Immunizations were finished up a few months ago.  Our local nursing school at Auburn Montgomery was able to get me in for my shots.  Interested in what I had to get?  Typhoid, Influenza and finished up the 3rd set of Hep A/B vaccinations.  All my other vaccinations were still valid from Costa Rica.   I also got prescriptions for malaria prevention which I will start taking 2 days before I arrive.  A wellness check was needed for the trip and my health care doctor prescribed me a broad-spectrum antibiotic and something for nausea and vomiting (just in case I need it).

Packing began a few weeks ago.  I’ve slowly packed and unpacked, sorted, and removed items.  Do I take this or rather take that… I finally believe I have it all sorted out, but I still have a few days to take another look.  My checked bag has stayed under 50 pounds so far.  At first I’d planned on taking only my carry-on but some of the larger items pushed me over my preferred weight for my backpack.  Considering we will be changing planes at least twice I didn’t want to be hauling too much weight through the airports catching our next plane.