Last Day

Last day of work yesterday......odd feeling thinking I'm not going to be in the office on Monday for 3 months. Roll on Africa in a few days!!!

First Bag Pack

First bag pack......unsuccessful - needless to say I have toooo much stuff I want to take. I'm not sure what to eliminate - ruthlessness is more difficult when half my bag is full of items for the kids.
And a quarter is the complete medical kit necessities to cover anything that could possibly happen, including anything and everything to do with mosquitoes.....

Malarone

I've made the decision - 'Malarone' it is for 3 months. My trial run on doxycycline had a couple of side effects which I didn't like so taking a punt on Malarone being the lesser evil of anti-malaria pills.

Last vaccine went well!! Malaria tablets very preciously packed as they're worth a small fortune. Thanks to the nurses/doctors at The Travel Doctor, Queen Street, Auckland, NZ who were great to deal with and I'm totally sorted with everything I could possibly need.

Check List Success

Check list successfully working - bag is partially packed.....geez I could have a problem in 3 weeks fitting everything in....lol

Check List

Three weeks out and I'm starting my check list ticking, for everything I need to take with me....
those of you who know me, this comes as no surprise - in fact you're probably slightly (or considerably) surprised I didn't do this sooner, and if I was really honest with you....
I actually created the lists 3 months ago and have progressively been adding to them over the past 3 months and now they're like a small novel...... :-/   it's probably going to take me at least a week to just read them.

TEFL

Finished my 'Teaching English to Foreign Languages (TEFL) Certificate'  and passed with flying colours...with a lot of hours invested and well worth the satisfaction of an 81% pass.

Rock on teaching to these beautiful children who need as many willing, helping hands as possible for their education.

Vaccines

One more set of vaccines left and that's all my shots done - I feel like a pincushion after 12 of them.

Now the decision on what anti-malaria pills to take - doxycycline or malarone? Side effects being the key concern.
Doxycycline - pro = antibiotic and cheap
                   - neg = side effects - skin damage eg sunburn, dryness; stomach issues
Malarone - pro = not many side effects
                - neg = cost
Any advice from anyone on these?

1st Attempt

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging and moving into the social networking generation!!     :-)


Generally I'm content with texts and emails. But since I've begun preparation for my journey of a lifetime, I find myself now connected to twitter, email, facebook and blogging via my cell phone.....all thanks to a work colleague/friend and my son.


How could I resist the persistence from friends and close colleagues to "please blog" so I can bring my experiences to life for everyone. So here I go.......


Four more weeks and counting down - Africa here I come in April 2012.

What to expect - I'm not too sure?......it's still all a little surreal yet.