... six nights before we climb.
I haven't slept well for a few days, what with thinking about the climb, thinking about packing, getting up and re-packing and emailing Kristin - one of the two girls from USA who we are meeting out there - to discuss packing. I'm not sure I've mentioned much about the details of the trip so far - probably because for some inexplicable reason, I've had my head buried in the sand about the whole thing since booking the trip in February last year. Other than buying the odd few bits here and there and chatting to plenty of people for advice and tips, I seem to have been in denial and it's only really hitting home now that we're actually doing this.
Kristin is the girl who has been dominating my facebook page for the past month or so, policing my posts for the merest hint of alcohol consumption, so she can chastise me and keep me hydrated - from the States! She's also one of the many reasons I'm so excited about this trip having met on the Inca trail in May 2009, we spent an enlightening 4 whole days and one post Inca meal together, hit it off, kept in touch through email and facebook and for some bizarre reason, she has now trusted me with thousands of dollars worth of her hard earned cash to organise every fine detail of two precious weeks of her leave, for possibly the most gruelling challenge she's ever embarked upon. As she said recently, sometimes you meet soul mates at school when you're young, sometimes you meet them on a four day trek in Peru...
So, Kristin also posted our itinerary, which I'll copy in for anyone who wants to read the finer detail. For those that don't, there'll be the odd last minute panic update (possibly at 4am, which I seem to see a lot of at the moment) and hopefully, some pretty cool photos very soon.
Kristin and her friend Heidi arrive at the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort http://www.kilimountresort.com/ on Thursday night 12th January and Sam and I join them Friday morning (oh bugger! that'll be 13th then?!!!)... not a GREAT omen.
There are supposed to be some nice walks in the area which Kristin will undoubtedly have me exploring - because we won't be doing enough walking over the following six days...
Sunday (15/01/12) we go up the mountain for five nights and six days on the Rongai Route. We attempt the summit on Thursday morning (19/01/12) and we should be at the top, all going reasonably well, at around 6:30/7am. Tanzania is GMT+3, so at around 1am Wednesday morning, start saying some prayers that we are able to summit, without vomittting or having to be dragged up. We start the summit attempt at around midnight/1am local time, it takes 5-6 hours to reach Gillman's Point then another 1-2 hours to Uhuru Peak.
We start the descent after we catch our breath, take pictures at the top (hopefullly) and before we start to freeze again and spend one more night on the mountain before going back to the hotel on Friday Jan 20th for a beer or two...?! I'm going to guess this is the only place there will be internet for the entire trip, so I'll do my best to let everyone know I have arrived safely initially and again on Friday when we come down from the mountain, hopefully without Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and with a summit tale or two.
On Saturday (21/01/12) we go to Arusha for safari - our itinerary says to "ask your driverguide if you would prefer to take the 'scenic route' through the center, perhaps stopping off to pick up some supplies (Tanzanian gin, chocolate...)" - I'll take both in vast quantities I say!
Lake Manyara National Park: where we can possibly get a glimpse of the "rarely seen tree-climbing lion."
That night we stay at Ngorongoro Karatu: Gibbs Farm
Sunday (22/01/12) we go to the Ngorongoro Crater where we will see "one of the greatest views on the planet" and they "almost guarentee seeing lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino" - cue at least 1000 photos.
Then we'll head to the Serengeti and Olduvai (southcentral Serengeti) where we'll come across some Maasai, maybe a few hundred thousand wildebeast and incidentally "the birthplace of humankind", though I'm not sure what the Bible says about that one.
We stay at the Olduvai Tented Camp where we can go on a walk with the Maasai guides, once we have befriended them appparently.
Monday (23/01/12) we do a game drive in Ndutu and Gol and return to the Tented Camp and Tuesday Sam and I say a sad farewell to the girls and get on a ridiculously small plane to Zanzibar, for some well earned beach rest and more beer... in a word... LUSH!!!
This is the tour group we are using:
http://www.africatravelresource.com/climbing-kilimanjaro/guide/climbing-kilimanjaro-specifications/
Monday, 9 January 2012
Sunday, 1 January 2012
T minus two weeks...
This time in exactly two weeks I will be on the mountain! I can hardly believe it's nearly here and am getting ridiculously excited now. I have all my kit laid out on the kitchen table, with only a couple of last minute things to buy and have just learned that I'll have to cull half of it, having read that my baggage allowance for the plane between the Serengeti and Zanzibar is only 15kg INCLUDING hand luggage?!!
