...before everything starts...

...one needs some preparations. A whole bunch of preparations, to be true.
Here´s a list of some of these things I had to do. No complete list of course (because it would bore you to death, but mainly because i have a head like a sieve) but some of the most important things one needs to get done before travelling to india.

Vaccination
You can get all those shots at the hospital (not sure every hospital offers travel vaccination) or at the public health department (Gesundheitsamt). I chose the latter: a) it´s a lot cheaper than the hospital because it is a public facility and doesn´t need to make any profit like the hospital and b) the health officer (amtsarzt) is a friend of the family.

If you´re from chemnitz, go to:

Dr. Monzer
Beratungs- und Impfstelle für Reisende
Dauerimpfstelle
Am Rathaus 8
09111 Chemnitz
Tel. 0371-488-5837

You´ll get an individual consultation there and in my case, the following shots were recommended:
Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Typhus, Japan Encephalitis and Meningitis. The last one is not always needed, but there´s an outbreak of Meningitis in Delhi because of the record monsun this summer. I plan to travel to Delhi, so i thought it might be good to spend the additional money and don´t have to see a doctor everytime someone sneezes at my direction there.

Furthermore, you should take a Prophylaxis Malaria-Drug with you. Malarone is said to be the most expensive but also the best one. About 50 €, if I´m not mistaken. I haven´t packed my first-aid kit yet, but Malarone will be definitely in it.

Costs:

- Tetanus: free in germany (refreshment vaccination)
- Hepatitis A & B: 2x 45.70 € (ask for "Twinrix", a combination serum against Hep A and B (cheaper than single shots against either type of Hep.!). 2nd shot after 4 weeks)
- Typhus: 13.30 € (serum named "Typherix")
- Japan Encephalitis: 3x 43.00 € (2nd shot after 1 week, 3rd shot 3 weeks after 2nd)
- Meningitis: 35 €

Everytime you get there, you´ll have to pay an additional ~10 €, so all in all it´s around 330 €. That´s a lot of money but I think it´s worth it.

Passport, Visa & stuff like that

Passport:
My passport was expired anyway, so I needed a new one. Normally that costs you ~ 25€. The whole procedure takes 4-6 weeks, but I need the stupid thing earlier than that (need a copy for the visa application, if I´m not mistaken), so I had to pay 66€ for the express-handling.
66 bucks!!! :o( ...but that serves me right: I should have thought about that weeks earlier...

Visa:
I haven´t done that yet, because I still don´t have a covenant from the company, so I don´t know when exactly I´m going to India. I hope I can get it in due time. You find an summary of the fees at: http://www.indischebotschaft.de/German/cservices.htm#fees

International Student ID:
Has yet to be done.

Insurance for abroad (Auslandsversicherung)
Also not done yet. I´m a lazy bastard, I know...

Travel Allowance (Reisekostenzuschuss)
Can be applied for at the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch-Dienst), I think at the latest 2 weeks before you fly. I can´t book a flight, so that has to wait yet a while.


Sounds like a lot of running around, sitting in waiting rooms and paperwork? It is!

more testing...

trying to acquaint myself with this shiny new toy... ;o)

One of the wonderful places we had seen on our bicycle tour through Ireland.

Markus had problems with his knee joints (you shouldn´t do a three-week biking tour should without any training beforehand!), so we had to take a two-day break, which the rest of us used to do a bustour to Kylemore Abbey.

It was raining all day (or at least whenever we were outside) but that only added to the special mood. Our group had to split up because not everybody got a seat in the bus, so Ulli and I took a separate one.

Things i remember most vividly from that day:

• the beautiful irish landscape, which was most of the time cloaked in mist.
• unsuccessfully trying to get that beautiful british girl which sat next to me to talk.
• traipsing around Kylemore Abbey with all other tourists and not liking that feeling.
• discovering countless beautiful little details in and around the abbey: architecture, ancient furniture (always fascinating for an ex- interior decorator), the history of the abbey...

In short: A perfect day!

I found this picture on the web (can´t remember where) and decided to upload it as my own pictures mainly feature irish fog.