Travel update: 4 more days to take-off

I've been blogging about this trip for nearly 2 months. I'm taking off next Monday,

only 4 days from now. Here's what I've learned about travel preparations in the last two weeks.

1. You cannot possibly start getting rid of you stuff early enough. Even though I managed to sell quite a bit of books, clothes and records I still had loads left when the last week at home began. They just kept coming up from everywhere, boxes in the attic and upper shelves of closets. As it was already too late to auction them or to organize a garage sale, I ended up throwing some stuff away and giving some to charity. I so could have used that money, even if it was just a matter of a little more than a few bucks.

2. Spare loads of time for seeing your family and friends. Between my last day at work and my day of take-off I had nine days which just didn't suffice. As those nine days also included two days scheduled for final packing and moving out of my apartment, I reeked of alcohol when my folks came to pick me and the rest of my stuff up. It was not so cool, but then hey, the previous night might just as well have been the last time I'm going to see my best friend for God knows how long. Or at least one of the last times.

3. Don't you dare think that your work related nightmares are over with your last day of work. I spent the other night paralyzed, sweating and screaming while a bad dream involving a series of articles on swine flu rolled in front of my eyes.

4. Make sure that you've had all of your doctor's and dentist's appointments well in advance. I was rather unhappy when I got a call from my dentist's receptionist saying that my last minute appointment had been canceled as my dentist is bed-ridden because of the ominous swine flu influenza.

5. Packing up your house is a lot harder when you are storing stuff away and not just moving them to another apartment. When switching apartments, in the new one you can always tuck away the same old Christmas presents you've always tucked away but when it's a question of how much stuff you can store in someone else's house, it becomes a matter of deciding what's really valuable. I'm so glad my grandma doesn't speak English.

6. For your last days of work you should have a witty response in store to claims such as "what do you care, you are leaving". "I care, because I have a strong work ethic", is not going to make the cut.

7. Lying to your grandma about the places you are going to go to is more than acceptable. Australia is a lot better than say, Bangladesh.

8. When telling your grandma that you are going to be writing a travel blog, it's a good idea to explain, what is a blog and that for example, members of the parliament, celebrities and other prominent people have blogs. That might help you to change her mind about you having been sacked and leaving because you need to escape some serious law suits.

9. Seeing your apartment empty and ready for the tenants can be emotionally disturbing. Don't look back.

10. An all-inclusive list of things to do would have been nice. At the moment I've got no idea whether I've got everything under control and it's a lot more stressful than work ever.

This hurts! Medical costs for a trip around the world

Getting vaccinated is not enough when one is preparing for a trip around the world. In addition I consulted two doctors in order to get my hands on certain prescription drugs, vaccinated and just to know I was fine. Medical costs ended up being way more than I anticipated but better to be safe than sorry. Some of the vaccinations like the series of three Havrix shots for hepatatis A I had had already so thankfully that reduced the costs a little. Actually, not so little. I think that the three Havrix shots and two shots of Engerix for hepatitis B cost me about a 200 € at the time.

Here's what it all cost me:

• 60 € travel specialist, one consultation
• 18 € consultation with a nurse for booster shot
• 44 € vaccination for Japanese encephalitis
• 44 € booster shot for Japanese encephalitis
• 38 € vaccination for yellow fever
• 20 € vaccination for polio
• 37 € booster shot of Engerix for hepatatis B
• 30 € vaccination for typhoid
• 81,70 € gynecologist
• 10,88 € siprofloxin, antibiotic
• 13,32 fluconazole, antifungal antibiotic
• 130 € Lariam, for malaria / 6 months
• 196 € contraceptive pills
• 6 € Imodium for tummy
• 5 € antibacterial cream
• 20 € for the load of pain killers
• 8 € blister plasters

The sum total: 761,90 euros. Autch. And then there was the dentist.

What to pack for a trip around the world?

Packing for a trip around the world takes some consideration. In this list I've included items that I normally travel with and then some that I've never had on me before, like a fleece (I caved in) and a laptop.

Clothing

• 1 fleece
• 1 wind stopper jacket and pants for hiking
• 7 t-shirts
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 2 skirts
• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 hoodie
• 1 pair of pyjamas (Best for dormitories)
• Underwear: 8 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of bras, 1 sports bra + thermal shirt and bottoms
• 5 pairs of socks
• 1 pair of bikinis
• 1 belt

Shoes

• Hiking boots
• Hiking sandals (Boots and sandals? Am I mad?)
• 1 pair of decent shoes (I am)
• Flip flops (Yeah!)

