Welcome! Janie, Kelly, and Liz here. We are fourth year pharmacy students at Auburn University that are setting out on a five-week rotation in Hat Yai, Thailand at the Prince of Songkla University. We are excited to document our travels and share the experience with our friends and family back home (you) through posts like these.
This first post will just focus on the details regarding planning the trip.
After volunteering to go on this rotation in Thailand, we began to plan. Here are the specifics (in order):
Flights were booked 6 months before our anticipated departure. We got an AWESOME deal on plane tickets (~$900 round trip per person). Unfortunately, we will be missing most of the holiday season at home, but the upside is that we were able to save money flying out before the majority of holiday travelers.
Our preceptor was contacted a few months ahead of time to check on housing accommodations, so we could introduce ourselves, and to find out any other details that might be important to know ahead of time (i.e. expected attire).
Also a few months out, we began to plan excursions that would take place after the rotation ended and our mini-vacation began. We decided to make the absolute most of visiting Thailand and planned trips that included elephant rides, tiger sanctuaries, visiting Phi Phi islands, Buddhist temple tours, and shopping in Bangkok.
We already had passports (also needs to be planned months in advance), but we needed to obtain visas because we were staying in Thailand for educational purposes. The timing of applying for a visa can be tricky and we had to make sure the visa wouldn’t expire while we were still over there. We went to the Thai Embassy webpage, followed the instructions, and filled out the paperwork needed for applying (cost was $80 and ~$40 in shipping costs). Waiting for visas (and passports!) to make it back in the mail might have been the most stressful aspect of planning!
The rest of our planning occurred ~1 month before departure…
Medications: To start, all three of us decided to take anti-malarial medication for the duration of our trip. This required a prescription and can be quite pricey. As far as over-the-counter products go, we are as well stocked as you would expect any pharmacy school students to be…I’m talking band aids, herbal products, essential oils, copious amounts of hand sanitizer, antibiotics for nearly any bug, and enough Tylenol to last a few years.
Vaccinations: We made sure all of our Tdap, Hep A and B, and typhoid vaccinations were up to date (recommended per the CDC).
Currency: This was the last thing on our to-do list. We each visited a local bank and requested a few hundred USD dollars worth of baht (Thai currency). At this time, the exchange rate is 1 USD to 33 baht.
Packing: It’s hot in Thailand and women in the healthcare field typically wear skirts/dresses, so we packed accordingly. We intend to wear white coats that fit the requirements of the University there.
We don’t know exactly what to expect, but we do know that we are going to be learning a lot about Thailand’s universal healthcare system within their hospitals and local pharmacies. We’ll be sure to tell you more as we find out. Check back weekly for updates, pictures, and stories. WARNING: There will be lots of food pictures to come.
Janie, Kelly, and Liz (JKL)
