Planes, Trains & Automobiles

September 11th is the day before my birthday. 5 years ago I was about to turn 25 when my friend Jason woke me at 6:30AM calling to say “World War 3 is starting”. Tomorrow I turn 30 and have a message to the terrorists:

• I will continue to travel. The fear of random acts of violence will not stop me from touring my country nor others around the globe. I flew 4 days after September 11th. I was in Madrid’s Atocha train station just days before it was bombed and have been back since. My itinerary is ignoring your agenda.
• I will be open minded. No knee-jerk reactions because someone is a Muslim, wears a

…

Since I’m a new Kaiser Permanente member, my doctor signed me up to have the full slate of blood work done. Everything from cholesterol to HIV. Two of the tests were for Hepatitis A/B to see whether or not I need the vaccines. The tests came back negative so I’ll need to be immunized.

I watched them stick me when they drew blood so apparently I’m not queasy about needles. It’s been probably a decade or longer since I’ve had one (I’m looking at you, tetanus shot). It’s good because they tell me I need these for our adventure:

• Hepatits A/B (1, 30 and 180 days)
• Rabies booster
• Tetanus booster
• Polio booster
• Yellow fever

Yowza!