One of the things I hadn’t thought about was the medical preparations for a trip to a country like Nepal.

First there were the vaccinations:

• Hepatitis A – Took 2 rounds of shots
• Hepatitis B – Took 2 rounds of shots
• Tetanus
• Typhoid
• Flu

I scheduled a visit with a travel doctor. I really liked her, she seemed exited about my trip (too bad she is moving to Austin). She prescribed me medicine to help with altitude sickness, antibiotics, and sleeping pills in case the altitude kept me awake. She also suggested that I get a gym membership and start hitting the stair master, and stepping sideways on it. It was good advice. She also told me to get on probiotics the month before I head out to help prevent stomach issues while on the trip. I had no idea that “gut health” packs would have so many pills!

I also went to my optometrist and got contacts. Actually, just contact. My right eye needs the most correction, so I went with the one contact so I have a mix of good vision for near/far. I can go 7 days at a time (according to my optometrist) without removing it. This let me get a non-prescription set of glacier glasses. Not only were they cheaper, I don’t have to worry about their prescription becoming obsolete. It did take me a while to get to where I could pull my contact out and put it back in without issues.

Finally, the one visit I was not looking forward to – the dentist. But my new dentist proved me wrong; she is very good. Very conscientious. A couple of fillings and I was good to go (not bad for all the years I skipped of visiting a dentist).

With all that out of the way, one step closer to my trip!