Arranging a travel 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 one 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 ilder areas, where risks are a little higher.
We were adminstered the vaccine for Hepatitis through injection while the other two were pills to ingest at least a couple of weeks before leaving.
Prices are about 15-20€ each, while the Encephalitis is 120€ only itself.
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.
Personally, we signed a policy with Allianz: we had experience in the past with this company and it offers good service at fair prices.
We were suggested Globy Young, an express policy for young travellers who go for holidays or voluntary work. It covers on repatriation, medicines, advance payment, assistance in case of baggage or documents loss.
We are ALMOST ready to go…And you?
