Free Time in Cape Town

My group from A Fresh Chapter and I will be volunteering daily during the week for 2 weeks, but we will have some free time after work and on the weekends. We are all connected on a Facebook group and "talk" a lot though we haven't met yet in "real" life. We are planning ahead as we will be in Cape Town "in season". We just booked a round trip ferry and tour to visit Robben Island. Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 18 of the 27 years he served before the fall of apartheid. We are booked for a cable ride up to the top of Table Mountain as well. More plans to come!

Travel Doctor

I'll be in Africa in just over a month. Today I saw my primary doctor who is also a travel doctor. We reviewed the CDC guidelines and made some choices about vaccines and meds for my trip. I decided to go for lifetime protection against Hep A. So I got one shot today and I return in 6 months for the 2nd dose. I also opted for an oral vaccine for protection against Typhoid. I'm going to start that in 2 weeks. It's refrigerated and is taken every other day for a number of days. I'll be protected against Typhoid for 5 years. Next up, malaria protection. I won't start taking those pills until 2 days before I enter a malaria area (Kruger) and will take them during my safari as well as after. We discussed over the counter drugs that I should bring on the trip (Pepto!) and she gave me a back-up scrip of Cipro. Lastly, we talked insect repellant. I have avoided spraying my house for anything since my cancer diagnosis. Now, I'm like "bring on the DEET lol! I do not want malaria! If you are wondering, I was told to get Ultrathon at either REI or Amazon. As I seem to be very inviting to mosquitos, I'm going to look into insect protective clothing and a mosquito net to sleep in. Better safe than sorry!

RFID. What?!

I've bought a few things with safety and security in mind. Today's mail had my Identity Stronghold passport and credit card sleeves. They are the best RFID (radio frequency identification) protection around and they are available in different themes. Of course, I went with the safari theme!

This is getting REAL!

My flights are booked. I'm lucky that I found a way to route myself to some cool cities and give myself a break between long flights. Flying from LAX to Cape Town requires at least 24 hours in the air! Who knew? On the way there, I'm stopping in Paris for a day of sightseeing! On the way back, I'll have a day and night in Amsterdam. I'm somewhat constrained in timing as I want to be home for Halloween and home for Thanksgiving but I worked it out so that I won't miss either of those special days. I've also booked a safari! This is a bucket list trip for sure! I can't wait to see elephants (my fave!) and giraffes, lions, etc. roaming FREE outside of a zoo. I'll find out soon what my volunteer assignment is and keep you posted.

Phone call tonight with my travel group....so excited!

I just got off the phone with an amazing group of people. I was on a conference call with the group of survivors that I'll be traveling with along with the founder of A Fresh Chapter and her team. We each introduced ourselves and then we talked about the history of South Africa and about it's beauty too. We talked about our volunteer programming, where we will be staying, where we will be volunteering and touched on some stereotypes that we may face. I am off to the library now. I will get so much more out of the trip if I understand the country, it's people and what they have been through. If anyone wants to read along and discus, I'll let you know what books I end up with! I also learned that July 18th is International Mandela Day. I plan to volunteer in some capacity that day for at least 67 minutes for each of Nelson Mandel's 67 years. I hope you can join me in a similar effort!

A Fresh Chapter!

In November 2015, I'll be traveling to South Africa!  I'll be joining 11 other North American cancer survivors on an incredible journey of service in the poorest townships outside of Cape Town.

I'm busy fundraising for the trip now.  I'll update in the coming days with a fundraising plan that is in the works!

Here's a hint: Think PINK!