95 days and counting…

The countdown to departure day (d-day) on my iPhone is now under 100! 95 days today, to be precise.

We now have a to let sign outside our house and we’ve started the long process of decluttering! This is a big deal for us, especially as our kids get upset when we so much as throw away a kitchen roll tube! The house can now be made presentable for viewings in under 60 minutes – not that we’ve been inundated with viewings just yet!

Last week we had the joy of reviewing and updating our life insurance!! This week, the excitement of putting window locks on a few unsecured windows and secure locks added to the loft and eaves cupboards where we’ll store much of our stuff. More interesting, I completed an on-line travel health questionnaire with Masta on-line travel clinic (http://www.masta-travel-health.com/) , which helpfully shows we must have yellow fever vaccinations, and precisely where and when we should have malarial cover. This is tricky as it’s a risk almost everywhere and I don’t think safe to take continuously for a year or so! The report shows what we need by country along with maps of high/medium/low risk malarial areas. highly recommended!

We’re already covered for all the most critical and high risk diseases like typhoid and tetanus after our most recent trips, but then there’s a string of suggested jabs. I’ll have to look into in more detail and weigh up the risks of vaccines vs disease for the likes of Japanese encephalitis and rabies – lovely. Next step – appointment with travel clinic (our GP clinic says we need specialist advice but I’m finding many private clinics don’t treat under 16s and one only treats age 5+ Not v helpful!)

Doing the health questionnaire required countries and dates so I’ve finally got to indulge my need for a real draft itinerary and here it is ! I’ve enjoyed seeing how we can fit it all in and get back for school in September 2013. Of course if the travel bug has really caught us, we havent failed too badly with ”roadschool” and can’t resist Nepal, Tibet, Burma,India…then we’ll have to think about coming back in December 2013. Meanwhile here is the draft:-

1. Brazil 11-Jul-2012
2. Ecuador 1-Sep-2012
3. Peru. 7-Oct-2012
4. Chile. 15-Nov-2012
5. Bolivia. 20-Nov-2012
6. Paraguay. 25-Nov-2012
7. Argentina. 1-Dec-2012
8. Falkland Is 20-Dec-2012
9. Easter Island. 28-Dec-2012
10. French Polynesia (Tahiti). 31-Dec-2012
11. Cook Island. 10-Jan-2013
12. New Zealand. 25-Jan-2013
13.Australia. 26-Feb-2013
14. Solomon Islands. 5-Apr-2013
15. Bali. 15-Apr-2013
16. Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) 3-May-2013
17. Thailand. 18-May-2013
18. Cambodia. 3-Jun-2013
19. Vietnam. 13-Jun-2013
20. China 8-Jul-2013
21. Mongolia 8-August -2013
22. Russia 20-August-2013
23. Europe 28-August-2013
24. Home 1-September-2013

Meanwhile our to do list still seems to have a fair bit on it – the next most urgent by far being to renew 3 of our passports – so we’re about to tidy ourselves up and start taking photos now!