Inflation is part of the Game

With World Cup just around the corner, the biggest sporting event in the WORLD (yes, its bigger than the Olympics), I am shocked to keep reading on message boards that people are still looking for accommodations, transportation and the like.

Sure, I over plan and maybe think a tad too much about getting things in order for any of my travel adventures, but when it comes to attending a global event where there the expectation is for the population to swell by some 400,000 people, I like to think that getting your plans in order is not a bad thing.

And then you read things like this and it makes even more sense to get your act together in advance:

Inflation of prices, especially on accommodation and transportation, are part of the Olympics and World Cup, but the South Africa 2010 World Cup may be different, as South Africa Tourism’s campaign to keep a price freeze during the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup is yielding results.

According to a press release by the body, hoteliers in the Eastern Cape part of the country have promised to freeze prices.

SA Tourism Update Online has compiled a database of tourism suppliers that are not price gouging, which can be accessed by their inbound tour operators. The rates they consider fair will be loaded into the frequently updated database.

While its nice to see that the things are trying to be corralled and controlled so that gouging is not out of control, its still makes for finding a reasonable price on accommodations a hard tickets at this point.

Good thing we have our hostels and family members booked and ready for us!

Vaccinations

Today was needle day.

With only 72 days to go it was time to get my health sorted out before heading out.

I made an appointment with the Travel Clinic waaaay back in January in an attempt to get in sometime in February and it kinda freaked me out when they told me that I would have to wait till the end of March to get my inoculations. However, they assured me that 10 weeks was more than enough time for everything to work out.

So with time to kill before my appointment I shacked up at Starbucks and went over my research on what I thought I needed. I had heard stories of clinics trying to scare people into getting vaccinations for things they don’t really need just to make more money so I wanted to make sure that I was heading in prepared and ready for the hard sell.

According to my research, and my past inoculation records, I figured I needed the following:

Hep A

Hep B

Typhoid

Malaria pills

Not too bad really and my calculations put that at coming in $250. I was happy with that number.

When I arrived I had to fill out quite the form detailing my itinerary and dates and then met with the Dr to talk about my plans and required vaccines. Turns out I already had Hep B, which I got in high school (sorta remembered that but not clearly), and yes I need Hep A and Typhoid. However also needed an adult booster for Polio, Diphtheria and Tetanus, as well as an MMR shot because I didn’t get Rubella back in the day with my kiddie booster.

As soon as she told me that I got a bit ridged and prepared for the cost. What came next shocked me – THEY WERE FREE! Free you say, well then stab away Nurse Lady.

She did try to sell me on Dukoral for travellers' diarrhea, but when she mentioned it was only really 20% effective, I took a pass.

She also mentioned Japanese Encephalitis and the vaccination for that being $300. Again, PASS. I’m not in any real danger zone for it and she didn’t press the issue but clearly had a duty to advise me of my options.

Finally it was Malaria time. The reality of my situation is that I am basically in a malaria zone for the entire duration of my travels so we decided that instead of doing a fancy malaria pill for Africa, taking a break and then going on a less fancy pill from my time in Asia (aside from my time on the southern Thailand islands), I would simply take malaria pills for the entirety of my travels. A whole 128 days.

Now that scared me. Why? Because when P came back from his appointment he was slapped with a prescription for malaria pills that were gonna set him back 5 BUCKS A DAY!

Do the math: 5 x 128 = $640 – OUCH! That’s crazy expensive

After letting out an audible sigh, I advised her I was looking for the most cost effective way to do this, so we went with the less fancy option for the whole trip, setting me back a mere $65 for the while 128 days.

That’s quite the difference in cost. It basically added up to a savings of 20 days of travel (my budget is $30 a day). Can’t complain about that,

With the consult complete and my forms filled out, I was off to see the Nurse for my actual shots.

2 painless needles, followed by a bit of a stingy one in the bingo wing and I was outta there, only a $150 lighter than when I walked in.

I now have my inoculations up to date, my immunization records stamped and ready to go and one less thing left on my TO DO list.

Up next: Hiking shoes

82 days to go

Wow, that seems like a lot, but it’s really, really not.

I have so much still to do, so many things to get ready and left to organize.

My vaccinations are planned for March 29th so that will be done and out of the way.

