How do you solve a problem like altitude sickness?

Since I haven't actually experienced it yet, I can't say I'm qualified to give much - or indeed any - advice on surviving high altitude. Bet that's enticed you to keep reading!

However, I am up to my eyeballs in booklets given to me by the travel nurse, and advice from friends and flatmates who've been in far-flung countries scrambling up mountains and other crazy adventures - so here's a (very) brief collection of what I've been told:

• Take motion sickness tablets before ascending
• Acetazolamide - start taking 2 days before ascent. Aspirin can also help apparently
• Keep eating, even small amounts. Aim for a light but high calorie diet
• Maintain a good intake of fluids
• Get lots of rest
• Aim for gradual ascent 

Bit concerned tbh, despite the fact the tour I'm going on is called 'Andes to the Atlantic' I didn't twig about the high altitude until after I'd booked...turns out we're going to be quite a lot of metres above sea level for a substantial part of the trip!

The vast collection of paper I've managed to acquire also says to take plenty of sunscreen, as well as sunglasses and clothes to protect yourself from UV light (the higher the altitude, the higher the exposure to UV radiation).

I've also just found an incredibly useful packing list, score! Will do a post on this in the next few weeks - and update this one with more in-depth altitude info when I've experienced it first hand (gulp)!

50 days!

Vaccinations - a necessary evil

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!

From Bolivian salt flats to Grand canyons - the Americas

Of the people I've told so far, the vast majority have requested I take them with me on my travels - I'm currently trying to figure out how to fit 7 people into my (non-existent) backpack. 

A few people have said they'd like to fly out and join me for a week, which would be awesome but because of the nature of my plans, I've had to book onto tours - which means I'm only 'free' for a week in New York (May 13-19) and when I head across to Europe in July. Anyone who fancies a European beach hol or city break you're very welcome to join :) 

This is what my trip consists of so far.

South America

• Quito, Ecuador & Galapagos Islands tour 
• Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
• Travelling from the 'Andes to Atlantic' over 24 days - from Bolivia to Brazil. Highlights include the Salt Flats, the Pantanal (tropical wetlands, wildlife, giant lily pads!), Bonito (water and jungle country), Iguassu Falls and Brazilian beaches - and loads more, can't wait!

The States

• New York for a week
• Bum around in LA for a few days - staying in Hollywood Boulevard!
• Join National Parks tour in LA for 3 weeks - San Diego, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Great Basin Desert, Yosemite, San Francisco, Monterey & Big Sur (sea lions and giant redwoods!), Santa Barbara and back to LA - so, so excited!! Although 18 of the 21 nights are spent camping...oh dear.

Anyone who thinks joining guided tours isn't 'real travelling' can quite frankly do one. If it's anything like Spain, being female, petite and - worst of all - blonde in South America is a recipe for disaster!

I really did want to do the States on my own, but because I'm not particularly interested in going to the cities and have instead chosen possibly the most remote and difficult to access locations (see, real travelling!) the trip necessitates a guided tour. Advice for anyone wanting to visit the National Parks in the US: aside from joining a tour group, the best way is to hire a car once you're out there. There are a couple of bus companies which hop from major cities to the National Parks, but after sitting in front of complicated timetables for several hours I'm 99% sure that attempting to organise it yourself is more stress than it's worth.

Europe remains unplanned but I kind of want to keep it that way...we'll see what happens :)

53 days!

The road is life

“‎You're not the same as you were before. You were much more...muchier...you've lost your muchness.” Alice in Wonderland

On January 12, my boyfriend of a year brought my world crashing down when he unexpectedly called time on our relationship.

On January 20, my job took a turn for the worse - a lot of my writing (which I love) was taken away from me and swapped for Excel spreadsheets (shudder) and emails. 

By January 24, I'd booked a trip to South America.

And that, ladies and gents, is how it's done.

I've been wanting to travel for a long time now; it's something I've been thinking about since I was about 17, 18. But one thing led to another and before I knew it, I'd accepted a university offer - goodbye enlightening (drunken) gap year. Then, despite making the decision to go after graduation, I found myself getting sucked into the flurry of final year job applications and landed a writing position - the career I'd had my heart set on for years.

Travelling got pushed increasingly further down the list as I decided it was probably best to get some 'real world' experience on the old CV. I can't deny I had an amazing year and a half - I fell in love, got promoted from Writer to Editor and moved out of the family home - lots of achievements, lots of fun, lots of living. But it wasn't quite enough.

I only know that now, of course, after taking a step back from everything and getting some perspective. I was vaguely concerned I might never get out into the world but at the same time, I was happy - I think deep down I knew that it was going to take something drastic to make this happen. I still haven't quite got my head around the fact I'm going - in less than 2 months!

In a nutshell

So I'm kicking things off on April 3 in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, which I'm ridiculously excited about. Peru is next on the agenda, then across Bolivia and Brazil, ending in Rio. Then up to the States to do a tour of the incredible National Parks in the West - after checking out New York, obviously.

That's it?

No way! The rough plan is to do Europe over the summer and then jet further east when October swings around to explore China, SE Asia and, of course, Australia. 

I'm incredibly nervous but also hugely excited to be going off on my own and doing something I've wanted to do for years. I'm blogging mainly so friends and fam can keep up to date with my whereabouts, but I'm also keen to make this into a useful tool for anyone about to go or thinking about going travelling. There's so much do before leaving; in fact, I've actually ended up putting a travel folder together...with dividers and everything. 

This is my blog, as I travel from England to Ecuador and beyond, and go about finding my Muchness.