Other

• Light weight sleeping bag
• Light weight towel
• Torch
• Mosquito net
• Camera+extra batteries +3 memory cards
• Battery charger
• Samsung NC 10 laptop
• i-Pod Classic and 120 gigabytes of music
• Phone (Why am I doing this to myself?)
• Watch with an alarm
• Hand gel
• Passport + copies
• Printed flight tickets (Just in case)
• 2 credit cards
• Money belt
• Tiny wallet for change

Medication

• 5 packs of antibiotics of 3 sorts
• Sweet old Lariam for malaria
• Contraceptive pills for a year
• Pain killers (And I mean loads of)
• Imodium
• Antibacterial cream
• Plasters for blisters

Books

• Charles Frazer: Cold Mountain
• Joyce Carol Oates: We were the Mulvaneys
• Footprints India (I'll buy a used Lonely Planet guide in Delhi.)
• Notebook/diary

Toiletries

• Make up: a mascara and a powder
• Shampoo bar from Lush (Incredibly light weight! Amazing product!)
• Conditioner
• Tooth brush + paste
• Soap
• Day in, day out facial cream (Screw wrinkles!)
• Sun lotion
• Hair bands (Loads of)
• Tweezers
• Razor and waxing strips
• Small scissors

Approximate weight of luggage: 17 kilos

Backpack: Osprey Waypoint women's, 70+10 liters

Where to go - some fresh ideas for travel

Where to go after traveling the usual suspects? Here are some new ideas I came up with surfing the net while recovering from a Monday night drinking binge yesterday.

1. Samar and Leyte in the Eastern Visayas, Philippines.

Why: I could use a Red Horse* beer.

The general idea: Buy a motorbike, tricycle or a Filipino style used jeepney that says "Jesus is with me" on the sides and "Guns'n'Roses" on the front and tour these relatively little known islands.

Jeepney, the way to go.

2. Bangladesh.

Why: A detox in muslim country might be welcome.

The general idea: See the Sundarbans sanctuary for tigers, well known for the fact that a person (usually a honey collector) is eaten alive by a tiger every third day. The tourists still claim of course that it's hard to catch a glimpse of one. I can't wait to join their doomsday choir.

3. Papua New Guinea.

Why: The country has a population of 6.25 million. They vote for 45 different political parties and speak 800 different languages.

The general idea:

a) Travel to Wabag. Claim to fame according to the LP: "People sit around a lot."

b) Travel to Wewak. Claim to fame: The Japanese Peace Memorial park, locally referred to as Pis Park. I guess those 800 languages don't help with English pronunciation.

c). Travel to Wau and Bulolo. Claim to fame: Insect Farming and Trading Agency which ships locally collected insects and butterflies to collectors around the world. And I once thought I didn't have a life. I was mistaken.

*If Red Horse is not the most sympathetic beer in the world then I am the queen of Cambodia. The trick with Red Horse is that every casque of twelve beers has one bottle of Happy Horse, which has a slightly different label - the horse figure on the bottle is smiling. And of course it's a little stronger than the average horse.

How to save money: 7 tips before the trip

How to save money and piss your friends off by being cheap - this is the tedious girl's guide to budgeting.

1. Release your inner hippy immaterialist and sell your stuff. So far I've made 200 euros out of my books, 700 euros out of my cd's and vinyl singles and a few bucks out of the few clothing items that were designer wear. Money I made equals three months in India or two in South East Asia.

2. Lock up your inner bored-to-death materialist and stop buying stuff. It's surprisingly easy and actually quite releaving as you can now pass by all the sale signs without thinking that you should go in and buy something because it's cheap. In the last 7 months I've only bought stuff that I'll take along for the trip. These are:

- New Osprey Waypoint 80 backpack: bought online from a store in Germany. I don't speak German, but if you really want something and the price is right, you'll manage it even if you have to file the order in German. Cost: 219 €

- Haglöfs sleaping bag from a summer sale. Cost: 40 €

- Haglöfs fleece (have mercy on me) from a summer sale. Cost: 70 €

- A mozzie net bought online. Cost: 0 € - cheers daddy-o!

- Samsung NC 10 laptop. Cost: 330 €

3. Cut the food costs. Don't eat out or cook meals for which you would have to buy ingredients such as exotic spices. You won't have enough use for them in the future. Bugger off with diets and eat pasta. See mom and dad a lot.

4. Cut the cost of drinking. Try staying at home on Fridays, Saturdays and all the other days. If it's too hard then stick to beer. I of course saved a billion this way.

5. Never ever say no when asked to work overtime. I've done this once in the past two years and that was because I had promised to meet up with a friend who had just started going out again after an arduous row of cancer treatments. So it was kind of special.

