Arranging a trip to an exotic destination means you will have to deal with vaccines and health insurance…but which to choose?
Here is a short piece where we tell you about our experience, our picks and suggestions!
Vaccines
You should always visit your Minister of Foreign Affairs website, where you can find info about the countries you are going to visit. In our case, there are no compulsory vaccines when travelling to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, apart from the one against yellow fever in case you are coming from transmission risk areas.
To be more sure, we took appointment with a medical doctor: considering the lenght of our journey, we did vaccines for Hepatitis A, Cholera and Typhoid Fever. The MD suggested us the shot for Japanese Encephalitis too, but since it’s quite expensive and very rare (knock on wood…), we turned it down. We advise to consider it in case you are going in these areas during the monsonic season and if you are going further into the rural and wilder areas, where risks are a bit higher.
We were adminstered the vaccine for Hepatitis through injection while the other two were pills to ingest a couple of weeks before leaving.
Prices in Italy are about 15-20€ each, while the Encephalitis alone is 120€.
Side effects? It depends. Normally no, if you plan it in advance, you will have time enough to do them separately. We were a little bit in a rush so we did all of them together! We felt kind of drowsy for a few days…
Health insurance
This aspect has to be considered too, because in Southeast Asia the level of health facilities is below the European average, and the costs can easily rise even for some simple assistance.
We never leave home without a reliable travel insurance. Better safe than sorry.
We recommend two options for you to compare.
Get a quote with Worldnomads here, and get up to 20% off your travel insurance with Heymondo here.
We are ALMOST ready to go…And you?
