Travel Planning for the Chronically DIsorganized

I’ve been rather lax in my writing lately due to an attempt at responsible adult travel planning.  It’s not exactly my strong suit.

I’ll be leaving for my first trip to Africa two weeks from tomorrow!  Now, I’m usually more of a “fly by the seat of my pants” traveler.  I book last minute, a pack the night before, and I make it to the airport with minutes to spare (if I’m lucky).  However, Africa is a bit daunting.  I’ve never been before, you need visas and vaccinations, Americans are terrified of it.  It just seems like some place that requires a little more fore-thought.

First, I figured out the vaccination situation (I didn’t copywrite that if anyone needs a band name).  The yellow fever vaccination is required for entry into Tanzania.  There are also a slew of other vaccines that are “recommended”.  I called around to see where I could get the yellow fever vaccine and it turns out there’s a shortage.  Why, I don’t know.  Who’s taking this?  Anyway, I found a travel clinic that had a 5 dose vial of the vaccine, all of which had to be taken within an hour of each other so I had to make a very specific appointment time during which 4 other people who don’t want yellow fever could also make it.

I arrived at this “travel clinic”, which was not so much a clinic as a lady in a small office with a mini-fridge full of viruses.  We had our consultation, during which time she handed me a thick packet of warnings about all of the diseases and parasites I will probably get while abroad and what precautions I can take to avoid a portion of them.

I said, “yes, all the things.  Whatever is recommended.  I would like none of the diseases please.”  She then printed up an estimate for the yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis A, and tetanus vaccines as well as a prescription for an anti-malarial medication.  A $550 estimate.  I then decided I could deal with some of the diseases.

When all was said and done I left vaccinated against typhoid and yellow fever, with a prescription for malaria pills all for only $345!  She even threw in a slightly sticky bottle high deet bug spray for free!  This is an expense I had not anticipated.  I’m not sure why, it just hadn’t occurred to me, but it was necessary I suppose.

Do most adults get regular vaccinations?  Does anyone have the time to make sure they are up to date on tetanus?  That just seems like a bridge I can cross when I get to it.  I’m very pro vaccinating children.  They’re virus machines, so if you vaccinate them, adults should be fine.  Just a thought.  Anyway, now I probably won’t get yellow fever for the next 10 years.

I also found out later that I would have to show this card when I land in Tanzania, and if I didn’t have one they just cart me off somewhere to get a much cheaper yellow fever vaccine there.  This never would have happened if I hadn’t decided to plan things.

Seems credible.

The monetary investment in the vaccines gave me the push I needed to actually book this trip.  I looked at all the major (and some not so major) travel websites to find the best price and they were all around $1550 round trip from Orlando to Kilimanjaro, except for Orbitz.com that had a flight for $1401!  That’s a pretty significant savings, the only problem was the first few legs of the flight were on US Airways, an airline I’ve vowed never to use again.  (If you want to know why you can check out How US Airways Stole Christmas).  I was faced with a difficult decision, money or principals.  Now normally money would always win out, but upon closer inspection, the flight looked like this.

A 5am departure time, a 37 minute layover on US Airways, and an hour and a half to change airlines for an international departure.  A lot of things would have to go right for this flight to work out.  In fact, more things that have ever gone right for me while traveling, especially on US Airways.  Not to mention the fact that if (when really) either of my US Airways flights are delayed and I get into Washington too late to change over, then I’ve missed the only Ethiopian Airlines flight out that day.  Now, they might rebook me on another star alliance airline, or I might be stuck overnight in DC with yet another $100 travel voucher for US Airways that I refuse to use, which is more likely.

Here’s where I made another responsible adult decision.  I used the booking tool from my Chase Sapphire card to book a more reasonable flight on a better airline!  Plus, when I used my points it was only $939!

Part of me really wanted to book the ridiculous Orbitz flight because it gets in at 1pm instead of 9pm and would give me an extra 8 hours of Africa time, but there’s every likelihood that I would be getting in a full day later and spending a night in the Washington DC airport writing a post entitled “Why Don’t I Ever Learn?”  It’s the most responsible decision I’ve ever made.

So that’s the planning I’ve done so far.  I know it’s not super impressive, but it’s big for me and I’m proud.  I didn’t plan well enough, so I had to send my passport in to be renewed and get rush delivery since it expires within 6 months of my trip and apparently that’s a thing, but I found out about that rule before I got to a country that wouldn’t let me in, so even that is a minor achievement.

Since my passport is out I’ll have to wait until I arrive to get a visa, but it doesn’t seem like that will be a huge problem.

I even bought one of those tiny hardside suitcases to be one of those people that packs super light for an extended trip!  Though I’m immediately rethinking that since I hate carry on luggage and I have an irrational fear of needing to go somewhere with a nicer dress code than I packed for.  So, I’m prepared for any theme night or black tie event, I just don’t bother with proper travel documentation.  Baby Steps.

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