Right On!!

Short Entry today:

Got my Visa for India today at the Indian High Commission!

Found someone to sublet my place while I'm gone!!

Found out that I don't have to go deal with the travel medical clinic again to get a prescription for Altitude Sickness pills, as well as pay them the consulatation fee. Nathalie, one of the other trekkers and an old schoolmate, has some already - and enough to share. So we'll share the costs, and the medication if we need it!

List of things to do before I go (I love lists!):
- Clean my place
- Get duplicate keys for Wayne (subletting my place)
- Introduce Wayne to Maria, the on-site rental agent
- Get some more of those AMAZING hiking socks my Mom bought me
- Get glasses??

And that's it!!

I'm kinda bummed out though. I wanted to leave this Friday for TO, spend Friday and Saturday night with some peeps, have a place to crash, spend Sunday and Monday with my Dad in Guelph, then leave for India on Tuesday. But alas, Dylan's not going to be in town, Chris D's moving, and Yann and Jan are moving the same weekend too! And those are my Toronto peeps! So if I don't have a place to crash... I don't think I'll be leaving Friday. I guess I'll just take the extra day to get my stuff together instead of rushing onto a bus after work on Friday.



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Cool pic of the Northern Lights over Michigan July 27, 2006. Photographer: Jeff Hapeman. I get news updates from http://spaceweather.com/ and very often there's cool pics that people send in to the website - like this one for example... thought I'd share! ;)

Getting Ready

Late last night, as I was playing with all my new gear I thought it would be a good idea to write a list of the things I'm taking with me on this trip.

+ Osprey backpack, Crescent model, 70L
+ Canadian flag, sewn on the back with love from my Mom
+ Raincover for backpack
+ Chinook sleeping bag, tiny, good down to 2 deg. C
+ Silk lining for sleeping bag, adds another 2 deg. C to the sleeping bag, brings me down to 0 deg. C
+ Thermal pad (to sleep on)
+ Travel towl, nice and compact
+ Travel pillow, not so compact (almost the same size as my sleeping bag), but comfortable
+ Inflatable travel pillow (depending on its effectiveness, I may give this away)
+ Toiletry bag:
- Tylenol (24)
- Antihistamines (12)
- Malaria pills (24)
- Traveller's Diarrhea pills (20)
- Tiger Balm
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Contact lense container
- Contact lense juice
+ First Aid Kit:
- 3x3" 12 ply gauze pads (4)
- Guaze tape
- Bandaids (1 large, 6 regular size, 5 small, 2 tiny)
- Antiseptic prep pads (2)
- Antiseptic towlettes (3)
- Second Skin pad (1)
- Needle
+ Second Skin package
+ Pot (with the following items stored in it for transportation purposes):
- Camp suds
- Various empty plastic containers
- Pristine water purification system (2 bottles, mix contents together, put in water, wait 15
minutes)
- Waterproof container for matches, w/ matches and striking pad inside
+ Money belt
+ Belt
+ Money harness (for ID etc.)
+ Headlamp (very cool!)
+ Mini Turtle lamp
+ Swiss Army Hunter's knife
+ Alarm clock
+ Nalgene water bottle
+ Rope (2 lengths)
+ Map of North India
+ Tilley hat
+ Journal
+ 1 pair of Sportif pants (these are a nice water resistant and quick-dry type of material)
+ 1 pair of Sportif shorts (same)
+ Sweater
+ Rainjacket and windbreaker
+ Passport and relevant ID
+ Sunglasses
+ Box of powerbars
+ Pack of Longview Roni Stix - Original dried pepperoni
+ Garamont hiking shoes
+ Chaco sandals
+ Pentax K-1000
+ Lonely Planet guide to India
+ Lock for my backpack

Although it may seem like a lot... it's actually not, and will hardly take up any room in my backpack.

Now that I've done that, I think it'll be equally as interesting to see the list when I get BACK!! Most of the malaria pills are going to be taken, because I don't want to die of malaria. But I wonder if I'll need the diarrhea pills? And I wonder how much I'll actually use all of this stuff?

Needless to say, it's best to be prepared and I will be relying on many of these things for the next five weeks, so hopefully they all come in handy.