{"id":6790,"date":"2014-06-29T20:15:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T03:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/?p=6790"},"modified":"2015-09-30T13:18:38","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T20:18:38","slug":"trip-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/2014\/06\/29\/trip-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With <a href=\"\/journal\/2014\/04\/30\/planning-the-odyssey\/\">most of the logistics for the trip<\/a> now in place, the trip-planning has moved into its final stages.  For anyone who wonders what else has gone into setting up this three-month odyssey across two continents and five countries, here are some notes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It only recently occurred to me that the visa-on-arrival option for Tanzania and Kenya might not be a good idea, particularly since I&#8217;m entering Kenya through a land border.  A brief panic ensued after I discovered that obtaining visas in advance for both countries required mailing my passport to the embassies and an expected 1-3 week turnaround for each.  Luckily both Tanzania and Kenya are far more efficient in their visa processing than the US; one week after mailing it I had my Tanzanian visa, and literally <i>48 hours<\/i> after sending my passport to the Kenya consulate in LA it arrived back at my doorstep with the required stamp in place.  Disaster averted.<\/li>\n<li>While I do love my current <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usa.canon.com\/cusa\/consumer\/products\/cameras\/ef_lens_lineup\/ef_100_400mm_f_4_5_5_6l_is_usm\">Canon 100-400mm lens<\/a>, there is a new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tamron-usa.com\/lenses\/prod\/150600_vc_a011.asp#ad-image-0\">Tamron 150-600mm lens<\/a> that has gotten great reviews and will get me 50% closer than the current bird nostril lens (i.e. new lens = bird boogers).  Unfortunately, the lens is sold out everywhere, so I&#8217;ve got it on backorder from B&#038;H.  With luck it will be back in stock in time to get here before I leave, and there will be pictures of rhino eyeballs to show off when I return.  I also got a used Canon 60D as a backup in case my camera breaks or is stolen, since I&#8217;m guessing camera shops may be few and far between in the African bush.  Last of all I picked up a <a href=\"http:\/\/gopro.com\/cameras\/hd-hero3-black-edition\">GoPro<\/a> for scuba and shark diving, so that I can have video to forever remember the moment when a great white swims by and I soil myself.<\/li>\n<li>Clothing-wise, it has been all about avoiding the bugs and not coming home with malaria, yellow fever, or five point exploding heart disease.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.exofficio.com\/\">ExOfficio<\/a> insect repellent clothing seems to be the recommended way to go in the &#8220;don&#8217;t die from mosquito bites&#8221; department, and while expensive it&#8217;s supposed to work well and is super comfortable.  Whether or not two pairs of pants and five shirts is sufficient for a three month trip is still a subject of discussion and potential modification, although I have already acquiesced to carrying multiple pairs of boxers.<\/li>\n<li>Other acquisitions include bottles of Deet, sunscreen, medicines, toiletries, and every other thing one might need over three months when the nearest Rite-Aid is 11,000 miles away.  No doubt many items will be forgotten, and I may find myself treating some ailment with whatever the local Masai witch doctor is able to mix up using plants, animal dung, and black magic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Four more days of work, and sixteen more days until I board a plane for Istanbul.  Adventure is out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With most of the logistics for the trip now in place, the trip-planning has moved into its final stages. For anyone who wonders what else has gone into setting up this three-month odyssey across two continents and five countries, here are some notes: It only recently occurred to me that the visa-on-arrival option for Tanzania &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/2014\/06\/29\/trip-planning\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Trip Planning&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-6790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-2014-world-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6790"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9030,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790\/revisions\/9030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mountaininterval.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}