Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Ladies and gentleman may I have your attention please!

Hey everyone!

I have fantastic news: I have received an approved visa, bought my plane tickets, and bought my travel insurance. Is it time to go yet?

I am literally SO BEYOND EXCITED for this trip, not that I want to rush the next 2.5 months because Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Also my birthday.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. I'm just excited.

Now, any tips on occupying myself on the plane? It's going to be about 24 hours of travel time each way...


~Holly

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Making Progress....

Last week I went and got my three shots done, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever. They weren't bad, and the man who did them was very nice. I didn't have any immediate reactions (except the ones I made up in my head as I was driving home), but I have had a few over the past 5 days, which rest assured are only mild and relatively common. They all are from the Yellow Fever vaccine, and I'm guessing it's because 19 is the cut-off to get the adult dosage. The place where I got the shot is red, I've had an on and off head-ache, I've been tired, and what feels like a low fever. These symptoms appear in 1 out of four people and can last up to a week. I'd much rather have these symptoms than whatever is going around my school and as long as I'm good for my half marathon on Sunday I don't really mind.

I finally got around to organizing my travel binder, with all my information, copies of documents, receipts, budget, checklists, etc. I may be needing a bigger one!

I also just mailed out my visa application, which is a relief because I feel like that is the one dead line that was looming over me with every passing day. After triple checking everything it is on its way to DC. Now we wait.

I pretty much have my flight ready to go, I'll be flying KLM Royal Dutch and Air France. On the way I'll have layovers in Amsterdam and Paris. The reason I haven't bought the tickets yet is that I'm working with Tiffany in International Studies to see if we can work out a brief home-stay in Paris (a couple days) on my way back. My layover on the way back home would be ridiculously long and we have a program there so why not stop while I'm there? I'm under-budget at is it. If I do that, I'll alos have two direct flights on the way back-Ouagadougou to Paris and Paris to Boston. Breaking up the 23 hours of travel will be nice.

Next up? Work out the Paris details and get my plane ticket and then my travel insurance. As we get closer I'll also need my anti-malarial.

Now that I have a lot of the paperwork done I can relax a bit and enjoy the planning process :)