Yes, right now.

Ass-umptions

less_is_more — Sat, 16 May 2015 02:24:00 GMT

Yesterday we headed up to our local AAA office to take care of vehicle registration before we take off. The two other reasons we went there was to get a set of passport photos taken for each of us for any visa needs we might encounter, and to get our international driving permits in case we wanna do something crazy like hire a car and drive all over the African countryside. The good news is we managed to register one of our two cars - that's it. We didn't get the photos taken because they wanted $15 per set for AAA members!!! WTF is that about? We didn't get the driving permits because we forgot. Shit. Now we have to make another run back up there. Apparently Rite-Aid is doing passport photos for $7.99 with a coupon which is a sweet deal.

The going away dinner we had with our friends last night was delicious. We had vegan mediterranean food plus vegan amazon cake with berry compote and coconut cream on top. Anyway, while talking to my buddies they convinced me to take my DSLR because we'd be pissed if we only managed to capture breathtaking flora and fauna with an iPhone.

The days are filling up with things to do, but we're not getting any more time in which to attend to these pesky little details. Today is a full day for sure. Molly and I are still studying for finals, we have to get dog food, we need a few groceries and this all before the kids get out of school. Once they're out of school we head to the Rocknasium for our Friday evening climb, then it's dinner, Chinese school until nine, and then pile into the car and head to Santa Cruz. We are leaving our two dogs with Molly's family in Santa Cruz because they have space for the dogs to run around and there is almost always someone on the property, which is completely fenced. Seems like the best place to let them hang out for two months.

We'll hang out in Santa Cruz in the morning and then head up to Oakland to eat dinner with my sister and her fiancé. After that, we are going to our friends' Sara and Will's to hang out with them in honor of Sara graduating from her Master's program. When we're supposed to do anything productive I have not yet figured out. We still need to head back to REI too for more bug spray and other stuff that I can't seem to remember right now. Sunday lunchtime we'll spend with my folks because my mom is taking off for S.D. on Monday, so this is the last time we'll get to see her before we split.

Pretty full on, I'd say. We still haven't done a practice bag packing run either. Floating in the air around us is this naive assumption that it will all come together without issue as soon as it's required to. Maybe this is true, hopefully this is true. Peace.

A Mild and Well Managed Freak Out

less_is_more — Thu, 14 May 2015 14:39:00 GMT

So we had an interesting moment the other morning when our geriatric lab ate the fourth (out of four) Typhoid pill that our daughter dropped onto the floor in the kitchen during breakfast. As soon as it hit the floor so many new problems and stressors flashed through my mind - I was pissed! What were these new problems and stressors? Well for one, that medication is not covered by insurance, so those four pills were about $80; therefore, the pill she dropped on the ground cost about $20. Additionally, they only sell them in packs of...FOUR! So we had to call the doctor, explain what happened, ask them to call in the Rx again, wait for the pharmacy to order it in, then go back and spend another $80. yay... What else, hmmm? Well we had almost gotten the Malarone (in pediatric dosage) taken care of, only to find out that CVS has run out and can't get any more! So they filled 2/3 of what we needed - and then wiped their hands of it. So we've had to call around to the other pharmacies in town and see who has any. Luckily the Target pharmacy has enough to fill the remainder of the Rx, but we had to call them and ask them to call CVS; then, CVS has to do their part and get Target all the needed info to fill the Rx. This took two phone calls. We should be gold now though. Molly is supposed to pick it up tomorrow. That will be all the meds taken care of, but seriously, the medication issue alone has done my head in.

We are bringing a bunch of vitamins with us too. I know this sounds weird to people, but we're concerned that we won't be getting the same nourishing food we get here at home, and we have decided the best way to supplement this is to keep up our vitamins while we're on our trip.

So about the freak out. It wasn't like some panicked melt down. I just ended up spending most of the afternoon yesterday digging through all kinds of stuff that ranged from totally relevant camping gear to totally irrelevant things like old papers, books, clothes, drawers of random things, etc. I set up our tent in the garage and sprayed it with the permethrin stuff that will keep the mozzies at bay, hopefully. I went through all of our stuff and located all our little stuff sacks and pouches that we will need for organizing toiletries, cords, adapters, and whatever else we think we'll need for two months in Africa. Undoubtedly we'll be overpacked or wrongly packed but at this point screw it. There is a whole pile of tubes, containers, pouches, stuff sacks, half-used sun screens, and other bits on Molly's dressing vanity. This was all stuff that I had gathered up while digging through various parts of the house.

We have not yet decided whether to take our Nikon DSLR camera or to eschew it for something smaller and lighter; the trade-off being lower quality pictures. I don't generally worry about these sorts of things, but the camera is heavy which seems like a good reason to leave it behind. However, we may want to capture these moments that are once in a lifetime with something slightly better than our iPhones. The jury is still out. This item, along with the stove and cookset, won't get packed until all the absolute essentials (whatever that means) are in our packs. We also bought the closed cell foam sleeping pads for the kids as an alternative to their inflatables. The problem is the way they attach to their packs is sideways across the bottom of their packs. I'm genuinely concerned that their lack of spacial awareness is going to result in them bumping into everyone and everything during our entire trip. So those will probably stay home too, but we'll use them later this summer while backpacking in the mountains.

