Pre-trip Planning

Introduction
I am a 22 year old Australian and tomorrow I'm flying to Rio de Janeiro from where I will embark on an adventure finishing in Los Angeles 180 days later. I hope to visit around 12 countries resulting in an average of 15 days per country. Some may argue that this is not enough time however I would rather visit more countries for a shorter period of time than fewer countries for longer. This post is designed to give a general overview of the route I plan to take (well as far as Columbia anyway), what I'm going to take and anything else that I thought might be of interest. I hope to contribute to this blog every few days, feel free to comment or message me along the way...

Basic Route Overview

 

Places I need to be

La Paz - 27 October (Meeting my dad for a few days before we do the Inca Trail together

Bogota - 05 December (Meeting a friend who I will travel with for the next 10 weeks

Miami - 19 February (Meeting a friend who I will spend 2 weeks with in the USA)

 

 

General Thoughts & Comments

I have told numerous people that I will be travelling through South America by myself to which the reply was along the lines of "Oh you're brave" or "Aren't you scared?". To be honest I am aware that it may be a dangerous place at times, but so is every other place that I could have chosen to visit. Travelling solo obviously has its downfalls such as no one being there to watch your bag or no one to be able to talk to all the time, but on the other hand it promotes independence and hopefully will provide me with greater opportunities to meet new people. On that note, I plan to stay in hostel dorm rooms throughout my trip as I figure this will be the easiest way to meet fellow travellers. I have learnt some Spanish over the past 5 months and hope to pick more up along the way...we'll see how that goes.

 

 

Included below is a list of everything I will be taking with me, which may be useful for some however I imagine for most people now would be a good time to stop reading!

 

Backpack & Accessories

Kathmandu 38L Litehaul v2 Backpack

Kathmandu Backpack Rain Cover (Medium)

Kathmandu Thermal Sleeping Liner

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry DayPack

Kathmandu Digital Alarm Clock

Solar Panel Hand Torch

Microfibre Towel

 

 

 

Clothes

Woollen Jumper x 1

Long Sleeve Collared Shirt x 1

T-Shirts x 3

Woollen Undershirt x 1

Shorts x 1

Boardies x 1

Underwear x 5

Socks x 2

Vans Canvas Shoes x 1

Thongs x 1

 

 

Toiletries

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Dental Floss

Deodorant

Cologne

Lipbalm

Sunscreen

Soap

 

Electronics

Ipod

Iphone

Razor

Adaptor Plug

Memory Cards (2 x 8GB, 2 x 2GB)

Panasonic TZ30 Camera

Olympus Tough Range 8100 Camera

 

Medication 

 

Name	Problem
Norfloxacin	Diarrhoea
Soframycin	Eye/ear
Avomine	Hayfever/ nausea/ travel sickness
Paracetemol	General
Gastro-Stop	Diarrhoea
Simplotan	Guardia
Prochlorperazine	Nausea
Roxithromycin	Chest, sinus, skin infection
Sinus Pain Tablets	Sinus pain/ nasal congestion
Doxycycline	Malaria
Amoxycillin	General Antibiotic

 

First Aid

 

Kathmandu 1 Person First Aid Kit including:

3 x sterile gauze swab-2pcs (7.6cm x 7.6cm).

3 x alcohol wipes.

25 x plastic adhesive bandage (assorted sizes).

1 x roll of adhesive strapping (2.5m long). 2 x fist aid dressing (pad: 10cm x 10cm, bandage: 2.7m long).

1 x premium wound dressing (BCP No.14).

1 x conforming bandage (50mm x 1.5m).

1 x conforming bandage (75mm x 1.5m).

1 x triangular bandage.

5 x safety pins.

1 x scissors.

1 x spinter forceps.

1 x pencil.

1 x notepad.

3 x zip top plastic bag.

 

Until next time...

 

Tom