I mean I'm in Zanzibar for four days, so that's at least 6 pairs of shoes and what about all the unecessary and excessive handicrafts I will undoubtedly buy from every pitiful looking local I encounter, to add to the countless boxes of unused wall hangings, paintings, cooking pots and bangles I already have and can't find a use for?
Off to read about the Serengeti now and work on my new 40 a day smoking habit. They say that heavy smokers suffer less from AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), so I figure that seeing as I haven't quite committed to the amount of training I had planned to do by this stage, I may as well try it out!! (not really!). This trip will be even more special now, as I've had to postpone my Mexico voluntary work because I haven't yet rented my place out to pay for it... so I'm resorting to plan B about that. Just as soon as I've figured one out.
I mean I'm in Zanzibar for four days, so that's at least 6 pairs of shoes and what about all the unecessary and excessive handicrafts I will undoubtedly buy from every pitiful looking local I encounter, to add to the countless boxes of unused wall hangings, paintings, cooking pots and bangles I already have and can't find a use for?
Off to read about the Serengeti now and work on my new 40 a day smoking habit. They say that heavy smokers suffer less from AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), so I figure that seeing as I haven't quite committed to the amount of training I had planned to do by this stage, I may as well try it out!! (not really!). This trip will be even more special now, as I've had to postpone my Mexico voluntary work because I haven't yet rented my place out to pay for it... so I'm resorting to plan B about that. Just as soon as I've figured one out.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
The countdown to Kilimanjaro
So, it turns out that buying my first home wasn't the end to my extensive travels after all and there is life after mortgage! Limited development options at work and no prospects of promotion provided the opportunity to spread my wings again and I'm planning a trip to Kilimanjaro in January followed by two months in Mexico, volunteering with orphans... yes, orphans!
Potentially seven days per week, with young children, entertaining, cleaning, washing and doing all the other child related tasks that I have actively chosen to avoid for my entire adult life. I can't pin point why I chose Mexican orphans, over Costa Rican turtles, but it boils down to wanting to give something back after years of selfish travelling and I just felt something of a 'calling' of sorts - maybe it's my way of feeling better about not wanting my own? (kids - not turtles!)
Anyway, Mexico is pending renting my flat out, but Kilimanjaro is booked and all I need to do now, is start seriously training... (though may have left that a little late). Vaccinations are up to date, visa obtained and I think all I need to do now is worry about getting the few last bits I need - like extra wet wipes and the small matter of a new camera.
Really excited and I can't wait now, as it is like nothing I've ever done before and there's been SO much planning. I've never had such a complicated kit list and as we'll also be doing a safari and beach holiday, there's everything to pack. We'll be meeting up with a girl from the USA who we met on the Inca trail in 2010 and haven't seen since and we'll meet the friend she is bringing with her, so there's so much to look forward to.
All I want to do now is get to the top - still breathing - and preferably down again in the same state!
Potentially seven days per week, with young children, entertaining, cleaning, washing and doing all the other child related tasks that I have actively chosen to avoid for my entire adult life. I can't pin point why I chose Mexican orphans, over Costa Rican turtles, but it boils down to wanting to give something back after years of selfish travelling and I just felt something of a 'calling' of sorts - maybe it's my way of feeling better about not wanting my own? (kids - not turtles!)
Anyway, Mexico is pending renting my flat out, but Kilimanjaro is booked and all I need to do now, is start seriously training... (though may have left that a little late). Vaccinations are up to date, visa obtained and I think all I need to do now is worry about getting the few last bits I need - like extra wet wipes and the small matter of a new camera.
Really excited and I can't wait now, as it is like nothing I've ever done before and there's been SO much planning. I've never had such a complicated kit list and as we'll also be doing a safari and beach holiday, there's everything to pack. We'll be meeting up with a girl from the USA who we met on the Inca trail in 2010 and haven't seen since and we'll meet the friend she is bringing with her, so there's so much to look forward to.
All I want to do now is get to the top - still breathing - and preferably down again in the same state!
Monday, 1 August 2011
Girl power!
Fantastic opportunity to write for the Womens Business Club and connect with fabulous, inspirational women. Really exciting and am so pleased with the article, so read it here and share with anyone who's interested in travelling, thinking about travelling or just reading about someone else's travelling!
