#pre trip

[loomis5992]

How To Prepare For CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Test

[bronevoyage]

Just the Tip

It’s officially the 1 month mark until the Brones hop on their flight and start their Voyage. As one can imagine, we are anxious to get going, but also more than a bit overwhelmed by how much we still have left to wrap up. Sorting and packing 3.5 years of your life is no small feat (especially when your body’s default reaction to the crushing weight of all your to-dos is to lie prone on the couch watching 4 hours of Riverdale).

One of our favorite parts of the planning process so far though has been getting tips and recommendations from friends and family. We were unsure what the response might be when we sent out an email 2 months ago, but let me tell you, our friends came THROUGH. Some tips were just too good (and hilarious) not to share, and we have compiled them below. 

Skip the London Eye (overpriced and a bit shit) and have a drink at either Aquashard or Hutong. Same view plus you get to drink. Yay! (London)

Avoid the restaurant Il Latini at all costs. Other friends may try to tell you it is good. It is not. Choose literally any other restaurant. (Florence) 

Now that it’s 2017 and you'll have your maps on your phone, boy will you rely on it. This city's urban planning will kick your ass and then laugh in your face. (Seville)

Literally everywhere is good. Do all the touristy things. (Paris)

Avoid Oxford Street like the plague unless you want to be steamrollered by a tour guide lady with a flag. Do not enter the three storied fresh hell that is the Oxford Street Primark. (London) 

Eat at McDonagh's for every meal and all snacks. The best fish and chips on the planet. Bonus points if they still have the photo of Locke from Lost on the wall. (Galway)

Andrew, I know you will have Florence covered! Kiss il Davide for me! But if you want to escape into Tuscany my favorite wine is a Brunello in Montalcino, outside Siena. Eat squid ink pasta in Venice and definitely haggle before getting on a gondola. (Italy)

Whatever you do, don't stay at the Pearse Hotel. (Dublin)

Don’t try speaking Spanish anywhere you go in Barcelona because they find it insulting since they speak Catalan (bastard child of a drunken one night stand between Spanish and French). (Barcelona)

Recommend pairing a stop at Borough Market with a long walk along the South Bank ... Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge ... Lots of neat stuff along the way including The Shard, Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, National Theater, Aquarium, sweeping views of the North Bank abound, many bars and restaurants ... This walk with a stop at Borough Market is literally one of my favorite things to do anywhere. (London)

Best piece of advice I received for travel was to bring a notebook! Jot down the cool things you see, funny stories, meals that blew you away. You can look back on it and reminisce fondly.

[kawaii-fuel]

I'm like a gross chihuahua. Yawning and shaking and generally looking bitey and unapproachable.

Me in the terminal

[kawaii-fuel]

At the airport

First time I've ever been here on my own. It's a little intimidating. Is there a Starbucks here? I have no idea. I have like two hours til my flight so I'm basically pacing the entirety of the airport. Looking for a snack. Maybe a soft pretzel and a water bottle I can dump an emergen-c into. I'm gonna have way less time between my next two flights so like. Gotta stock up on treats!!! (I have a billion snacks in my bag who am I kidding)

[krazyon-highways-blog]

[luikina]

Sidste (hele) dag i Danmark

Så er det efterhånden ved at være tid til at tage afsted. Jeg sidder lige pt. i København sammen med mine kære forældre, som for første gang i ca. 19 år skal leve uden børn (barn for deres vedkommende I guess?) - det skal nok blive spændende, både for dem og for mig selv, som jo altid har boet hjemme. Det er sundt at komme ud og prøve at være mere selvstændig og hvorfor så ikke gå all in og tage om på den anden side af jorden? Go hard or go home! 

Jeg er rimeligt nervøs og super spændt, men det er vel også meget naturligt, når man skal ud på sit livs største eventyr indtil videre. Jeg har fået pakket det meste, og hvis jeg mangler noget så kan det sikkert købes i Kina - og til den halve pris. Det må jeg alligevel indrømme, alt er dyrt i Danmark og det kommer jeg i hvert fald ikke til at savne. 

Lidt praktisk info m. ca tidspunkter: 

31/8 kl. 16:10 - Fra CPH Airport med SAS til Arlanda Airport (#svenskere...)

