I sent my passport off on October 23 to Pinnacle Travel Services that the Institute for Shipboard Education recommended for visa processing...visas were needed for China, India and Brazil...total cost: $395. Luckily, this cost will be offset by the stipend I get as a faculty member (in addition to our salary of $8,000 for the three courses we teach, faculty also get a $900 stipend to cover travel to and from the ship and the fees for the visas)...definitely another perk of doing this trip as a faculty member as opposed to a student! My own cabin, fees covered for visas & travel to/from the ship, and I'm getting paid to travel around the world!
The only real expenses I'll have are the costs of the trips we sign up for once in port...by my estimation, that will be a total of $6,000-$9,000...so I need to somehow find that money or go into more debt (incidentally, any donations to my travel fund are welcome! I'm barely making ends meet on my regular salary so any munificent souls with a desire to make a donation, feel free!) At any rate, I got my passport back last week with the required visas completed...we were told to allow for up to 50 days to get it back from the time it was FedExed to Pinnacle Travel Services...so it's really only been about a month or so for turn around time. One less thing to think about. For Vietnam, they do a "group visa" - I had to submit two photocopies of my passport to the Institute for Shipboard Education so they can do the group visa once onboard the ship.
Regarding medical stuff, I already had my physical and a tetanus shot a few weeks ago at my primary care physician (I needed to send back a simple "physical examination" form to the Semester at Sea office by December 1).
I got the rest of my shots today at a travel clinic today...the clinic told me to come in about 6 weeks prior to the trip. I would highly recommend going to a travel clinic for these shots and pills (instead of relying on your primary care physican) because often primary care physicians aren't as up-to-speed with what is needed for various countries. Since travel clinics deal with this type of global travel all the time, they are more knowledgable than your primary physician. Here is a list of travel clinics as provided on the CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/travel/travel_clinics.htm). I was able to get a referral from my primary care physician to go to the travel clinic at Metrowest Medical Center in Framingham, Massachusetts.
I got:
- a yellow fever shot (this was really only needed for Brazil - northern areas of Brazil are yellow fever areas so since there is a chance I'll go on one of the trips to the Amazon, I got this shot to be on the safe side - otherwise, if you stay near the coastline, they said you don't have to get it...the Semester at Sea people though said that we definitely DO need the yellow fever shot or else we might not be allowed off of the ship).
- a hepatitis A shot (a booster shot is needed six months later too to extend the length of the immunization)
- Since I had already had a three-part hepatitis B vaccination when I entered college I didn't need that, but if you go on this trip and haven't had the hepatitis B vaccination yet, you should.
- a polio shot
- a flu shot (this wasn't absolutely mandatory, but since so many people will be living in close quarters on the ship, I figured I might as well get it)
- typhoid pills (It's a series of four pills. You take one every other day on an empty stomach at least a week prior to leaving. The pills need to be refrigerated or they lose their efficacy. You could also opt for a typhoid shot, instead of the pills, but I think the shot only covers you for 2 years whereas the pills cover you for 5 years.)
- malaria pills (I got a medication called malarone - you take the pills one day before you enter a malaria zone and then throughout the time you are there. You continue taking the pills seven days after you leave the malaria zone. With those guidelines, I'll be taking this medication one day prior to getting to Mauritius and then a pill everyday until seven days after leaving Vietnam...so that's March 14 through April 21. There is also another malaria medication called larium that used to be prescribed a lot more in the past before malarone was made available a few years ago...larium apparently has side effects like weird dreams, so it sounds like a lot of doctors tend to prescribe malarone now since that's the newest medication. Doctors also apparently avoid prescribing larium for those with a history of anxiety and/or depressive disorders.)
I was also told to bring Imodium on the trip in case of diarrhea...and in the event that doesn't work after a few days, I was also prescribed an antibiotic...so I'll take that along too to be on the safe side. Now I just have to fill those prescriptions...
I was also told that I should bring insect repellant that is 23-50% DEET.
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