Kilimanjaro Experience

With just days to go until we fly out - we reached our fundraising goal to save the pangolin! This wouldn't have been possible without the generous donations we received from family, friends and colleagues. I'm especially thankful to all of you who helped me exceed my personal fundraising goal ($1000) and contributed towards our overall $20,000 goal. These funds go directly to the Wildlife Conservation Network to help save the endangered pangolin. This poor species is being slaughtered for its keratin scales - for fashion or "medical" purposes. The quickly depleting pangolin population is putting the larger ecosystem in Africa and Asia out of balance. My climb to the peak of the world's largest freestanding mountain is a symbolic way to save the pangolin - but your donations actually make a difference. We're about a week out from the climb. I fly out on Thursday evening, arrive in Tanzania on Saturday evening (after 8-hour layovers in Qatar and Kenya). To...

With three months down (since selection/training) and two weeks to go - it's a little bit of an understatement to say I'm about to burst from excitement and anxiety. How are you feeling?  First, excitement. When I land in Africa, it'll be my fourth continent in less than a year (North America, Asia, Europe, Africa - in that order). I've signed up to do a safari with other Golin colleagues the day before we start hiking. I figured it will help distract me from the unbridled nerves I'll be feeling before we start climbing. This is probably the most grueling and dangerous activity I've ever done - not to mention it lasts for a full 7 days. I don't want to hype this up to seem like a brazen daredevil, but there is some risk and challenge to what I'm about to undertake. I signed two liability waivers this week - which is probably why my mind has been flooded with more thoughts about Kilimanjaro lately. Are you nervous?  Yes, so let's get back to...

T-22 days! Yes, 22 days! 2-2! XXII! Vingt-deux! Veintidos! I'm not quite sure how we're already in July. I leave in three weeks! It seems surreal. Of course, with less than a month to go, I got an email on Monday that one of my three fights to Kilimanjaro (segment from Qatar to Kenya) was cancelled, so now I have two very loooooong layovers. I believe my trip will now be closer to 40-42 hours from Dallas until I finally arrive in Tanzania. I'll be exhausted at first, but luckily will have another 36 hours to acclimatize (read: sleep) before we start climbing. It's been a few weeks since I last blogged - which is for two main reasons. First, I just got back from 10 days of vacation in Italy and Greece; second, because this climb is quickly creeping up on me and honestly is catching me off guard. Nevertheless, I've still been focusing on training and fundraising in the past few weeks. Aside from personal donations from friends and family, I've been working...

So as many of you read last week, I'm climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in July- the tallest freestanding mountain in the world - to not only raise awareness, but much-needed funding, to save the endangered pangolin. [ Please click here to donate  to conservation efforts] You're probably asking - why the pangolin? Well, not only is it the spirit animal of my beloved employer (Pan golin , for Golin - get it?), but the pangolin is the single most trafficked animal on earth. A ll eight species of pangolin are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of animals threatened with extinction. It's a really unique-looking animal found across Africa and Asia - but that has caused certain cultures to hunt the pangolin for its apparent "healing" qualities in Eastern medicine. According to The Guardian newspaper, more than  100,000 pangolins are captured every year so their meat and keratin scales can be sold in China and Vietnam.  Losing an entire s...

*Updated donation link: www.bit.ly/GoAllUp * Hi everybody - So as I lie here comfortably on my couch on a Saturday night - I'm less than three months away from embarking on a trip of a lifetime. I can guarantee this trip will have no comfortable moments as I'm experiencing right now! I've been keeping this secret under wraps for a few weeks - other than family and a close group of friends - but here's some big news: I'll be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro - the tallest freestanding mountain in the world - later this summer. If you're asking why - it's for a simple reason: I'm part of a small group of Golin employees trying to save an endangered species. I've always had a travel bug since I was a kid - but oddly enough, I never had a strong calling to visit Africa... I don't even think I had anything in Africa on my 'bucket list' - but now I do! I guess I planned to check it off eventually with a trip to Egypt - but never imagined I...