Preparing for the journey

The journey

After traveling around Botswana and Namibia in a rented 4x4 in 2004 we wanted more. We liked Africa so much we soon deceided that we we would go back again. The next time would be for longer and if possible with our own car. We eventually deceided to go for the big one. A long journey without an end. We both had the feeling of... Is this what it's all about??… We've got good jobs, own our home, a couple of cars, an apple, a pear, and a plum tree and not to forget a lawn that needs mowing every now and then. We haven't got any pets but we do have each other and are pretty happy. But what now? Just live our lives?? No…There must be more to it !! Some people start their own bussines others go back to school. Other people decide to emigrate abroad. Everyone makes important and personal decisions in life. So have we.
Travelling is a passion we both have and it didn't take us too long to make up our minds.
A statement (translated from Dutch)like:
It is beter to be sorry for what you have done than to be sorry for what you have not. (Beter spijt hebben van wat je gedaan hebt dan wat je niet gedaan hebt),….. was an extra stimulater for us to go.....

A sabbatical or resignation ?

It was our first intention to take a years unpaid leave from work. A sabattical year. Ian applied for a years leave but this was refused. We both very quickly deceided that we would quit our jobs. We could then embark on our adventure with no ties and commitments having to be back in time for work. This gives us a greater feeling of freedom and enables to be open to any opportunities that may cross our paths during the journey.

Our home and possessions

We decided to sell our house. We've thought about letting our house. As we will be using part of the proceeds from selling the house to finance our journey we quickly made the decission to sell it. We still had plenty of time so we thought we would give it a try and sell our house without an estate agent. We made a 'for sale' sign for in the garden and placed an advert on Marktplaats, a Dutch for sale site on internet. If that didn't work out we could allways enroll an estate agent. Beyond all expectations we received a phone call 20 minutes after placing the advert on internet. The house was sold within 2 weeks. Contracts signed and sealed. At first we wanted to rent some kind of storage facillity for our furniture and other rubbish we have accumulated over the years. This turned out to be a costly business. As we don't know how long we'll be away for it wasn't going to be easy to find a sollution. Again here fate helped us out and our mothers offered us space to store boxes, guitars and cupboards (A complete room was even emptied for us), Jacquelines aunt let us store loads of stuff in her garage and a number of friends are using things untill we return
Our sister and brother in law in Deventer will take care of financial matters while we are away. Their home adres will be our postal address in the Netherlands. Thanks to all these people we are able to persue our dream. Our gratitude is great. We've also sold and given a great deal of our possessions away. The process of letting go feels good and gets easier as we progress. Through an advert on internet we've found a place to live untill we leave in september. We have rented a studio on a farm in the middel of the country not too far from work....Another wish of ours is granted.. We allways wanted to move into the country and now have the chance to expierience how we like it.

Health and safety

On a journey like ours we need to take the necessary precautions for personal health and safety We are planning to travel through the whole of Africa and need a lot of vaccinations. We both still have valid vaccinations from previous travels through Africa and Asia. If any of these were out of date we got new ones.
Already covered for DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio) and Hepatitus A and B we thought we would be pretty much prepared for the journey.
After a visit to the travel clinic we were advised to expand our collection with yellow fevour, Meningococcal Meningitisvaccination, Pneumococcal vaccination(Lung infection) Typus fever and Rabies. We also have the Cholera stamp in our booklet. Almost all of the countries we wil be travelling through are Malaria endemic. 2 of the possible types of medication(profilaxe) to protect against malaria are Lariam and Malarone. We took malarone during our first trip to Afric.a A great advantage of Malarone (for us)was that we had no bother from side affects A disadvantage is that you have to take it every dat and it is quite expensive. Malarone can only be used for 3 months. We have chosen to take Lariam which kan be used for a lot longer. You take 1 tablet a week, start 3 weeks before entering a malaria area and carry on taking it 4 weeks after leaving. As most of the countries we will be travelling in are risky areas we will be taking lariam for most of our journey. Lariam can cause a few side effects. Some of the side effects can include dizziness, insomnia, strange dreams, or lightheadedness. We were given a prescription for 3 weeks to see how we would react. Neither of us over reacted to lariam. As first precaution against malaria we are taking a large amount of Deet (anti insect lotion) and an impregnated mosquito net.

We will both follow an internationally recognized course for First Aid Medic. This should give us enough basic first aid knowledge.We will be taking a first aid kit with a supplement prescription medication and sterile material (needles, syriges etc.). As soon as we have a list of what we are taking along we will post it on the site.