1. Determine which region to visit and its top destinations. Asia was originally in the mix but equal time between Africa and South America sounded most appealing.
2. Prepared a rough itinerary. This itinerary is something we still use almost constantly and is challenging to keep up-to-date.
3. Looked into visas for each country. We looked into this a couple months early, but we could have used a little more extra time to deal with Brazil's visa which is somewhat difficult to get in the U.S.
4. Contacted the tour guides and any local contacts early and often to get an idea of how each operates, how readily they are available, and, of course, how much everything costs. Asked TONS of questions.
5. Purchased gear as early as possible after researching and making a packing list.
6. Purchased health AND travel insurance. Since primary health insurance only covers us in the U.S., we needed to purchase travel insurance as well (basically to get us back to the U.S. as quickly as possible while providing the care we need).7. Asked our employers if we could take a leave of absence which was met with good success.
8. Saw a travel doctor and got several vaccines and medications for malaria, two high-altitude sicknesses, and two other antibiotics, along with the usual over-the-counter medications.
9. Prepared our house and financials. Luckily, we have a friend staying in our house while we are gone so we won't worry too much. We have most of our bills automatically paying online and we'll have internet access at least once a week or so to check everything. Thanks to Erin's parents who have volunteered to do our taxes.
10. Find time to see family and friends before we leave!
This time before the trip has been hectic, but we expected that. We just hope we have done enough!
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