After months of thinking and planning, I had to take the first physical step to ready myself for Kuwait. That meant shots — three on Sept. 27 and more in the future to complete the series of Hepatitis A and B vaccinations.

Thankfully, the doctor at the travel clinic at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin didn’t think there were many more vaccinations that would be helpful to me. The staff were great and I was in and out of the hospital, with just minor pain from the flu shot they recommended I get along with the Hepatitis A and B vaccinations.

Everything is starting to come together with planning stories and how I’ll spend my days working in Kuwait. There are many more stories than I’ll have time to do, but I’ll work my hardest to collect as many stories, photos and videos as I can.

Soon we’ll have a story in the paper and online to let the public know about me embedding, and then it will be a very busy month of October preparing for the trip! Check back soon for more updates on the planning!