31/8 kl. 17:25 - Ankomst til Arlanda 

31/8 kl. 19:10 - Fra Arlanda med AirChina til Beijing 

1/9 kl. 09:40 - Ankomst til Beijing

Og nu skal jeg også nok tage mig sammen til at lave en post på facebook, det er jo heller ikke fordi der er gået sådan 4 måneder... 

[bronevoyage]

Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.

Michael Palin

[weditchthemap]

Travel Insurance - A Huge Headache

A Little Primer on our Progress

Sylvie and I have been getting things in order for our trip.  We’ve booked our flight to Cartagena, Colombia for Tuesday Aug-18 thru JetBlue.  The one-way tickets from LaGuardia NYC were only $200 apiece—not bad, huh?  Sylvie got all of her vaccines, except for her second round of Japanese Encephalitis (JE).   At $650 dollars for the JE series and no coverage by insurance I was on the fence about getting it.  I finally decided on getting the JE vaccine.  Thankfully I'm current on all my other vaccines.  Total cost for vaccines was  around $2,500 (not counting any anti-  malarial/diarrhea etc. pills) 

I’ve had a constant inflow of packages over the past two weeks as I’ve been buying and returning more clothes than I can even count...well over $1,000 worth.  I am sticking to merino wool tops for my trip (more on clothing in a later posting).  I am in the process of selling my bucket chairs, bar stools, mirror, car, elliptical machine, etc.  I am also trying to tie all loose ends with my sponsors.  Make sure to stay tuned as I will be leaving gear reviews during my trip.  You can see a list of sponsors here.

Insurance Hell

The issue that has me hung up by far the most is Travel Insurance.  Sylvie and I will both no longer be covered by our medical insurance and we want to make sure we’re covered in the rare case of a medical emergency while abroad.  I have been perusing the web for travel insurance options for some time.  More recently, over the last two weeks, I have been scrutinizing policy details (fine print) of more than 2 dozen unique policies.  I have decided on getting a travel insurance policy over a more comprehensive, and expensive, global health insurance policy.  However, the expense was not the deciding factor--travel insurance has a few benefits that sets its apart.  Unlike global health insurance, travel insurance covers medical emergency evacuation along with other various travel-related benefits (natural disaster evacuation, trip delay/cancellation/interruption, etc.). 

I conducted a fairly exhaustive online research protocol to narrow down my list of possible policies to 6 (a last minute epiphany allowed me to increase this count to 7).  I started with a list of 15 or so potential travel insurance companies.  I slowly started to eliminate policies from this list.  I used reviews from paying customers on Squaremouth, as well as many other various sites.

I ruled out policies that:

were cost prohibitive (Travel Guard, CSA)

did not provide coverage for 12 months+ (Travelex, HTH, MH Ross, ihi Bupa, STA Travel)

were not open to US citizens (Allianz)

were not underwritten by an agency with at least a B+ credit rating

That left me with 7 policies (Company: Policy)

Seven Corners:  Liaison Majestic

IMG: Patriot Travel

HCC:  Atlas Travel

Azimuth: Beacon Travel

Trawick: Safe Travel International

ISIC: Explorer

World Nomads

Comparing Policies

The policies are written in a way which makes it a very hard to compare policies at a benefit level.  However, this is what I've attempted to do in the graphic below.  The cells highlighted in green indicate benefits that are far superior to those of other policies.  The cells highlighted in red indicate benefits that are far inferior to those of other policies.  After some thought I have a theory as to why the ISIC policy is so much cheaper than the other policies, which run between the $500 and $600.  ISIC stands for International Student Identity Card but the company provides travel insurance to all card holders.  They issue cards for students, teachers, and anyone that is 30 years or younger.  The cards are valid for 1 year from their issue date.  I imagine many student/young travelers get the card for their desired trip which is much shorter than 1 year.  Students that study abroad do so for only a few months and most people do not travel longer than a few weeks.  Suffice it to say that most individuals using this insurance policy do not utilize the entire 12 months of coverage.  Thus, Sylvie and my 12 months of coverage is being subsidized by the individuals who travel for much shorter time, yet pay for the entire policy.    I am leaning towards this travel insurance provider but will keep you posted.  I hope the chart below helps you as much as it has helped me.  Also, please feel free to ask questions concerning any of the numbers/categories you see below.