Year: 2014

Rabid…

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Yes, it is another pre-post. I’ve travelled in Africa and loved it.  And had yellow fever vaccinations, hepatitis everything vaccines and the always good tetanus.  But never Rabies.  I put the Rabies vaccine in the same category as carrying an extra litre of your own blood.  If you opt for the 3 Rabies vaccines, you still have to get 2 more if you get bit.  I’m not a huge gambler, but those were dice I was willing to roll. No dice with the husband.  I think he asked if there were any extra vaccines he could get at the travel clinic.  I think he is in Tijuana now picking up some extra antibiotics.  But his opt in on Rabies meant that I too would have to drink the not Cool-Aid.  Though I’m not good at statistics, I’m pretty sure the odds of me being the one bit if I didn’t get the vaccine were 100%.  Dogs and bats must have night vision that marks who doesn’t have the vaccine.  That’s why the vaccine is neon …

If it’s Friday, it must be Moosejaw

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It’s nearly Christmas.  Laser Ship delivery trucks are cranking, and so is T.  Every day, a new item arrives.  Every third day, one goes back. The ratios seem to be working. My favorite part is from another man in my life, Daddy dear. “Maria, where are you going again that you need a head lamp?”  He fears I’m quitting to become a professional spelunker. I was sure he was going to proud, given he’s been stocking Spam, chocolate, water and kerosene in our basement to prepare for an possible scenario. But it pays to travel with an engineer.  Where I’m technology stupid, he has recharging battery packs, rain covers for our gear, rolling water bottles.  A stocking full of holiday fun!  If I were a “real” blogger, I would post links and Amazon would give me a kickback when you too decide you need a charger the size of a lipstick.  In other words, watch this post change 2 months in when we are broke:) Photo credit: Angie Linder, 9/7/06 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

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“Lent is longer than the amount of time before we leave.” You’d think he was religious, but I was the one that hopped by church this morning.  And I was the one with my dutiful Osprey Porter Backpack out, trying to assess what I could take with me. It’s November.  It’s just about freezing outside.  I’m trying on swimsuits instead of reading my COBRA options.  Life is good. I always associated the husband with not being religious as he worshipped logic.  Logic had him researching backpacks online to see if there were better options. I’m a therapist, and swim comfortably in emotions.  Our matching Ospreys had been to India with us, we’d packed them with our wedding outfits to fly out to Colorado and tie the knot, and we’d taken them on a belated island honeymoon.  How is it conceivable they wouldn’t make this next trek with us? “What bag did the Tings take?” I should start a scoreboard for how often he references our fantasy travel team’s strategy to round the world.  But I …

90 day hold?

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Committed.  We are committed. In my line of business, commitment means “Pink Papers” (literally) and getting someone sent for evaluation often against their will.  Such events often involve the police, swearing, a threat, and some kind of decompression afterwards.  It can involve a 24 hour and then a 3 day hold, a chance to assess someone and see if things are really okay. We are committing ourselves for three months.  A 90 day hold on our lives to reset.  We kept our wavering at home, though it was significant.  We’ve done at least three go rounds of “is this a bad idea?” and then dove in.  And now, with jobs winding down, and 8 travel books from the library scattered around us, more tabs than that open on our web browsers, we are going to make it happen. I started at nine months leave.  I was pregnant with the idea of travel, of giving birth- who am I kidding, I just wanted to stop laboring with a shovel this winter.  When nine months seemed too …

Why skipsters? Because skipping was the first class I failed in kindergarten, but I've got it down now. Because it is time for the age of the hipsters to come to a close. Because we are leaving work and responsibility (but not dining and dashing through Asia!) Because. Just because.

Skipsters?

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Why skipsters? Because skipping was the first class I failed in kindergarten, but I’ve got it down now. Because it is time for the age of the hipsters to come to a close. Because we are skipping winter after last year’s polar vortex. Because we are leaving work and responsibility (but not dining and dashing through Asia!) Because.  Just because. A hop, skip and a leap of faith is about to take us around the world.  Not a bad new year’s resolution!  I may even lose the extra ten pounds if I get adventurous in my street food choices, so stayed tuned.  We’ve skipped on Facebook for a while, but have decided to live publicly on the blog to share out adventure so when we are old and can’t remember, we will be able to relive the glory.