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.

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.

Increasing country count: How to collect flags quickly?

Collecting flags by traveling to as many countries as possible is probably just as senseless as collecting stamps. These days though, when no one asks "how was Thailand" out of interest in the country - nothing new there - but out of politeness, it does however bring you some leverage in a bar chat if you get to tell people that you've already been to, let's say, 50 countries.

That would mean that one had been to about every forth country in the world.

(United Nations has recognized 192 countries. In addition to that there are a few countries which have proclaimed themselves independent, but which have yet to be recognized by the international community.) To most people at least that's more interesting then having stamps from 50 different countries, unless of course all the those countries were ruled by blond Amazonian Xena - warriors who in their free time like to flash their grape fruit sized tits to unassuming dolphins, making Paris Hilton gulp in awe of their imagination.

So if you don't have a billion dollars and a private jet, here's what you can do to increase your country count, and see a bit of the world in the process, while staying in budget.

1. Travel Europe, but plan well. With the strong euro Western Europe is probably dearer than ever. Instead, book a no frills flight to Split, Croatia (www.airberlin.com, www.easyjet.com), or Belgrade, Serbia (www.germanwings.com) and tour the Balkans. All the former Yogoslavic countries are rather small, so getting around does not take much time. I spent three weeks traveling Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia. Ad two weeks to that and see Montenegro and Macedonia, from where you can easily make it to Albania. That's seven countries in five weeks. Doable, if a wee bit rushed.

2. Hop on an overland truck in Africa. As Africa tends to be awfully expensive, overland trucks are a cheap way to collect a few flags. Taking a truck tour usually means lodging at campsites and participating in cooking and shopping food. This crazy-ass tour for example at African Trails takes you to 29 countries such as Burkina Faso and Malawi in 43 weeks and costs around 7000 euros, including meals (cooked by you or your fellow travelers) and accommondation. There are shorter tours as well of course. And if you hit Kenya in the fall you can witness the wildebeest migration which is so much more hip than any lion will ever be.

3. Skip India! You'll only get stuck. For monetary reasons skip Oz and US.

4. Central America is packed with small countries. Choose them instead of Brazil.

5. Travel to any country that is in the verge of splitting up and then decide that if you've been to the territory it counts as a country even if it wasn't at the time of visit. A Soviet Union trip added Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidzan to my country count in 1991, a few years after the trip.

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?

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.