My big adventure – Vaccinations!! :-/

Those of you that know me well will be all too aware of my relocation rapidly approaching, yes I’m upping sticks and seeing what the world has to offer me. Starting my journey in Argentina.

There are many things that I have had to consider before leaving, not least of all work! I have had to say a very sad goodbye to my great job, which I am gutted about, but who knows what the future holds with paths bound to cross at some point. I have also needed to tie up loose ends including selling my car, my iPhone (sobs) and various other bits I won’t be needing/can’t take with me – all via largely through  Gumtree. But, it’ll all be more then worth it when I arrive and see a certain someones face.

In the mean time, I need to get some vaccinations…something I have managed to avoid since school, not that I am afraid of needles, but more the sore arm afterwards. Well it seems it is not just a sore arm I am in for as some of these vaccinations make you feel a little unwell too. So far I have had; tetanus, diphtheria, Polio, Hepatitus A and Hepatitus B – although the latter two are a course of three injections over four weeks. None of these make you feel unwell, although on the day I did feel really tiered and went to bed very early – apart from that a sore arm is all I’ve endured. Next week I have my second dose of Hep A&B, first of typhoid and my Yellow Fever – the Yellow Fever vaccination is a live vaccine…this means rather then injecting the anti-bodies that my body copies, a weakened strain of the actual virus is injected for my body to fight all by itself :-/  I have been told that the Yellow Fever is the one that can have the worst side effects, so I will be on the paracetamol just in case!

If you are going to travel in an at-risk area or if you are traveling for a long period of time, of course these little pains are no trouble in comparison. If you are unsure about a trip you are going to take and what you need to do in advance, I would recommend checking out MASTA Travel Health – a great site for advice and it currently offers a free, and very comprehensive, travel health brief. This includes a list of the vaccinations you need and the closest place to you where you can get them, details about the vaccines and illnesses they prevent, as well as maps which detail how “at-risk” each region you are visiting is.

Of course, you can always have a chat with your GP. I have found that all the vaccinations, bar Yellow Fever, Rabies and Malaria, are all free on the NHS – so make sure you shop around for the cheapest deal