Booster shots...

Travel remains a constant backdrop to building and running global technology teams. I've written about this before, but thought this was worth a quick reminder to people.

If you travel internationally, it's a good idea before you go to check with a travel nurse and get a professional opinion about what you might or might not need in the way of immunizations.

I'm in my early 40's, and in my last visit to the travel nurse, I was informed that there are some immunizations that guys my age need boosters on (measles/mumps/rubella, I think). And some stuff you can simply protect against with a shot or two (some kinds of hepatitis). But I do NOT pretend to offer advice here, except to say that a travel nurse (or a general practitioner) would be able to lay it all out for you as a cost-benefit, and that's what they do all day, so they're good at it. When I went to India for first time I didn’t do anything with respect to immunization, second trip to Asia, I got the full treatment… Shots, anti-malarial drugs, etc.

As an aside, I've personally opted against the anti-malarial drugs - they give me vertigo - but again, that's just a personal preference so I’d advise seeking professional opinion…

Lastly, for anyone traveling to India or China (or Vietnam, or the Philippines, or whatever) if you’ve never been 9 or 10 time zones off home, you might want to see about getting sleep aids (stronger than over the counter) so you’re not a walking zombie the whole trip.

As always, your mileage may vary, but do consider seeing a travel nurse, and getting the run down first hand, from a professional.