Doxycycline: take on an empty stomach

(one hour before and two hours after eating). Don't take within 2-3 hours of anything with a lot of calcium, iron, aluminum, magnesium, zinc, or bismuth. Take with a glass of water. Don't lie down for 10 minutes after taking. Start taking two days before the trip; continue for four weeks afterward.

So I've got a small amount of antibiotics in me now, messin' up my innards a tiny bit but also keeping me safe from malaria. And I'm leaving tomorrow.

Yes, I'm excited. I'm super excited. Something like this trip has been a bit of a dream since at least August 13, 2007, when I announced to my friend Beej that we were going on the Mongol Rally. (My other friend Ram soon pointed out that the Rally seemed like a race, and therefore less fun than was possible; meanwhile he and Beej and Aaron all went and got themselves reasonable somewhat-stable lives that you can't just up and quit for a while, so the Rally itself fell by the wayside.)

This trip itself, in its current incarnation, has been in planning for the last year and a half. It's been in planning for so long that I couldn't even start applying for visas when I first conceived it. Of course it's a little hard to believe it's happening.

I would be lying if I said I weren't a bit worried. Not that anything bad will happen; I'm worried that I'll miss out, that this "once in a lifetime experience" will just start happening and I may not grab enough bulls by enough horns. You don't get many free years in your life; don't waste them.

But that is not an attitude that is conducive to bull-horn-grabbing. So I'll continue to look forward to what is happening and not worry about what's not happening. Tomorrow after the bardo of flight, I'll be in a land that smells worse and better than here, beginning a year that will change me whether I like it or not. Charge on with furious gusto!