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Beyond Kilimanjaro...
I know that when I find myself in a rut, I always turn to travelling, but I thought my days of months on end were long over since I bought my flat. However, it turns out that all I need to find a way of making that work is to find myself in in a big rut, for the foreseeable future and before I know it, the grey matter starts to churn...
Having been concentrating on my promotion at work for two years solid and working my backside off, it transpires that the Force is in something of a financial crisis and there are now no promotion opportnities at all, for at least the next 6 - 12 months. So what to do...
Well, having always really loved the idea of going to do some sort of voluntary work abroad and being in a less financially buoyant position than I was pre-mortgage, I decided to look into going to somewhere I could stay in one place, with one project and just give something back - no country hopping, no dramas (hopefully!) and just some good, old fashioned hard work and helping others. If I'm truly honest, any trip is an excuse to go away and spend time doing what I love to do most in the world, but I've never allowed myself to devote the time to doing voluntary work before and now the time feels right. The opportunity is there to take the time off and I just have to find a way of renting out my flat - oh an getting the time authorised from work...
I never really expected them to appprove my application for unpaid leave and thought that in the current climate, at best they'd say I was being necky and at worst they'd penalise me for asking and laugh in my face. I even prepared myself for a battle, a bit of negotiation and ultimately to have to accept I couldn't do it, feel secretly relieved because I can't really afford it and then find something else to occupy my restlessness. So, when they said yes, no battle and no dramas, I found myself a little taken aback, a little, "Oh, really? You mean now I have to put my money where my mouth is and actually DO it?" and wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew!
However, that familiar little fluttering feeling in my stomach tells me that I'm beyond excited, I know I'll do it some way or other and I may as well save myself the bother of umming and ahing and just get on with it! So to research... Mexico, Costa Rica, orphans or turtles... and so it begins!
Having been concentrating on my promotion at work for two years solid and working my backside off, it transpires that the Force is in something of a financial crisis and there are now no promotion opportnities at all, for at least the next 6 - 12 months. So what to do...
Well, having always really loved the idea of going to do some sort of voluntary work abroad and being in a less financially buoyant position than I was pre-mortgage, I decided to look into going to somewhere I could stay in one place, with one project and just give something back - no country hopping, no dramas (hopefully!) and just some good, old fashioned hard work and helping others. If I'm truly honest, any trip is an excuse to go away and spend time doing what I love to do most in the world, but I've never allowed myself to devote the time to doing voluntary work before and now the time feels right. The opportunity is there to take the time off and I just have to find a way of renting out my flat - oh an getting the time authorised from work...
I never really expected them to appprove my application for unpaid leave and thought that in the current climate, at best they'd say I was being necky and at worst they'd penalise me for asking and laugh in my face. I even prepared myself for a battle, a bit of negotiation and ultimately to have to accept I couldn't do it, feel secretly relieved because I can't really afford it and then find something else to occupy my restlessness. So, when they said yes, no battle and no dramas, I found myself a little taken aback, a little, "Oh, really? You mean now I have to put my money where my mouth is and actually DO it?" and wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew!
However, that familiar little fluttering feeling in my stomach tells me that I'm beyond excited, I know I'll do it some way or other and I may as well save myself the bother of umming and ahing and just get on with it! So to research... Mexico, Costa Rica, orphans or turtles... and so it begins!
Friday, 3 June 2011
Kilimanjaro 2012!!
Whoop whoop!! Kilimanjaro 2012 is booked and now to get fit...
Well what else does an insatiable traveller do when their first book is published? I've always wanted to go and so having persuaded my new travel buddy Sam to join me again (after our Thailand and Peru trips), I started planning. There are so many ways to climb Kili and so many choices to make. What company to go with, which route to take, how many nights to climb for, whether to go for personal oxygen tanks and what to do afterwards... but that's where my anal obsession for planning every minute detail comes into it's own and I was like a pig in the proverbial!
Tour company chosen based on their porter welfare policies, value for money and website impressions, route chosen on technicalities, popularity, scenery and people traffic, length of climb chosen on the likelihood of us getting fed up with being so cold for too long and what to do afterwards... safari in the Serengeti and the spice island of Zanzibar OBVIOUSLY!!
So much to do yet - get a ridiculous amount of layers of clothing, find drugs to stop us geting altitude sickness, wear in boots and most importantly, get fit. I literally don't think I've been this excited about a trip before!
