....well nearly, as Tim and I have now both handed in our resignation notices to our managers and we've both got a leaving date of Friday 7 March... whoop
This will give us a week at home to get things sorted before we set off on our travels.
We're both feeling a bit unprepared at the moment and can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by....
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
The trip before the trip
So Tim and I have just spent the weekend in Lapland...this was the trip that I bought Tim for his 40th b'day as a surprise. It was totally awesome and gave us an opportunity to test out our thermals which we've bought for the 'big adventure' as it will be cold when we are camping and visiting the glaciers etc in Patagonia...
Lapland was beautiful - the air felt so clean and the snow was so unbelievably white and undisturbed...what a lovely part of the world. We were in northern Finland, 140 miles inside the Arctic circle and 1000 km north of Helsinki. We were right on the border with Sweden...in fact the bridge to the village was the border crossing point.
We drove a reindeer sleigh and husky sleigh, went on snowmobiles (on the frozen river which was probably as wide as the Thames) and tried our hands at cross country skiing... all in a four night break... As you can see the snow was quite deep!!
Lapland was beautiful - the air felt so clean and the snow was so unbelievably white and undisturbed...what a lovely part of the world. We were in northern Finland, 140 miles inside the Arctic circle and 1000 km north of Helsinki. We were right on the border with Sweden...in fact the bridge to the village was the border crossing point.
We drove a reindeer sleigh and husky sleigh, went on snowmobiles (on the frozen river which was probably as wide as the Thames) and tried our hands at cross country skiing... all in a four night break... As you can see the snow was quite deep!!
 |
| Our cheeky reindeer |
 |
| Now that's what I call a lot of snow! |
 |
| At the reindeer park |
 |
| One foot in Sweden and one in Finland |
 |
| Karesuando village |
 |
| Karesuando village church |
 |
| With the huskies |
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Jabs and medical stuff
Kate here: So we've been through the medical pages on the web (suggested by the nurse), trying to work out what medical protection we need while we're away. The NHS are a bit vague and basically want you to make up your own mind when it comes to jabs and malaria tablets etc.
We've therefore both had two lots of multi-purpose jabs - one for Hep A and Typhoid and the other for Tetanus, Diphtheria and Polio.
We're just about outside the 'risk' zone for malaria so we'll be planning on spraying ourselves in DEET but not taking tablets for four months (as you need to take them before you go and once you get back too!).
My wonderful breast care nurse, Linda, has checked with my oncologist and the Yellow Fever jab that I had in August 2008 will still be effective. Tim and I were due to go to Peru in October 2008....but I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2008 so October was spent undergoing chemotherapy rather than trekking the Inca Trail. I was worried that the chemo might have knocked out the effectiveness of the jab.
I'm also going to stop my Tamoxifen at the beginning of March (with permission from my consultant). As many of you will know, I've been on these hormone tablets for nearly five years and because they can increase your risk of DVT I've been told I can come off them early (I'll only be six weeks shy of the five year mark). Mind you, I'll probably still get some very attractive flight socks to wear!
We'll also be putting our own medical/first aid kit together - we've already got one which we take on our long walks but it might need to be bulked up a bit - and we already need more plasters as even though Tim has walked about 500 miles in his walking boots, he still gets blisters - ouch!!
Well, hasta luego...(that's another thing... I must remember to pack the Spanish phrase book)!!
We've therefore both had two lots of multi-purpose jabs - one for Hep A and Typhoid and the other for Tetanus, Diphtheria and Polio.
We're just about outside the 'risk' zone for malaria so we'll be planning on spraying ourselves in DEET but not taking tablets for four months (as you need to take them before you go and once you get back too!).
My wonderful breast care nurse, Linda, has checked with my oncologist and the Yellow Fever jab that I had in August 2008 will still be effective. Tim and I were due to go to Peru in October 2008....but I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2008 so October was spent undergoing chemotherapy rather than trekking the Inca Trail. I was worried that the chemo might have knocked out the effectiveness of the jab.
