This is perhaps the hardest part as its easy to pile up loads of stuff. But based on a little trial and error as well as what we read about what other travellers recommended taking we finally settled on what to take.
SOPHIE's bag
- 2 tops
- 1 tee shirts
- 1 short
- trousers
- 2 shirts ( 1 really thin )
- 1 hoody
- 1 joggins pants
- 1 playsuit ( easy for the beach or evening party)
- 3 bras
- 4 panties
- 4 socks
- 1 bandana
- 1 thin scarf
- 1 headband (i've got a fringe and i will not cut my hairs for 1 year)
- 1 water proof jacket
- 1 thermal long sleeves top
- 1 bikini
- 1 pair of walking boots
- 1 pair of trainers
- Tee-Shirt from our friends
SOPHIE's Accessories
-1 small compact mirror
- purse with tradionnal shampoo etc, tweezers, cisors, cotton burds.
- hand books, family pictures, contact book
- sewing kit
-medicines ( see below)
- pocket knife
- micro fiber towel
- Day pack
DIGBY's bag
- 3 Boxer shorts
- 3 Pairs of socks
- 1 Pair of dark green shorts with zipped and buttoned pockets
- 1 Pair of swimming shorts with velcro pockets
- 1 Pair of jeans
- 2 Long sleeved shirts, one is fast drying and wrinkle free synthetic (bought is a second hand shop!)
- 2 Thermal Tee-Shirts
- 1 Jumper
- 1 Pair of walking boots
- 1 Pair of trainers
- 1 Bandana
- 1 Waterproof gore-tex jacket
- 1 Tee-shirt from our friends
DIGBY's accesories
- Pocket Knife
- Cork Screw
- Chefs Knives (reduced set to 3, to use for working)
- Journal
- Kindle
- Micro Fiber towel
- Gaffa tape
- Day Pack
- First Aid kit plus medicine (see below)
Travel Equipment
- Moskitos kit
- Universal Plug
- Elastic Chord
- Pad locks and steel wire to secure packs
- 1 Waterproof digital camera
- 1 Waterproof video camera
- 1 Water purification set
- head lights
- anti moskitos cream
Vaccines: We had all the basic vaccinations as all the doctors we spoke to recommended them to us.
Exept for Sophie who didn't get Hepatite B,because her great grand mother died after contracting Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and there is a genetic risk as after having the vaccin for Hepatite B you can contract MS. Some doctors said there was no risk, but others advised her not to have it, so Sophie did not get Hep B vaccination to be safe. Digby did get the Hep B vaccination.
Here all the others we both took:
- Yellow Fever
- Japenese Emcephalitis 2 injections
- Rabies 3 injections
- Hepatite A
- Hepatite B ( only Digby, booster)
- Typhoid
- DTP( diphterie/ Tétanos/Polio) (booster)
Not all of these were necessary but we chose to have them, such as Rabies as it means treatment is easier if you do contract the disease.
Duration
We took these over a period of 1,5 months as some of these need to be spread out, you also feel a bit tierd or drowsy when we took two or more at the same time.
Side Effects/ Reactions
Both Digb & Sophie had a reaction to the Rabies vaccination, Sophie had an upset stomach and had to vomit. Both Digby & Sophie were unable to sleep the first night after the vaccination (each of the three times) with hot and cold flashes.
None of the other vaccines had any noticeable effect other than feeling a little drowsy when we took two or more together. The doctors told us every one has slightly different reactions to vaccinations so this might be different for other people.
Costs
Some of these vaccines are offered free by your doctor in many EU countries like Hep A, DTP and Typhoid. Also all of the vaccines we received in France were free (with the exception of Yellow Fever).
Digby did have to pay for a few vaccines he got in the UK in two different clinics. (Nomad Travel and Masta Travel Clinic)
Medecines:
Lots of medicines for a whole year!!
- anti mallarials Doxycycline (Doxypalu) enough for 6 months*
- One box malorone (another anti malarial), can be used to start treatment of suspected before getting to hospital for a blood test
- anti diarrhoea pills (i.e. a cork in the form a medicine if you are on a long bus journey)
- antibiotics for diarrhoea for sever cases
- medicine in case of allergy or asthma (Sofi has asthma)
- medicine in case of bad of stomach
- in case of vomiting
- cream for disinfect
- cream for any burn
- Sterile Needle/ Syringe
- transparent dressing and compress
we ve'got a lot of boxes so to compact it and be smaller I squeeze lot of medecines into the same box. here all the box I was able to dispose of ( I managed to reduce the volume allot !!)
Anti Malarial's
* we chose doxcycline (also doxypalu) for anti-mallerials for a few reasons.
One it can be taken for prolonged duration of time, unlike Malorone than cannot be taken for more than 1 or two months consecutively (advice differs in different countries)
Two it is one of the more economical anti-mallerials
Three its is still we are advised (at the time of writing) effective against Mallaria in all the regions we are visiting, but some types of anti-malerials are no longer effective in parts of East Africa.
The down side there are risks of some side effects but this is true of all anti-mallerials. We also spoke to other travellers who had used and recommended Doxycycline as well as three doctors at three different travel clinics in the UK and France.
Costs
Sophie being French again was able to recieve almost all of these medicines for free, including the doxcycline, she only paid 80 Euro. Digby was not so lucky, his box cost 270 Euro.
Visas:
- Australia
- India
Extra Papers:
- International driver license
- Second passport or identity card
- Photo copies of passports
- Copies of insurance documents
- Copies of itinerary, tickets etc
Budget:
(remember everything above in relation to vaccinations, medicine treatment etc is what we were told and understood. But we would always advise if you are planning a trip to speak to a specialist. Usually in our experience they are very helpful and supportive in planning what you will need for your trip)