Well what else does an insatiable traveller do when their first book is published? I've always wanted to go and so having persuaded my new travel buddy Sam to join me again (after our Thailand and Peru trips), I started planning. There are so many ways to climb Kili and so many choices to make. What company to go with, which route to take, how many nights to climb for, whether to go for personal oxygen tanks and what to do afterwards... but that's where my anal obsession for planning every minute detail comes into it's own and I was like a pig in the proverbial!
Tour company chosen based on their porter welfare policies, value for money and website impressions, route chosen on technicalities, popularity, scenery and people traffic, length of climb chosen on the likelihood of us getting fed up with being so cold for too long and what to do afterwards... safari in the Serengeti and the spice island of Zanzibar OBVIOUSLY!!
So much to do yet - get a ridiculous amount of layers of clothing, find drugs to stop us geting altitude sickness, wear in boots and most importantly, get fit. I literally don't think I've been this excited about a trip before!
Monday, 16 May 2011
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/Arresting-tales-travelling-world/article-3552443-detail/article.html
My very first marketing pitch for my book! The local newspaper did a piece for me with a fabulous review and a not so fabulous picture (?!) but then who likes their own picture if they're not Angelina Jolie?!
I am so excited as it came out on Friday 13th - the same day as my book launch party, which was a HUGE succcess. It went better than I could ever have hoped and I even sold out on the books I took. I only took 10 books, because I didn't think for a second that people would buy them, but they did! I even sold the one I took to do a bit of a reading (I was press ganged into that by my VERY excited friends!) from, it was crazy! So I had to keep redirecting people to Amazon and Pneuma Springs (publisher) and apologising for not having enough books...
It did me the world of good actually, because quite frankly I think I had been a little freaked out by the whole thought of people reading my book and was so worried what people would think, I kind of ignored the release a bit and pretended it was no big deal. In fact, my fab friends and people I work with are the ones that have made me see that actually, IT IS A BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've published a book and it's SO exciting!! My fab mates Jo Hall and Cat Moss-Crump have given me such a kick up the backside, being more excited than kids at Christmas, so thank you girls, I'm officially on the excited train!!! ha ha ha!
Then to top it off I got a call at work today from BBC Devon who want me to go on the Judi Spiers show and do a bit about my book on there - C.R.A.Z.Y!!! ha ha ha ha ha!!! That hasn't quite sunk in yet, so when it does I'll be scared stiff, but so far - yey!! x x x
The pictures below are just a few of the launch party - pretty much a party with my friends and family to celebrate. A party I shared with my good friend Paul Fox who has also published his first book 21st Century Leadership. Obviously it had to be fancy dress, because that's just what we do! FABULOUS!!!
My very first marketing pitch for my book! The local newspaper did a piece for me with a fabulous review and a not so fabulous picture (?!) but then who likes their own picture if they're not Angelina Jolie?!
I am so excited as it came out on Friday 13th - the same day as my book launch party, which was a HUGE succcess. It went better than I could ever have hoped and I even sold out on the books I took. I only took 10 books, because I didn't think for a second that people would buy them, but they did! I even sold the one I took to do a bit of a reading (I was press ganged into that by my VERY excited friends!) from, it was crazy! So I had to keep redirecting people to Amazon and Pneuma Springs (publisher) and apologising for not having enough books...
It did me the world of good actually, because quite frankly I think I had been a little freaked out by the whole thought of people reading my book and was so worried what people would think, I kind of ignored the release a bit and pretended it was no big deal. In fact, my fab friends and people I work with are the ones that have made me see that actually, IT IS A BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've published a book and it's SO exciting!! My fab mates Jo Hall and Cat Moss-Crump have given me such a kick up the backside, being more excited than kids at Christmas, so thank you girls, I'm officially on the excited train!!! ha ha ha!
Then to top it off I got a call at work today from BBC Devon who want me to go on the Judi Spiers show and do a bit about my book on there - C.R.A.Z.Y!!! ha ha ha ha ha!!! That hasn't quite sunk in yet, so when it does I'll be scared stiff, but so far - yey!! x x x
The pictures below are just a few of the launch party - pretty much a party with my friends and family to celebrate. A party I shared with my good friend Paul Fox who has also published his first book 21st Century Leadership. Obviously it had to be fancy dress, because that's just what we do! FABULOUS!!!
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