I'm also going to stop my Tamoxifen at the beginning of March (with permission from my consultant). As many of you will know, I've been on these hormone tablets for nearly five years and because they can increase your risk of DVT I've been told I can come off them early (I'll only be six weeks shy of the five year mark). Mind you, I'll probably still get some very attractive flight socks to wear!
We'll also be putting our own medical/first aid kit together - we've already got one which we take on our long walks but it might need to be bulked up a bit - and we already need more plasters as even though Tim has walked about 500 miles in his walking boots, he still gets blisters - ouch!!
Well, hasta luego...(that's another thing... I must remember to pack the Spanish phrase book)!!
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Project Maracas is a go.....
So after Kate suffered a bout of stress and time off work at the end of 2013, passing the five year cancer-free mark, Tim turning 40 and with both of us fed up of our jobs and the daily commute, it was time to have a think about where we were headed with our lives.
It seemed like this was the ideal opportunity to take a trip....and that trip has turned out to be bigger than either of us imagined. With the decision made to quit our jobs and go on an adventure, codename Project Maracas was born.
With no time constraints we originally thought that we would travel to South America - somewhere we'd always wanted to go, and then branch out into other continents - Australasia and Asia, with time in the Pacific Ocean (Tahiti), New Zealand and Oz, then to Thailand for a bit of a beachy rest before we headed home....but when looking at the dates, it didn't work out as there were some walks in New Zealand that we wanted to do that weren't 'open' during their Autumn...so change of plan...we're sticking to South America.
Here's Kate in the 'project Maracas' hub (aka our dining room) with various books, dates and itinerary options....
We finalised the itinerary on 25 January after lots of to-ing and fro-ing with Round the World Experts and booked the trip on 29 January.... T minus 7 weeks and counting before the 'off' on Saturday 15 March! Crikey....
So where are we going....well, our 77 days consists of:
It seemed like this was the ideal opportunity to take a trip....and that trip has turned out to be bigger than either of us imagined. With the decision made to quit our jobs and go on an adventure, codename Project Maracas was born.
 |
| Tim with the maracas I bought him for his 40th Watch out as you may see them again! |
With no time constraints we originally thought that we would travel to South America - somewhere we'd always wanted to go, and then branch out into other continents - Australasia and Asia, with time in the Pacific Ocean (Tahiti), New Zealand and Oz, then to Thailand for a bit of a beachy rest before we headed home....but when looking at the dates, it didn't work out as there were some walks in New Zealand that we wanted to do that weren't 'open' during their Autumn...so change of plan...we're sticking to South America.
 |
| Project Maracas hub |
Here's Kate in the 'project Maracas' hub (aka our dining room) with various books, dates and itinerary options....
We finalised the itinerary on 25 January after lots of to-ing and fro-ing with Round the World Experts and booked the trip on 29 January.... T minus 7 weeks and counting before the 'off' on Saturday 15 March! Crikey....
So where are we going....well, our 77 days consists of:
- Flying into Argentina
- 19 days in Patagonia - trekking, penguins, glaciers, and, er some camping (Kate's favourite!!)
- A few nights in Buenos Aires
- Making our way over ten days across Argentina into Chile (very long bus journeys), stopping off in Cordoba for some tango practice and then to Mendoza for lots of wine!
- A few nights in Santiago
- 4 days on Easter Island (where we arrive on Easter Sunday!!)
- 21 days in Peru visiting Nazca, Colca Canyon, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca (more camping!)
- A week in Bolivia spending time in La Paz and hopefully to the salt flats (overnight bus a-go-go)
- Over to Igassu to see the famous falls
- Finishing in Rio for five nights
As Kate also really loves flying (!!!), it should be an exciting, slightly nerve-wracking, challenging eye-opening and memorable experience.
But the first hurdle is what to pack for a 77 day trip where temperatures are likely to range from below freezing (Patagonia/Peru camping) to 25-26 degrees (Rio) with a maximum of 20 kg - especially when you need to take walking boots! hmmmm.
We'll keep you posted.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)