6. Say goodbye to your hairdresser. Now every day is a bad hair day but it could be worse, like I could be a leper. And hey, even Madonna has been spotted with multi-inch roots. Over the past 7 months I've saved 400 euros which, again, equals a month in India.

7. This one is truly tedious but do start keeping a diary of your expenses. Set yourself a weekly budget and stick to it. When buying that one beer, bear in mind that it always takes you 5 euros closer to your weekly limit. In case of the 6th beer, mourn the next morning and promise yourself you'll never ever do this again.

The source of mourning.

Don't go, make babies - top 10 best comments

1. A 20 year old veteran backpacker who traveled Asia for a year with a kiddie-sized school bag: Download whole Lonely Planets from Pirate Bay. It's not stealing, you would be buying pirated versions anyway.

2. Gynecologist (to my crotch): Oh, you should not travel, you should make babies. For that you've got perfect hips.

3. Gynecologist (to my face): What, no guy? A girl like you? You'll find a dude in the next bar. Or maybe you should travel to Saariselkä. I never

take my wife along when I go there. (Saariselkä is a skiing resort in Lapland, Northern Finland (in the pic on the left). It's popular with middle-aged businessmen who go there in the spring to get laid).

4. My former best friend: I'm gonna miss you so much, it makes me cry.

5. My new best friend from Colorado: I like your blog. Keep us posted.

6. My current idol: I can help you with that RSS feed.

7. Telemarketing sales guy who somehow got hold of my number: Oh, you're going traveling? I've always wanted to make a trip like that. Where are you gonna go?

8. Collegue: Traitor!

9. Networked Blogs on Facebook: Warning. These kind of messages could be considered as spam and your account might get blocked.

10. My imaginary friend: You're looking freakin' hot today.

Drugged in Cambodia - worst of traveling, top 5

1. As the backpacker bus from Bangkok reaches Poipet on the Cambodian border realize that you are the only traveler on the bus whose ticket is valid only to Poipet instead of the site of Anchor temples, Siem Reap, 8 hours on from the border. Get absolutely pissed when the driver demands you to flash in more bahts to take you to Siem Reap and walk out of the bus.

Flag down a tuk tuk and enter Cambodia on your own. Not knowing what's awaiting, feel a certain sense of pride of not letting those scammers take advantage of you. Flag down a pickup truck and let it tour you around the nasty little hell hole that's Poipet while it tries to pull more passengers. After an hour's tour find yourself crammed on the tiny cargo bed with 15 adults and three kids - it's painful. When the pick up finally hits the road let a weather worn old woman drink from your water bottle when she asks for a sip. Take a gulp yourself. You stupid jackass!

Drop your head to your knees as if life had been sucked out of your body and feel yourself falling asleep like you'd just taken a kick ass sleeping pill which makes Tenox, Stille Nacht and Imovane seem like pills adequate only for the lobotomized.

Regaining consciousness later on realize that your wallet is missing and then thank God when you retain it after noticing that the fat stupid ugly woman opposite you is hiding it in her skirt. Finally in Siem Reap realize that the reason why she smiled handing it back to you was not because she was sorry but because she still had your camera.

2. Manaus Brazil - the old rubber capital of South America with a pink opera house left as a reminder of its days of glory before rubber seeds were smuggled to Malaysia and the rubber industry in the Amazon consequently ruined, is nice only if you have a fetish for begging cripples. Otherwise steer clear from it.

3. On your first day in Montego Bay, Jamaica, find your way out of the resort area since it just sucks. Let your traveling duo be approached by a fellow, who only seems to want to show you that he excels in questioning you on where are you from, what do you do, and what is your name, blaah, blaah, blaah. Half an hour later, as the guy gets more and more tedious by the minute, exchange a few words in Finnish with your friend and decide to ditch the bore.

Next, learn that labeling this dude dull was a serious error of judgement, when he demands to be payed for being your guide to this shit hole while a group of his comrades suddenly appears from nowhere and surrounds you to make sure you understand the gravity of his demand. After an attempt to beat Jamaicans at 100 meter sprint race, relent and give the bugger 20 bucks. Hate Jamaica ever since.

4. Meet the only hot English teacher on the planet in a guesthouse on the outskirts of Beijing, China. Have a great night out in Sanlitun whisking down Tsingtaos like you had just escaped a desert monastery run by the sisterhood of thou shalt not drink.

