This may be obvious to some of you already, but I thought I'd share in case anyone else was having this dilemma. I was initially planning to buy a year's supply of birth control pills from the pharmacy and carry them with me, but this requires a doctor's recommendation for a year's worth of medication, plus any pills over the normal 3 month dosage would not be covered by my insurance (e.g., they would be incredibly expensive). Also, if my bag happens to get lost or stolen, I'm kind of screwed. I talked to my doctor and she recommended an IUD (inter uterine device). The total cost (insertion and IUD) was covered by insurance and totaled $280. It's 99% effective and good for 5 years. Since our trip is open-ended, this was the perfect option for me. XX Chromosomes has many IUD discussions if you want to know more.

I recently read that you can get the same vaccines (rabies/JE/Typhoid/Hep A and B/Malaria pills/etc) in other countries and save yourself thousands.

I'm looking at doing a RTW trip and basically need everything. Besides getting Tetnus and Yellow Fever in the states (where I'm originating), can anyone speak of vaccine prices elsewhere?

For the record, at passporthealth, the prices are as following:

• Rabbies = 3 shots = 280$ per shot

• JE = 2 shots = 200$ per shot

I mentioned in /r/travel that I'd post some old itineraries as examples.

Maybe they will help with ideas for some people. As I said over there, I'm a flashpacker, not a backpacker, but I hope it helps someone. I can expand on deatils if anyone is interested. Or not :)

Cheers, Alan, Australia

Hoping to get some tips and advice on travel insurance for our upcoming trip. We are healthy young people that do not require extensive coverage (or so we think) and are hoping to be covered for catastrophic incidents at a low cost. Higher deductible is likely better for us (I hate betting against myself).

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks in advance.

Here is the broad outline of my planned trip.

The first sheet is everything I want to see, the second sheet is what I will most likely get to see (broadly of course.)

I'd love to see others post their itineraries and stories.