Getting Ready To Leave

How we prepared to drive through all of Latin America.

 

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About Us

Trip Details

The Vehicle

Equiptment & Packing List

Health Issues

Shipping the Vehicle

Driving Latin America

The Route

Canada to Panama

South America Part One

South America Part Two

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Links

Friendly Faces

Contact Info/Guest Book

In Memory

1) Research

Library- a good place to start.  It gave us an idea of which countries we wanted to visit, but we found very little information on driving.

Lonely Planet Books- we splurged and bought one for every country from amazon.com (cheaper).  Didn't include much info on driving, but invaluable for locating accomodations, internet cafes, and eateries along the way.  Although prices have proved to be about double of what was quoted in the books.

Signed up to online travel forums and talked to other travelers for advice. Most people were very helpful while some were rather negative.

Spent most of our free time coming up with a plan  (the fun part).

2) Made To Do List (checklist of everything we needed to do before we left)

3) Bought neccessary camping supplies (tent, sleeping bags, trekking backpacks etc).

4) Ordered engine from Jakelake motors

5) Installed engine, and did various modifications to the vehicle

6) Estimated our trip budget (a list of every expense we might encounter), and came up with an amount we would have to save for the trip

7) Bought a giant wall map to help plan our route

8) Went to travel medical clinic to get all immunizations (Hep B/Typhoid, Tetanus, Yellow Fever). 

9) Put saved money in an interest earning account

10) Made colour photo copies of all essential documents (will provide list later).

11) Tested out camping gear

12) Get all neccessary spare parts and maintenance parts for vehicle

13) Arranged for family to keep an eye on finances back home,open mail for us, and pay bills that can't be paid online. 

14) Start fitness regimen.

15) Made final doctor's appointment before we left, to make sure we were starting off healthy.

16) Back up all essential computer files to external hard drive to be left at home

17) Learn how to use SLR camera

18) Renewed our passports and driver licenses

19) Obtained International Driving Permit

20) Bought Travel Medical Insurance

21) Removed catalytic converter from exhaust due to unleaded fuel

22) Created travel email address on yahoo.com

23) Started website

24) Gave our notice to our employers

25) Said our goodbyes! 







 
For more information on trip planning, see our Driving Latin America page

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