The Adventures of Brian & Julia

Hi! This is Julia, and thanks for reading my inaugural “trip blog” post!

Just over a month to go, and our preparations are in full swing. There’s so much to do, but every step just gets us closer to boarding the plane, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Last week we got our second round of shots, this time for rabies and Japanese Encephalitis. I’ll admit, I’m not entirely aware of what JE (that’s what us cool kids call it) does or how it differs from, say, the Portuguese variety, but I’m glad to be protected in any case. We got the Rabies vaccine so we can do some work here while we’re in Thailand, and also for monkey bites. Seriously though, SCAD is a great organization that works to save and improve the lives of stray animals in Bangkok. Brian has worked with them before, and since we’re both serious animal lovers, we decided to make it part of this trip too.

Meanwhile, the scope of the trip is definitely starting to hit home. One look at either of our houses, and you can tell something big is happening. Brian’s basement is absolutely exploding with furniture we’re storing there until we get back, and my house has a large stack of boxes in the middle of the living room that’s getting bigger by the day. I’ll miss my sweet little house, but it’s wonderful to have such an incentive to move out, and I love that every empty shelf brings me a little closer to the places I’ve wanted to see for so long.

One last note, I found a great pack at the army surplus store last weekend, and swapped it out for the larger, fancier North Face one I had initially picked out. It’s a 55 liter model with cushy straps and lots of well designed pockets. It’s bright blue and doesn’t have any zippers that stick in my hair. I think we’re going to be very good friends.

Til next time