One of the biggest things to keep track of about this trip are all the little details. They’re all important so prioritizing is difficult.
I’ve been on vacation for the past few weeks, and one of the major things I meant to take care of was to handle all the vaccinations I need. At the beginning of my vacation, I put together a list of the things I wanted to take care of before I went back to work on January 18th. When did I finally remember to start working on this? The Wednesday before I went back to work.
Oops.
The Mecklenburg County Health Department wasn’t able to help me since I had waited so long to get started, so they referred me to a third party, Passport Health, who was more than glad to charge an arm and a leg to get me the vaccinations that my regular doctor couldn’t do. Since they don’t submit claims to insurance companies, I had to pay out of pocket.
I still need to visit my regular doctor to get a few more vaccinations, and a proper malaria pill prescription.
What else needs to be done before February 1 rolls around?
- Purchase health insurance
- Sell my current motorcycle
- Pack up my apartment
- Put my belongings in storage
- Finalize list of things I’ll be taking on the trip
- Visit my doctor to finalize vaccinations and prescriptions
I finished a ton of these kinds of things while I was on vacation, but there’s so much to tackle I couldn’t finish it all. I have just under two weeks to wrap up all the outstanding items, but I think it’s doable.
Another thing I’ve been thinking about is what to do to occupy myself while I’m on the trip. I know that I need a couple of projects to work on or I’ll quickly get depressed. There are four major things I plan to do that should keep me fairly busy.
First, I’ll be searching for a job. I’m a software developer specializing in web development and I have an MBA, so I am looking for some type of lead position. The goal is to have a job waiting for me when I fly back to the USA.
Second, I’ll be working on a screenplay. I had an idea for a short sci-fi film a few years ago and I think it would make for a good first film project. Once I land the job, my free time will be spent working on film projects.
Third, I have some things with HeartSpark to wrap up. Elizabeth has taken over responsibility for the company, but I have to finish working on the administrative backend for the site so she can handle things completely without my involvement.
Fourth, I’m going to be working on a book. I’ve been playing around with the idea of putting a book together for high school seniors about how to be an adult. While on the trip I’ll work on the content, and validate my idea using the nifty tools I learned about in business school.
Aside from all of that, I’ll be sightseeing, exploring, and meeting new people. I’m really looking forward to it.