Preparing to go

Today I went shopping for supplies for the trip. When I went to the travel clinic, the doctor recommended that I purify the water I drink while in-country. The recommendation was to boil or purify with iodine. I went to Gander Mountain and purchased a collapsible water jug and iodine tablets. This will make the water safe to drink for those of us accustomed to the microbiotics of North America. Iodine tablets are expensive, $14.99 for enough pills to purify 7.5 gallons. I purchased 5 packages so I will have 67.5 gallons of purified water to last approximately 80 days. Additionally, they have an electronic purifier called the Steripen which can purify 16 oz of water electrically in seconds.

Other things to bring: Mosquito repellent with at least 30% DEET, good sun screen, a first aid kit, and a small sewing kit.

Overall, for miscellaneous supplies mentioned the cost was approximately $250 dollars but well worth the expense. One can never assume the same availability of products. I have been informed that mosquito repellent with DEET is not available in India and with the risk of Malaria and Dengue Fever, better safe then sorry. It may be overkill but why risk it.

For me, I chose to have two check boxes on my checklist. One that defines whether the supplies have been picked up and another to sow that it has been packed.

The voltage system in India is 230V 50Hz so I purchased a step down transformer, a small travel power strip, and a couple of international plug adapters from Amazon. Total cost for everything was just over $25, which made it qualify for free shipping.

I like to read as well, so I also went onto Amazon and sent about 10 books to my Kindle. My Kindle is last years model and cannot wirelessly receive books while out of country. Note that Amazon does allow the user to download books to a computer and then transfer the books from the computer to the Kindle at no charge. International downloads for the newer model kindle is not free. There is a nominal charge of approximately $1.

Nothing too exiting yet, but as I said, I am trying to document what I am taking as well as the overall experience to determine if my choices were good ones or not.

Nothing too interesting but maybe useful. That's it for now.