Preparation

Like any big trip there is a long checklist to go through before your trip begins.  On a 12-country, 2-month trip - the list is even longer and requires more time.

Medical:
Chris and I had a travel consultation with our doctor where we discussed each country, each region, and each city that we are traveling to along with our medical records.  We received a tetanus shot, polio shot, flu shot and Hepatitis A shot. We also had to undergo a tuberculosis test and we'll have to have another tuberculosis test when we return from our trip.  We are lucky in that we don't need to take malaria pills but we did have to take 4 typhoid pills.  Thankfully we did not have any bad reactions to the vaccines.  Our doctor did prescribe us with a strong antibiotic in case we get sick while on our trip.  This antibiotic is popular for travelers because it cures you in 1-2 days instead of a week.

Visas:
We had to apply for two Visas in advance of the trip: India and China.  I was able to apply for India through the mail but went to the consulate to apply for China.  You'd never believe how many people were at the Chinese Consulate!  The line went out the door and down the street. It took about 2 hours to drop off the application and then pick up the visa.  There are other countries like Turkey, Cambodia, Thailand will also require Visas but we can get those at the airport when we arrive in those countries.

Currency:
Not wanting to arrive in any of the countries we're visiting and not having any cash on hand, we went to my bank and ordered a small amount of cash for each of the countries we're visiting.  They only keep Euros on hand so I came back a few days late to pick up the other types of cash.  My bank did not carry Cambodia currency but I think they take USD there.  Some of the countries that we're visiting, like Turkey, also take USD or Euros but we still wanted to have some Lira as well.

Clothing and Supplies:
Since we're traveling to countries with mosquitos that carry diseases like Cambodia, Thailand and India, we bought bug spray that is 40% deet and we bought bug spray for our clothes.  We also bought some hiking boots and dry wick clothing.  The areas that we're going to be in will be hot and humid so we need clothes that can handle the elements.  We plan on doing laundry at the hotels and in our sinks so we bought a clothing line to take with us.

Other clothing will be kept to light-weight long-sleeved shirts and pants to keep the bugs and sun off of us, as well as some old t-shirts and shorts that might just get throw-out as we travel to allow room in our bag for souvenirs.

When traveling in Venice last summer, we learned first hand that rolling luggage does not work on old streets, steps or even cities with no streets at all.  We purchased large backpacks for this trip so we will truly be "backpacking" across Asia and Europe.

Home:
We didn't want to leave our apartment for two months without anyone checking on it.  We thought about subleasing but didn't think it was worth it for only two months.  We did not consider giving up our apartment because again, it's only two months and we love our apartment.  Luckily, our good friend, Fred, is doing an internship in NY for the same two months that we're out of town.  He's agreed to watch our apartment, check our mail, and send in our rent checks for us while we're gone. Such a relief!  

The next two days will be spent packing, buying any additional things we need to take on our trip and any last minute preparations.  We're getting down to the wire as they say and couldn't be more excited about it!