Rabies vaccination

Yesterday I got the first of my rabies vaccinations. Because we are going Golden Monkey tracking (we couldn't get permits to see the Gorillas - these sell out a year in advance), this puts us at higher risk. We had our vaccinations scheduled with our local medical practice, but they had called up at teatime the day before the rabies vaccinations were due to start saying that they didn't have any vaccine and couldn't get any, and our only chance was to go to a travel clinic that had it in stock. We have sorted this out, but due to the strict time intervals between the three vaccinations, I will already be on the plane by the time of the third.

I sometime think that it is the UK that is the third world country. We may have the technology, but it doesn't seem to stretch to being able to keep vaccines in stock. Some of the other travel advice is proving just as difficult. It is recommended that any wounds are washed out with a liquid antiseptic or iodine. I had already got the former, but our nurse recommended the latter as being more effective against a possible rabid bite (remember I will only have had 2 out of the 3 vaccinations before leaving). So I tried to buy some in Boots - the largest pharmacy in the UK. The best they could manage would be to order me a half litre bottle of the stuff, and the better stuff for travelling they no longer can get. They suggested trying another pharmacy who might have different suppliers.

I was reminded of Camilla's tale of how to get the most luggage onto a plane with the news today that someone had made a coat specially for this:

Apparently it holds up to 15kg, which is two and a half times some airlines hand baggage limits. The inventor designed it when Ryanair (probably the world's least favourite airline) hiked their luggage charges. It will now only be a matter of time before they introduce charges for the number of items of clothing you wear and passengers have to resort to drug runner tactics to get their luggage on board.

The sun has just come out, so I can test the latest "dadget" (Dad's gadget) - a small solar panel with built in battery that can then be used to charge mobile phones etc.

There is bound to be something I forget - one of the hazard's of growing older. One of my two most memorable faux pas were the time we arrived on a campsite in the Loire, having driven down from Paris where we were living at the time, only to find the tent poles were still back in Paris (what had actually happened was the trip had been going to happen several days earlier, but then one of the kids was ill, so the car was part unloaded, but not everything got put back in at the last minute). The second one was just as we were leaving the house to go to the airport, my phone reminded me of the flight, but showed BHX (Birmingham) and not BRS (Bristol), and BHX is 140km further away. We made it before the flight was due to leave, but not before checkin had closed. The next flight would not make the connection, and there was no connection for another two days. A bit of laptop browsing and I was able to get an Easyjet flight from a different airport, get there by train and bus, make the flight and get to Athens only a couple of hours later than the original plan. You will never not make mistakes (there is an English saying "those who don't make mistakes don't make anything) - it is how you deal with them.

But despite lists (oh yes, I have a spreadsheet with every item of underwear and its weight listed separately), I still can't help feeling that there is something I have missed.