My partner left for Nicaragua yesterday and should currently be flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to Miami. I’m left here in Barcelona feeling slightly nervous and excited about the prospect of joining her in just over 5 weeks. The planning stages of my tri now have to continue. One of the first parts of this started with ordering all of the medical equipment that I need during my stay overseas. I am sufficiently paranoid about loosing my baggage where most of my medical stuff will be that I asked Edurne (my partner) to take some with her. This means that, should all go well and she arrives with all of her bags intact, I will at least have a small supply of catheters and sheaths waiting for me in Nicaragua when I arrive. So even if I do loose my bags during the flight I will still have some emergency supplies there that I can use whilst I resolve the problem.
I’ve also been looking into the type of passport I need and the VISA requirements for both the USA and Nicaragua. My flight is Barcelona – Heathrow – Miami – Managua (Nicaragua), due to homeland security legislation you now have to go through customs in the USA even if you are just changing flights to go to another country. This has meant that I have to be sure that I have the correct passport. The passport required is the one with numbers and chevrons on the bottom and the photograph printed on it with the holograms behind (not the old style with a photo stuck on it). You can travel into or through the States on a 3 month travel VISA without having to do anything if you are a British citizen, the same applies to Nicaragua.
Please note, all comments regarding passports and VISAS are regarding British citizens, if you are from a different country you should check with the appropriate authorities (Embassy or Consulate).
The next part that I have to consider is vaccinations, I will be going to the doctor this week to talk to them about the injections and precautions that I need to take. I’ll keep you posted and provide more information about this at a later date.
If anyone has traveled in this part of the world and has any useful information regarding tips for disabled people I would very much appreciate it.
Craig
