Vaccinations

Even though most everyone who reads this blog is also facebook friends with us, I wanted to post this picture here.  We are getting 7 vaccinations each over the course of a month.  This was the sight we saw when we walked into the room to get our first round of shots:

Intimidating.  Curious what shots we are getting?  I am going to tell you: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Typhoid, Polio booster, Tetanus booster.  Isn't that fun?

New purchases

We went to REI today and made a bunch of purchases for things we knew we wanted for our trip.  But before we could do so, we wanted to pack up everything we had plus stand ins for things we were definitely going to get to see how much space we really needed.  That blue bag that Andy is reaching into in this picture is the bag we used to pretend pack.  And everything fit for one person!  So knowing that we wanted something approximately 42 Liters big, we went shopping.

 We tried on everything REI had that was between 40 and 50 liters.  In the end, we bought Osprey Porter 46*, which has terrific reviews online.  It was also the most comfortable front loading bag.

When we got home we both packed our new bags to see how they fit.  Andy wore his around for a good 10 minutes with his new hat.

We also bought shoes (mine*, his*), hats, chlorine tablets (just in case), platypus water reservoir*, and towels.  We still need a sleeping bag liner (or travel sheet).




*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. If you are going to buy something on our blog, click the link to help support our travels.

It's so fluffy!!

We've booked our tickets to New Zealand.  We will now HAVE to leave.  It is real.  All day long I have wanted to do a happy dance.  We leave Sunday, April 10th and arrive Tuesday April 12th.

Andy's ticket: one way $41 (United)
Katie's ticket: round trip $285 (Us Airways)

How freaking awesome is that?  We will still need to get a ticket for Andy to come home, but we don't need it until November (I am signing up for a United card to get frequent flyer miles).  Even though we bought the two tickets using different airline companies, we are on the same flight.   My ticket could have been virtually free if we had used Andy's American airline miles but the only flight would have been two days later from Andy's, and really that is worth the extra money we paid to be on the same flight.

And tomorrow we have an appointment to see the travel doctor to talk about vaccinations.  This is all coming together.  So many big things to check off our to-do list tonight.