Most of the arrangements for Africa are set. We just have a few details to work out:

1) Need a place to stay in Windhoek for a few nights before meeting up with our GAP guides.

2) Need to sort out bus transportation from Lusaka to Pretoria. Now, I know this is doable, however it’s just not something that we can plan for in advance, other than to know where the bus station is. As most of the message boards that I frequent note, it’s Africa, the regular rules of planning do not apply. So with that in mind, I am going to just roll with it and see what we can do about getting from Zambia to South Africa when the time comes. I have no fear that it will become a problem. Worst case scenario we spend a few extra days in Lusaka, and that is not a horrible thing in my book.

3) Need to get train tickets for our journey from Pretoria to Cape Town, via Kimberly. We cannot pre-arrange these until its 90 days before travel … which come to think of it may actually be now … have to look into that today.

Otherwise, all is set for South Africa. Hostels and other accommodations are set, transport is set. All that is left is to get on the plane!

As for South East Asia, I have it all worked out on paper, but am again just planning on rolling with it once I get there.

Overall, this trip is actually going to be a massive lesson in NOT planning for me. Normally I'm a planning mad woman, but this time I am making the decision to move away from my spreadsheets and calendars and to just go with the flow. I have a loose idea of my route, when I want to be places, where I aim to stay and do (like cooking lesson in Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang, slow boating down the Mekong, volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park Sanctuary, walk the busy streets of HCMC, visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the Killing fields and of course, visit the Angkor Archaeological Park), but nothing is booked other than my time in Southern Thailand with Beach Travellers.

After that it’s all me and no rules.

Let the adventures begin!

Side Note – THIEVES WILL ALL ROT IN HELL!

Yes, I am already off track with my commitment to post more travel related content but this just has to be said:

While writing the last post P can home and told me to sit down and be prepared for some news that was going to make me very angry. He then announced that on a hunch he had decided to check in on our bikes that are in storage in our garage and was horrified to see that both of our expensive DH mountain bikes had been stolen. The locks had been cut off and left where the bikes once had been.

This comes on the heels of one successful and a failed second truck break in and an recent attempted break in to our mailbox.

The tone of all of this is very odd too. It feels like it is targeted almost. To get into our garage you need a FOB. The bike locker is in the garage and furthermore, one needs a key to access it. Clearly if you were to steal bikes from the locker you would have to not only get into the garage, you would have to A) break the bike room lock or B) have a key to the room. Since the lock is still fully in tacked, that leaves option B.

I thought I felt violated when the truck was broken into the first time. This now brings other feelings. I feel sad, mad, frustrated, annoyed, stupid, responsible and more than anything, unsafe in my own home. I am at a loss for what to do. We know we wanted to move but now it seems like we HAVE to move.

And our property management company (Bayside Property Services Ltd: http://www.blogger.com/www.baysideproperty.com) is a total joke. They respond to our emails with a cavalier attitude and a nonchalance that is appalling. They pass the buck and don’t make even a veiled attempt at providing assistance or guidance. I find it humorous that they boast on their website the following:

Bayside Property Services Ltd. has a long established and well-developed reputation for excellence in the Property Management field. This reputation has been based on providing to its clients years of prompt personalized and caring service. The knowledge, expertise and diligence of the Bayside management team ensures proper administration of a Strata Corporation's business in a timely
fashion.

The above could not be further from the truth. Prompt and caring service?. Don’t kid yourself Bayside. From day one this management company has been a problem and now, when we need their support and assistance more than ever, the yet again fail to meet the mark.

So, screw them. We are calling the police in the morning, filing a report and getting this brought to the attention of someone that may actually care about this and offer some support.

This city forces me to run the course of love and hate daily.

COMMITMENT

I have decided that I have to become committed to my blogging and specifically, more focused on journaling my travels and adventures.

This blog is after all called Tiny’s Adventures!

I have a whack of notes and journal entries from the last 3 years of travels and aim to publish at least the 2008 portions before I head out again in June.

I have started to sift through all the notebooks, papers and random scraps of napkins and paper bags with comments and ideas etched on them and its really rather shocking to realize just how lucky I have been to have gone and done all that I have in such a short period.

Major events of 2007 have already been noted, namely the Great Canadian Road Trip
here, here, here, here and here