today it
is one of that falling-in-love-with-Scotland-all-over-again days.
I was
woken up by the goodmorning-bird's chattering. Beautiful spring
freshness in the air, splitting-the-sky-sunshine to follow; lots of
smiley faces and bouncy happy children. Yes, the summer is on its
way!!!(Hey, you need to speak your dreams and keep your chin
up...even if it is just for capturing the essence of the moment!!!) I
am so convinced about the fact that what comes out of your mouth(your
words) totally frames your world – it sets you up for failure or
success...you are the author of your life story.. Yes??
For the
last year we've been dreaming, secretly hoping, timidly enquiring,
exploring options, start to express our dreams through pictures on
our dream board, connecting the pictures to the numbers, writing down
our fantasy itinerary, sowing seed towards our dream, start
expressing our intentions …..well, we have now well and truly
hooked our dream and our plan into our budget. IT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!
Wheeeeee. I am soo excited!!!
A quick
wee update:
- So far we've bought all our major flights (15 different planes) departing from Glasgow to arriving in Cape Town.
- We've booked our overland vehicles for transport in the USA and Hawaii
- We've booked all but 4 out of 41 nights for accommodation in the USA
- We've got accommodation for Hawaii,Vancouver and Dubai sorted
- We've started with the vaccination schedules....
...vaccination
schedules....
...this
is what I'd like to tell you about today!!
I want
to commend our 4 very brave little travellers. Tomorrow we need to go
to the Independent Travel Clinic again for our second Rabies shot.
(There are 3 in total.) Last week when we were in this new
environment with new medical professionals sticking various needles
in our
arms – I again was just so blessed with the resilience of our
children...I was also affirmed
in my confidence that we will be fine....that THEY will be fine on
our journey.
Ok, many
of you are intrigued by all the vaccination we are getting. Let me
tell you and also enlightened you about the cost and process involved
in actually getting them all....
I was
advised by our brilliant Bryan (STA-travel agent) to contact our own
GP(general practitioner) first. There I was advised to filled out a
Travel Vaccination Form (from
the format of the form I drew the conclusion that this was not
something that the practice deals with on a daily basis...) I had to
pay a £20 handling fee. I paid the same for the children each, but
was later informed that the children are exempt form this under the
NHS- National Health System (UK) and was reimbursed ...yay!!
The
Nurse who is responsible for our vaccinations was taken a bit out of
her comfort zone, since we are literally(except for 2hours)
circumnavigating the globe!! We will be trekking and visiting local
communities,interacting with animals and swimming in al kinds of
oceans, rivers and rainy
showers....so we pretty much need to protect our bodies form ALL the
major parasites!!
We've
made
the decision that Arno will get all his vaccinations done privately
through a
Travel Clinic in Aberdeen. He is not registered with
a GP up there and for sake of
ease we decided that he will just go completely private!! The rest of
us will get ours done partly through NHS and partly through the
Private travel Clinic in Irvine.
We did
some extensive research and explore suggestions of other travellers
to get some of the vaccinations done in South East Asia. The
prices are almost 10 times cheaper there, but our itinerary is pretty
much jam packed, so we've decide to get them all done prior to our
departure.
So here
is our list of vaccinations:
- Hepatitis A and Typhoid Combo (Adults)
Hepatitis
A and Typhoid -2 separate shots (Children)
- Hepatitis B Marilie – 3 shots (month 0,1 and 6)
Arno
and kids – 3 +1 shot (month 0,1,2 and 12)
Different
schedules for all of us since I started mine 6 months before
departure,
but the other did not start theirs in time...so they are
on the accelerated schedule
with an extra shot in a year's time.
- Polio,Tetanus,Diphtheria (Adults)
- Rabies – 3 shots (day0,7 and 28)
- Jap B (Japanese Encephalitis) – 2 shots (day 0 and 28)
- MMR – was advised for the adults to get this vaccination, children was given theirs routinely
The only
un-vaccinated parasites we will be exposed to are the malaria ones.
We are still seeking wisdom regarding what to do. Will update you
once we've made a decision. Dengue
Fever has no know prevention, but cover up and use insect repellant
in GREAT quantities.
We will
not be travelling to Yellow Fever areas and our travel health experts
do
not think that we need to vaccinate against Cholera.
So what
are the costs involved:
£20
GP-Travel Vacs Service (Adult)
- Heb A and Typhoid
- Heb B
- MMR
- Polio,Dip,Tet
Travel
Clinic (Our nearest option was at the Ayrshire Central Hospital in
Irvine)
- Jab B 2x£70
- Rabies 3x£47
Arno's
nearest Travel Clinic was the Abermed Group in Aberdeen.
So, we
are almost halfway with all the shots. Everybody gets a sticker to
add to the growing collection on the front cover of our 'Vacs
Passports'. Even I feel a sense of achievement; of character building
...when I stick my star onto my 'VP'.
.....one star
closer to D-day!!!
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| This is an example of what a dream/vision board looks like |