Wake up seriously hangover 5 minutes before your bus to Simatai to see the Great Wall of China. On the way, eat the leftovers of a spinach pie that did not taste good to begin with. Feel a little sick and eat nothing the whole day - after all you've got a dinner date with the hottie that night. At dinner, refuse to eat, but agree to the suggested albeit slightly odd drink of warm lemon juice mixed with milk, which is supposed to make you feel better. After a few sips, politely excuse yourself as you storm out of the bathroomless restaurant to puke behind the corner. Repeat this a few times and do not wonder why the hottie never asked for your e-mail address.

5. Only's, the bar favorite in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, ran out of KLB Breweries' Raspberry Wheat one night. I cried.

Yahoo confuses me with a murder convict - 3 blogging do's

1. After checking how well (or badly, to be more precise) your blog is doing in Google's search engine try to cheer yourself up by switching to Yahoo. As your blog's Yahoo performance is even worse, see if Yahoo can even find you. When it does, repeat the search on images. Be blown away by the fact that Yahoo produces three results: an image of you, another very shady image of you with some sort of Finnish celebrities and an image of a Finnish woman, who was convicted of a tripple murder in Sweden nearly 20 years ago. Sweet. Click here to see the resemblance.

2. Become a Facebook slut: Approve all friend requests from people who've shown an interest in your blog even if you've never heard of them, let alone met them. It's for the greater good of the blog! And you might find some interesting reads in the process, such as my new friend Ade's blog which features graphic presentations about everything ranging from phases of the moon to the pattern of how dental caries is formed in human teeth. Who would have thought it starts from eating. Sweet tooth. Click here, if you want to see what it does to you.

3. Excuse yourself from getting farther and farther away from your blog's designated topic as it still is quite hard to write a travel blog when your flight is six weeks away, and the only traveling you do is walking from home to work - something you admittedly did twice within the last 13 hours as you had to walk back at 2 AM in order to send an important e-mail you somehow managed to forget to send when you left. Not so sweet.

Top 10: The most common questions people ask, when they hear about you leaving

1. Obvious: Where are you going to go?

2. Surprising: Did you think about this for long or did you just decide all of a sudden that instead of going to work next Monday, you are going to travel around the world?

3. Perfect: Can I come and see you?

4. Bland: Did you win a lottery?

5. The next best: Do we still have time to have a few beers one evening before you go?

6. Clever: Can I have your apartment?

7. Endearing: When's your farewell party?

8. Practical: How much is this trip going to cost?

9. Insightful: Can I write a feature article on you after you've been stoned in Goa for 11 months?

10. Random: What? Again?

Can I e-mail my blog entries to my blog? 5 remarks on blogging

Testing, testing...

If you can see this, the answer is yes.

How bizarre is the world of blogging! Here are some early remarks:

1. It feels so strange to pimp one's blog in blogging communities. I mean, how narcissistic is that for a person who's slightly too old (well, too old) to be part of the YouTube generation. And what ever happened to the whole generation discourse anyway? Did the X generation corrupt the concept's explanatory power by making babies, getting jobs and turning into their parents who were just as lost as the x-ers were when they were their age.

2. Blogging is so much fun you can easily let a Tarantino movie be on telly and not be distracted by it.

3. Shit! Quentin is about to turn into a zombie and this is a Robert Rodriguez movie.

4. One can add all kinds of widgets, gadgets and feeds into one's blog without having an idea what they are about. I would not have guessed this morning that by tonight I would have a feedburner account. And I'm still guessing what's it good for.

5. Getting a google analytics account for one's blog does not make one a dickhead. Or does it?

5 Random observations made the day after you told everyone you were going to leave - 7 weeks to take off

1. Recovering from a surprise hangover, drag yourself to your little neighborhood corner store right before it closes at 9PM. Reaching for a box of tea bags suddenly realize that you better not buy your normal super saver extra large box as there is no way in hell you are going to drink all that tea, unless you find your inner Englishman who has so far successfully managed to hide within your subconscious. Experience a strong feeling of finality.

2. As the online auction for your vinyl singles is approaching its deadline, learn that the punk rock singles bought when you were 15 and drunk out of your face16 years ago at a Midnight Sun summer festival in Lahti have become collectors items. Wondering how rich you would be if you had been drunk every day through your punky teen years between 13 and 17 marvel your prospects of making at least 450 euros out of just 4 singles for which you paid the equivalent of 13 euros in good old Finnish marks.

3. Holy shit! I get more money out of those singles than what my air fare to Delhi cost me!

4. Mothers like Skype from the minute they first try it, but they really should understand that the whole idea of an online video cam call is that you can't fiddle with your face. It looks stupid, mom (on the left).

5. Steve Toltz's A Fraction of a Whole might be the funniest book ever written and although The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is an exhilarating read, the right address for the Booker prize 08 would've been Australia. Now Oz only gets to receive me. I doubt that will soothe the nation.

