Preparations

Love the Bubba Gump hat, not so much the grin!

I'm off backpacking around South East Asia from June 2015 until an undecided date. It could be a two week trip and I'll be homesick. Before you know it, I'll be back home in my comfort zone! Ha, my mum wishes!

Anyway, I'm visiting the following places on my travels, which will be documented on this blog:

- China
- Vietnam
- Cambodia (with a nine week volunteering opportunity)
- Thailand
- Indonesia

 
I didn't fully appreciate the amount of preparation that goes into backpacking. I thought, naively, that you just slung a rucksack over your shoulder with a few belongings and set off on your adventure. This is partly down to my own sense of 'I'll do something when it happens to me' and some of the stories I've heard of people saying they have just quit their jobs and headed off backpacking. I can tell you now, and an established traveller friend of mine agrees, this cannot be further from the truth - at least where I'm visiting anyway.

There are two main things you need, MUST, organise before you begin travelling to South East Asia:

- Vaccinations
- Visas

Why? 

Vaccinations
 
Well, although vaccinations cannot prevent you totally catching diseases, they can at least assist your body in fighting the viruses until you receive the correct medical assistance. Rabies is a key example. If bitten by an animal with rabies, the vaccination can buy you valuable time to get to a medical professional. It sounds dramatic but it's going to kill you if you don't get treated! And this applies to most of the diseases. Without your vaccinations you are susceptible to all manner of diseases including Japanese Encephalitis, the aforementioned Rabies, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and B, Cholera, Diphtheria and so many others.

I have been vaccinated against the following:

- Hepatitis A and B
- Typhoid
- Diphtheria / Tetanus / Polio
- Rabies
- Japanese Encephalitis

Where

I live in Kent, and I can highly recommend the travel clinic in Mersham-le-Hatch, Ashford - BMC Medical Travel Clinic- http://www.bmcmedical.co.uk/

These guys are the best around and really are friendly and helpful. If you have any concerns, they're always on hand to help.

Visa

Visas can be obtained when entering some countries, yet some need to be issued before you leave the UK or home nation.

Use https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice - Entry requirements, when looking for visa requirements for your destinations. If you don't have the right documentation, you can be refused entry. Then where will you be?

Other than that, there are all other manner of things to consider including:

- Travel Insurance
- Travel methods
- Currency
- Baggage

Although they are down to individual specifications, they still need to be considered!