Independent overland travel through Africa in a Unimog called Moglet

Work
Isnt it the best feeling in the world, handing in your notice so you can head off travelling??!! I had the necessary chats with the bosses a week or so ago, although still have a three month notice period to work. The other half also tracked down his boss and had a talk with him, although he's not on a contract at work so could technically leave any time he liked.

The said, three months is still a long time and I'm on a bit of a see-saw, veering from a state of cant-be-arsedness, over to near panic at all the things I want to finish before I leave. Kind of weird having to recruit for my own replacement too - is it possible there's someone else out there who could be as good at my job as me?? :-)

So, mid-September and we'll both be free from the shackles of commercialism and able to really throw ourselves into last-minute preparations. Kick-off is likley to be mid-November onwards, and there's still so much to do!

Today is the 10th September and I've been off work for a week! It's kind of weird, but there's so much to do, I dont really have time to sit still and think about it. Jason finishes on Friday then heads off to another knife making course on Sunday for a week, and my folks are over at the weekend, helping me shuffle lots of stuff into the loft, mum's on curtain making duty for the spare room etc. I can then decorate and finish off more things in the house, without having to clamber over boxes to get anywhere. Just hoping the loft joists can withstand the weight...

Girly Stuff
Being blunt about it, I have more personal medical concerns to think about than my male partner. There's not many, and they're not necessarily a big deal, but they need to be thought about.

First and foremost, there's the Pill - and if we're planning on being away for a couple of years, that's a lot of Pills! I did ask the GP, just in case, but he flat out refused to give me any more than 6 months worth of tablets, so that's that avenue closed.

Being sensible about it, the next best thing to rely on is implants. I've not had one before, but I'm assured its a simple matter of a local anaesthetic and a little wiget shaped like half a matchstick is snuck under the skin on the inside of my bicep. This will carry on releasing all the hormones it needs to for up to three years, ensuring we dont end up with a little Burkina or Cameroon (in the Posh and Becks 'Brooklyn' etc style).

By September, I'd had a chat with the doctors about an implant, and they put me on a Pill called Cerazette for a month - its the same hormone as in the implant, and is a much better way of finding out if you're ok with the drug before someone takes a scalpel to your bicep! Unfortunately, it made me really queasy most days and apparently a little bit grumpy, although I find that hard to believe! My skin also went bonkers, which was nice. I had a chat with the doctors just in case this was a settling--in thing my body had to do whilst it got used to a different drug, but apparently not - whatever you get with Cerazette, you'll get with the implant, and possibly even more so. So, its a great idea for some people, but not really an option for me.

On the upside though, my doctors have now agreed to give me a 12 month supply of my usual Pill, so that helps a lot.

And what about non-Pill related girly stuff? How many tampons should I really take with me?? There's not really much in the way of optional alternatives here, other than the charming (and apparently slightly nauseating, according to Jason) ' Mooncup'. Go and have a look - if you havent seen one before, its basically a little rubber egg-cup thingy that goes the same place as a tampon, and when its full, you empty it and put it back!! I'm assured by lots of people on its website that its a marvellous creation and they wouldn't be without it, but frankly I'm not sure I'm convinced.

And finally, and possibly the weirdest of all for me, is a fake wedding ring! I'm sure there'll be times when Jason and I split up for a bit, maybe wandering around a market or something, and I've heard more than one cautionary travellers tale about how white, unmarried woman are regarded as 'fair game' by some locals. I spent some time in Turkey a few years back, and recalling some of the incidents there, I think being able to pretend I was married would have made things much easier. Certainly there might have been less swear words involved... So I've invested the princely sum of £27 on a fake wedding ring from Amazon and look forward to it protecting me better than wings that are like a shield of steel :-) (sorry, probably showing my age there with that one!)

Vaccinations
There's quite an impressive list, and some of the African countries at least will need to see a vaccination certificate for some things (eg Yellow Fever) before they even let you in. There's travel clinics everywhere that can advise you on what you need for where, but bear in mind that some of the things they'll try and charge you for could be free on the NHS (partly depending on your local authority). I'd suggest having a chat with your GP first, and go to a travel clinic second - I've read more than one travel website where people have spent close to £1,000 on various jabs for two people, so the more you can get for free, the better! Some of them take a while to kick in too, so dont leave it until the last minute.

Its now September and we've both had pretty much all our jabs, nd managed to get them all at our local doctors. They weren't on the NHS, but in some cases were massively cheaper than a travel clinic and certainly more convenient. I've got my final Rabies shot next week, then we've done as much as we can at the doctors. We need to go to a travel clinic for both encephalitis jabs, plus a couple of others if we thing we might end up venturing into Asia.

Dental
We all know its a good thing to see your dentist regularly, but who really does? But prior to heading off, it's an even better idea to be brave and get yourself in that chair. I doubt there's much that your average UK dentist could throw at you that could compare to the horrors of maybe root canal work performed by a village doctor in Nigeria or Angola? At the very least we know we can pretty much count on some kind of anaesthetic here!

Malaria
So, the ever-present threat of malaria. As you can see from the map on the left, the red areas are where malaria is known to be. No escaping it really.

There's only a few main contenders when it comes to which pills to take. We've opted for doxycycline - its been around for years and lots of people have taken it for prolonged periods with no ill effects. Its also massively cheaper than the newer drugs like malarone, which if you're on a three week safari isnt really an issue, but taking 6months+ and it all starts to add up to scary numbers. On the down side, it can make you highly photosensitive, which might be less than good in somewhere like Africa. In addition, some people have nasty stomach upsets every single day they take it, which would get pretty annoying if you had to put up with it for months on end. Doxy is essentially an antibiotic, but only when you take two at a time. So this gives us the added benefit of having a supply of bug-fighters if we need them. Apparently its not harmful to take them for months a months though, if you only take one - in each 24hour cycle, your body is able to dispose of the chemical completely, so its not like you're on antibiotics for months and months. Its only when you take two at a time that there are residuals which build up.

Unfortunately, as all girls will know, antibiotics can upset the effectiveness of the Pill. However, the human body being as clever as it is, it adjusts to the single daily doxy pill within three weeks, so you only need to use 'extras' for one cycle, and then you're all clear to carry on with the Pill as well as doxy, being protected from malaria and babies at the same time :-)

Jason has already had a two week trial and its all fine for him - as long as he followed the instructions, taking it with food and drink plenty of water then staying sitting upright for at least half an hour, he was fine. He also tested just how 'hardy' his stomach is, going to bed straight after a pill, taking one on an empty stomach etc - he certainly did feel a bit naseous in these cases, but nothing to get over worried about. I start my trial the week after next, so fingers crossed...

Its now mid-September and I'm half way through my doxy trial. So far, so good. First few days were fine, by day four I was feeling not exactly naseous, more like I had a touch of indigestion. Two glasses of water and a large bowl of ice-cream soon fixed that up though! I think maybe I might be a bit more sensitive to the drug than Jason, but if all I need is a Rennie a couple of hours after each pill to make taking the doxy ok, then thats good enough for me. I also checked with the GP on costs, and she said a hundred pills would be around £2?? I'm sure they said more like £40 last time I was in there, so I'll just have to make sure I get the cheap lady when I go to get the big stash!

We'll also be taking a supply of quinine sulphate, just in case. Taken in combination with doxycycline, this is one of the best tested and most effective treatments if we're unfortunate enough to still contract malaria. The doxy attacks any parasites that get into the blood, and the quinine stops them multiplting.