The Day Has Come

Just one more - though very short - night and I'll be off to Tanzania for my biggest adventure yet. Taxi to the Bristol Bus Station is booked for 3am... ouch. I'll board a KLM plane to Amsterdam around 6am, meet the other eight hikers plus our guide in Amsterdam and then spend another 8.5 hours on the plane to Kilimanjaro Airport. My third long haul flight within one month, arg. Cannot say I'm looking forward to it. But that's the only thing I'm not looking forward to, haha.

I hope my eight brothers (and sisters) in arms are nice and fun since we're going to spend a great deal of time together and may need to motivate and help each other on our way to the top of the highest mountain of Africa. Am I ready for it? I don't know.
Packing for a hiking trip is such a routine that it didn't take long for me. It's just a few extra layers that add to my usual gear list. And a different bag instead of my trusted Deuter backpack. The bag my organizer provided is actually pretty cool and offers enough space. I packed it so that I only need to take a few things out when we're setting off. I will hand it over to the porters and have to take care not to exceed the maximum of 15 kilos that they are allowed to carry.

Daypack and the cool Jagged Globe bag from my organizer

About a year ago I decided to do this trip. Now that the day has finally come there's only two things that I really worry about. The snow on Amsterdam airport that could delay my flight is one of them. According to the KLM website both of my flights will be serviced as scheduled while many others are cancelled. I just hope that all will go according to plan.
The other thing is altitude sickness. The great unknown for me. How will my body take it? Will I wake up in the middle of the night with fear of suffocating? Will it just be a little headache? The fact that my organizer takes a day longer to the top of Kilimanjaro and their resulting high success rate give me a bit of comfort.

This may well be the last blog post until I'm back. I will have wifi in our hotel in Moshi but don't know if I have the time and energy to post before or after my trip. I will be back on January 5th and will certainly post some pictures and tell you how it all went. My musings will hopefully include a selfie from the fu...ing highest mountain of Africa! :)