My first mistake: not factoring vaccinations into the overall cost of my trip.
Just an extra £295 to add to the ever-growing list of expenses...!
Word of warning, vaccinations don't come cheap! Especially when there's a national shortage of the yellow fever vaccine and not one of the 50 medical centres you ring has a supply (eek).
Hep A/typhoid and yellow fever
For South America I was told I'd need Hep A and typhoid (free on the NHS, delivered as one jab) and the yellow fever vaccination (at £95 the hit to my finances was more painful than the needle!). Some South American countries may not let you in if you don't have a yellow fever certificate, so it's definitely worth getting.
Something I wasn't told until it was all too late: Apparently the yellow fever vaccine 'likes' the Hep A/typhoid vaccine so it's ideal if both jabs are done in the same arm. I had my yellow fever jab in my 'rabies arm' though and didn't suffer any side effects :)
Hep B and rabies
I was also advised to consider getting the Hep B vaccination (£50 for 2 jabs around a month apart) - then you get a third jab about six months later for lifelong protection. (Same with Hep A - lifelong cover with a jab about six months after your first one.)
Since I'm (hopefully) going to be in close contact with wildlife and in fairly isolated areas at times, I also got the rabies vaccination (3 shots, the first 2 within about a week of each other and the final one about 4 weeks after the first jab). At £50 each these are pretty pricey...but better to be safe and out of pocket than foaming at the mouth, right!
Malaria
Not a vaccination obv but still important to think about before you go. The best thing to do is visit a pharmacy with an incredibly detailed list of the destinations you plan to visit - luckily I'm doing tours for South America so I just handed in my itinerary, but if you're flying out with a one way ticket and not much else this is easier said than done. The list needs to detail the places you're going and exactly how long you'll be there. Only certain destinations within a country are 'malaria danger zones' so even though I'm in South America for around 40 days I'm only 'at risk' for 7 days (Santa Cruz, Pantanal, Bonito).
If you opt for Malarone, you need to start taking tablets (one a day) 2 days before entering the 'danger zone' and for 7 days afterwards. Other tablets may need to be taken for 40 days after exposure to malaria zones; generally length of trip and budget play a role in which tablets you go with.
This is definitely one of the things to think about well in advance of travelling, especially if you're getting Hep B or rabies, which require a month for the full course, or yellow fever when there happens to be a national shortage!
