Next week, at this time, we will be getting ready to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. Last week was a wild ride of anxiety. Thursday we visited the UW Travel Medical clinic to get a perscription for Malaria tablets. Of course, they have to recommend all the different immunizations that need updating, other interesting items we might be exposed to such as dengue fever and schistosomiasis. Okay, we’ll make certain we use mosquito repellent in the day and we won’t go wadding in any fresh water pools or river.

Along with all the health warning, came the additional information about travel insurance and other dangers. I’m paranoid enough about ATM robbery to not get caught up in all those other items that might happen.

But we did decide to get a cell phone which I really wanted to do. We’re renting one at the airport. We emailed them and we already have a number which is kinda cool. We’ll give it to friends and family. We might also just get a bit of travel insurance for medical.

We spent Sunday going over the Namibia section. I am definitely going to get voted out of Slow Travelers. This is more of a road trip than a slow trip. We are in Namibia for 8 days. We stay two nights in Etosha and Sesreim but otherwise we are on the road averaging about 250 miles a day. We have some times planned so we can get in early morning and evening game drives. We’re also going to get a ‘cold box’ (ice chest) for keeping water, drinks and sandwitches cool on the drive.

We’ve also been doing a bit of websurfing looking for interesting information about the places we are visiting. I’ve found some pretty interesting write ups about the plant life which has George really excited. I’ve also been researching the wine area. That is much harder. There are lots of places to visit and I can’t seem to narrow the list. We’ve been tasting the wines that are available locally. Several of the wineries such as Fairview and Ken Forrester sound very interesting. Now we just have to decide.

We’ve also found a couple more flower shows that we might be able to catch. There is one at the V&A Waterfront on the weekend that we arrive. The Clanwilliams flower show may also be on when we get there but I’m not certain.

I’m finally getting over the anxiety and getting ready to leave. We haven’t started packing yet. We’ll do that probably on Friday. Otherwise, we’re wrapping up most of the preparation. Now we are ready for the experience!