Lastly, I just emailed another WWOOF a couple hours ago. This one is in Kenya. If we're lucky they'll respond and agree to let the four of us come volunteer for a week or so. If anyone wants to check it out, the website is below. Peace.

http://happyhomeorg.weebly.com

Getting Closer

less_is_more — Mon, 11 May 2015 12:55:00 GMT

We're flying out in 10 days. We're no more prepared than we were at my last post. We've made another REI run but only for things we had to purchase anyway like shoes for the kids. I sent a followup email to the only WWOOF that we have actual plans to work at; the one in Uganda. I'm still waiting for word back from him. The hardest part has been logistics. With no idea of the on-the-ground travel process it feels almost impossible to make any sort of plans. That being said, who cares? We have just over seven weeks to do whatever we feel like, and I think that is going to serve us well. Historically one of the biggest expenditures has been making a purchase when we're in a bind. For instance, we need to be somewhere by the next day so we buy the more expensive mode of transportation, or we need a place to sleep now and get a spendier hotel.

Things we still need to do include: spraying our tent and some outfits with permethrin (repellent), do a dummy packing session, get the rest of the antimalarial medication from the pharmacy (we're doing that today), build a vitamin/medication/second first aid kit, plus other stuff I can't think of now.

We're both finishing up this semester of school and next week are our finals. Yeah, we're flying out a couple of days after our last final. Kinda pushing it there, but that's how I do things. Molly is attempting a summer school class while we are traveling so that should be interesting. We'll need internet every few days at least so I'm not sure if that means we arrange to be at a hostel, or we buy an internet dongle thingy and use that too? We'll see.

I think we'll need to take some serious cash out too. We're buying the East Africa visa when we get to the airport in Nairobi, and it's going to cost about $400 total for the four of us. Plus every other thing in Africa will be cash only, I'm sure. This is always an issue of quandary. How much cash to carry on one's person? Too little and you'll need to get to an ATM all the time; too much and you have a lot to lose if you're robbed. There's never a right answer either. Totally situational.

I also think at this moment that Burundi is out. There's some serious shit going on there leading up to the presidential elections. However, once we're in Rwanda we'll be able to get a better feel for the actual situation. It could be okay, one just doesn't know from halfway around the world.

Finally, for anyone heading to this region, I recommend a book. Africa's World War by Gerard Prunier. It's a comprehensive history of the conflicts and culture of Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, Burundi, Tanzania, etc. I have just started reading it, but it has been quite illuminating.

The other night we sat around reading

less_is_more — Thu, 9 Apr 2015 12:52:00 GMT

The other night we sat around reading the Lonely Planet 'East Africa' travel book trying to decide what things we don't want to miss. The list (for me) is quite long actually. Because we are tent camping for a lot of the trip it only seems reasonable to hit as many national parks as possible. We are definitely going to avoid major cities with the exception of using them as transport hubs and the exception of Nairobi which is our departure point and the place where we are going to recover from jet lag!

Anyway, in Nairobi we've got our first two or three nights lodging sussed. We'll be at the Milimani Backpacker and Safari center. They were prompt to reply to my query on availability; moreover, after I asked, provided us with a 50% discount for each of the kiddos. The rate quoted to us was KSH1000/night (adults) plus KSH2000 for the transfer from the airport. Remember, this rate is for tent camping at the hostel! More update on this lodging after we get there. Milimani Backpackers

At this point, Nairobi is the only city in which we plan to do anything, and the only thing we actually plan to do is go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The reason we're going here is because last year, Madison's first grade class adopted Tundani, an orphaned elephant from this organization and we're going to meet him in the tusk. He'll be just over three years old and Madison says she's really excited to have this experience. Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

From Nairobi our plan is to head to Mt. Kenya National Park. I emailed the Kenya Wildlife Service (customerservice@kws.go.ke) and they provided me with a fee schedule for each of the parks and some information on where the actual campgrounds were in each park which was quite helpful. We're not planning a trek to the top of any mountains (this time) but there are supposed to be some amazing plants and animals in the different altitude zones. Should be rad. After Mt. Kenya it's all up in the air. I don't think I mentioned this in the first post but we've arranged to spend some time WWOOFing in Uganda.

I don't know if anyone has attempted the WWOOFing deal but it was kinda off-putting attempting to get through the registration. If you don't know about WWOOFing please go to their website (WWOOF) because the premise is explained quite well; however, what I can elaborate on is what I experienced. Each country has a representative that handles registering people wanting to volunteer. Registering involves filling out a form with your particulars and paying a nominal fee ($50/person for Uganda, each country has a slightly different fee but it's not very much) and then you gain access to the contact information of the farms that host volunteers in that country. The way one pays the fee is through Western Union. Now I've never used Western Union and sending $50 to Uganda seems kinda dicey, on the surface. Long story short, it all went fine and my worries were alleviated. The guy's name in Uganda is Bob Kasule, he's super nice and genuine in the emails and apparently that's where we're going to work first. We were going to do some work in Tanzania, but Tanzania is another $400 worth of visas for the four of us plus $400 worth of work permits total for both Molly and I. So we opted to not even go to Tanzania. We are really looking forward to working in Uganda. The whole trip is going to be unreal. I am hoping the kids are completely wide-eyed the entire time and that this experience burns itself into their memories so vividly and permanently that it affects them in some way for the rest of their lives.

