The following is based on the actual phone call I had with my medical provider today.
The phone call went something like this:
Kaiser: Hello this is such-and-such from Kaiser Permanente's travel department, I understand you'll be traveling in September and will need vaccinations and medication?
Me: True.
Kaiser: Your first destination is the South Pacific?
Me: Yes.
Kaiser: Where specifically? We will need a list of countries and cities, in the order you'll be traveling.
Me: That list doesn't exist.
Kaiser: Pause... Okay, when you get a better idea of where you'll be going, you should call us back.
Me: No, you don't understand, that's not going to happen. I don't have a list, I have ideas of where I'll go, but I won't know where I'm going until I get there. I can give you a list of the places I'm thinking of going. Let me pull up a google Map...
Kaiser: Uh,
Me: Okay, The South Pacific: New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, the Marquesas...
Kaiser: Which cities?
Me: No clue. After the South Pacific, SE Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia.
Kaiser: Which cities? Will you be going to rural places?
Me: No clue, and maybe?
Kaiser: ...
Me: Then India, Parts of Africa, probably Kenya and South Africa.
Snippy Kaiser Lady: Well, we don't really work this way. I don't think we'll be able to help you, but I'll submit your request to our travel nurses and they'll contact you within four to five weeks of your departure.
Me: Great. Sounds perfect. Thanks for your help.
What I was thinking: This really is not all that difficult, lady. Put on your thinking cap and use your brain. I've done this before with Kaiser and it's never been this ridiculous. Oh great, I'm going to have to make a million phone calls until I finally get to talk to someone who is familiar with what I'll need in various regions of the world. Fabulous.
Okay, so most people actually know where they're going when they leave the house to travel. All I know is that in late September I'll leave the US. In late October I'll arrive in Sydney. Beyond that, I'll have six months to figure the rest out.
This trip is about spontaneity, about going wherever in the world the proverbial wind blows! Sure, it's probably important to have anti-malarial medication whilst traipsing around the jungles of Thailand, which is why I called Kaiser in the first place. And so far they're just not very cooperative with people, like me, who don't have a set plan. Maybe when I actually talk to a travel expert, it will be a bit easier.
In my experience, people who don't travel are always really, really resistant to even the idea of travel, so maybe that's what I encountered today.
So what would you do? Perhaps I'll make up a list of all the possible places you'd go? But I fear if I did that I'd end up with an entire suitcase just for medications. And that's ridiculous, just like the phone call was.
The phone call went something like this:
Kaiser: Hello this is such-and-such from Kaiser Permanente's travel department, I understand you'll be traveling in September and will need vaccinations and medication?
Me: True.
Kaiser: Your first destination is the South Pacific?
Me: Yes.
Kaiser: Where specifically? We will need a list of countries and cities, in the order you'll be traveling.
Me: That list doesn't exist.
Kaiser: Pause... Okay, when you get a better idea of where you'll be going, you should call us back.
Me: No, you don't understand, that's not going to happen. I don't have a list, I have ideas of where I'll go, but I won't know where I'm going until I get there. I can give you a list of the places I'm thinking of going. Let me pull up a google Map...
Kaiser: Uh,
Me: Okay, The South Pacific: New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, the Marquesas...
Kaiser: Which cities?
Me: No clue. After the South Pacific, SE Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia.
Kaiser: Which cities? Will you be going to rural places?
Me: No clue, and maybe?
Kaiser: ...
Me: Then India, Parts of Africa, probably Kenya and South Africa.
Snippy Kaiser Lady: Well, we don't really work this way. I don't think we'll be able to help you, but I'll submit your request to our travel nurses and they'll contact you within four to five weeks of your departure.
Me: Great. Sounds perfect. Thanks for your help.
What I was thinking: This really is not all that difficult, lady. Put on your thinking cap and use your brain. I've done this before with Kaiser and it's never been this ridiculous. Oh great, I'm going to have to make a million phone calls until I finally get to talk to someone who is familiar with what I'll need in various regions of the world. Fabulous.
Okay, so most people actually know where they're going when they leave the house to travel. All I know is that in late September I'll leave the US. In late October I'll arrive in Sydney. Beyond that, I'll have six months to figure the rest out.
This trip is about spontaneity, about going wherever in the world the proverbial wind blows! Sure, it's probably important to have anti-malarial medication whilst traipsing around the jungles of Thailand, which is why I called Kaiser in the first place. And so far they're just not very cooperative with people, like me, who don't have a set plan. Maybe when I actually talk to a travel expert, it will be a bit easier.
In my experience, people who don't travel are always really, really resistant to even the idea of travel, so maybe that's what I encountered today.
So what would you do? Perhaps I'll make up a list of all the possible places you'd go? But I fear if I did that I'd end up with an entire suitcase just for medications. And that's ridiculous, just like the phone call was.
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