10 Do's Before Leaving Home, part I

1. Ride a tram through your old neighborhood just to know if it has changed since you moved out. Be sorry for the fact that the lovely oriental food store that used to be downstairs your flat is now gone but the office for the organisation for people with prostate problems, which used to be such a lovely welcoming to your guests in your single days, is still there.

2. Become a computer geek after purchasing a tiny Samsung NC10 for writing a blog. Learn to skype and to compare virus detection programs which you never had to worry in your carefree days as a happy Maccer.

3. Find freedom from materia by selling everything you can in order to increase your budget. After your enlightenment do look down on everyone who shops for stuff they are unlikely to ever really need and preach them about the effects on environment that their excessive consumption is bound to have.

4. Wonder if you've become a pompous hippy ass after blowing hundreds of euros on a new Osprey Waypoint W80 pack (it's amazing), hiking gear (seriously, I'm going to use that Haglöfs fleece and that Puma shirt will look nice when having a few beers after a hike (to the nearest bar?)), a new computer, vaccinations for the most unlikely but impressive sounding diseases (well, a hippy would never get vaccinated for Japanese encephalitis, that's why they are called hippies, right?) and so on. Decide againt it.

5. Meet all kinds of mindless trolls as you look for the perfect tenant to take care of your upkeep when you finally are on the road by submitting their rent on time every month. When you finally land on the perfect couple resist the temptation of asking them whether their sex life is satisfying since you don't want them to break up while you're gone. Get absolutely blasted after your voucher for a monthly income is finally signed.

6. Try to be as precise as possible when filling in the application form for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course. Don't even flinch when answering the question what are the exact quantities of alcohol you've consumed during the last two years and where exactly did you force that awful liquid down your throat.

7. Be pleasently surprised when you find out that your sincere answer "a few beers on Fridays after work every now and then" does not make you a reject for the course. Bless the Buddhists for being so open minded.

8. Use every single opportunity to see your friends even if it

means being in the presence of alcohol cause you are not going to see them for a while. (One of those nights in the pic on the right.)

9. Juggle #8 with not showing up hungover and reeking of alcohol every Saturday when you go see your mom, cause you're not going to see much of her either in the near future and don't want her to remember you by your park chemist's odour.

10. Oh yeah: working as much as you can, ploughing through LP's and online travel forums, seeing the dentist and the doctors you've done your best to avoid in the last few years, and being parsimonious when appropriate all contribute to your comfort once you're on the way.

Top 3 peculiar fears before the trip

1. After having kept your hair bleached for the last 10 years or so, try to imagine what colour your hair really is underneath all that dye. Six months before your trip make the brave decision to let it grow its natural tone back as you are not going to see your hairdresser in the foreseeable future and you sure ain't gonna let those Indian beauticians touch your blond hair with their poisons. Then, after three months, start to panic as you begin to discover that your hair doesn't seem to have any natural colour to speak of - it's just a muddy grey. Wonder if you are the first person in the world to be growing roots which look like as if an evil alien had sucked all the colour out of them before they exited your scalp. Then after four months realize, that the situation is only getting worse since now you can't stop thinking about your hair. Dwell in your misery as you keep staring at yourself in the mirror hoping, that one day you'd catch a glimpse or a shimmering of colour. Becoming more and more obsessed feel an urgent need to discuss your pressing issue with someone only to realize that non of your friends would listen to any of this crap unless seriously under the influence. Then solve the problem by getting one of them trashed and having him(!) propose for you to go for the surfer bleach look.

2. Fear that you are going to run out of time to take care of all the pre trip preparations including renting your flat, changing from Mac to PC as in comparison to Samsung NC10 a new Mac Book Air would slice a month's worth of you budget, seeing enough of your friends and family, exercising in order to be fit for that trek in the Himalayas, auctioning your stuff over the internet, chasing that ultra cool Osprey backpack, which has been sold out all over Europe, and running to the public library every week to see if they would have a Lonely Planet to wherever you are currently planning to go as you really can't seem to make up your mind on this minute detail called itinerary in the grand scheme of this trip that is supposed to take you around the world, or at least far. Ignore this fear by hitting the beach cause this kind of long period of hot summer days only hits Finland every five years and all though all the things mentioned above are important, it's not totally of no importance either that you already have a tan before your plane lands in Delhi as it would suck to get sunburnt on your first day of traveling.

3. Feel yourself tremble at the prospect of missing whole seasons of Holby City as it looks like no one has bothered to upload the episodes which originally aired early in this decade in England but which have yet to be premiered in Finland.