Day 1 - Departure / Arrival (Feb 10/11)

Unfortunately, I did not have consistent or reliable internet access while in Africa (no real surprise there), therefore, I will attempt to provide a retrospective day-by-day account of our trip over the course of the next few weeks.  The added benefit of doing this after-the-fact though, is that I can include some of the photos from each day as well.
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After the debacle with the camera battery charger, the rest of my travels seemed to go more smoothly (at least until I arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport).  Granted, it was a long travel day(s) - a 7.5 hour flight, followed by an 8.5 hour flight with a nearly 3-hour layover in between, but I have to say that connecting once in Amsterdam was the best possible way to do this trip.  There are daily flights between Schiphol (Amsterdam's international airport) and Kilimanjaro International airport and Schiphol isn't a bad way to spend 2+ hours.  They even have day showers, so for the price of about 10 euro, I was able to shower, freshen up and feel somewhat rejuvinated in time for my 8.5 hour flight to Kili.

We did it!!!

I'm happy to report that we all made it to the top of Kilimanjaro on Saturday morning around 7:30 am, local time! Details (and photos) to follow when I have more time for updates. Until then, thanks to everyone for their support! It was definitely the hardest physical challenge I have ever undertaken and could not have done it without everyone's support!

The Best Dad in the World!

Disaster averted! While sitting at the Princeton Junction train station discussing my packing experience with a friend, I realized I left my extra camera battery, and more importantly, the battery charger plugged into the wall in my bedroom. I didn't have time to get home and taking the next train would have put me at risk for missing my flight. Dad to the rescue...

After frantically discussing a half a dozen options, he offered to meet me at JFK to hand deliver the battery and charger.

Despite being exposed to norovirus earlier in the week, he ran to my house with gloves and disinfectant, got the battery, put it in a sterile plastic bag and started driving. In the meantime, I called Olivia and Ed to see if they had the same charger so that I could potentially use theirs, but alas not. Olivia even went so far as to contact several of her friends and local stores but no one carried it. So, two hours later (a nj transit, LIRR train and Airtrain later for me and a lot of highway miles for my dad), I am now sitting at the gate with battery charger, extra battery and much needed beer in hand!

Best dad ever! Now I just need to make it worth his while and get a photo for him at 19,341 ft! Thank you dad! I love you!

The countdown...

All the gear and no idea!

Finally the chaos in my room has been replaced by a neatly organized, half-full duffle ready to be checked and loaded onto my KLM flight tomorrow at 6 PM (plus a plus tightly-packed backpack and camera bag).  Despite my every urge to pack the duffle full, I know that some poor porter is going to be schlepping it up a 19,341 ft mountain in just a few days, so I'm doing all I can to resist the 10 additional outfits, 3 extra pairs of shoes, multiple books, etc... that are tempting me.  Besides, our flight from the Serengeti back to Arusha (near Kili) has a weight limit of just 15 kilo (33 lbs) for our one allowed bag, so for safety reasons, keeping things light is a must. 

Gearhead!

OK, after spending about 3 hours this weekend at REI (on top of umpteen trips to EMS, multiple online orders from Patagonia and Sierra Trading Post; the latter is a great place for steals on outdoor / hiking gear!), I think it's official....I'm a gear head. I think I've read on no less than 100 websites that I'm supposed to pack light. This should be a challenge.

I'll post here a somewhat comprehensive list of what I'll be bringing and will try to revisit this entry post-trip to indicate what was most useful, in case any readers are considering making a similar trek!

When wiring money to Africa is ok...

So the deposit for our Kili climb is paid! OK, we didn't actually have to wire money to Africa, rather it was going to Cyprus (but is that really any less shady!?). Our European trekkers (Ed and Imogen) assured me that people wire transfer money in Europe all the time (of course they were probably drunk at the time...) and this seems to be quite the reputable outfitter, so I'm sure all will be well, despite the initial trepidation.

After loads of researching different climb outfitters, we have selected Team Kilimanjaro as our trekking agency.

Step 1 - Check!

So, this week it all became real. Flights to Africa are booked! I've never traveled somewhere so far that there are no possible direct flights from the US. The most direct way to get to Kilimanjaro is to fly KLM from New York (JFK) to Amsterdam (AMS) then on to Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO). Unfortunately booking this late in the game meant that I could only get this direct flight on the way TO Kili, as the daily flights from JRO - AMS were booked for both the Saturday and Sunday that I was considering returning. Therefore, I'll need to return via Nairobi, Kenya before traveling on to Amsterdam and eventually back to New York.