This weekend we have to return some stuff to REI and probably buy a few more things. Also we'll be spraying the tent with Permethrin which is a bug repellent and apparently kills them too. This stuff is for clothing and gear and not for our skin. We did get some Jungle Juice with 98% DEET so if we don't get Malaria we'll certainly get cancer. YES! I think everyone needs at least one more sturdy long sleeve shirt, and maybe some gaiters. I just have no feel for our needs right now. Anyway, stay tuned as I attempt to make sense of this chaos. Peace.

Whelmed

less_is_more — Tue, 7 Apr 2015 12:49:00 GMT

Dated:7 April 2015 (from blogger)

I am definitely feeling whelmed by the planning involved for our 7-½ week Africa trip. This is ridiculous to say because we haven't planned anything. It's not just that we haven't planned anything, we aren't really making plans. The only thing we know for sure is that we're flying in and out of Nairobi, and that we have a hostel booked for a couple days upon our arrival.

Below are the things encompassing our thought processes.

Immunizations: Molly needed Hep A, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid. The kids needed Typhoid and Yellow Fever, and I needed Yellow Fever. This is all fine and good. Molly and the kids went to their normal M.D.s and got their Yellow Fever vaccines without issue and their prescriptions for Typhoid (oral). I went to a travel medicine place for my Yellow Fever because I had been there before, and, I don't really have any good other reasons. Insurance covers none of these extracurricular activities so all these meds are basically face-value price which, when buying for four people, adds up quickly. Now the Malaria discussion. Wow, I had no idea how much this stuff would cost, and let me tell you something - it's expensive. Malarone, which is the least poisonous (and the most expensive), was supposed to be $445 for Molly alone! I bought Mefloquine (Lariam) for her and me from the travel med place for $360, however. The only downside perhaps, is the extraordinarily vivid dreams and a small chance of a psychotic episode. Nothing major. The Lariam is a once-weekly pill that is started two weeks prior to needing it and for four weeks after leaving the endemic zone. For the kids, however, we are definitely getting the Malarone pediatric. I think, because we need 400 pills due to the duration of the trip, I am going to try and buy from Canada. This should save us some money but will still be around $700. If you're planning a trip to a Malaria zone, don't forget to add these costs to your budget! The other side thought I had was perhaps attempting to buy the stuff for the kids in Nairobi? I need to research this further. But there has to be a way to do this and it should be cheaper right? People for sure show up in Africa having forgotten their meds on the kitchen counter and need to buy locally.

Clothes: We will be traveling almost exclusively along the equator, however, we will be at a variety of altitudes and temperature zones. This means we get to bring the necessary clothing that one needs for a day on an equatorial beach or summiting an 14,000 peak in the Sierra Nevada. So...yeah. But we are backpacking so everything goes on our...backs! And we'll be traveling mostly on public transport so we don't want to be schlepping any more than necessary. Needless to say, we still have to bring a lot! Everyone needs a couple of long-sleeved outfits to protect against mozzies, we need clothes that are suitable for working on a farm, clothes for hanging out in (once we're cleaned up), and an everyday travel on the bus and explore outfit.

Here are the beginnings of our pack list...

Backpacks:

REI Passage 40's & REI Tarn 18's (for the kids)

Osprey Xenith 105 & Talon 33 (Eric)

Osprey Ariel 75 (Molly)

Sleeping Bags:

Sierra Designs Zissou 15F (Eric)

Kelty Ignite 20F (Molly)

Mountain Hardwear Mountain Goat 20F (kids)

On the sleeping bags, yes they are definitely warm for Africa. However, we already have them, they are great bags, and we're going to be camping almost the entire trip. We don't have the money to buy four new bags more suitable for equatorial weather. Additionally, we are going to be camping at some altitude in the national parks and I think the nighttime temps will be conducive to the gear we already have. If nothing else, we will lay on top of them? To a large extent this trip will be about new experiences and new knowledge. Planning and gearing up for every eventuality is both cost prohibitive and not in the spirit of our kind of travel.

Sleeping Pads:

ThermaRests for Molly and I and REI inflatable's for the kids. We already have these and we had considered buying closed-cell foam pads for a variety of reasons (weight, don't get holes, can sit on if traveling in the back of a pickup or something) we have opted to just use what we have.

Tent:

Marmot Limelight 4P

This tent is pretty good, and we love how easy it is to set up and there's just the right amount of room for the four of us. The only real issue is the weight. It's about 8 pounds which Molly and I will split. Again, we don't have the money for an ultralight setup so we'll run what we've brung.