What we had to check before leaving:
- Vaccinations
- General health check up
- Teeth
- Travel pharmacy
1) Vaccinations
We’ve done some travelling before, so most of our vaccinations were still ok. The following are required for the regions we’re travelling: polio, tetanus, hepatitis A & B, diphteria, rabies, tick-borne encephalitis (apparently you need this east of Germany already!), thypoid fever.
Tom had to get the last three, Wafa only the last two. Rabies consists of 3 shots over the course of about a month, tick-borne encephalitis means 2 shots, thypoid fever just one.
Honorary mention here goes to malaria: no vaccination available of course. There’s only a low malaria risk in 2 countries we’re passing: Iran and Tajikistan. Iran only in the southeastern region of Balochistan, which we’re already avoiding due to risk of banditism. In Tajikistan it’s only the south which has a mild malaria risk. We’ve been told DEET and mosquito nets should suffice for our trip over the Pamir Highway.
2) General health check up
This is pretty self explanatory and normally, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, Tom has had some worries…
In the past couple of months, he experienced hematuria a few times (I’ll let you google that for yourself). Luckily, a nephrologist was quickly available. The real source of this symptom is still not a 100% clear, but it’s probably a case of Henoch Schonlein, which basically is a recurring inflammation of blood vessels. This may or may not lead to kidney damage in the long run. Nothing to prevent it, just has to be monitored. Great to find out 4 weeks before leaving!
(Drawing blood for additional testing.)
Next to that, he also came down with the flue last week. For the first time in 20 years. Right before leaving. Again, great timing! At least he won’t get it on the road?
3) Teeth
Special mention for Wafa’s teeth here. She blames the pH in her mouth, but fact is they’re just… bad. Always holes. Already had her first root canal therapy a few years back.
And of course, as our luck has it, it seems that there’s another one on the way. During a last dentist appointment on the 1st of March the dentist will try to fix the bad molar up as much as possible, hopefully avoiding another root canal. Again, just one week before we leave…
4) Travel pharmacy
We’re taking the usual with us (Motilium, Immodium, a general antibiotic, antihistamine…). Important to take into account though: in some countries you need to be careful which medications you take with you. Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to name but a few, are quite strict on which drugs you can bring into the country. No opiods (Dafalgan Codeïne?), benzos… You also need a prescription (in English) for all prescription drugs you bring with you. Best also to provide a complete list of drugs you have with you.
Nobody said travelling the silk road would be easy!