Planning

Planning involved - in that order, with overlaps :

- dreaming and talking a lot
- buying maps (Michelin) and posting them on the wall
- reading books and other's websites and blogs. The website www.africa-overland-net was a great source of inspiration ; with many references to past, present and future overlanders's websites.
- getting Scarlet ready (more about that on our post about the vehicle)
- finding out a way to pay for the trip: which went from investing in property to actually saving enough for what we would need
- making check-lists for about everything: from personal equipment and documents, to car's equipment and documents, first aid kit, camping stuff, etc. We tried to go by the rule that says that we should take the bare minimum and as much cash as possible.
- finding out about travel insurance, car insurance, cross-border requirements, carnet de passage, vaccinations, etc
- testing mefliam for 3 weeks (the generic equivalent of lariam) before buying a whole six month's supply
- ticking stuff from the check-lists one after the other