Greetings from Singapore

Well we're off on our next big adventure. Jake and I are at the Singapore airport waiting for a flight that will take us to Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. We've said lots of goodbyes and had an amazing send-off by our friends in Wellington, but it hasn't really hit us that we've really left New Zealand. It feels a bit like a normal vacation so far. A ridiculously awesome vacation! We'll try to check in with some photos once in a while.

How to survive a rabid monkey lick

One thing we need to do as we prepare for our upcoming world tour (nine weeks of Borneo, China and Europe) is to get caught up on our vaccinations.

A few weeks ago we visited the Travel Doctor here in Wellington and learned about all the scary things you can catch (like yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis) - or that can catch you (monkeys with rabies, mosquitos with malaria). Yick.

Due to our plans to visit Malaysian Borneo and China, they recommended the following:

• Hepatitis A - a one-time injection plus a booster in 6-12 months; good for 30 years.

• Hepatitis B - series of three injections over eight weeks; good for life.

• Typhoid - one-time injection needed every three years.

• Rabies - this one is optional. And here's what you have to do to survive a bite, scratch or lick from a rabid animal: wash the area with soap and water for 10 minutes without rubbing. Don't compress the wound as you want to let it bleed and flush the virus from the wound as much as possible. Even if you received a pre-exposure vaccine, you need a post-exposure treatment as soon as possible. Because Bali has so many dogs around, our nurse told us that Bali often runs out of the drug, so it's better to catch a flight to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur in search of immediate medical care. Not really comforting but good to know. Did you know that New Zealand is one of the few places on earth that doesn't have rabies? Let's keep it that way.

• Malaria - Malaria's a bit different in that you take pills for protection instead of getting a shot. Two types were recommended to us. One is fairly cheap, may upset your stomach and you have to take it during and four weeks following your trip to a malaria area. The other is much more expensive, fewer side effects and you only have to take it for a week following your trip. In both cases do everything you can to avoid mosquito bites.

• And your typical flu shot - which is designed to protect you from the flu anywhere in the world.

We have our malaria pills ready and have received all the required shots. In the end we opted out of the $200 rabies shot. What are the real chances of getting bitten or licked where we're going? We're hoping fairly low.

It makes me feel good to know we're able to protect ourselves with these vaccines. But after listening to all the horrible things that can happen to you on vacation to "paradise," I have to admit I feel a bit less day-dreamy and a bit more realistic about our upcoming travels.

Our world tour kicks off in 2 weeks

You've probably heard me mention that our time in New Zealand is coming to an end and we're preparing for a bit of travel before moving back to Kansas City.

It's been lots of fun planning our upcoming trip. It began with us asking ourselves "where in the world do we want to go?" which is quite a daunting question. So we created a giant wishlist that we had to narrow down according to our schedule and budget. (Sorry Palau -- I'll have to swim in your magical jellyfish lake another time.) After much brainstorming, negotiation and organising, our itinerary now looks like this:

• Leave NZ on 2 April
• Singapore
• Malaysian Borneo
• Beijing
• Switzerland
• Greek Islands
• Italy
• Germany
• Arrive in Kansas City on 3 June

I'm pretty excited about what's coming up. So excited in fact that I made a logo for our trip. My graphic design friends will undoubtedly be impressed by my expert use of WordArt. In my defense though, I've been busy selling our household goods on trademe.co.nz and prepping our other stuff for shipping to KC. We've gotten our visas and our shots (more on that later) and our flights. Now just wrapping things up, getting ready to say our goodbyes and preparing for our next adventure.

Okay, here's the plan

You may have heard me talking about our big vacation and our big move coming up. In the next four months we'll be packing up and leaving New Zealand, taking a ridiculously cool trip and relocating back to Kansas City.

Here's the plan:

25 Feb: was my last day at work

31 March: Last day of work for Jake

2 April: We leave NZ and begin our nine-week-long vacation (we're calling it our world tour, more details to come)

3 June: We arrive in Kansas City, where we'll find an apartment and start house-hunting

mid-June: Jake goes back to work in the KC office he left in 2008; Jamie looks for a job

So we have about five weeks left in New Zealand. In that time we will sell most of the stuff we own, organise the rest for shipping to KC, close our accounts, say goodbye to our friends and make arrangements for our world tour. And I plan to squeeze in lots more fun before we go. It certainly feels like one chapter is coming to a close and another is about to begin.